Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. initially started his presidential campaign as a primary challenger to incumbent President Joe Biden before switching his affiliation to independent. That means the environmental attorney can now play spoiler and attract disaffected voters on the right and left. But is he speaking to the issues that matter most?
On Thursday’s show, Kennedy joined Megyn to share why he is trying to move beyond partisanship with his campaign as the two clashed over what is driving people to the polls this November.
No Labels
As Megyn noted, Kennedy is going to need to siphon support from both the Republican and Democratic Party in order to “make this happen” and have a shot on Election Day. He is now attracting the attention of both the Trump and Biden campaigns because of the threat his heterodox views pose.
When it comes to Republicans in particular, Megyn cited Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung’s past remarks that “voters should not be deceived by anyone who pretends to have conservative values.” He labeled Kennedy’s run as “nothing more than a vanity project for a liberal Kennedy looking to cash in on his family’s name.”
RFK, Jr. has previously disclosed that he voted for Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2012, and Joe Biden in 2020, so Megyn wondered why Republican voters have shouldn’t some doubts about his core values.
In this hyper-partisan world, Kennedy said his goal has been consistent since he first declared his candidacy. “My promise when I announced this was that I was going to try to persuade Americans that they weren’t Republicans or Democrats anymore… They were Americans and they are Americans first,” he said.
Kennedy’s Top Issues
He encouraged voters to look at his policies, not his party affiliation. “What I would say to you is, I’m not going to characterize myself as a conservative or liberal. I’m neither a Democrat or Republican,” he explained. “Listen to the issues and if you don’t agree with my issues, then you should vote for somebody else.”
Those “issues” include ending ‘forever wars,’ reining in federal spending, lowering the national debt, policing regulatory agencies, and curtailing “propagandizing” from government employees. “Neither of them [Trump or Biden] are going to deal with the existential issues that are actually threatening our country,” he said. “So, if you want to label me as a conservative versus liberal, I don’t think it’s accurate. I think I’m trying to have a common sense solution.”
The Role of ‘Cultural Issues’
Megyn and Kennedy spent much of their interview discussing social issues like the Biden administration’s changes to Title IX, radical gender ideology, and abortion, which he appeared to take umbrage with.
“I promise to listen to people, to change my mind when I go wrong on the facts, to not demonize and marginalize and vilify other Americans but to try to find the common ground that we all share in common, rather than focusing on the trials of the cultural war issues and the race issues that, you know, Republicans and Democrats are all trying to get us to focus on,” Kennedy said. “Even the issues that you focused on today, Megyn, are all cultural issues.”
Those are issues, Megyn interjected, that are top of mind for many voters. “These are important issues,” she said. “I know the issues that interest my audience and there’s a reason this is one of the top shows in the nation, so don’t disparage what’s what matters to them.”
In Megyn’s view, it is not an either-or proposition. “The issue about young women, young girls, and our rights, and due process on college campuses, and the right of the unborn, and the immigration issue, and race baiting by our highest officials, those matter,” she concluded. “Your issues matter too. I love what you just said. It was the best answer you gave the whole interview, but don’t diminish what matters to my audience because that is also important.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kennedy by tuning in to episode 806 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.