Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, expressed on Monday that President Biden might represent a “greater threat to democracy” than former President Trump, referencing his legal fight against the Biden administration regarding social media censorship.
In a CNN interview with Erin Burnett, Kennedy stated that he could “make an argument” that Biden’s actions are more damaging, though he acknowledged Trump as a threat as well.
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“The threat to democracy posed by President Biden is far more severe,” he asserted. “This is because Biden is the first president in history to utilize federal agencies to censor political speech.”
Kennedy is currently engaged in a lawsuit against the Biden administration due to its 2021 request to restrict his social media accounts. He had posted misinformation suggesting that baseball legend Hank Aaron died from complications related to the COVID vaccine, a claim that medical experts have debunked.
Last month, Kennedy obtained an injunction in his case, but it has been stayed pending decisions on two Supreme Court cases regarding the executive branch’s authority to advocate for social media censorship, which were brought forth by GOP attorneys general.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last month in two cases concerning social media, which allege that the Biden administration illegally pressured social media companies to censor accounts disseminating misinformation about COVID-19. Kennedy argued that this alleged censorship positions Biden as a threat.
“I can contend that President Biden is [the greatest threat] because the First Amendment is paramount,” he remarked. “As Adams, Hamilton, and Madison stated, we established a guarantee of freedom of expression in the First Amendment because all our other constitutional rights rely on it.”
These critical remarks regarding Biden come at a time when the president and other Democrats are ramping up their scrutiny of Kennedy, despite worries about his potential impact on the 2024 election.
Although Kennedy is unlikely to win any states in November, Democratic analysts fear he could siphon votes away from Biden in crucial states, potentially aiding a Trump victory.
When pressed by Burnett, Kennedy also voiced criticisms of Trump, calling the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election “appalling,” indicating that Trump is also a threat.
Currently, Kennedy is averaging nearly 10 percent in polls conducted by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, positioning him as the highest-polling third-party candidate in a presidential race since Ross Perot in 1992.
In a five-way race that includes Jill Stein and Cornel West, Kennedy holds 10 percent according to the RealClearPolitics national average.
