If you were wondering why Robert Kennedy Jr. is a good fit for Donald Trump, look no further than their primary character flaw: Neither can tell the truth.
They have other similarities, too. Neither understands or appreciates science, especially medical science. Neither has a foundation of basic principles or values — everything with these guys is transactional.
This last point was displayed as Kennedy shopped around for a job with the Kamala Harris and Trump campaigns, offering his endorsement in exchange for a cabinet or other position in their future administration.
Harris — more intelligent than Trump and a person of principle — wanted nothing to do with Kennedy. He then went to Trump and, of course, worked out a deal only two soulless men, who have a history of saying terrible things about each other, could make. Time will tell, but history tells us people who deal with Trump frequently don’t get paid.
The overriding character flaw drawing them together is their lack of shame in telling blatant falsehoods. Kennedy said a falsehood right out of the box as he announced the suspension of his presidential campaign and his endorsement of Trump.
He said: “In Chicago, a string of Democratic speakers mentioned Donald Trump 147 times just on the first day … who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate? In contrast, at the RNC convention, President Biden was mentioned only twice in four days.”
This is not true and is easily disproven. The New York Times did just that and counted the number of times Republican speakers mentioned Biden during the Republican convention. The number was a bit larger than “twice in four days.” It was 393 times. JD Vance alone mentioned Biden 12 times in his acceptance speech. Heck, Kennedy mentioned Biden 11 times in his Trump endorsement.
Like Trump, Kennedy is not only a liar but a very poor liar in that his lies are so easily disproved. As Philip Bump wrote for the Washington Post, during the announcement, Kennedy “rained bizarre claims and false assertions down upon (reporters), reinforcing indirectly the extent to which even the limited success of his campaign was rooted in his last name rather than his commitment to reality.”
While Trump has said he “knows more than the generals,” Kennedy thinks he knows more than medical experts regarding children’s health. As documented by Daniel Dale, writing for CNN, “Kennedy is one of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine activists. He has for years used false and misleading claims to undermine public confidence in vaccines that are indeed safe.”
Nevertheless, last summer, Kennedy looked reality in the eye and announced he has “never” urged parents not to have their children vaccinated. Nor, says Kennedy, is he anti-vaccine but just a “proponent of vaccine safety.” The avoidance of reality continued in testimony to Congress when Kennedy continued his big lie and said he has “never been anti-vax” nor has he encouraged the public to “avoid vaccination.”
Roll the tape: In 2021, Kennedy said during a podcast, according to Dale, that “he had personally urged strangers to refrain from vaccinating their babies” and encouraged the public to join him “in telling strangers not to vaccinate their babies.”
He said, “If you’re walking down the street — and I do this now myself … I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby, and I say to him, ‘Better not get him vaccinated.’ If he hears it from 10 other people, maybe he won’t do it, you know, maybe he will save that child.”
Kennedy has also pushed the false claim that childhood vaccinations cause autism, that the COVID-19 vaccines killed seniors in nursing homes and a variety of other falsehoods aimed at scaring parents from vaccinating their children and discouraging people from getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
Trump and Kennedy are two peas in a pod of falsehoods and misinformation.
With all the weird stuff coming out of Kennedy’s mouth these days, like his story about moving a dead bear to Central Park, one has to wonder how long it will take Trump to say something like, “I never even heard of Kennedy” as he now says about the authors of Project 2025 after the document negatively impacted his campaign.
How will this impact the presidential race? Not much, according to data analysis from pollster Nate Silver, who writes that it may help Trump a little. This makes sense to me. If you were an anti-vax Kennedy supporter, Trump seems to be the logical place to land as both peddle conspiracy theories. Others wonder if Trump’s association with Kennedy will further alienate him from independent, suburban voters.
Finally, I don’t think this relationship will last because Trump and Kennedy are narcissists. On Friday night, Trump gave Kennedy 15 minutes of fame in exchange for his endorsement, but I bet he will provide him with little additional air time in the future. Trump is not known for sharing the stage, especially with someone perceived as a loser.
Just ask Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake.
Tom Zirpoli is the Laurence J. Adams Distinguished Chair in Special Education Emeritus at McDaniel College. He writes from Westminster. His column appears on Wednesdays. Email him at tzirpoli@mcdaniel.edu.