World Affairs Brief, July 7, 2023 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

There is something fascinating about Bobby Kennedy’s dark horse candidacy for the presidency. He started off without any big donors, no campaign organization, no endorsements, and without the normal plethora of campaign advisors crafting politicized policy statements. He just threw his hat in the ring because he was tired and upset at the way our government restricted American liberty during the pandemic and forced an unsafe vaccine on everyone. He’s also been deeply upset privately that the government killed his uncle, president John F. Kennedy and his father, Robert F. Kennedy (who was also running for president). As the founder of Children’s Health Defense, since the pandemic he has become the number one vocal enemy of Big Pharma vaccines and their conspiratorial links to Big Government at the FDA and CDC, and has thus earned the wrath of the establishment. Taking a stand that even hints of a conspiracy would have been fatal to any normal candidate, but Bobby is a Democrat and not just any Democrat, he’s a Kennedy, the last person who could be accused with the typical “right-wing” attack jobs by the Media and Left. Perhaps because of his name alone, and despite the Democratic Party’s secret vow to downplay and marginalize his candidacy, several media outlets can’t help but interview Kennedy about his unorthodox views, and they have been surprisingly popular. This week, I’ll cover what we now know about him, his policy views and what we might expect if he were to become president.

Not since Donald Trump has there been a presidential candidate who threatened to challenge the establishment Deep State. Only this time, unlike Donald Trump who had no real experience working against the Deep State, the threat comes from the Democrat side with someone with deep experience in actually fighting against (a portion of) Big Government and its conspiratorial collusion with Big Pharma.

Whereas Donald Trump was easily manipulated by his lack of conservative background, his susceptibility to flattery and his failure to detect the infiltration of Deep State advisors and compromised operatives within his administration, Bobby Kennedy Jr, is an environmental lawyer with years of experience fighting the government and big corporations in court, who is deeply schooled in both the law and argumentation necessary to debate a lot of issues verbally and in print.

The Defender, Children’s Health Defense free online publication, continues to be a powerful voice with their fact-based coverage of vaccine dangers, health issues, and government censorship of the uncomfortable truths.

But Bobby Kennedy Jr. has been making the rounds of other sites too. There have been several interviews with Bobby Kennedy Jr just this past week which were wide ranging and gave people an opportunity to see how Kennedy would respond to the most common political issues of the day. As you will see in some of the following interviews, it’s not just the substance of his answers, which conservatives and libertarians will sometimes disagree with but the directness and lack of evasion Kennedy displays that is totally refreshing.

If you have ever watched Republican members of Congress grilling a government official in a hearing, you will hardly ever hear a candid, honest answer. Every response is evasive, dodging, and an outright refusal to answer directly. Kennedy does the opposite—he jumps right to the issue and would gladly debate a skeptic on any topic point-by-point.

One of his first major interviews as a candidate was a Town Hall Interview with Elizabeth Vargas. It begins with the first short campaign spot Kennedy has aired. Vargas begins by noting that he, being a Kennedy, is the closest thing to political royalty in this country, and is already polling 15-20% against Joe Biden (which I’m sure will begin to trend upward as more of these interviews come out). In her intro, she comes right out and says he is being called a “conspiracy theorist” but acknowledges that many voters may want someone to take on the established powers (much as they did Trump).

1. Why should the voters trust you who has never held elective office? He doesn’t respond to that, but instead says, “I’m running because the party has lost its way!” …it should defend its traditional values about the middle class, minorities, labor and the environment. But it seems to have forgotten about civil liberties and freedom of speech. The party used to be anti-war too. What we’re doing now in Ukraine is a departure from that.”

2. The Ukraine War: He goes on to explain that he’s “very sympathetic” to the plight of the Ukrainian people, not sympathetic to Putin’s illegal invasion, but “we have neglected opportunities to settle it peacefully.” His son Connor has even gone over and fought for Ukraine.

He then goes into great detail and shows a wide range of knowledge about the traditional narrative about the Fall of the Soviet Union and the agreements the West signed with Russia not to expand NATO. I know of no politician that can quote off the top of his head this level of detail. That said, without a knowledge of the devious motives of the Soviets in faking their own demise, and the devious motives of the Western Globalists in signing agreements that they had no intention of keeping (in order to hand Putin the excuse to invade Ukraine) he can’t draw the correct conclusions from these facts.

On a side tangent, he even showed that he knew about the secret deal JFK made with Khrushchev to take out our own missiles in Turkey if he removed his missiles out of Cuba, though he failed to mention that JFK also agreed to never invade Cuba ever in the future, giving the Communists a perpetual free reign.

He ended this section on Ukraine talking about how Phil Donahue lost his job in this very studio by saying it was a lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He was eventually proven correct. This led to RFK Jr.’s impassioned statement about how our government lies to us, and how complex the resolution of world tensions is, and how careful we need to be about what government claims.

So, as he states in the beginning, Kennedy correctly notes that Ukraine is not a humanitarian war as much as a proxy war against Russia, though he doesn’t understand why it is necessary to weaken Russia’s conventional army in order to postpone the coming nuclear war until China is ready to join the war. Once again, a failure to understand the long conspiratorial history of the Western Globalists building up both Russia and China as future enemies leads to his failure to see the big picture of what all the 3 major world players are up to relative to the coming third world war.

But not being a globalist, he’s absolutely sincere in his frustration with what’s going on in Ukraine and our government, as are many sincere conservatives who oppose the war.

3. “Are you shocked about how the Democratic Party and media are treating you?” Yes, but not surprised. He insists that he’s trying to lead with the same values his uncle and father represented in the original democratic party. People ask why isn’t he running as an independent: because he wants his party to go back to the values his family shares.

4. “You say you’re a Democrat but you’re getting a lot of support from people on the Right like Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, and even Donald Trump who said, ‘Kennedy is smart and a common sense guy.’ Some say you’re a spoiler for the party. What do you think of Donald Trump?” He responds that he’s not going to get into attacking opponents, but wants to be a unifying factor in the nation.

This is not just a ploy like it usually sounds. Kennedy, I think, really wants to unite people, naive as that may be. In fact, he seems to be the only candidate capable of bridging the spectrum from moderate Right to moderate Left and most of the independents. He’s even speaking at my brother Mark Skousen’s Freedom Fest convention in Memphis, TN, the largest annual conservative/libertarian gathering of the year (July 12-15). –Highly recommended.

4. “Will you support the eventual Democratic Nominee?” “Of course, not!” I plan to win this election, and I DON’T HAVE A PLAN B!” (To audience applause)

5. “What is your plan to reduce inflation?” First, I’m going to wind down the American Empire…of war spending. Second, the lockdown of America cost us $16T. Third, we’ve got to stop government spending (which ultimately puts billions of new money into the economy, which increases demand, driving up prices. He doesn’t say this but hopefully he understands the fundamentals involved). Instead, he decries all the billions for bank bailouts and wars and feels we ought to be funding food stamps and medicare instead. –An economically weak answer, but natural for a Democrat.

6. “How would you solve the immigration crisis?” Kennedy puts the full blame on the Biden administration, and gives the audience a tour d’force on what’s going on at the border—how the administration is letting every illegal in. They are given a court date, now 7 years in advance, and allowed to going anywhere in the country they want. He says we need to seal the border, and use sensors in lesser used areas. Above all, he says we need to stop this policy of making Border Patrol simply a processing agency, and go back to their job of stopping people from getting in illegally. As president he would expand legal immigration for workers.

7. On solving the drug addiction problem: He would decriminalize marijuana federally, which I think is appropriate. “We need to make recovery (from hard drugs) easy, cheap and readily available.” Sadly, I don’t think that is possible in most cases, although his mention of the Italian model of establishing work farms for addicted youth works well, teaching them how to grow organic food and be productive citizens. He’s right about the holistic way of treating addiction, making them better people, rather than just treating the drug addiction. He’s also in favor of getting kids off of SSRI anti-depressants which is wonderful. But here in America, only a small fraction of addicts ever seek treatment, even when free. Drugs fry the brain and destroy good thinking.

8. “How can we help you come to the side of science?” challenging his views on the dangers of childhood vaccines. This question came from a mainstream doctor. Boy, does he get an earful of rebuttal from Kennedy: First, vaccines are NOT safety tested. Of the 72 childhood vaccines mandated, none of them have been tested with double-blind placebo-controlled trial studies. Vargas interrupts, “yes they have.” Kennedy responds, “No!” He sued HHS to provide a single pre-licensing safety study for any of the 72 vaccines and they finally admitted there were NONE.

Then to the doctor, he recounts the study in California of giving the chicken pox vaccine to children and although it did prevent the chicken pox, it also vastly increased the rate of shingles later on in life, which is far more deadly and damaging. Then he gives the example of the DPT shot, and how it was banned in the USA and the UK, but how the Gates Foundation continued to promote it for years in Africa. The Danish government did an investigation showing how vaccinated children in Africa were dying of other diseases at 10 times the rate of non-vaxxed children because the DPT shot was damaging their immune system. Yes, it protected against the relatively rare Diphtheria, Pertussis and Typhoid, but by losing their immune system, it was deadly to millions later on in life.

When you challenge RFK jr by saying vaccines are “a universal wonderful thing” you better be prepared for an avalanche of facts and data that will take you to the cleaners. He’s that good. I’ll guarantee that President Biden and his team will never engage Kennedy directly or they will lose.

Finally Vargas questions whether or not all these officials and doctors are lying to us about vaccine safety. He says no, but says it’s the FDA that is lying. They know of these problems and they are lying to doctors who rely on these falsehoods. “The FDA is a corrupt government agency and controlled by Big Pharma. That is the problem,” he says. That is what he will try and end as president. Good luck with that.

9. “You’re a lawyer, not a scientist, why should we trust you?” Kennedy has a great comeback here. “We live in a democracy. We don’t have a [scientific] priesthood here…We’re in charge of our own lives.” He then goes through numerous court cases he has litigated and won with opposing scientific, credentialed experts on either side saying exactly the opposite things. “Trusting the experts is a function of religion and totalitarianism,” he says, “and not democracy. It’s our job to read what experts are claiming and decide for ourselves who is right and who is wrong.” -Right on!

10. “How are you going to end the epidemic of gun violence in America?” “I believe in the Constitution and the Second Amendment and I don’t think there is much we can do stop the use and trade of guns.” “I’m not going to take people’s guns away.” “Anyone who tells you they’re going to reduce gun violence by gun control isn’t being realistic.” But, sadly, he did say he would sign an assault weapons ban if that legislation was put before him. He also talked about the correlation between a high percentage of school shooters being on SSRI anti-depressant drugs.

11. “Would you support LGBT rights?” He was asked by a gay man. Yes, he responded, just as I support the civil rights of any other group. In a follow up, if he would denounce the Moms for Liberty group he was invited to speak to, he said, no. I’m not going to denounce any group exercising their own civil rights. Personally, I don’t think it is at all clear if Kennedy understands the difference between the right to engage in homosexual conduct privately and the false civil right of forcing government and the public to accept your conduct as a marriage on par with all the rights of a heterosexual marriage that may involve the bearing of children.

12. What would he do with China? As president, he said he would try and de-escalate tensions with China. He said he knows China is trying to control the world economically, but does not think China wants to go to war with the US. -Very very naive.

13. What would you do to unite the country? “First of all, start telling the truth to the American people” Kennedy believes the major reason for division in the country is that we are being lied to. When he was a kid, everyone trusted the government. Not anymore.

Other political commentators at satellite locations of viewers noticed some local commentary:

One man made the comment, “He doesn’t sound like a Democrat.” Another woman chimed in and said “I like that he’s so honest.” Multiple people in the group murmured in agreement to that statement.

I tend to agree. He doesn’t sound like a Democrat on many key issues, and that may make it impossible for him to run as one or get the nomination. But, the one thing that comes across from Kennedy is his passion for truth and utter sincerity. I’m also highly impressed with his ability to debate. He’s going to be a formidable opponent when challenged, especially if the opponent doesn’t have all his facts memorized.

If I were to make a summary comment on his possibility of getting the Democratic nomination, I would say they were low. He will appeal to moderate Democrats but he’s clearly not “Democratic enough” for the radical Democratic party wing, or their Deep State controllers.

But RFK jr will be an increasing force to be reckoned with because of his persuasive demeanor and debating skills. The big question is, how will the Democrats keep him out of the debates? -Probably by refusing to allow the president to debate anyone at all, which is likely.

In the end, I think Kennedy will have to run as an independent. He’s the only candidate who can bridge the gap between conservatives, independents and reasonable Democrats. If he does, it could radically affect the 2024 election by making it a 3-way race.

This came across in another interview with Reason Magazine, whose two interviewees were shockingly pro-vaccine and otherwise buying into the government’s false narratives on many issues which real libertarians should be resistant to. The Daily Mail had this summary:

The Democratic presidential hopeful was interviewed by Reason TV about his campaign, his plans for if he was elected and some of his more controversial beliefs. Host Nick Gillespie, the editor of Reason Magazine, accused him of ‘trafficking’ in conspiracy theories.

RFK Jr. defended himself against claims he’s a conspiracy theorist pushing unfounded claims in a recent interview where he said he is yet to be shown where his beliefs are wrong. Kennedy said, “You did something that is very unfair. Which is, you made a series of characterizations of my beliefs that you read in the newspapers. ‘Many of which are just wrong,” RFK Jr shot back.

The host then rattled off a list of about 10 topics that implied conspiratorial content. Kennedy challenged, “show me where I got it wrong.”

The hosts presented him with charts that show the rate of COVID deaths as being higher among unvaccinated people. He (Kennedy) said the research he consults shows otherwise. Gillespie then presented him with some of the theories he claimed had been debunked, like that COVID vaccines are not safe and that HIV is not always detected in AIDS patients.

Kennedy then successfully debunked every issue that Gillespie brought up.

Among RFK Jr’s theories are that COVID vaccines are driving deaths

‘If somebody wants to get vaccinated, I have no problem with that I just don’t think you should mandate that. I believe in freedom of choice… people should be able to do what they want with as much freedom as possible.’

RFK Jr. has been vocal in his criticism of the COVID-19 vaccine and others – some of which he has linked to kids developing autism – for years.

‘Yes, I am willing to question public matters. I’ve been taught to do that my whole life. ‘My father said people in authority lie.’ Later, he said he was mostly against mandates like enforcing the vaccine or lockdowns. ‘My inclination is not to mandate things but give people a choice.

Among his other beliefs that were challenged in the interview is that AIDS patients can only develop the disease after first contracting HIV, and that 5G and WiFi can be dangerous.

In rebuttal, Kennedy litigated a 5G damage case which proved that 5G phones when held up to the ear for long periods of time can cause brain damage. You can listen to the actual irritating interview here.

In that interview, Kennedy accused the CIA of playing a role in the assassinations of his uncle, JFK, and father, Bobby Kennedy. The mainstream media never likes to air this, one of the most important major conspiracies of our time—the government assassination of JFK. So, here’s an interview where Bobby Kennedy actually explains to an irritating Bill Maher (who keeps interrupting with silly remarks) what happened the day his father was killed, because he was there. He even names the bodyguard, Thane Eugene Cesar, that killed his father, and the autopsy report that proves RFK was shot several times in the back with a different caliber gun than the one wielded by the mind-controlled Sirhan Sirhan. This is a must-see interview.

During an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Kennedy acknowledged that the CIA could come after him like they did when his uncle and father were assassinated and even said he is taking “precautions.” Rawstory wrote,

RFK Jr. told Rogan that he suspects the CIA was involved in his uncle’s death. He went on to say that his uncle was “at war” with the intelligence community in regards to foreign policy.

In direct relationship with this knowledge, Bobby Kennedy jr reacted strongly to Biden’s midnight announcement that he will continue to keep the JFK assassination files secret indefinitely, as the Western Journal reported,

Democratic presidential challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to be a thorn in the side of the incumbent administration — but this time, the issue at hand is a particularly personal one.

In a blistering Twitter tirade, Kennedy blasted the clandestine way President Joe Biden and his administration had decided and announced that it would “be maintaining secrecy indefinitely” on certain records related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy, Robert’s uncle.

For Kennedy, the claim that there is still “identifiable harm” related to releasing information about an event so long ago made no sense, and he reacted accordingly.

“The assassination was 60 years ago,” he wrote in one Twitter post. “What national security secrets could possibly be at risk? What are they hiding?”

Of course, he knows what they are hiding—CIA involvement in hiring the mafia hit men to do the shooting from the grassy knoll in Dallas and setting up Oswald to be the fall guy.

Finally, I end this section with a funny video report from James Corbett on how the media treats conspiracy believers –“just shut up…there are no conspiracies,” followed by video clips of mainstream officials admitting to conspiracy.