(USNewsMag.com) – During an interview on April 1st, Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 70, called President Joe Biden a “much worse threat to democracy” than former President Donald Trump.
Kennedy’s comment comes as Biden continues to say that Trump poses a threat to democracy and has made preserving democracy a cornerstone of his campaign.
Kennedy, who was being interviewed on “Erin Burnett OutFront” on CNN, said that the actions of the Biden administration to “censor political speech” on social media platforms undermines the First Amendment. Though he does not believe either Trump or Biden would “destroy democracy,” Kennedy does believe both should not be re-elected in November. However, he added that Biden is more of a threat than Trump because is the first president to use “federal agencies to censor political speech” and the first who censors “his opponent.”
Despite calling Biden more of a threat to democracy, he also said he would not defend Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, calling it “appalling.”
Kennedy attributes his removal from social media platforms to pressure from the Biden administration and its efforts to censor political speech. In 2021, his Instagram account was suspended for allegedly “sharing debunked claims” regarding the pandemic and vaccines. However, his account was reinstated in 2023 with Instagram’s parent company, Meta, citing his presidential campaign as the reason his account was restored. A central focus of Kennedy’s campaign has been freedom of speech issues.
The Democratic National Committee responded to Kennedy’s statement, claiming that “there is no comparison” between Trump and Biden. In the statement, the DNC called Kennedy a “spoiler candidate” who pushed “his MAGA talking points in prime time.”
Kennedy launched his presidential campaign in 2023, running as a Democrat and challenging Biden in the Democratic primary. In October, he decided to run as an independent candidate, choosing attorney Nicole Shanahan, 38, as his vice presidential nominee during a campaign rally in March in Oakland, California.
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