Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blames the media for distorting his view of Donald Trump, with whom he has been compared unfavorably to Hitler in one respect in shocking newly unearthed audio recordings.
The comments came in 2016, when RFK Jr. described Trump as a serious threat, and around the time newly elected Vice President JD Vance called Trump “America’s Hitler” in a comment he has since retracted.
“Like many Americans, I allowed myself to believe the mainstream media’s distorted, dystopian portrait of President Trump. I am no longer convinced and now regret making these statements,” RFK Jr. said in response to the release of the recordings.
The comments that led to the combative expression of regret came from audio recordings of RFK’s radio show unearthed by CNN.
The Hitler comparison came when RFK Jr. called Trump “non compus mentis” and said one difference was that “Hitler was interested in policy.”
In one comment, he said that “every statement Donald Trump makes is based on fear.” He said Trump, who has sheltered him at Mar-a-Lago since the election and says he will nominate him as Secretary of Health and Human Services, is encouraging fear of Muslims and “Black people, especially the great black man Obama, who is destroying this country and making everyone miserable.”
Trump’s successful run for the White House began by wrongly questioning Barack Obama’s citizenship.
Vaccine skeptic RFK Jr. read a long passage by journalist Matt Taibbi in which Trump was approvingly eviscerated.
Under the influence: “Like many Americans, I allowed myself to believe the mainstream media’s distorted, dystopian portrayal of President Trump,” RFK Jr. said when confronted with 2016 statements comparing Donald Trump to Hitler
“One of the things you write so beautifully – and your stuff is so fun to read – but you write about Trump, quote: ‘The way you build a really vicious nationalist movement is through a relatively small core of warring idiots to connect with a much larger group of opportunists and spineless fellow travelers whose primary function is to turn a blind eye to things,” said Kennedy.
He continued to quote the author, saying, “We may not have that many outright Nazis in America, but we have plenty of cowards and bootlickers, and once those beefy dominoes fall into the Trump camp, it’s game over.”
Trump embraced RFK. Jr., who ran first as a Democrat and then as an independent before supporting Trump. The vaccine skeptic is Trump’s choice to lead HHS
RFK, Jr. blamed the mainstream media in a statement to CNN
Then Kennedy added his own Hitler comparison — years before Trump’s allies reacted furiously when former White House chief of staff James Mattis called Trump “fascist to the core” and Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign criticized the comments picked up.
“And you know, he’s not like Hitler,” Kennedy Jr. added. “Hitler had a plan, you know? Hitler was interested in policy. I don’t think Trump has any of that. He is like non-compos mentis. He steps in and who knows what happens.”
As if the comparison to Hitler wasn’t enough, RFK Jr. also compared him to “historical demagogues who rose in times of crisis” such as Benito Mussolini.