HOOKSETT, NH – Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is back in New Hampshire this week, making a stop at Robie’s General Store on Tuesday morning.
While many visits by candidates to the historic locale have been meet-and-greet-style events with candidates talking to voters individually, Kennedy instead engaged in an impromptu town hall, speaking on a variety of topics before taking questions.
Kennedy bashed the Democratic National Committee for their attempts to wrest away New Hampshire’s First in the Nation Primary status and ultimately retail politics, disenfranchising voters who demand face-to-face discussions with presidential candidates like those that occur at Robie’s.
He also attacked U.S. President Joseph Biden for not engaging in debates with him, citing unspecified polls that he would easily beat former U.S. President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ronald DeSantis in general election matchups and he was close to Biden in the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary race. Kennedy believed that this lack of engagement from Biden and the DNC represented a fundamental flaw within the current Democratic Party.
“The Democratic Party should stand for bigger issues than just fear and opposition to Donald Trump. You can’t run elections based on fear, you can’t run a country based on fear; we’re a better country than that,” he said.
Kennedy said he respected some aspects of Trump, such as what he perceived a desire to reform the U.S. Government and end America’s military-industrial complex. However, he stated that Trump’s efforts had fallen short due to the people he nominated for various positions that controverted those desires, also criticizing the Trump Administration for allowing lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kennedy also added he has had a cordial relationship with Trump for several decades despite suing him twice.
On the topic of border security, Kennedy discussed the humanitarian crisis at the U.S./Mexico border and the federal government’s inability to address the problem, stating that Mexican drug cartels now effectively dictate U.S. immigration policy. He told the audience that one key reason behind the rise of illegal immigration was the decline of unions in the 1980s, stating that unions often assisted in identifying undocumented migrants who might take their jobs. If elected, Kennedy said that he would institute free passport and photo ID services for all Americans, facilitating voting and making it easier to separate citizens from non-citizens, adding that the U.S. must do more to help other countries where migrants originally hail from.
Regarding the War in Ukraine, Kennedy said it had already been lost by Ukraine and the United States had squandered opportunities to engage in dialog with Russia that could have brought peace if the U.S. had agreed to prohibit Ukraine from entering NATO and ensure that the Ukrainian Donbas region would remain autonomous with the rights of its Russian minority protected.
Instead, he said that while the war has damaged the Russian military, the true winners of the war have been U.S. companies that have sold weapons of war that found their way to Ukraine while the losers were the Ukrainian people that have died due to the war’s continuation. He added that Ukraine’s ability to defeat Russia in a war is comparable to Mexico’s military defeating that of the United States.
Kennedy also criticized the country’s medical establishment, stating that America’s response to COVID-19 was the worst in the world and was exasperated largely due to various underlying chronic comorbidities such as obesity and diabetes among others. He stated that the U.S. should stop investigating infectious diseases for eight years until these issues can be properly addressed.
He also attacked three companies (Black Rock, State Street and Vanguard) that he says are quickly buying up the country’s housing stock, preventing young people from building equity through their homes and instead serving as their landlords. He said he would address this by offering three percent tax-free mortgage loans to young homebuyers, beginning with teachers who live in the communities they work in given the harassment they have been given in recent years and the importance of their profession.
“If you have a rich uncle and he goes on your mortgage, you can get a much better rate because the bank is basing your interest rates on his score, not your lousy sore. Well, I’m going to give everybody a rich uncle, Uncle Sam,” he said.
