Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used his primetime slot at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas to deliver a blistering indictment of the modern Democratic Party: the same party with which his family has been synonymous for generations.
He argued that Democrats have ditched their core values simply because they can’t stand President Trump. Mr. Kennedy said the principles he was raised on — the ones his father and uncle championed — now reside within the Republican Party.
“Neither my father nor my uncle would recognize the Democratic Party of today,” Mr. Kennedy said, referring to U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated and remain Democratic icons.
Praising Mr. Trump’s leadership, he called on voters to keep the GOP in control of Congress so the administration can keep building on what he called real progress, pointing to a declining obesity rate as one example.
“We are making America healthy again, it’s up to you now,” he said. “We need to elect a Republican Congress to keep this momentum going.”
Mr. Kennedy’s split from the Democratic Party — combined with his famous family name, his embrace of Mr. Trump, and his push to clean up the nation’s food supply — has turned him into a star of the MAGA movement.
At the convention, Mr. Kennedy traced his political turning point back a couple of years, citing the Democratic Party’s unwelcoming response to his short-lived bid for the party’s presidential nomination, and Democrats’ response to the coronavirus.
“It struck me if this was no longer about left and right. It was about the sane and insane. It was about common sense and communism,” he said Thursday, the last line echoing one of the GOP midterm convention’s overall themes.
Mr. Kennedy credited late conservative activist Charlie Kirk with connection him with Mr. Trump and their “promise to Make America Healthy Again.”
“Some of my Democratic friends told me that I was a fool for trusting President Trump, and so I want to make the record clear right now. President Trump has kept every single promise that he made to me without exception - and we have kept our promise to the American people,” he said.
Pointing to rising “real food” sales and falling obesity numbers, Mr. Kennedy said Mr. Trump’s list of accomplishments speaks for itself.
“President Trump has ended nine wars. He’s restored competency to our government. He’s restored public faith,” he said. “He’s restored America’s leadership across the globe, and I am so grateful to God for giving our country a leader like this.”
“I’m grateful to President Trump for including me in his administration and giving me a place in this extraordinary revolution that is happening in our country, where we’re going to restore American democracy and restore the America that my uncle and father believed in – the exemplary nation respected and emulated across the globe,” he said.
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