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The Maltese Herald

John F. Kennedy was not a pacifist

—

by

Mark Camilleri
in

So, by now you all know that John F. Kennedy’s nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be contesting the US presidential primaries with the Democrats. RFK has so far endorsed every big conspiracy theory: that they are vaccinating us to control us, that 5G destroys your immune system, that vaccines cause autism and damage people, and so on and so forth. He also believes the CIA killed his uncle.

Backed by the “All-In” crowd of David Sacks, Chamath, and Jason Calacanis, Robert F. Kennedy is pandering to the pro-Russian side of the American right by invoking his uncle’s legacy and foreign policy with the USSR.

It’s rather boring that I have to point out these simple things but John F. Kennedy was not a pacifist. Kennedy gave personal approval of the Bay of Pigs, augmented the US contingent in Vietnam by up to 10,000 military and special forces personnel, and increased the US defense budget by 9% during his presidency. Kennedy had signed the first nuclear arms control treaty with the USSR, banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, but Kennedy did not stop the development of the US’s nuclear arsenal.

Robert F. Kennedy is a politician coming from one of the strongest and most popular political dynasties in the US, yet he is pitching himself as the anti-establishment candidate by saying the most controversial things for the sake of looking, contrarian. RFK’s type of political act comes with a lot of historical revisionism.

Comments

  1. Cecil avatar
    Cecil

    Revisionism is America’s modus operandi.

    Reply
  2. Banquo avatar
    Banquo

    I do not think Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is saying controversial things “for the sake of looking contrarian”. Kennedy has been spouting conspiracy theories for decades, which suggests that his pronouncements are not mere political acts but deeply held beliefs.

    For a comparison, we can look at Donald Trump. Trump is a man with no fixed political ideology, and has flip-flopped on all sorts of things, but if there was one thing we knew he genuinely believed in when he became America’s president, it was that imposing import tariffs will give American manufacturers of goods an upper hand (an incorrect belief because, in a connected world, manufacturing in one country is reliant on importation of parts from another; and also because American manufacturers would find that other countries are imposing counter import tariffs on their own goods when they try to export).

    We know Trump really believes in import tariffs because he had been promoting them for decades in interviews given to the media. In fact, imposing import tariffs on China and other countries was probably the policy he followed most diligently. Clearly, this was not just a political cause he took up for some perceived boost in popularity but a conviction that import tariffs are good for America.

    Similary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been speaking about, and writing books promoting, conspiracy theories for years, so one must assume that he genuinely believes the weird ideas. It’s not like he needed these theories to become popular. He’s a Kennedy, for Pete’s sake. He could have stood a chance of getting elected president just by being a sensible politician, letting his famous surname carry him through. Make no mistake about it. Kennedy chose this road because he is affiliated to it, not just because he found it politically opportune.

    Reply
  3. The new Russian mule of the US Presidential elections – Mark Camilleri avatar
    The new Russian mule of the US Presidential elections – Mark Camilleri

    […] for peace. Basically, he wants to hand a victory to Russia and he is justifying his reasons by invoking his uncle and falsely portraying him as a […]

    Reply

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