Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Salon
Salon
Politics
Kelly McClure

Kennedy: "COVID ruined middle class"

On Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially announced his bid for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination and has been making campaign rounds with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines — best known for her role as Cheryl David in "Curb Your Enthusiasm."  

Making an appearance on Fox News this weekend, Kennedy Jr. did not shy away from his controversial beliefs on COVID-19 and vaccinations in general, telling host Neil Cavuto he believes that the restrictions put forth during the pandemic led to the eradication of the middle class.

"The strength of a nation comes from a strong economy and a vibrant middle class. And we have wiped out the middle class in this country systematically," Kennedy Jr. said. 

Going further into his explanation of why he believes the middle class was negatively impacted by the lockdown, the Democratic presidential hopeful said, "Worst of all is what it did to the economy . . . We shifted $4 trillion in wealth from the American middle class to this new aristocracy of billionaires. We created 500 new billionaires. The Oxfam report, which came out this week, shows that the billionaires that existed at the beginning of the pandemic, the people like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeffrey Bezos, Bloomberg, etc., increased their wealth by 30% during the pandemic. From the lockdowns. And Amazon got to shut down all of its competitors." 

The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, Jr. went on to describe why he's the best candidate to run against Trump saying:

"I'm in a better position to run against Donald Trump than any of the Democrats because I can hold him accountable for the worst thing that he did, which was the lockdowns. The lockdowns were absolutely catastrophic.

Hines, who has been introducing Kennedy Jr. during this week's campaign events, has previously gone on record as having different beliefs than her husband when it comes to COVID-19 and vaccinations.

In January 2022, Hines gave a statement in response to a comment her husband made which compared vaccine mandates to Anne Frank and Nazi Germany saying, "My husband's reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in D.C. was reprehensible and insensitive. The atrocities that millions endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions are not a reflection of my own."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.