Democratic presidential precandidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was invited to speak before the House committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on July 19 for their ongoing investigations into abuses by the government. Kennedy was almost prevented from speaking due to an explosion of outrage against comments he made about Covid-19, which some insisted were prejudiced and offensive. Despite much hype and drama, even within the Congressional chamber itself, the candidate was eventually allowed to speak.
In light of the accusations and hysteria, Kennedy took the opportunity to address the issue head-on. He discarded his prepared remarks and instead launched into a full attack on what he called the “new form of censorship.” He started by talking about “the issues that impact directly the American people,” including inflation, the war in Ukraine, and the cost of living in America. He said that earlier in the year when he started talking about this stuff on YouTube, he was deplatformed, without him even mentioning his oft-discussed stances on Covid or vaccines. Kennedy stressed the importance of the first amendment, and that it is for the “difficult issues,” not the ones people already agree with. “Debate is the fertilizer, the water for our democracy,” he said.
“I’m subjected to this new form of censorship, which is called targeted propaganda, where people apply pejoratives like ‘anti-vax.’ I’ve never been anti-vaccine,” Kennedy said. “But everybody in this room probably believes that I have been because that’s the prevailing narrative.”
