Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hosted his own version of Thursday night's debate after the criteria set by CNN excluded him, and he took a podium alongside the two candidates in a virtual contest.
Targeting both Biden and Trump, he was scathing at times and at one point condemned them saying: "Both these presidents swore to uphold the Constitution. They're both wearing American flag pins. That's easy to do. That's an accessory."
"I don't believe they have the right to wear those American flag pins," he added.
Kennedy staged his own event at a Los Angeles sound studio, in front of about 175 campaign volunteers and streamed it on X, formerly Twitter. Dubbed "The Real Debate," Kennedy took the stage alongside a giant screen streaming the debate between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump.
After each question, the debate was paused and Kennedy was allotted time for his answer, and he attempted to distance himself from Trump and Biden.
Critics noted that Trump too often veered off topic and engaged in hyperbole while Biden oftentimes appeared frail and confused.
Hosted by Emmy-winning journalist John Stossel, a well-known libertarian, the event afforded Kennedy the chance to address the issues raised in the debate while largely escaping criticisms heaped upon Biden and Trump.
CNN said Kennedy didn't meet the 15 percent polling threshold to be on the stage with Trump and Biden. Kennedy's average polling numbers have bounced around between 7 percent and 14 percent so far this year, though significantly higher among young voters.
RFK Jr. on debate issues
Although Stossel cautioned the audience to keep their enthusiasm for Kennedy in check so that he could listen to Biden and Trump, the candidate delivered several lines that drew loud applause, the first time while addressing inflation.
Kennedy, an independent candidate, told the assembled that Americans have had a 22 percent hike in home insurance and are paying $4 for a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread and $6 for a gallon of gas, then he added: "It's because of the forever wars and out-of-control spending by these two gentlemen ... this is the reason they need me on stage, because I will confront them with what they did."
When the topic turned to COVID management, the audience seemed irritated with what Trump and Biden had to say and primed for something different from Kennedy, who delivered.
"These two presidents shut down every business in our country, 3.3 million businesses with no due process, no just compensation; 41 percent of Black-owned businesses that they closed will never reopen. There was no scientific reason to do this, there were no public hearings," he said.
He said the COVID policies of Trump and Biden led to a massive shift of wealth from middle-class Americans to the super wealthy. "They created a billionaire a day for 500 days, and one of the problems is that CNN was their biggest cheerleader."
Kennedy, who has taken heat from conservatives who claim he's pro-abortion, was able to clarify his position for the streaming audience, which X shows was viewed by about 6.5 million people throughout the nearly three-hour event. An event staffer announced to the crowd that the number of viewers was significantly higher at around 19 million.
"I've spent probably more energy protecting medical freedom than any other leader in this country," he said to loud applause. He said he's for "more choice, fewer abortions," and that half the women choosing abortion do so for financial reasons.
He said that every $1 million spent on military weaponry creates two jobs but that every $1 million spent on child care creates 22 jobs, thus he'll spend less money on defense and more on child care, which would lead to fewer abortions.
On the border, Kennedy said that "President Trump is more right than President Biden. Everything President Biden said I know to be not true, including his claim that he was endorsed by the Border Patrol ... President Biden, when he became president, ordered a stop on the construction of a wall. That's the problem. There are 27 gaps in the wall."
He noted that he visited some of those gaps and witnessed 300 people cross into the country in one hour, and he interviewed half them, many from West Africa and Asia and only two of them had asylum claims. He agreed with Trump that Border Patrol agents are worried that potential terrorists have entered the country via Mexico
A few times, Stossel used humor to note that Trump and Biden veered away from answering questions in favor of delivering unrelated soliloquy's, and the one time Kennedy appeared to do the same, Stossel quipped: "Now three candidates did not answer the question."
He also kept Kennedy in check by announcing when his time was up to address each question. When he told the audience that someone told him through his earpiece to let Kennedy run long, he said he'd stick to the rules and ignore the directive.
Kennedy also earned applause for suggesting the war between Russia and Ukraine could have been prevented had the U.S. simply agreed to Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand that Ukraine not pursue admission into NATO.
He expressed sympathy for civilian deaths in the war between Israel and Gaza and called Hamas "a genocidal organization which has pledged to Israel's annihilation, pledged to the extermination of Jews, and it does not want a two-state solution."
"We have to let Israel disarm Hamas," he said as Stossel motioned for him to stop talking because his time had lapsed, though on that particular topic he allowed Kennedy 40 additional seconds without verbally interrupting him.
When the topic turned to riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Kennedy focused mostly on the flag pins that Biden and Trump each wore on their lapels, while he did not wear one, and his unusual approach to the question again earned him loud applause.
"Both these presidents swore to uphold the Constitution. They're both wearing American flag pins," he said. "That's easy to do. That's an accessory. That's an accouterment. It's a badge of patriotism."
His point was mostly directed at Biden, who he claimed has stifled free speech by encouraging social media companies to shut down opinions he disagrees with under the guise of preventing the spread of false information.
"They violated freedom of worship, the two of them, by shutting down every church in this country with no scientific citation. They violated freedom of assembly with mass regulations," he said while listing several rights that he says were trampled on during COVID lockdowns.
"I don't believe they have the right to wear those American flag pins," he concluded.
Kennedy, though, earned arguably his loudest applause when the topic of alleged lawfare was brought up by Trump, who accused Biden of having a hand in his 34 felony convictions and his ongoing legal problems.
Biden, Kennedy said, punishes his political opponents "every day," noting that he hasn't been able to convince members of the current administration to grant him Secret Service protection and that the Democratic Party has sued to keep Kennedy off ballots.
"I'm not a fan of President Trump, I'm running against him, I think he was a bad president, but he's right. It's shocking," Kennedy said of the 51 former intelligence agents who called Hunter Biden's laptop Russian disinformation.
"They were accusing the Russians of tampering with our election but it was actually the CIA tampering with the election," he said, finishing by comparing Biden to Putin, who won an election with 88 percent of the votes by censoring his opponents and making sure they weren't on ballots, Kennedy asserted.
"We should not be doing that here in this country," he said to sustained applause.
Of the fentanyl plague, Kennedy said that you could kill every person in Los Angeles with a single suitcase full of the deadly substance, but that the problem lies in a young population that is so disaffected that they turn to drugs in the first place.
He promoted his notion that the federal government should tax marijuana sales and use the revenue to build free rehab centers where addicts can learn safe, clean and sustainable farming, among other skills.
The audience chuckled and rolled their eyes at each other when Trump appeared to challenge Biden to a golf match and the two spent an inordinate amount of time boasting of their own physical prowess and who might be able to hit a longer ball off the tee.
When it was his turn, Kennedy, a fitness enthusiast who has posted shirtless videos of him doing pushups and other exercises, said: "All I got to say is, I hope they let me on stage for that contest," a line that elicited laughter, applause and howls of approval.
Closing remarks reflect Kennedy's base
During his closing remarks, Kennedy referred to health agencies and other federal entities as "sock puppets" for industries and businesses that they're supposed to regulate, and he returned to one of his favorite themes: environmentalism.
"You're seeing the destruction of our soils, the destruction of our air and water. You're watching this happen and the politicians do nothing about it, except for hate on each other," he said.
"If you want more of the same, you vote for President Biden or President Trump. You know what's going to happen. You know that. They're going to continue four more years of the same stuff. If you want things to completely change, you're going to support me," he said.
His closing statement echoed what many of his supporters told Newsweek when they were asked why they're backing Kennedy rather than one of the candidates from the two major parties.
One volunteer, Kirk Porter, said that the last time he voted in a presidential election was more than three decades ago when he backed Ross Perot, also an independent candidate.
"Biden and Trump each had four years and they've been disasters," Porter said, adding that if Kennedy were to drop out he'd sit out yet another election.
"Republicans and Democrats have proven themselves unworthy of running our country," he said. "I won't waste a vote on them. I'd rather make a statement."
Like others, Porter was disappointed that Kennedy wasn't on the same stage as Biden and Trump, though he wasn't surprised.
"CNN can't promote him. He's too much of a disrupter, and CNN is part of the power structure."
Suzanne Finder, the lead volunteer coordinator for San Diego County, said she voted for Biden four years ago but this year she'll vote for Kennedy and if he bows out, she'll not vote.
"He represents transparency; he's not a politician, he's a statesman who cannot be bought," she said of Kennedy.
John Hurst, the communications lead for San Diego volunteers, sported a shirt featuring one of Kennedy's sound bites: "There has been no time in history when the people censoring free speech were the good guys."
He said he voted for Trump in the last two general elections, adding: "and I don't apologize."
He switched gears to Kennedy because: "If Trump or Biden win, nothing will be different in 2028. If Kennedy wins, the country will look like the founders intended."
Jeff Dornik, a volunteer from Newport Beach, said he's been a "Trumper" since 2012, when Trump decided against running for president and instead backed Mitt Romney.
He's voting for Kennedy this year, he said, because, "Trump didn't drain the swamp; he brought it into the White House."
If Kennedy were to end his campaign, Dornik said he would vote for Trump because "he's the lesser of two evils."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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