>> With the intense focus on the
Republican primary this election
season, one mechanic underdog
has been getting attention is
controversial,, spreading
misinformation on a range of
topics.
That W W on display in today as
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Testified
on capitol hill at a hearing
convened by house Republicans.
We explore what has captured the
attention of some voters.
>> The first major 2024
surprise, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Has sparked double-digit support
in polls, controversy on the
airwaves, and a president --
headache for the president.
The 69-year-old environmental
lawyer launched his campaign
highlighting his famous
political family.
In Massachusetts with a sea of
Kennedy for president signs.
>> I have come to announce my
candidacy for the democratic
nomination for president of the
United States.
>> The echoes to the past were
impossible to miss.
>> I am announcing my candidacy
for the presidency.
>> The son of Robert F Kennedy,
who was assassinated months
after launching his campaign for
president and a few of Donna and
80 -- nephew of John F. Kennedy,
who was killed during president,
he leans into his family's
legacy with views that are
antiwar, proenvironment and talk
of ending divide.
>> The possibility is still
alive.
The America that almost was and
yet could be.
It is time to unlearn fear and
blame and find ways to unify
ourselves.
>> On the other hand, Kennedy
stokes his own controversy,
conspiracy, and at times, racial
confrontation.
The New York post obtained video
of him with reporters saying the
coronavirus targets specific
racial groups.
>> Covid-19 is targeted to
attack caucasians and black
people.
The people who are most immune
are Jews and Chinese.
>> The outcry was immediate.
The head of the antidefamation
league so the idea feeds into
conspiracy theories, lacks any
factual basis, and is nuts.
The jewish group has put out
research in the past the bunking
racist covid -- debunking racist
covid theories.
Kennedy -- on the idea of ethnic
targeting.
He linked to a study that does
not say any group is targeted by
or is immune from covid.
Instead, it focused on some cell
traits that might make it easier
or harder for the virus.
It is now clear that covid hit
brutally across ethnic groups.
On the hearing today, Democrats
blasted him.
>> You echo the same historic
slander of Jews and Chinese who
somehow managed to avoid a
deadly illness.
You do see that, yes or no?
>> You are misstating.
>> No.
I quoted what you said earlier.
>> You are slandering me.
What you are saying is
dishonest.
I will defend myself.
>> With presented by many of his
past statements, he said he was
misunderstood.
>> My views are constantly
misrepresented.
I think athletes should be
tested with the same rigor as
other medications.
>> But he has pushed a host of
disproven ideas that undermine
all vaccines, including the idea
that vaccines make people sicker
when data shows they
overwhelmingly save lives.
>> The more he talks, the more
he gets himself in trouble.
>> She is a political science
professor at the university of
massachusetts-boston.
She has heard him come up on
podcast with unproven
conspiracies, some debunked.
Questioning what causes HIV,
alleging that pesticide makes
people transgender, and
baselessly suggesting that
vaccines cause autism.
>> Everyone will say there is no
study that shows autism and
vaccines are connected.
That is crazy.
People are not looking at
science.
>> The study he has pointed to
in the past was retracted.
There is no link.
But she says Kennedy has scored
politically.
>> The vast majority of us are
not scientists.
You go to a school for a long
time of that and learn a
rigorous scientific method.
He is smart saying as a
politician, I trust you, look at
the facts.
What he says is Google some
stuff and don't discern which
facts should be believed.
>> Is he real threat to Joe
Biden?
He has stayed in the low teens
in head-to-head poles, not
within real striking this to --
distance.
>> He is assembled to the
satisfaction -- dissatisfaction.
Many people do not want to vote
for Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
So Kennedy right now is the
beneficiary of some of that
disdain.
>> He has struck up interesting
corners of both parties.
He is a rare Democrat who
appears regular on conservative
idiot -- media.
Donald Trump praises him.
They share a goal to defeat Joe
Biden.
>> To help put some of his
comments into context, we are
joined by an author of an fda
advisory on vaccines.
He is also director of a vaccine
center.
Rfk junior is widely known as an
anti-vaccine activist.
He has a much larger platform
now as he runs for president.
He says many of his views are
misunderstood or taken out of
nontext.
Help us out to understand what
the science says about it.
>> He has been promoting false
accusations about vaccines, that
the cause autism, which is
clearly not true.
Or they cause other chronic
diseases or attention deficit
disorder.
That is all not true.
By putting misinformation out
there, he causes people to make
bad decisions about their
families at risk.
>> You point to an episode where
he spoke out against the measles
vaccine.
What was the impact of that?
>> In Samoa, there was two
people that died after a measles
vaccine.
The way it works there is they
have an mmr vaccine in powder
form.
It needs to be diluted in water.
Nurses made a mistake, they
diluted it in a muscle relaxant.
The children stopped breathing
and died immediately.
They realized what the mistake
was.
It was a nursing error.
Rfk junior seized on that,
flooded Facebook with the
information that the measles
vaccine is killing children.
He went to Samoa and met with
anti-vaccine activist.
He kept that drumbeat alive.
Vaccination rates fell from 70%
to 30%.
In this island nation, there
were 57 cases.
He had everything to do with
that.
That shows you have this
information can kill.
>> He said covid ethnically
targets white and black people.
Not certain jewish and Chinese
people.
Is there any evidence to support
that?
>> There is evidence that does
not support that.
He should have read exactly when
the paper was submitted.
It was submitted before covid
ever came inin the U.S.
Researchers are trying to make a
prediction based on certain
genetic differences in racial,
ethnic, or religious groups
about who would likely or not
likely get covid.
But now we know they were wrong.
70 million people died.
It did not matter what your
background was read the only
thing that matters is your age,
comorbidities.
That prediction made by that
paper was wrong.
Nonetheless he still held onto
it.
>> He says his views should not
be censored.
People should be read to do
their own research.
In your view, what are the
problems with that information
being on the same playing field
with good information?
>> The Samoa outbreak told you a
lot about what it means to have
that information out there.
The notion that people can do
their own research, the fact of
the matter is what he really
means is look on the internet
and find other people's opinions
area most people don't look at
the original papers.
If you look at the paper that he
cited on racial and ethnic
differences, you will see how
flawed it was.
But you do need a scientific
background.
It is hard for him to put this
information out to nearly area
he is showing what
misinformation can do.
As a consequence, children are
suffering.
>> More than three years after
the start of a pandemic, how has
misinformation taken hold?
>> The problem is social media.
People feel that they can go on
social media.
Sadly I think public health
officials have been marginalized
at some level.
I think we have become a
cynical, litigious society, not
to our advantage.
We pushed back on these public
health measures, which only hurt
us.
>> Thank you very much for your
insights.
>> Thank you.
♪♪