Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set aside headlines about his relationship with a reporter 40 years his junior to introduce Donald Trump at a campaign event in Michigan on Friday.
And it was exactly the wild ride you might expect from a man whose presidential campaign included stories about dumping dead bears in Central Park, brain worms, and cutting the head off a whale.
He warned about plunging sperm counts in teenagers, delivered a no-nonsense account of Trump’s meeting with the Ukrainian president and was interrupted by a telephone call from his doctor.
The 70-year-old, who pushed antivax conspiracy theories, accused the Democratic Party of siding with Big Pharma, Big Agriculture and Big Food.
‘When my uncle was president, we spent zero on chronic disease,’ he said.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set aside the headlines about his relationship with Olivia Nuzzi, a reporter 40 years his junior, to introduce Donald Trump at an event in Michigan on Friday
‘Now we spend $4.3 trillion and our children are so sick that 77% do not qualify for military service.
‘Our fertility levels have dropped to the lowest in the world. Teens today have 50 percent of the sperm count, 50 percent of the testosterone as American teens two generations ago.
‘Little girls are now hitting puberty at eight years old, because all the estrogen is generated by the poisons and toxic foods.’
It was familiar ground for a politician who came to prominence as an environmental lawyer.
For the past week he has dodged questions about a sexting scandal involving Olivia Nuzzi, a 31-year-old reporter who profiled him for New York magazine.
She has been placed on leave while editors investigate.
R.F.K. Jr. reportedly boasted to friends about receiving intimate photographs from Nuzzi.
And his wife of 10 years, actor Cheryl Hines, has been spotted without her wedding ring amid the fallout.
Olivia Nuzzi has been placed on leave while New York magazine investigates the relationship
The event in Kent County, Michigan, is designed to highlight Trump’s economic policies
Trump took the stage after Kennedy’s introduction. ‘He’s a good man,’ said Trump
Kennedy himself has avoided discussing the relationship, except through friends who claimed the reporter pursued him.
‘I never comment on those kind of stories,’ he told Fox News this week.
He ended his own presidential run last month and endorsed Trump.
On Friday, he warmed up a crowd waiting for the former president at the loading dock of a Michigan manufacturing plant.
He riffed on the presidency of his uncle J.F.K., drawing parallels between the Cuban missile crisis and tensions today with Russia.
And he talked up Trump’s diplomatic skills after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky.
‘He was kind and civil to President Zelensky, but he was also firm in his resolve, and he said, “I’ve had a nice meeting, but I have not changed my mind,'” he said.
Trump has made clear that he wants an end to the conflict before the U.S. spends more money supporting Ukraine.
‘And it was especially impressive to me, because I know what Donald Trump was thinking while he was having that meeting,’ Kennedy continued.
‘He was thinking, “I want to turn this guy over and hold him by his legs and shake all the money out of his pockets. And I hope it adds up to $208 billion because that’s what we get.
‘”That’s what the Democrats gave them, and we need to bring that money home and spend it here on our communities.”
But he had clearly forgotten to silence his phone.
At one point he pulled it from his pocket and apologized to the crowd. ‘Sorry my doctor’s calling,’ he said, as he rejected the call to the sound of laughter from the audience.
Trump paid tribute to Kennedy in his speech.
‘He does have great ideas,’ he said. ‘And getting a Kennedy to endorse a Trump Republican, that was a big deal, right?
‘He’s a good man.’
