Robert F. Kennedy Jr. draws parallels between Tea Party and Confederacy

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent for president, once referred to the Tea Party movement as “the resurgence of the Confederacy.”

Kennedy made these remarks as the keynote speaker at the 2014 Goldman Environmental Prize award dinner, as reported by The Washington Free Beacon.

“Big Government is a threat, but that’s not what the Tea Party cares about,” Kennedy stated. “They just don’t want to pay their taxes.

“And they don’t want a Black person to be president of the United States.”

Kennedy suggested that the Tea Party movement has roots in nostalgia for a plantation economy, according to the report.

“Why is it that they — they all came out of those, you know, those dozen southern states that were part of the Confederacy?” Kennedy questioned. “This is the resurgence of the Confederacy.”

Throughout his presidential campaign, Kennedy has faced criticism for his comments.

In a recent interview, Kennedy expressed support for women having the right to get an abortion, “even if it’s full-term.”

“I think we have to leave it to the women rather than the state,” Kennedy said.

His running mate Nicole Shanahan contradicted this statement.

“My understanding is that he absolutely believes in limits on abortion, and we’ve talked about this. I do not think, I don’t know where that came from,” she clarified.

Kennedy announced Monday that he has qualified for the ballot in Texas, marking the sixth state where his campaign has qualified. He has also gathered enough signatures to appear on the ballot in New Hampshire, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Idaho, Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio.

In national polls, Kennedy is currently receiving 10.8% support in the five-way average, according to RealClearPolitics.

Kennedy recently took legal action against Facebook parent company Meta, alleging election interference. He claims that Meta blocked a political advertisement, a 30-minute video about his life, and censored it by removing it and restricting users from watching, sharing, or posting a link to it.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.