Robert F. Kennedy Jr's sister Kerry urges him to 'drop from' US presidential race

Hello and welcome to Ted at Ted, France 24's flagship interview show. Our guest today is Kerry Kennedy. She is the President of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights and she joins us from Hyannis Port, MA Highness Port being the location of the story compound of the Kennedy family. Thank you very much for being with us. Great to see you, Mark. So you're one of the 11 children of Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated back in 1968, five years after his brother, then President John Federal Kennedy. And you've become the face, if I may use the expression, of the Kennedy clan in recent weeks as the presidential election moves into high gear. One of the reason being that your brother, Robert F Kennedy Junior is running as an independent. However, you and most of the Kennedys have decided to endorse Joe Biden publicly. Why did you make that decision? Will we make that decision? Because this is the most important presidential election in our lifetime. What happens in this election is going to impact everyone in the United States and across the globe. We have two candidates who have the chance of winning in this election. One has devoted his entire life to public service, has made a tremendous difference in people's lives and expanding access to healthcare and expanding access to education. That's Joe Biden and making the the United States a leader around the world. The other Donald Trump has said he'll be a dictator on day one, has said he wants to suspend the Constitution so that he can use the Justice Department to attack his enemies. Has said that he's going to round up immigrants across our country and put them into camps like concentration camp and because he's up to dictators like Putin and Sisi and and his good friend Kim Jong Illinois. So I think that this is the an important election and we all want to assure that Joe Biden is the next president, right? Do you fear that your brother, his candidacy, if he maintains it, could cost Joe Biden the presidency, which is why you've appeared, including in public with Joe Biden in recent weeks? That's correct. I think that there is no chance that Bobby could win this election. I, and let me just say, I love him dearly. I, I disagree with him on a wide range of issues, but the truth is that there is no chance that he wins this election. In order to win, you have to get 200 and 82170 electoral votes and he cannot do that. So it's, it's crucial that anyone is who is thinking of voting for him or Biden votes for Biden. And then if they're thinking of voting for him or Trump, they should vote for him. Don't vote for Trump or vote for Biden because that's really how can make your, your vote # But I mean, he, he's polling around 4%. But do you fear that in some crucial swing states, he might eat up some votes for Biden? And are you telling him, including today on air, please drop from the race? Yes, Bobby dropped from the race. Yes, I have said that to him before I got into the race. I say it to him constantly and I'm happy to say it again today. The he, he is a threat. I, it's interesting because right now the polling shows that he takes pretty much evenly from Biden and from Trump. But we need every Biden vote to go to Biden, and we need every Trump vote to go to Bobby Kennedy, right? I mean, obviously, the Kennedy law is still present in American political life. Are you going to play an active role in campaigning for Biden in the coming month if you're being asked by his campaign? I have said that I will be happy to campaign anywhere, anytime in order to assure that Joe Biden is elected. Let me just say that I say all of this as a private citizen and not as the president of a big human rights organization, right? But you're not just any citizen. Obviously you, you represent a lot of American political life. I mean, there are also the issues that your brother has been pushing, the dangers of vaccine, claiming that COVID targeted occasions and black people and was more immune with Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese, a lot of conspiracy theories. That's how people would define him about the role of the Ciai mean, are you also worried about the idea that he's pushing or just his candidacy? No, I mean, I disagree with him on vaccines and I disagree with him on a number of the issues. This last week he said that we should law the, the, the racist insurrectionist who who split our country in order to enslave the Negro race. I that is not consistent with the values that we grew up with in my family. So that's just one example. And the derivation of HIV, he said, I mean, the AIDS, he said it's not from HIV, but from a gay lifestyle. There's, there are many, many things that he has said that I disagree with and that I've spent my life fighting. So we disagree on the issues, but that doesn't really matter because there's no chance that he can win this presidency. He's not on on ballots and enough states to win. So what's really important is that he not take both from President Biden, right? But in pushing those those ideas in a way, this goes against your commitment, your father's commitment. The reason, I guess, for entering public life, advocacy for human rights and, and and so on. I mean, this harnesses the Kennedy reputation, doesn't it? Well, I, you know, I think that I, as I say, I love my brother. This race is the most important race in our lifetime. We have had a series of autocratic leaders that are across the world. We are in an essential threat to democracy and to the future of democracy around our world. And if president, if Donald Trump becomes president again, that's going to strengthen those autocracies and diminish democracy both domestically and internationally. And that's my real fear. My real fear is the rise of the right, the demise of democracy, the demise of the world order, the decimation of NATO, the laws of Ukraine, the laws, the decimation of the United Nations, the the, the, the suspension of funding for the International Criminal Court, for the ICC, for the international world order. These were all organizations that the United States and France pushed for and have supported and worked hard on because we no longer wanted a world in which there were constant wars. And for the first time in 2000 years of European history, we stopped wars on the continent, with the exception, of course, in Bosnia and now Ukraine. And that was thanks to the world order. And that's at risk, that's at risk. We're going to, we could, you know, fall back into war after war, after war. And we need to stop that. And and that's something that I want to stop. Right. Just as a last question, obviously your action must be motivated by by your father. I mean, do you think of of him, of maybe one of his speeches as a motto for what you've been pushing for years now and especially now? Yeah. I mean, I think that when he ran for president, he said peace and justice and compassion towards those who suffer in our country. That's what the United States should stand for. And that's what I'll do if I'm elected president of the United States. Try to imagine a politician running for president seriously today, saying peace and justice and compassion towards those who suffer. And yet that is what our country should stand for. That's what each of us should stand for. And so many people do. And that's why we need to assure this vision of a just and peaceful world. Kerry Kennedy, I want to thank you very much for being our guest from Highness Port in Massachusetts. And thank you all for watching it. Thank you.