A New York Times news article described [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] as “a longtime amplifier and propagator of baseless theories, beginning nearly two decades ago with his skepticism about the result of the 2004 presidential election as well as common childhood vaccines,” and claimed “his audience for such misinformation ballooned during the coronavirus pandemic.”
Most of his claims about vaccine dangers aren’t any kookier than those that he and his green allies have made about fossil fuels. Both are based on flawed research and ignore countervailing evidence. But only Mr. Kennedy’s vaccine claims are fact-checked and suppressed. Americans have no doubt picked up on this disparate treatment.
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Justified criticisms of Covid lockdowns have been peremptorily dismissed as “baseless” in much the same way as Mr. Kennedy’s questionable vaccine claims.
The press has become so partisan that it has lost all credibility with a large share of the public. As a result, Americans don’t trust the media to tell them what’s true and not, and they’ve become more susceptible to falsehoods from other sources. This trust vacuum together with social-media censorship fuels public cynicism and candidates who seek to exploit it.
