Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended his vice president pick Wednesday on NewsNation, stating there’s a need for someone outside of the typical government circle to “solve the problem.”
Kennedy appeared on “Cuomo” to discuss the reveal of his running mate pick Tuesday as Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan. NewsNation host questioned Kennedy on how he would respond to pushback against Shanahan suggesting that while the lawyer “checks a lot of boxes” none of them are qualifiers to “make her able to run the country.” (RELATED: RFK Jr. Reveals Running Mate Pick)
“I would say a couple things, Chris. One is that, I’m guessing she probably has a higher IQ than almost anybody who I’ve seen in public life today. She’s an expert on AI – which we need in the government right now. She’s an expert on chronic disease, which is probably, arguably, our biggest issue in this country. We’ve gone from six% of people having chronic disease when my uncle was president to 60% today. We’ve got an entire generation disabled by neurological injuries, autoimmune injuries, allergic injuries, and we have nobody talk about it,” Kennedy stated.
Kennedy continued to call out former President Donald Trump and President Biden, claiming that they drove up a “larger debt than every president since George Washington combined.” The independent candidate stated that because nobody “inside” had been able to solve issues, such as the debt, his solution was to choose someone outside of the system.
“We’re paying more now, Chris, for diabetes than for our defense budget. So when I was a kid, a typical pediatrician would see one case of juvenile diabetes in his lifetime. Today one out of every three kids who walks into his office has juvenile diabetes, and nobody is talking about it. It is causing us 4.3 trillion a year – three times our defense budget. People have said to me, ‘Well, you should have brought an insider in as VP.’ No, the insiders [are] the one who gave us a chronic disease epidemic, they gave us the 34 trillion dollar debt,” Kennedy stated.
“President Biden and President Trump during their short times in office – single term each together – drove up a larger debt than every president since George Washington combined, and Congress let them do it. So it’s not somebody inside who’s going to solve the problem, they are the ones who gave us the problem. We need somebody who can think about it in a different way.”
Following Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017 the total federal debt sat at $19,947,304,555,212.49 by $3,521,363,246,735.29 to $23,468,667,801,947.78 within 1,142 days of the former president’s term. However, within Biden’s first 1,142 days of his term, the federal debt had added $6,688,935,719,341.77 to $27,751,896,236,414.77 making the total $34,440,831,955,756.54 which is higher than any of his predecessors.
Throughout Trump’s entire term the federal debt had held a four-year increase of $7,804,591,681,202.30, jumping from $19,947,304,555,212.49 to $27,751,896,236,414.70. Notably, within April 2020 the former president faced a dramatic federal deficit jump due to the federal spending from COVID-19. While Biden has repeatedly claimed responsibility for reducing the federal deficit, a non-partisan budget watchdog, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget had continued to call out Biden’s addition to the federal debt rather than reducing it.
Since Kennedy’s running mate reveal, the independent candidate received a mix of feedback for his choice due to Shanahan’s connection to Democratic politicians and groups by donating thousands since 2013.