Glenn Greenwald Offers Bizarre Defense of Anti-Vaxx Conspiracy Theorist RFK Jr: ‘He Knows What He’s Talking About’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, has drawn a wave of news coverage in the last few weeks thanks to significant polling numbers and the support of some prominent billionaires.

Kennedy has received praise from former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and current Twitter CEO Elon Musk; from Twitter-addicted venture capitalists like David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya; from Fox News hosts eager to see someone batter Biden before the general election; from Glenn Greenwald, the once-revered journalist who has restyled himself as a relentless antagonist of the mainstream media and Democrats.

On the Wednesday episode of his show on YouTube rival Rumble, Greenwald delivered a lengthy defense of Kennedy in the face of criticism the candidate is taking from the media. The defense bordered on fawning. Greenwald labeled Kennedy “highly informed”; “a serious person”; “an expert”; “principled.”

“He knows what he’s talking about even if he’s somebody who at the end of the day you’re not entirely convinced of all of his views,” Greenwald said. “About which politician could you say that? That you’re convinced of all of his views? That the politician is bereft of any conspiracies and the like?”

The support is alarming. After all, Kennedy is a notorious anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist. Back in 2005, he wrote an explosive report for Rolling Stone linking autism to vaccines. The baseless piece, riddled with errors, was corrected five times before being retracted.

In 2019, Kennedy traveled to Samoa to promote anti-vaccine sentiment. Months later, a measles outbreak on the island nation killed 32 people, most of them children. The outbreak was blamed, in part, on vaccine hesitancy in Samoa. I won’t get into Kennedy’s claims about polio and AIDs here, but they are equally deranged.

Those kinds of views aren’t just false and kooky — they have dangerous real-world consequences.

The theory that vaccines cause autism has been debunked time and time again. That hasn’t stopped Kennedy from repeatedly claiming there is a link, and meeting any skeptics with a torrent of false claims and bunk studies to support his argument. Boosters like Greenwald fall for the shtick. On his show, Greenwald said he’s “open to the question” of whether vaccines cause autism.

Perhaps understanding that most Americans are not on board with his crackpot health beliefs, Kennedy said he is not running for president on a vaccine platform. Greenwald also buys that claim without question.

“He’s not actually running for president on the basis of his views on vaccines,” Greenwald assured viewers on his show. “He has a broad agenda that is part of his very fundamental and principled and clearly vehemently held views.”

However, Kennedy has managed to cram a staggering amount of lunacy into his recent media appearances. He said the water supply is turning kids trans. He said WiFi is “causing cancer” and opening “your blood brain barrier” to create “leaky brain.” When pressed by Joe Rogan to explain his “leaky brain” claims, Kennedy conceded the details were “beyond my expertise.”

Greenwald’s promotion of Kennedy should come as no surprise since he now props up a host of other conspiracy theorists (like Alex Jones) who share his distrust for the rest of the media. Now, Greenwald and Kennedy share an employer: This week, Greenwald eagerly promoted Kennedy’s new show on Rumble. (Greenwald is not particularly discerning with who he promotes on Rumble: he also plugged Andrew Tate, the misogynist influencer facing rape and human trafficking charges in Romania).

Not all pundits enjoy Greenwald’s credulity. On his show, Greenwald blasted Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist who created a low-cost, patent-free Covid vaccine and appeared regularly on cable news during the pandemic, for refusing to debate Kennedy. Greenwald pointed to alarmist rhetoric from Hotez over the last few years, to conclude the doctor is “demented” and a “shameless liar.”

Why does Kennedy, a proven conspiracy theorist, enjoy fawning praise from Greenwald, while Hotez is treated with brutal invective?

I have written before about Greenwald’s selective skepticism. He’s ruthlessly critical of the mainstream media, seizing on every mistake, error, scandal as proof of an evil and unforgivable rot throughout the industry. Yet he’s excessively credulous of conspiracy theorists like Jones and Kennedy, whose baseless claims — and outright lies — are explained away as simple mistakes or fun quirks.

Never mind that Kennedy is running for president of the United States, a position that would give him enormous power over public health in the country. It should be clear to anyone with a brain not fried by WiFi that electing a full-blown anti-vaxxer to the White House would have catastrophic results, from decimating current U.S. public health policy to shunning vaccines the world will need to tackle the next pandemic.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.