A dozen environmental teams issued a pointy rebuke Friday of impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an environmental lawyer who led the inexperienced group Waterkeeper Alliance till 2020 and has promised to be the “finest surroundings president in American historical past.”
Kennedy “shouldn’t be an environmentalist,” reads the letter, whose signees included the Sierra Membership, 350 Motion, and the Dawn Motion. “He’s a harmful conspiracy theorist and science denier whose agenda could be a catastrophe for our communities and the planet.”
Calling on voters “to reject RFK Jr. and the poisonous beliefs he promotes earlier than it’s too late,” the letter describes Kennedy’s local weather insurance policies as an affront to “goal actuality” and “no completely different” from these more likely to be pursued in a Trump administration.
On the identical time, dozens of Kennedy’s former colleagues on the Pure Assets Protection Council (NRDC), the place he labored for practically three many years, are planning to place out commercials in six swing states on Sunday—the day earlier than Earth Day—calling on him to “honor our planet” by dropping out of the race.
“In nothing greater than a conceit candidacy, RFK Jr. has chosen to play the function of election spoiler to the advantage of Donald Trump – the only worst environmental president our nation has ever had,” the advert reads.
Each teams argue that Kennedy’s candidacy threatens the targets of the U.S. environmental motion not simply due to the likelihood that he might play spoiler and pave the way in which for a second Trump time period, but in addition due to his personal statements. Kennedy claimed final 12 months that “local weather change is getting used to regulate us via concern” and argued, opposite to the beliefs of many environmentalists, that “freedom and free markets are a significantly better method to cease air pollution.”
In an interview with The New York Instances, Kennedy skirted instantly partaking with the criticisms of his erstwhile colleagues, solely saying that he and his onetime mentor, NRDC co-founder John Hamilton Adams, “disagree with one another on politics.” Kennedy additionally geared toward President Joe Biden, saying he “doesn’t want my assist to lose to Donald Trump.”
Along with the three states wherein RFK Jr. has already formally certified to look on the poll in November, his marketing campaign claims it has sufficient signatures to move the brink in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Nebraska, Idaho and Iowa, CNN reported Saturday.
The 2 disavowals from environmentalists come as Kennedy can also be dealing with opposition from his family. At a marketing campaign rally in Philadelphia on Thursday, six of RFK’s siblings threw their assist behind Biden. “The Kennedy household endorses Joe Biden for president,” RFK Jr.’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, advised the group. “We’re right here as a result of we really feel obliged to do all we will on this election.”
A day later, Biden posted a video on X, previously Twitter, that includes a number of Kennedy household endorsements. “Having the assist of the Kennedy household on this election means the world to me.”
