Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told an Orange County audience Wednesday night that America is facing an existential crisis because it persists in behaving like an imperialist nation rather than the moral leader it should be in the world.
The independent presidential candidate said he would reverse the nation's “decline” by cutting the U.S. military budget in half during his first three years in office, with further cuts in the future, and use the savings to strengthen domestic programs and the economy.
“The end result would be a stronger, smarter, more targeted defense,” Kennedy said. “And if we use those savings to rebuild our country in every way possible, we can reverse the spending that is continually draining our nation's vitality.”
Kennedy spoke to a crowd of about 300 at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, the latest in a series of speakers to appear as part of the Presidential Policy Outlook series, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Mr. Kennedy, 70, has previously lamented that the “peace dividend” expected from détente with the former Soviet Union in the 1980s did not result in a larger shift of government funding to domestic issues.
Kennedy spoke to an audience of about 300 people at the Nixon Library.
(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)
But deep defense cuts would be extremely difficult to pass through Congress and would involve far more radical reforms than those proposed by the presidential front-runners.
“With Russia, North Korea and Communist China watching closely, RFK Jr. is eager to peddle the Kremlin's talking points,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Matt Corridoni said in response to Kennedy's speech. “Like Donald Trump, we don't believe he can take a stand for our allies and against totalitarianism.”
The candidate, an environmental lawyer, told an audience in Orange County that the country should take lessons not only from his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, but also from President Nixon, Kennedy's rival in the 1960 election.
Kennedy said both presidents understood that America had a greater impact on the world when it exercised its power not through military force but through moral leadership, economic initiatives and programs like the Peace Corps.
Kennedy said China was taking a more enlightened approach to diplomacy, cutting its military spending and spending money on the development of countries in Africa, South America and other regions.
“China spent $8 trillion on bridges, roads, airports, schools and hospitals. They were demonstrating their economic power, not their military power,” he said. “Continuing wars around the world have made us enemies around the world and bankrupted us. In contrast, China's investments [were] Make friends all over the world [winning] It has far-reaching effects on every corner of the Earth.
“We can't keep pretending that we rule the world,” he continued, suggesting that America's standing in the world would improve if it stopped dictating to others. “Paradoxically, giving up ambitions of dominance will put us back on top in the world.”
Kennedy claimed last week that he was eligible to vote in enough states to win the presidential election, but at least 10 states have yet to certify his candidacy. He remains viewed by most analysts as an unlikely candidate to win but one that could help lead either President Biden or former President Trump to victory.
Kennedy has been widely criticized in the past for his views, particularly on vaccines, where he previously suggested they could cause autism – a view that has been refuted by mainstream science – and for saying Jews in Nazi Germany had more freedom under COVID-19 than Americans, a view for which he later apologized.
Trump began his speech with a 20-minute tirade against the lockdowns imposed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said had a devastating effect on civil liberties.
Turning to foreign affairs, Kennedy was pessimistic about America's impact on the world, suggesting that America's belligerence had caused the massive instability that followed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We are creating ISIS,” he argued, sometimes used as an acronym for the Islamic State militant group. He said these conflicts have driven four million migrants into Europe and are “destabilizing Western democracies.”
Kennedy was warmly received at a reception before his hour-long speech, attended by an audience that included supporters, museum members and members of the public curious to meet a politician they may not be familiar with.
“I want to see if this guy has the courage and leadership,” said Bob Torres, a steel executive who lives in Orange. “Is this the guy who I think can lead America to a better place? We clearly need to do better. We're weak.”
The share of gross domestic product devoted to defense spending has fallen to just over 3% in recent years, according to Department of Defense data, down from highs of over 11% during the Korean War and about 4.5% during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. According to Econofact.org, “As the U.S. economy tends to grow faster than military spending, defense spending as a share of GDP has declined.”
But U.S. defense spending far exceeds that of other countries, including other major powers: The Pete G. Peterson Foundation projects that in 2023, the U.S. defense budget of $877 billion will surpass the combined spending of the next 10 countries, at $849 billion.
“Despite the height of our military technology, America is being hollowed out from within,” Kennedy's website states. “We cannot be a strong and secure nation as long as our infrastructure, industry, society, and economy are weak.”
Kennedy called for deep cuts in defense spending.
(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)
The candidate has previously called for the United States to end its “imperialist project” and “address all the problems that have been ignored so far: our crumbling cities, our antiquated railways, our failing water systems, our aging infrastructure, our declining economy.”
Kennedy told the audience that the United States is struggling with “an epidemic of chronic disease, an epidemic of addiction and historic economic inequality.”
The candidate said the country needs to be restructured to reduce the out-of-control budget deficit and strengthen the dollar. Other countries have used the dollar as a reserve currency, but that could change if the U.S. doesn't adopt smarter spending habits, he said.
“While America was the world's invincible superpower, we were like the teenage bullies in the third-grade playground. We got to make the rules for everyone else,” he said. “But now the third graders realize how bossy we are, and they're no longer scared of us.”
