RFK Jr.: ‘You’d Be Out Of Your Mind To Trust The Government Today’: Watch

CONCORD, NH — It was 55 years ago Monday when a beloved American political figure, running an insurgent campaign, was shot and killed on his way to potentially becoming president of the United States.

U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-NY, was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a non-citizen from Jordan, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, after winning two crucial presidential primaries in the 1968 cycle. That year was considered by some to be one of the most volatile times in the nation’s history. The country was divided by an unpopular war overseas, there was unrest at home and violence in the cities, federal bureaucracies abused the rights of individuals by infiltrating certain segments of the population, and an unpopular president was in the White House.

In other words, the times then were not much different than they are today.

And that moment is not lost on another insurgent presidential candidate — the third son of the candidate who was killed 55 years ago, who was in New Hampshire last week promoting his challenge of President Joe Biden in the first-in-the-nation primary. Although, in all those 55 years, he said he never once thought he might be a presidential candidate in the Granite State.

“No,” he told Patch in a short one-on-one interview Thursday, “I did not think I would ever be here, running for president.”

Previously though, Kennedy had been to New Hampshire a lot. He often spent time with family here hiking the state's many mountains, including the presidentials, and skiing at places like Waterville Valley.

“My brothers cut the trails there in the summers,” Kennedy said.

As an adult, he campaigned for several candidates as a surrogate.

“New Hampshire is part of my DNA,” he said, “but I never thought I would be here as a candidate myself.”

Kennedy, a long-time environmental attorney who has been critical of the pharmaceutical industry, childhood vaccines, and the COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which caused consternation and division among Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, said one of the main reasons he was running was to preserve the constitutionally protected free speech rights and personal health decisions of the individual against the oppressive nature the federal government has today against its citizens.

“We know our government is lying to us,” Kennedy said. “It does not care about the middle class. It only cares about this oligarchy of billionaires and corporations who control our agencies … and we need to end that.”

Kennedy said the only way to bring back faith in government by Americans was to make “the government trustworthy again.” He added, “You’d be out of your mind to trust the government today.”

During a speech before the state Senate, Kennedy said he would support New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary status despite the Democratic National Committee pushing ahead South Carolina in the nomination process to keep Biden from facing an embarrassing loss, since he placed fifth here in 2020. Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, thanked him for attending and for his appreciation of our state’s historic primary.

“Our state may be small in size, but the energy and political involvement from our voters is like no other,” he said. “We take our role seriously, and we are eager to listen to all candidates, learn about their vision for our country, and work collectively towards a brighter future.”

Kennedy will also be back in New Hampshire to speak to libertarians at the annual PorcFest later this month. Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, who ran in 2020, is also scheduled to appear along with 2024 Republican Larry Elder and Vivek Ramaswamy.

“I’m going to speak to everybody in this state,” Kennedy said about the appearance. “But I also, you know, have a lot of support with libertarians, and we share a lot of the same values. I’m really happy to talk out there.”

Kennedy said he was looking forward to eating the food at the event and hoped pork would be served, too.

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