Read the full transcript of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s speech at the Trump-Vance 2024 campaign event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on October 27, 2024.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Why I Left the Democratic Party
Thank you. A lot of people ask me why I left the Democratic Party. And I say, I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me.
The Democratic Party of the Past
This is not the party anymore of Martin Luther King, of Robert Kennedy, of John Kennedy. That was the party of peace. It was the party of constitutional rights, of civil rights, of freedom of speech. It was the party that wanted to protect and nurture the middle class. It was the party that stood up to censorship, to surveillance. That stood up to the CIA, the military industrial complex. And it was the party that wanted to protect public health and women’s sports.
My uncle, Ted Kennedy, wrote Title IX, which protected women’s sports in college. It was the party that believed in voting rights and fought for the right of every American to vote for the person of their choice.
Today’s Democratic Party
Today’s Democratic Party is the party of war. It’s the party of the CIA. You had Kamala Harris giving a speech at the Democratic Convention that was written by neocons. It was belligerent, obnoxious. It talked about the domination of the world by the United States through our weapons of war.
It’s the party today that wants to divide Americans. It’s the party that is dismantling women’s sports by letting men play women’s sports. It’s the party of Wall Street. It’s the party of Bill Gates, who just gave $50 million to Kamala Harris.
The Current Leadership
It’s the party, and the Harris campaign is very proud that it received the endorsement of 50 former CIA agents and officers, and of John Bolton, and of Dick Cheney.
These are the people that gave us the war in Iraq, the worst foreign policy catastrophe that’s ever happened to this country. These are the people that gave us the Patriot Act, that launched the surveillance state.
These are the people that are trying to undermine voting rights in this country by weaponizing the federal agencies against political candidates, including me and Donald Trump and all other political candidates. They can’t win an election. And instead of bringing in a candidate who wins the primaries, abolish the primaries and then pick two candidates, anoint them without receiving votes. We don’t even know how Kamala Harris received the nomination.
Corporate Influence and Public Health Crisis
And this is the party of Wall Street, of big banks, of big data, of big tech, of the military contractors. And the party’s of big pharma, big ag, big food, and big chemicals. This is the party that’s given us the sickest children in the history of the world.
When my uncle was president, 6% of Americans had chronic disease, and we spent zero on chronic disease in this country. Today, 60% of Americans have chronic disease. This is existential for our country. We’re spending $4.3 trillion a year, five times our military budget. 77% of American boys cannot qualify for military service because of chronic disease diagnoses. This is existential for our country.
Meeting with President Trump
President Trump called me three hours after his shooting. And he said, would I come and sit down with him. And he said to me during that meeting, ‘There are some things that we can agree on and some that we disagree on, but the landscapes on which we agree are so much larger.’ He said, ‘I want to end the wars. I want to end the surveillance and censorship. I want to protect the Constitution. I want to protect freedom of speech. I want to end the surveillance. I want to end the weaponization of government against American politicians. And I want to end the chronic disease epidemic.’
Call to Action
Now, don’t you think that we deserve a president in this country who’s going to restore the moral authority of the United States of America? Don’t you think that we deserve a president who’s going to end the warfare state and rebuild the middle class? Don’t you want a president who’s going to put America first? And don’t you want a president who’s going to protect our children and who’s going to protect women’s sports and who’s going to stop dividing this country along racial lines?
And don’t you want a president who’s going to end the corruption at the federal agencies, at FDA, at NIH, at CDC, and at the CIA? And don’t you want a president who’s going to make America healthy again? And don’t you want a president who’s going to make America great again?
And we need to go to the polls on November 5th and vote for Donald Trump. God bless you and God bless America.
