Reality: His comments on prosecuting climate deniers have been taken out of context and are false. The comments were targeted specifically to the Koch brothers who knowingly spread misinformation about climate change for profit.
The Source of the Climate Denier Claim
The video that is being taken out of context is from September 21, 2014. On this day, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to demand action on climate change, marking the largest environmental protest in history. RFK Jr. was also protesting when reporters asked him questions.
During RFK Jr.’s environmental work, he became very familiar with the Koch brothers and their schemes. Rolling Stone posted an article in 2014 about the brothers:
“According to the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute, only three companies rank among the top 30 polluters of America’s air, water and climate: ExxonMobil, American Electric Power and Koch Industries. Thanks in part to its 2005 purchase of paper-mill giant Georgia-Pacific, Koch Industries dumps more pollutants into the nation’s waterways than General Electric and International Paper combined. The company ranks 13th in the nation for toxic air pollution. Koch’s climate pollution, meanwhile, outpaces oil giants including Valero, Chevron and Shell. Across its businesses, Koch generates 24 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year.
For Koch, this license to pollute amounts to a perverse, hidden subsidy. The cost is borne by communities in cities like Port Arthur, Texas, where a Koch-owned facility produces as much as 2 billion pounds of petrochemicals every year.”
Quote Taken out of Context
Reporter: “What about politicians? People who deny, who express skepticism?”
RFK Jr.: “I think they are selling out the public trust and, you know, I think those guys who are doing the Koch brothers bidding and who against all the evidence of the rational mind, are saying that global warming doesn’t exist. That they are contemptible human beings and that, you know, I wish there was a law you can punish them under.”
View the entire clip below:
Key Takeaways:
Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller on ReasonTV confronted Kennedy on this. Here is a summary of what he had to say:
Kennedy’s remarks were focused on the harmful actions of specific corporate entities, not on individuals who personally doubt climate change. He expressed frustration with corporations like the Koch brothers who were knowingly contributing to pollution and spreading misinformation for profit.
He advocates for legal accountability for corporations that engage in deceptive practices harmful to the public and the environment. He draws parallels to the tobacco industry, which was prosecuted for misleading the public about the dangers of smoking.
Kennedy acknowledges that his views have evolved and that he would approach the issue differently today, recognizing the complexity of the discourse around climate change and free speech.
Conclusion
The claim that RFK Jr. wants to jail climate deniers misrepresents his actual position. His statement targeted the corporate disinformation campaigns that the Koch brothers engaged in. It is also important to note that while Kennedy is an environmental activist, his policies do not align with the Green New Deal. Read more about that here.
Kennedy has been in the public eye his entire life, making him a target for intense scrutiny. The DNC has hired individuals to sift through every statement and action from his past, aiming to spin them into a smear campaign. For readers, a piece of advice: always get the context. Imagine someone dissecting your life, picking apart old posts and taking them out of context. It’s crucial to consider the full picture before forming an opinion.
For additional context at the time, view this Tedx Talk from RFK Jr. It goes over his position at the time more in depth.
