It’s been a busy few hours on Twitter for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy and a Democratic candidate for president in 2024.
First, Kennedy, 69, tweeted support for the musician Roger Waters, co-founder of the band Pink Floyd who is facing widespread criticism for dressing as an SS officer and for other Holocaust imagery at a recent concert in Berlin.
“Roger You are the global hero Orwell had in mind when he said, ‘In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.’ The high priests of the totalitarian orthodoxies are trying to silence you with censorship, gaslighting and defamation. Please keep speaking truth to power!” Kennedy wrote on May 27. (The Daily Caller has found that quote is not one of Orwell’s.)
Kennedy has since deleted that tweet, although screenshots remain on Twitter.
The following day, Kennedy posted a follow-up on Twitter: “In my remarks about Roger Waters, I was referring to his dissent on Covid and the war in Ukraine,” the Democratic candidate posted. “I have only recently learned about some of his other views, which I do not share.” In another tweet, he added: “I support Israel’s right to exist within secure borders and I also support the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.”
Kennedy, who has a reputation for opposing vaccines, deleted that tweet as well, although it, too, was captured in screenshots.
“Not good enough,” tweeted Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
“This is the fawning tweet to racist and antisemite Roger Waters that Robert Kennedy Jr. has now deleted,” Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, tweeted. “But he also deleted his quasi-non-apology as well. Don’t worry Robert, screenshots are forever, and we will remember which side you took!”