Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services once compared the president-elect to Adolf Hitler and praised criticism of his followers as "belligerent idiots," "outright Nazis," and "bootlickers," according to a new report.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made these comments on his radio show "Ring of Fire" in 2016, according to audio revealed by CNN Thursday morning.
"Kennedy applauded descriptions of Trump’s base as 'belligerent idiots' and suggestions that some were 'outright Nazis' and 'spineless fellow travelers,'" CNN reported.
"Kennedy also likened Trump to historical demagogues like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, accusing Trump of exploiting societal insecurities and xenophobia to amass power."
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Kennedy told CNN in a statement that he is now proud at the prospect of serving in Trump's administration and regrets comparing his new boss to the perpetrator of a mass genocide.
“Like many Americans, I allowed myself to believe the mainstream media’s distorted, dystopian portrait of President Trump," Kennedy said. "I no longer hold this belief and now regret having made those statements."
People who have compared Trump to Hitler include Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, his former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney.
CNN reported Kennedy's criticism began to soften only after the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, and admitted bear cub crime scene-stager, was shunned by the Democratic Party during the 2024 primary.
But in 2016, Kennedy compared Trump to segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace and praised journalist Matt Taibbi’s critique of his base, reading a passage he said was “beautifully” written, according to the report.
"The way that you build a truly vicious nationalist movement is to wed a relatively small core of belligerent idiots to a much larger group of opportunists and spineless fellow travelers whose primary function is to turn a blind eye to things,” Taibbi wrote in the quotation read by Kennedy.
“‘We may not have that many outright Nazis in America, but we have plenty of cowards and bootlickers, and once those fleshy dominoes start tumbling into the Trump camp, the game is up."
Then Kennedy added his own views.
“And, you know, he’s not like Hitler,” Kennedy said. “Hitler had like a plan, you know, Hitler was interested in policy,” Kennedy went on. “I don’t think Trump has any of that. He’s like non compos mentis. He’ll get in there and who knows what will happen.”