MSNBC’s Ari Melber took on independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for appearing “warm” toward former President Donald Trump in a tense interview on Wednesday.
“The Beat” host questioned the conspiracy theorist over his past criticism of Ralph Nader’s 2000 presidential campaign and his 2016 endorsement of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before asking him about critics who say he’s portraying a “false equivalency” between Trump and President Joe Biden.
“People are concerned not that this is Nader 2.0 but that you are using the platform and the following you have to suggest that they’re both catastrophic and they’re similar,” Melber said.
He continued, “And that you, they say, are ignoring not only the policy difference but the actual possible democracy and autocratic threat of Donald Trump if he wins again, perhaps thanks to you, your response.”
“Yeah, I never said that. So, you know, like I said, I think both of them did bad things for our country,” said Kennedy, who added that neither candidate can “end the vitriol” that Melber was trying to “pump up” in the interview.
“What have I said that’s vitriolic?” Melber asked.
Kennedy, who sits at 10 percentage points in an average of national polls on the election, and Melber would fall into a back-and-forth as the presidential candidate tried to dodge the question.
“I’m not gonna feed into the vitriol on either side,” said Kennedy, whose family members have opposed his candidacy. “I stay away from the court cases —.”
“OK, you keep using the word ‘vitriol’ but what I’m referring to —,” Melber replied.
“It is vitriol,” Kennedy said.
“Well what we’re living through is they stormed the Capitol, they tried to overthrow the certification and the results of a lawful election and Donald Trump is out here now saying he has, according to his lawyers, license to kill, license to coup, we’ll pardon all those people,” Melber said.
“And so, you seem to be saying discussing that is vitriolic, no it’s not, having a clear position on the peaceful transfer of power is a very low bar, very low bar.”
You can watch more of the MSNBC host’s interview with Kennedy below.