Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested the facts surrounding the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, weren’t accurate in a new tweet on Friday. And while it’s far from the weirdest conspiracy theory Kennedy has publicly floated, it’s certain to energize his base as he campaigns to be president as an independent candidate.
“My take on 9/11: It’s hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn’t,” Kennedy tweeted Friday morning. “But conspiracy theories flourish when the government routinely lies to the public. As President I won’t take sides on 9/11 or any of the other debates. But I can promise is that I will open the files and usher in a new era of transparency.”
Kennedy, who’s never held elected office and is only a public figure because he’s the nephew of a former president, has previously said he hasn’t studied the events of 9/11 closely but doesn’t believe the official story about the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7. The National Institute of Standards and Technology found that the collapse of the building occurred because it endured seven hours of fires started by the collapse of World Trade Center Tower 1. But Kennedy, like other so-called 9/11 Truthers, doesn’t believe that explains what actually happened.
During an interview last year with Peter Bergen, the host of the podcast In the Room, Kennedy said “there’s pictures of it collapsing. There’s nothing collapsing on top of it.” Bergen pointed out there were tens of thousands of witness interviews conducted corroborating the findings that Building 7 collapsed due to fire.
NIST spent three years intensively studying the cause of the collapse and found that at least 10 floors were on fire. And while the building’s close proximity to Tower 1 (just 370 feet away) is tough to appreciate in many news videos of the collapse, it’s perfectly logical that Building 7 would have sustained severe damage.
Conspiracy theorists believe Building 7 was destroyed using hidden explosives put there by the U.S. government, just as they believe that’s the real cause for the two towers collapsing. But every theory about hidden bombs falls apart under scrutiny, especially when you just step back and consider what everyone saw with their own eyes. Planes were flown into the towers, which caused such destruction that after burning for long enough, the building collapsed under its own weight. If the U.S. government were really planning a false flag, why not just use bombs and blame it on terrorists?
Critical thinking obviously isn’t one of Kennedy’s strong suits, but then again this is the guy who believes that vaccines cause autism–a claim that’s been rejected by every mainstream scientist who’s looked at the claim.
And yet somehow, Kennedy is still performing well in the polls, despite his unhinged beliefs. FiveThirtyEight’s national average currently has Kennedy polling at 9.8%, with President Joe Biden at 39.7% and Donald Trump at 42.2%. There’s essentially no way that Kennedy could win the presidency with just four months to Election Day, but he’s attracting a large enough share of the vote that he could definitely have an impact. The only question is whether Kennedy steals more votes from traditional Biden supporters or from Trump supporters. And with Biden potentially dropping out to be replaced by another Democrat, things could get even messier.
