Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded on Wednesday to the reveal that a worm previously crawled into his brain, ate part of it, and died by claiming that he could “eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate.” He added: “I feel confident of the result even with a six-worm handicap.”
The declaration was clearly an attempt to suggest that even though the worm left him with “cognitive problems,” including “short-term memory loss” and “longer-term memory loss,” he is still mentally stronger than his competition for the White House. (Kennedy told The New York Times that he had recovered from the cognitive issues caused by the parasite that got into his brain. A spokesperson for the candidate scoffed at the idea that he might be unfit to serve as president—even though, again, Kennedy himself said the worm had significantly impacted his cognitive abilities.)
Kennedy had already challenged Donald Trump to a debate before the worm story came out, telling the ex-president in an open letter that he was “drawing a lot of voters from your former supporters” and that an upcoming Libertarian Party convention, at which both men are scheduled to speak, would be “perfect neutral territory for you and me to have a debate where you can defend your record for your wavering supporters.” Trump skipped the GOP primary debates. When asked earlier this month about debating Kennedy, the ex-president said: “He is not a serious candidate. They say he hurts Biden. I don’t know who he hurts; he might hurt me. I don’t know. But he has very low numbers, certainly not numbers that he can debate with. He’s got to get his numbers a lot higher before he’s credible.”
Many members of Kennedy’s family believe he poses a grave threat to Joe Biden and democracy at large, considering that he cannot actually win the White House but will likely take votes from the president. Numerous Kennedys—including six of the candidate’s eight living siblings—endorsed Biden for reelection last month, saying, “We are here because we feel obliged to do all we can in this election.” Also, JFK’s only grandson took to Instagram this month to tell people not to vote for RFK Jr., using a variety of personas to do so. As a character named “Jimmy,” Jack Schlossberg said of his mother’s first cousin: “He’s a friggin’ prick. He’s lying to you, alright?”
