Next week’s summit for the far-right, anti-LGBTQ activist group Moms for Liberty will feature many familiar faces: former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, reactionary radio host Dennis Prager, GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, conspiracy weirdo James Lindsay and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Yet high up on the marquee, one of these things is not like the others: Democratic presidential competitor and anti-vax zealot Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
At least, that’s how it would appear at first glance. RFK Jr. is a scion of America’s most famously liberal political family, and his father has a human rights organization named after him. He’s entering a space that by all accounts would seem antithetical to his predecessors’ social justice predilections.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Moms for Liberty — which has spent the past several years organizing against so-called “wokeness” in education and calling for book bans — has engaged in a variety of illiberal, regressive campaigns against perceived “groomers” and “indoctrination” in public schools.
“The social media accounts and real-world activity of the national organization and its chapters reflect views and actions that are anti-government and conspiracy propagandist, anti-LGBTQ and anti-gender identity, and anti-inclusive curriculum,” the Center writes.
But RFK Jr.’s inclusion actually isn’t too surprising. In a recent interview with anti-woke crusader Jordan Peterson, one of Camelot’s most controversial princes asserted that endocrine disruptors in the water supply were the reason behind children “turning” transgender. He’s also claimed that the club drug “poppers” helps explain the origins of HIV/AIDS.
As the battle over supposed wokeness in the public square continues to escalate, the idea that to be against the grain or anti-establishment means rejecting clear-cut scientific research about the existence of trans people. That’s exactly the kind of portrait RFK Jr. is trying to demonstrate to the electorate: He’s a truth-telling rebel being silenced by… Big Trans?
And that means associating yourself with the kind of minoritarian, niche fixations of the radical right.