Campaign

RFK. Jr.: Biden, Trump debate a ‘sad story for democracy’

by Elizabeth Crisp - 06/28/24 11:25 AM ET

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running a long-shot bid as an independent candidate for president, wasn’t impressed by Thursday night’s debate between President Biden and former President Trump.

“I think it was a sad — the whole spectacle was a sad story for democracy,” he said during a Friday appearance on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.” “We have 341 million people in this country, and the two political parties produced two men who bickered over — over really irrelevancies.”

Biden and Trump agreed to a 90-minute debate hosted by CNN in Atlanta this week, historically early in the presidential debate cycle. Their respective parties will hold their official conventions this summer to formally nominate their candidates.

Trump, 78, and Biden, 81, each have faced questions over their age and ability to serve four more years in the White House if elected.

Kennedy, 70, part of the Democratic dynasty, has said he thinks the first presidential debate could be a momentum-building opportunity for his third-party bid, as voters look for an option apart from the Republican and Democratic standard-bearers.

“They are tired of choosing the lesser of two evils,” Kennedy told NewsNation host Elizabeth Vargas in a postdebate recap.

Biden, in particular, has faced backlash over his stilted performance on the CNN debate stage, which Kennedy pointed out. Kennedy didn’t meet the debate qualifications to participate.

“I don’t think that President Biden — he does not seem to be the person who’s making the decisions in the White House,” Kennedy said in the Fox News interview. “I think our government is being run by anonymous men in lanyards, and it’s scary.”

Biden’s team has shot down suggestions that he could be replaced on the ballot before the November election.

Biden and Trump are scheduled to face each other again in at least one debate, hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10.

Biden bested Trump 51 percent to 47 percent of the popular vote in the 2020 election cycle, or 306 electoral votes to 232.