The Current Failed In Its Coverage Of RFK Jr. Visit

To the editor: I generally think your news is spot on, and you have revitalized news reporting on Nantucket. But you failed miserably with your report on the Robert Kennedy fundraiser.

Your reporter treated him as a normal candidate with a storied name. Most political observers, and most of his family, consider him a kook. He is known for embracing conspiracy theories and is a leader of the anti-vaccination movement. The New York Times quoted him saying “Covid-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted.” He went on to say falsely that the people most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese. There was an uproar as he was accused of antisemitism and racism.

Last year he said vaccine cards for Covid-19 should be compared to life under Hitler and the Nazis during the Holocaust, provoking another uproar over his antisemitism.

His Instagram account was banned in 2021 for spreading lies and misinformation about public health and only reinstated recently when he became a candidate, as social media accounts have been reinstated for Trump.

Republican donors and some of Trump's closest supporters are paying attention. Funders of President Trump, those seeking Republican Control of Congress, and those who supported the effort to overturn the 2020 election provide the majority of his financial support.

They see him as a vehicle to wound the Democratic party and sow division. He obliges when he says on the record that he won’t commit to supporting Biden in the general election if Biden is the nominee.

So I was appalled to see your write-up on his speaking on Nantucket without reference to the larger context of his candidacy. Next time please do more research on whom you are writing about.

Toby Sackton