Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

GOV. DOUG BURGUM: Here’s Why Conservatives Can’t Trust RFK Jr.

(Screenshot/YouTube/PBS Newshour)

There’s a lot of chatter right now about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., even though he won’t even be on many states ballots this fall, let alone actually scoring one single electoral vote in November’s election.

And while they may know his name, many voters know little about him or his policies to make an informed decision one way or another. True patriots should know that despite expensive advertising and lofty promises, his ideas are downright dangerous, and anyone who identifies as a conservative, or simply as somebody who loves their country, best steer clear.

Here’s what we know about him, from his very own statements.

In 2019, Kennedy shared an article defending Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal for a 70% top tax rate, saying that there’s research to “back her up.”

Where would this money go? Not back to the people, because if he wanted this, he’d be in favor of tax cuts. Instead, a huge tax increase would feed an ever-growing, ever-overreaching federal government. This is something he has in common with President Joe Biden and defies our Founders’ vision of empowered people and states, and a specific, limited role for the federal government.

In his heart, Kennedy is a proponent of dangerous Big Government Socialism — where liberal elites have one size fits all ideas — their ideas — for every American, their families and their businesses. Yet history has proven that socialist ideas have destroyed once great countries and are now tearing at the very fabric of America under Joe Biden.

Kennedy has called for governments to divest from fossil fuels. He wants to put a carbon tax on all emissions, which would saddle all hard-working American families with even more inflation when they are already burdened by the failed policies of the Biden administration. The hallmark of Biden’s inflation and all things Bidenomics are high energy prices.

RFK’s policies — in fact, his dream — would have gas prices at $10 a gallon. Energy is a component of everything from heating our homes to the food we eat.

These policies would bankrupt American families and businesses, enrich our advisories like Iran and Russia and HURT the global environment by displacing clean U.S. energy production with foreign sources.

Further, Kennedy has held troubling and problematic relationships with people he not only considers his friends, but also a “truly great partner” — an example includes virulent Antisemite Louis Farrakhan. At a time when Israel is fighting on every front, and with a historic rise of antisemitism on our college campuses, this should be a disqualifying in and of itself.

Liberals know this, which is why they’re so frightened of him. He’s more AOC than AOC is and has described himself as a big proponent of the inflationary and economically unsustainable Green New Deal-he’s called it “huge” and “important.”

He’s more than an anti-Second Amendment gun-grabber, he’s literally called the National Rifle Association “a terror group.” He’s more than an enabler of spending your hard-earned money, he supports Biden’s actions to “cancel” student debt if they were to be approved by Congress. He has endorsed or contributed to every major Democrat in recent history-Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton.

When you look at his record, when you look at what he’s spoken about and what he continues to say, it reminds me of the old saying: If he talks like a liberal, and he walks like a liberal, don’t let it fool you. He’s a liberal.

Doug Burgum has served as North Dakota’s governor since 2016.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.