John Stossel Fact Checks RFK Jr.

Debate is one of the best ways to get closer to the truth. At least Kennedy is willing to do so.

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign last week and endorsed former President Donald Trump.

I disagree with Kennedy about a lot. But at least he was willing to talk to people who disagree with him.

In my newest video, we debate.

Kennedy complains that mainstream media won't have him on—even to argue with him.

"Nobody will. None of them. They won't have me on any of their networks."

"I see why," I reply. "You get into the weeds of vaccine science and we feel not all of it's true."

"If it's not true," Kennedy responds, "then argue with me, or post something afterward."

OK.

Here are three incorrect things Kennedy says:

Number one: "I was in Dimock, Pennsylvania, watching fire come out of a faucet from fracking. Every home in that neighborhood, they can light up a cigarette lighter under their faucet, turn their faucet on and it'll flame like a lighter. That's from fracking."

No, it isn't.

A leftist documentary, Gasland, publicized flaming faucets and claimed fracking is the cause.

But it's not.

Water is flammable in many places in America where no fracking is done. It happens because of naturally occurring gas, already in the ground.

Even the director of the Environmental Protection Agency during Obama's presidency said, "In no case have we made a definitive determination that the fracking process has caused chemicals to enter groundwater."

Number two: Kennedy claims many vaccines do more harm than good.

I ask, "If your kids were young now, would you give them the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine?"

"No," he says, "Studies show that kids who get measles as a child are much healthier when they grow up…resistant to cancers, atopic diseases."

I tell Kennedy, "You convinced people not to get the measles vaccine. An outbreak resulted in 83 deaths in Samoa."

"That story is not true," he says. "Nobody died in Samoa from measles."

But the Samoan government and The Lancet medical journal report there were 83 deaths.

Kennedy blames the deaths on bad vaccines, and two babies did die after being given incorrectly mixed vaccines.

But Samoa's response, after years of anti-vax messages, was worse: They pulled the measles vaccine.

That's what caused the 83 deaths.

Now, Samoa vaccinates kids again.

Number three: Kennedy ties vaccines to autism.

"You still say that autism is caused by vaccines?" I ask.

"Yeah," he replies firmly. "Autism is caused by vaccines."

He points to unpublished data presented decades ago by a researcher named Verstraeten.

"They looked at children who got the hepatitis B vaccine during their first 30 days and compared those to kids who got it later or didn't get it at all. There was a 1,350 percent elevated risk for autism!"

That was true, about the preliminary raw data. But in later analyses of the same data, Verstraeten made adjustments, and the vaccine-autism correlation went away. RFK doesn't trust the adjustments. Even if he were right, the chemical in the vaccines (thimerosal) that Verstraeten looked at was discontinued in vaccines, except flu shots, decades ago.

More thorough researchers have now studied the effects of modern vaccines and found no connection to autism.

One study even looked at every child born in Denmark over 10 years and concluded that the MMR vaccine "does not increase the risk for autism."

"You ignore the big studies," I tell him.

"You have this wrong," he insists.

Finally, Kennedy's critics claim he makes things up.

One told me, "Studies he cites won't show what he says they show. The web is full of detailed explanations of why nearly every study he has cited is bogus or wildly misinterpreted by him."

I didn't find that. I found that when Kennedy cites studies, he cites them accurately.

But he misleads by ignoring bigger, better, more reliable studies.

This does a grave disservice to his followers. Vaccines (most of them, anyway) reduce misery and save lives.

Although Kennedy and I disagree about a lot, I'm grateful that he will debate.

All my career, I've debated people for my TV shows. Debate is one of the best ways to get closer to the truth.

But today, activists and politicians hide from skeptical inquiry. Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Kennedy are rare exceptions.

Good for them.

COPYRIGHT 2024 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

Comments

[sarcasmic]

Like to see Stossel interview Trump.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Agreed, Stossel is probably the best interviewer of people in these positions that I could ask for.

Hey, wait a minute, per sarc, I’m supposed to be a brainwashed trump guy who never challenges or wants to see trump challenged on anything, ever. I’m supposed to think Stossel is an idiot because he sometimes criticizes my dear leader.

So sarc, would you say I strawmanned your position, or no? You have said this in various other Stoss threads.

[Rick James]

I'd like to see anyone interview Kamala Harris.

Hell, even Trump agreed to be interviewed by CNN-- my favorite moment of which was when the interviewer began to realize that Trump wasn't trapped in there with her, she was trapped in there with Trump.

I'd also like to see someone interview the chief editors of most media organizations. Although there was that debate between Matt Taibbi, Douglas Murray, Malcolm Gladwell and Michelle Goldberg where Taibbi and Murray cleaned Gladwell's and Goldberg's clocks so thoroughly, they WaPo and NYT hacks lost the Munk debate with the biggest margin in its history. That was satisfying. Fyi, that's back when Reason was still Section 230-waving off the allegations that Twitter and Facebook were colluding with government to censor people.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Yes, interesting that sarc vocalizes how he'd like to see Stossel interview Trump, but not Kami, a cop who he "hates"...

[Mother's Lament]

Because he can't troll the comments on a Kamala interview.

[Super Scary]

"I’d like to see anyone interview Kamala Harris."

It certainly would be something to see Theo Von interview her like he did with Trump and Bernie.

[Mother's Lament]

Theo Von - "So I heard you like to give BJ's and I sure as hell like getting them. Let's talk about them."

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Kamala has finally agreed to a sit down interview on CNN but only if she can bring her emotional support pet.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kamala-harris-dragged-on-cnn-for-weak-sauce-decision-to-bring-tim-walz-to-first-interview-lack-of-confidence/ar-AA1pA1JC

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Like that's going to matter. I'm sure all three of them will have a grand old time playing interview t-ball.

[mad.casual]

I still put it at like 80/20 the interview will come off well vs. all three of them and the editors wind up obliviously airing a piece where, e.g., they seriously discuss how Kamala falls neatly into the part of the Venn diagram that supports locking up more homeless people in order to reduce housing prices or something.

These are the people that are still trying to make 'brat' happen.

[Public Entelectual]

If John wasn't playing softball, why didn't he ask RFK some hard questions about his gonzo infatuation with chemtrail theories that make QAnon look sane by comparison?

One of RFK's trusted informants swears "pie shaped patterns" in the sky signaled that the Big Apple was being zapped with covid vaccine contrails .

Whatever happened to skywriting ?

https://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-scopex-experiment-that-time-forgot.html

[Mother's Lament]

Shill your scam site elsevvhere.

[Public Entelectual]

Why can't you be bothered to read anything that you didn't write ?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Kill yourself you fraud boosting cancer

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Lay off the tranq, skeezix.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

That’s actually a good idea. Hell must be freezing over. Regardless, Stossel is a good choice to interview almost anyone. In part, because he isn’t soft, nor does he do attack interviews. I would love to see him interview Trump for at least an hour in a long form interview.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

Stossel is the best journalist of our era. Prove me wrong.

[Dillinger]

when does his piece on the J6 fraud drop?

[Public Entelectual]

Just try staying awake through his next remix

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

I agree, granted I have never seen that spelling of darren beatie before

[Rick James]

I disagree with Kennedy about a lot. But at least he was willing to talk to people who disagree with him.

That's what made Kennedy a great candidate-- and probably a great president. He's willing to change his views on things when presented with different ideas and facts. That's why he's walked away from the Democratic party.

[Mother's Lament]

2020 was really a Road to Damascus experience for a lot of people including Kennedy.

It was the perfect authoritarian litmus test. You could right away see the people who stuck to the principles of speech and civil rights, and those for who it was always just a pose.

Howard Stern was a great example of someone who took the opposite route to people like RFK Jr.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Howard Stern was a great example of someone who took the opposite route to people like RFK Jr.

Stern’s become far less relevant as the 21st century has gone on. His core audience was always smart-ass Gen-Xers and Jones Boomers, and those people have fully aged out of the juvenile brand of faux-edgy scat and titties humor he and contemporaries like Imus always pushed. Millennials and Zoomers aren’t interested in that shit. That “King of All Media” brand hasn’t been true for at least 15 years, if not longer, and the only reason he’s likely survived up to this point is the fact that Sirius has a monopoly on satellite radio which is put in just about every new vehicle these days.

If he doesn’t move to a podcast deal like Rogan, he’s done once his contract is up or he croaks, whichever comes first.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I'll give Kennedy this--he's got way more guts than Kacklin' Kammy or Tiananmen Tim. First he shows up to the Libertarian convention to ask for their vote, then he sits down with Stossel for an actual tough interview (to be fair, JD Vance has at least done that with today's Democratic journoscum on the Sunday talk shows).

His politics are too much like Mama Tulsi's for me to want him to be President, but I can at least respect the fact that he's not afraid of actually sitting down for tough receptions and making his case. So unlike the left-wing plushies in his party who have been getting smoke blown up their asses by the media since FDR.

[Bertram Guilfoyle]

He’s also not afraid of incurring the wrath of his family. I’d never vote for this guy, but he does deserve credit for some things.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

He really has become one of those political figures where you end up respecting the guy enough that you feel bad about not voting for him just because his policies overall are so unacceptable. But he is someone that you can find enough common ground on that you wouldn't feel dirty making deals with him in the aftermath. Tulsi is the same way.

One of the phrases of politics that I've absolutely come to despise since the neocons became ascendant is, "A good compromise leaves everyone mad!" That's not what a compromise is supposed to do. It's supposed to ensure that both parties felt like they ultimately benefitted in the end, not given in on something that was unacceptable and left them resentful as a result. That's the consequence of the center-right's strategy to "make leftism happen more slowly" rather than actually standing up for any real principle other than forever wars and lower taxes.

[mad.casual]

He really has become one of those political figures where you end up respecting the guy enough that you feel bad about not voting for him just because his policies overall are so unacceptable. But he is someone that you can find enough common ground on that you wouldn’t feel dirty making deals with him in the aftermath. Tulsi is the same way.

^Please God Anyone But The Neocons/Democrats (Again) Party.

Trump, Vance, Tulsi, Kennedy, Thiel, Musk, DeSantis....

[Wally]

Both parties may end up mad, but compromise is not splitting the difference between the last compromise and the Communist wish list. It should be splitting the difference between their outlandish crap and my desire to have the entire federal workforce consist of 1000 people or less.
Goodbye DOE (energy and education) and basically every other department. Let them contract with the private sector for government functions and delegate down to the states.

[Finrod]

I wholeheartedly support this.

[Mother's Lament]

Stossel needs to give up the hobo beard and go back the that glorious Magnum PI moustache he used to sport.

Most guys look better with a beard because it covers up weak jawlines and double chins, but Stossel always had a great jawline.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

To be fair, the guy's pushing 80 and probably doesn't give a shit anymore.

[Mother's Lament]

Yeah but that moustache was pretty spectacular. The Metis heritage in me won't let me have such a fine womb broom.

[Public Entelectual]

Eetz wwose Quaqqwabwaze?

[SRG2]

This does a grave disservice to his followers. Vaccines (most of them, anyway) reduce misery and save lives.

If people wish to follow JFKjr and thereafter experience misery and loss of life, that's on them. Personal responsibility, etc.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

JFK Jr. pretty much died instantly when his plane crashed. Not much misery involved.

[Winston in Wonderland]

And he leaves dead bear carcasses in parks and beheads whales...

Like most other Kennedys, he grew-up insulated from the real world.

[rbike]

Can you really trust someone with s brat in the trunk?

[Public Entelectual]

It must have been a very small whale if he could carry off its head.
Right whale noggins are about the size of a VW.

[Moderation4ever]

While debate is good, I find that modern debates are often flawed allowing the participants to make incorrect assertions that go unchecked. John Stossel did his homework and fact checked but that came after and, in the meantime Kennedy's assertion were out there for people. It too often happens that the assertions make headlines, and the fact check is on page 6. So, the value of debate is lessened.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

This is some of the stupidest try-hard gaslighting from you I've seen, and that's saying something. At least put some effort into your shitposting like the hicklib pederast does.

[Dr. Ormand von Kleigstadt]

Oh, right. So the fracking had nothing to do with the contamination of groundwater in PA but the contamination only started a few months after the fracking began. Even the guys at Volokh have acknowledged that the flaming faucets were caused by methane, which resulted from fracking.

What Stossel is apparently doing is trying to muddy the waters by conflating the ‘flammable’ water with the lack of evidence that fracking FLUIDS were part of the contamination.

https://volokh.com/2011/05/09/fracking-and-flaming-faucets/

“A new study by researchers at Duke University found high levels of methane contamination in drinking water associated with hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania and New York — contamination that could be the cause of the infamous “flaming faucets” featured in “Gasland.” On the other hand, the study found no evidence “no evidence of contamination from chemical-laden fracking fluids, which are injected into gas wells to help break up shale deposits, or from “produced water,” wastewater that is extracted back out of the wells after the shale has been fractured.””

My family in rural PA had to ditch their home as a direct result of fracking. And not just because of the water.

[Davy C]

Yeah...

Water is flammable in many places in America where no fracking is done. It happens because of naturally occurring gas, already in the ground.

This statement is technically true, but doesn't prove anything. Flooding occurs in many basements in America due to naturally occurring water already in the ground. That doesn't mean the recent increase of water at my parents' house *isn't* due to the recent development of nearby farmland. The water or gas is already naturally in the ground, sure, but disturbing that ground can certainly influence where it ends up.

[Daddyhill]

Closer to the truth? Please. Or perhaps John S. is right, though maybe not in the way he intends. The truth of the Republican primary debates and the Trump/Biden debate has sunk in for many people: If Trump's lips are moving, we can be 80-90% certain that he's lying, but MAGA is totally cool with that. That's just a part of how cults work. The Godhead will tell you that lying is wrong, unless you're him.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Oh look, another Dispatch refugee shows up.

[Bowerick Wowbagger]

A: Stossel; Remy; Heaton/Bragg

Q: What are the only consistently good things at Reason.com?

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I would fire the entire Reason staff and probably offer Stossel the Editor in Chief position. Allowing him to hire mos of the replacement sand set policy. Although I would likely hire Jesse, ML, Fist, and a few others. Just to make Sarc, Shrike, and Jeffy’s heads explode.