Another day, another right-wing figure making another bonkers comparison between pandemic safety measures and the Holocaust.
This time, it's environmental lawyer and anti-vaxx crackpot Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who joined a recent rally in Washington D.C. protesting vaccine mandates and began spouting absurd conspiracy theories.
Kennedy Jr. covered all the anti-vaxx conspiracy hits, including name-checking supposed vaccine arch-villain Bill Gates and the non-existent threat of toxic 5G cellular towers. But it was his shout-out to Anne Frank and the Holocaust that really had people raising their eyebrows. See his comments below.
At the antivaxx rally in DC, RFK Jr. says that in the future "none of us can run and none of us can hide" because of Bill Gates' satellites and also 5G, unlike... the Holocaust.\n\n"Even in Hitler's Germany, you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did."pic.twitter.com/bRtmDBTxZl— Ben Collins (@Ben Collins) 1642967180
Kennedy Jr.'s comments centered on what he described as the tyrannical and unavoidable nature of vaccine mandates. Kennedy Jr. not only compared such pandemic-mitigation measures to the horrors of the Holocaust, but did so in such a way that implied the Holocaust was actually easier to endure than American vaccine mandates.
Yes, you read that right, he actually said that. As he put it:
“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did."
“I visited in 1962 East Germany with my father, and met people who had climbed the wall and escaped, so it was possible — many died doing it, but it was possible.”
Kennedy Jr. seemed blithely unaware of the fact that Anne Frank was eventually found in that attic by Nazis and died in the concentration camp they sent her to a few months later, but whatever. He then contrasted Frank's supposedly rosy scenario to the present-day United States.
"Today, the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so that none of us can run, and none of us can hide."
What "mechanisms," you ask? Kennedy Jr. described them thusly:
“Bill Gates and his 65,000 satellites alone will be able to look at every square inch of the planet, 24 hours a day. They’re putting in 5G to harvest our data and control our behavior — digital currencies that will allow them to punish us from a distance and cut off our food supply.”
For the record, none of that is real, and no American is required to be vaccinated--as evidenced by the fact that many anti-vaxxers have chosen to quit their jobs rather than comply with the vaccine rules implemented in many workplaces, for example.
Obviously, the parallels between basic pandemic measures and the systematic deportation, torture and murder of millions of Jews--not to mention myriad other groups deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime--are flat-out non-existent.
And on Twitter, his comments drew angry blowback.
I had to flee the Nazis to Siberia from Poland when I was 6 years old.\n\nRobert Kennedy Jr. is so ignorant. I\u2019m speechless.\n\nRunning/hiding in the Holocaust was rare, almost impossible. I\u2019m lucky to have survived. Anne Frank didn\u2019t.\n\nVaccines aren\u2019t comparable to the Holocaust!https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1485338127442984960\u00a0\u2026— Lucy Lipiner (@Lucy Lipiner) 1642982966
My favorite moment from the antivax rally yesterday was when Bobby Kennedy Jr said vaccinate requirements are worse than the Holocaust because in the Holocaust Anne Frank hid in her attic (she was found and killed by the Nazis).— David Pakman (@David Pakman) 1643031497
Exploiting of the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured & murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany - including children like Anne Frank - in a debate about vaccines & limitations during global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral & intellectual decay.— Auschwitz Memorial (@Auschwitz Memorial) 1642970680
RFK Jr. remarks on Anne Frank, vaccines draw condemnation (from @AP)\nRFK Jr. has brought humiliation and shame upon the Kennedy name and legacy. A family so aligned with Democratic principles, to have the son of Robert Kennedy run so contrary is shameful.https://apnews.com/article/51ff5b36a8d30636184ef3e6d2dce198\u00a0\u2026— Ed Schmidt III (@Ed Schmidt III) 1643062743
#RFKJr's father is rolling in his grave. What a thing to do to a family legacy.— Accountability Jones (@Accountability Jones) 1642987445
pic.twitter.com/WlmeZo5oBx— joey Laifer (@joey Laifer) 1642979645
I've found the one Kennedy that I actively dislike. Never invoke the holocaust for trivial causes.https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/23/politics/robert-f-kennedy-nazi-germany-offensive-anti-vaccine-speech/index.html\u00a0\u2026— Barredbard (@Barredbard) 1643072777
Do we know if as a child he was dropped on his head?— Richard Epstein (@Richard Epstein) 1643026267
RFK Jr. Likens Anti-Vax Struggle To Holocaust Victims Including Anne Frank\n\u201cEven in Hitler\u2019s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,\u201d Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.\n\nDisgusting. \n\n#BlueVoices \n\nhttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/rfk-jr-anti-vaxx-rally-5g-bill-gates_n_61edd1cee4b023957946b2de\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/SycqQucSrX— Eric Rosen (@Eric Rosen) 1643029884
RFK Jr. compared vaccination to the Holocaust at an anti-vaccine rally in D.C.!\nThis is appalling. Trading off the Kennedy name to spew this dangerous anti-vax, anti-science rhetoric that is straight out of the QAnon playbook. How dare he diminish the legacy of RFK in this way?— Alicia (@Alicia) 1643036855
Kennedy Jr. is the son of assassinated 1968 Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, and has become one of the leading voices of the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist right-wing.
UPDATE 1/25/21: Kennedy has since apologized for his comments in a tweet, leaning on the old "to the extent my remarks caused hurt" line:
I apologize for my reference to Anne Frank, especially to families that suffered the Holocaust horrors. My intention was to use examples of past barbarism to show the perils from new technologies of control. To the extent my remarks caused hurt, I am truly and deeply sorry.— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@Robert F. Kennedy Jr) 1643124077