RFK Jr.’s Wild Interview with a Libertarian Magazine

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is ready to decriminalize psychedelics, pardon Julian Assange, build a border wall and maybe make Tulsi Gabbard his secretary of state if he's elected president.

Slapping aside Democratic Party orthodoxy on multiple issues has been Kennedy's calling card, in addition to questioning vaccines, and he laid out these views in one of his most detailed policy interviews to date with Reason magazine on Thursday.

In the interview with Reason Magazine, Kennedy went deep on his opinions about the war in Ukraine.

Much of what he said echoed his speech at his recent NewsNation town hall on Wednesday, such as his critical view on the U.S. stance on the Ukraine war. On both occasions, he mentioned the Minsk agreements — a series of deals that entered negotiations in 2014 regarding separatist movements by Russian speakers in Ukraine, and that Kennedy believes could’ve been a way out before the war started in February of 2022. 

“I’m not convinced Putin wanted the war, I think the jury is still out on that,” Kennedy said to Reason. “We could’ve avoided the war, we did a series of provocations.”

Kennedy made sure to clarify he was not an “apologist for Putin,” and proceeded to say he believes the war is illegal and unnecessary. But in his view, a resolution wouldn’t be as simple as taking power from the Russian leader. 

“Putin is very very popular, an extremely popular leader,” Kennedy said. “And it’s a nation that controls more national weapons than we own. If you do replace Putin, are you going to replace him with somebody who is more or less likely to let those nuclear weapons get out of control?”

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In a series of rapid questions, Kennedy laid out plans and goals for his campaign, sometimes aligning with Democrats, but also veered into libertarian thinking. 

The candidate said he would decriminalize marijuana, something he said during his town hall, as well as psychedelics. 

An easy “yes” for Kennedy was also whether he would support immigration reforms that would make it easier for people to live and work legally in the U.S. He did add, however, he would “make it impossible for people to cross the border illegally.” 

While he didn’t go into detail of what his proposed policies would look like, he did mention finishing the construction of Trump’s wall while on NewsNation the day before. 

Kennedy was also asked about who he would like to have as his secretary of state, and while he didn’t have a precise answer, one name came to mind. 

“I love Tulsi Gabbard,” he said. “She understands the importance of disentangling, of unraveling the empire, unraveling the war machine.”

Gabbard was a presidential candidate in 2020, and left the Democratic party in 2022. Kennedy mentioned a couple times during his town hall he was also unhappy with the Democrats, claiming he wants his "party back.” To Reason, he also said he's always been aligned with libertarianism “in most issues.” 

When asked about gun control, his response didn’t align completely with those of fellow Democrats. 

“I’m not gonna take away anybody's gun,” Kennedy said. “If it was a consensus where Republicans and Democrats voted a majority to do that, I would sign the bill.”

Kennedy also talked about pardoning Assange, who published leaked documents in 2010 and 2011, and Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked classified information in 2013.

“I would pardon Assange immediately, because he is a newspaper publisher and it is crazy what they’re trying to do to him. It’s completely anti-American.” Kennedy said. “I would pardon Snowden because what Snowden did for the American people was help restore at least some semblance of democracy.”

Many of Kennedy’s views go against what polls have been showing most Democrats highly value: an assault weapons ban, military support to Ukraine and vaccines (which Kennedy has questioned multiple times.) Still, he has reached up to 20% of Democrat support in recent polls, and even more popularity among independent voters.