Environmentalists who once worked with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are calling on him to drop his presidential bid, The New York Times was first to report Friday, while a number of green organizations are also denouncing the independent candidate for his anti-science beliefs. The push for Kennedy to exit the 2024 race comes from his ex-colleagues at the Natural Resources Defense Council, whose political arm is planning to run full-page newspaper ads in six swing states next week. Kennedy had served as a senior attorney at the climate advocacy group for around 28 years. The ads describe his campaign as benefiting presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, “the single worst environmental president our country has ever had.” “We have spent our careers fighting to protect the planet and its people,” the ads state. “As current and former leadership and board members of the NRDC Action Fund, as well as former colleagues of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., we have one message for him: Honor our planet, drop out.” They further state that Kennedy has been “spinning anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, denying science, and putting lives at risk.” “The RFK, Jr. I knew as a colleague is not the same person I see today,” Liz Barratt-Brown, one of his former colleagues, said in a statement. “We feel betrayed by him and what he is espousing. He is using his environmental credentials to sell a dark and conspiratorial brand of politics. It’s heartbreaking. If he loves the planet the way he did as my former colleague, he cannot open the door to another Trump Administration.” Separately, Kennedy faced criticism Friday in an open letter from a handful of environmental groups, including the NRDC Action Fund. The 12 organizations rejected Kennedy’s claims of being an environmental candidate and sought to warn the American public about his beliefs, pointing to his previous anti-science statements. Though he was once a leading environmental attorney,... |