Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hopes to make environmental issues bipartisan again.
The independent presidential candidate on Thursday said he wants the environment to once again become an issue both parties can tackle together.
This comes after his recent show of support for the Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump.
“Environment was a unifying issue in the 1960s, supported by Democrats and Republicans alike,” Kennedy wrote in a post on X. “I am committed to reviving that consensus in the next Trump administration.”
Kennedy, who referred to himself as “an old-school environmentalist” and “a lover and protector of nature,” recently suspended his presidential campaign and threw his support behind Trump.
In his Aug. 23 speech announcing the suspension of his campaign, Kennedy said he met with Trump and was “surprised to discover that we were aligned on many issues.”
Kennedy in his post on Thursday said he was also surprised to discover they also share common perspectives on the environment.
“I have found to my surprise that many people on the Trump team, including President Trump himself, care about the same environmental issues I do,” Kennedy said.
He also wrote that the issues can help unify the nation because “almost everyone values thriving ecosystems and wildlife” and wants clean air, soil, water, and food.
Kennedy, a member of one of the most high-profile and influential Democrat families, has distanced himself from the party after initially running for the Democratic Party nomination but in October 2023 announcing he would be running as an independent.
Kennedy wrote on Thursday on X that Democrats “obsess about counting CO2” but that many carbon-motivated environmental policies actually harm the environment. These include offshore wind—which he said can be harmful to marine animals such as whales and birds—and mining for lithium, coltan, silver, and copper in order to make batteries, which can impact entire ecosystems.
The more urgent issues are chemicals in food, water, and soil, according to Kennedy.
Researchers say that the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, that spewed an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, helped fuel the modern environmental movement. Kennedy hopes to restore that movement.
His statement online drew a lot of attention and X users applauded his stance and efforts to unify the country.
“Bravo RFK,” an individual said on X in response to Kennedy’s statement. “This is the kind of unifying politics the American people need. Great to have you and President Trump working together to make America great and healthy again!”
Kennedy’s statement, however, also drew some criticism.
One person wrote, “I work in land conservation and I can tell you Democrats are the ones fighting PFAS chemicals and ocean plastics. You just joined a coalition with Elon Musk who is the largest consumer of Cobalt, Lithium and other minerals in the country.”
Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris in her speech at the Democratic National Convention briefly touched on the topic of the environment, saying that fundamental freedoms are at stake in the 2024 election, including “the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.”
The 2024 Democrat Party Platform lists “combatting the climate crisis and pursuing environmental justice” as one of its priorities.