NewsNation, a cable news channel, has announced a town hall meeting with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, to give audiences a chance to get to know the candidate’s personality. The event will be held on Wednesday at 9 p.m. and broadcasted unedited and live from Chicago before an audience of Democrats and independents leaning towards the Democrats. However, audiences in New Hampshire and South Carolina will also be present, and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College will help facilitate the live audience.
Many Democrats are critical of Kennedy’s presidential bid against President Joe Biden, labeling the anti-vaccine activist as a conspiracy-theory spewing fringe candidate who weakens Biden with Republican support. CNN’s Jake Tapper has declined to host a town hall meeting with Kennedy, citing his dangerous misinformations about childhood vaccines.
Nevertheless, Elizabeth Vargas, the Elizabeth Vargas Reports anchor who will moderate the event, said preparation is key to ensuring a successful town hall meeting. The town hall meeting is not meant to be a gotcha interview, and Vargas’s role is to moderate the audience’s questions and ensure that Kennedy answers them in real-time, even if he says something factually questionable.
The event aims to let the audience see Kennedy’s personality and get a sense of how he thinks. Vargas hopes the event provides viewers with the capacity to watch Kennedy answer questions on various issues, including the economy, crime, and border disputes, among others, and decide to draw their conclusions about whether they support Kennedy’s candidacy.
