Politics
AA meetings in the White House? Kennedy, a recovering addict, says it's just one of changes he'd make
Is America ready to elect a recovering addict as president? How about one who wants to hold 12-step recovery meetings in the White House?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hopes to be that president, the onetime heroin user saying he long ago left behind his dependency on “drugs, sex, alcohol or extreme behavior” to balm a wounded psyche. Thanks in large part to more than 40 years of 12-step meetings, Kennedy says, “I don’t have a big empty hole that I’m trying to fill with things outside of me.”
The independent presidential candidate in recent days has said he wants to use his own 14-year addiction to heroin and more than four decades of recovery to help bring a new level of attention to the nation’s addiction crisis.
Kennedy recently premiered a documentary, “Recovering America,” in which he tours the country looking for programs that show the most promise of helping the nearly one in seven people who report having a substance use disorder.
“Today, twice as many Americans die of addiction every year as died during the entire Vietnam War,” Kennedy has said. Nearly 110,000 died in the U.S. last year of overdoses, not quite double the 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam. “And while there have been incredible innovations in recovery programs, as a nation we have failed to address the staggering magnitude of the crisis.”
Dating back to almost its founding, the United States has had presidents who drank to excess and at least a handful who reportedly used drugs, mostly before they entered the White House. But none of the nation’s chief executives acknowledged abusing drugs or being in recovery from addiction.
The former environmental lawyer is yet to qualify for the ballot in many states. And he is fighting a thus-far-losing battle to win a spot onstage for the nationally televised debates that will feature former President Trump and President Biden.
Kennedy, 70, has spoken about his addictive personality many times over the years. By his account, his recovery taught him humility and opened his heart toward God. But the redemption stories were preceded by years of darker media accounts about his reckless behavior — his serial adultery during his second marriage and claims that he helped lead his younger brother David into what became a fatal heroin addiction.
The candidate says his struggles have made him more empathetic and launched him on a life of service.
“My job as president of the Untied States will be to remind Americans that we’re all part of a community,” he said during a panel discussion after the documentary premiered in Albuquerque on June 15. “We’ve got to go back and figure out how we include everybody and how we amplify and multiply the opportunities for service with each other.”
Kennedy said his heroin addiction began at 15, not long after his father was assassinated on the night that he claimed victory in the California primary, as he campaigned for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.
Thrown out of two boarding schools, the younger Kennedy managed to make it through Harvard and the University of Virginia law school, despite multiple relapses. The cycle finally ended, by Kennedy’s account, after he overdosed on a flight to South Dakota and was arrested for heroin possession. He was 29.
“I feel like I was a one-dimensional human being. I was like a collection of appetites that needed to be fed all the time and that becomes like a full-time job,” Kennedy told YouTube host Sage Steele.
After a rehabilitation stay in New Jersey, Kennedy said 12-step meetings became key to his recovery. At one of the first sessions he asked a veteran how long he would have to attend.
“He said, ‘Just keep coming until you like it,’“ Kennedy recalled in an interview. “And I’ve been going for 40 years and I still don’t like it. But I go because the rest of my life works when I go.”
“I am careful about using any substance or behavior that tries to fix the uneasiness, the emptiness and the restlessness inside of myself with something outside,” he said. “And that’s really what the addictive mind is constantly looking for.”
He said he tries to attend nine meetings a week when he is home — seven morning sessions in Pacific Palisades and Tuesday and Thursday meetings at the Mandeville Canyon home he shares with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines.
While on the campaign trail, Kennedy said, he has made clear to his security detail that they need to make time every day for an AA meeting and a gym workout. Just hours before the premiere of his recovery documentary, he participated in an AA meeting at Monte Vista Christian Church in Albuquerque.
”As long as I’m unannounced at places, I can go almost anywhere,” Kennedy said. “The problem is, when you’re announced you have to screen people and do all of that.”
He said he “absolutely” would hold AA meetings in the White House, if elected. And he might even try to slip out occasionally to attend sessions in the community.
But he said his AA attendance is not meant to score political points. “The moment you are doing it out of material self-interest, the whole thing will turn on you,” he said.
Such regular AA attendance is not unusual for people who recently entered recovery. A maxim of 12-step programs is “90 meetings in 90 days.” Experts said it is unusual for someone far into recovery to attend sessions religiously, but likely indicates Kennedy views himself as a mentor to younger addicts.
Kennedy described his recovery as part of a “spiritual awakening,” in which he willed himself to believe in God, a faith that was later fulfilled by finding “synchronicity,” a confluence of meaningful events in the universe. He was introduced to the concept after reading Carl Jung, one of the fathers of psychotherapy.
“With a spiritual awakening, you have to renew it every day by helping somebody else,” Kennedy said. “And the meetings are an organized framework that gives everybody there an opportunity to help somebody else. … That’s why people go long after their compulsion to drink or drug has passed.”
He said he would take several steps to improve drug and alcohol treatment in the U.S. One would be trying to increase Medicaid funding for rehabilitation programs. He said that would be cheaper than funding later care for chronic disease, or in emergency rooms.
“Recovering America” featured several successful nonprofits, including Simple Mission Farms, a Texas rehabilitation program where former addicts engage in “therapeutic farming and animal-assisted therapy,” according to the nonprofit’s website.
As a centerpiece of his anti-addiction program, Kennedy said he would open hundreds of such “healing farms” — places “where American kids can reconnect to America’s soil, where they can learn the discipline of hard work, to rebuild self-esteem.”
He said these centers would be built with government support but have substantial freedom to find their own best practices. “I don’t want to come in micromanaging it,” he said, “because government never gets anything right.”
He said he would fund the farms by putting a federal tax on sales of legal marijuana, which he estimated would bring in $8 billion a year.
“There is hope for our nation to heal the scourge of addiction,” he concludes in the documentary. “We just have to make it an actual priority and when I’m in the White House, we will.”
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Maine state Rep. Valli Geiger, a Rockland Democrat, former nurse and former mayor, is drawing sudden national attention after saying now-former Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner encouraged her to consider taking his place on the ballot in the Maine Senate race.
While Geiger has not been named the replacement nominee, her name entered the Maine Senate scramble after she told local outlet WMTW that Platner called her Monday night, praised her as a “fighter” and asked whether he could put her name forward. Platner’s campaign told the outlet he had not made an endorsement decision but confirmed he encouraged Geiger to consider running if he stepped aside.
After Geiger said Platner called her about potentially putting her name forward, Geiger posted Tuesday she would not “throw Graham under the bus,” while also saying she would not “slander or accuse” Jenny Racicot, the woman who accused Platner of rape, “of anything more than telling the truth as she experienced it.”
By Wednesday, local outlets were reporting that Geiger said Platner had encouraged her to consider running if he withdrew. Platner, who suspended his campaign Wednesday night, has denied the claim.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IF PLATNER DROPS OUT? HERE’S WHO COULD REPLACE HIM ON THE BALLOT AND HOW IT COULD WORK
Graham Platner Maine State Rep. Valli Geiger (Maine State Legislature/Getty Images)
“For the movement to continue, it can’t be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said in a video posted to social media.
Geiger is a third-term Democratic state representative from Rockland, according to her legislative biography, representing a coastal House district in Maine that includes Rockland, Criehaven Township, Matinicus Isle Plantation, the Muscle Ridge Islands, North Haven and part of Owls Head. Her biography says she serves on the Labor Committee and the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee.
Before entering the state legislature, Geiger served six years on the Rockland City Council, including one year as mayor and four years on the Rockland Comprehensive Planning Commission, three of them as chair.
Her biography says she holds a master’s degree in sustainable design and built her own passive-solar, net-zero-energy house. It also describes her as a former nurse at Pen Bay Medical Center who later worked as a health policy analyst and health administrator, including as director of the Healthreach Hospice program and clinical director for Federally Qualified Health Centers around Maine.
The Maine State Capitol May 18, 2026, in Augusta, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
PLATNER CAMPAIGN PUTTING ‘THUMB ON SCALE’ TO INFLUENCE POSSIBLE REPLACEMENT, MAINE DEM ALLEGES
Geiger’s connection to Platner predates the latest replacement speculation. Local reporting has described her as a close Platner supporter, and WMTW reported she previously stood with him and credited him with helping secure funding for rape kit tracking in Maine.
In her Facebook post responding to Racicot’s allegation, Geiger wrote that Racicot’s story “seems credible” but added that “none of us knows the truth nor will we ever.” She also described Platner as “a man becoming a better man” and said she had hoped he would lead the political movement his campaign had built and will not “throw Graham under the bus.”
In the post, Geiger also praised Platner’s “passion for economic populism” and said she had granted him “an enormous amount of grace” for his behavior during what she described as his “dark years” after multiple deployments.
Dr. Nirav D. Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks during a news conference about COVID-19 at Maine Emergency Management Agency in Augusta. (Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
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The Maine state representative is not the only Democrat whose name has surfaced as Maine Democrats prepare for the possibility that Platner exits the race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Several Democrats have expressed interest or are considering bids, including former gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah.
Under Maine law, the Maine Democratic Party can replace him on the general election ballot by selecting a new nominee through its party process, with the replacement required to be chosen by July 27.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Politics
Nexstar launches its first digital subscription service with The Hill Insider, aimed at political junkies
Nexstar Media Group’s The Hill, the political web site that started as a free newspaper read in most congressional offices in Washington, is launching a new direct-to-consumer streaming service that will be behind a paywall.
Starting Wednesday, Nexstar will offer The Hill Insider, which will carry daily streaming video programs and newsletters. Subscribers will also be able to interact with The Hill’s journalists and analysts, who will take questions live.
The service, available for $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year, is the first digital subscription product for the Irving, TX-based Nexstar, the largest owner of television stations in the U.S. Premium memberships are available for $9.99 a month, or $99.99 a year, which will be ad-free and offer access to live events presented by The Hill.
The endeavor is the first subscription streaming service offered by Nexstar. The Hill already produces a free ad-supported streaming channel distributed on such platforms as Roku.
The free version of The Hill is the most viewed political web site in the U.S. with 1.24 billion page views in 2025, a year-to-year increase of 7%, according to Comscore. The Hill is known for offering brisk, up-to-date reports out of each branch of government in Washington, and is often linked to on other websites.
Nexstar, which also owns the cable network NewsNation, acquired The Hill in 2021 from New York-based entrepreneur James Finkelstein for $130 million. NewsNation adapted The Hill brand name for its Washington-based programs, including a Sunday roundtable show with Chris Stirewalt, politics editor for The Hill and NewsNation.
NewsNation politics editor Chris Stirewalt on the set of “The Hill Sunday.”
(NewsNation)
Stirewalt and the Washington journalists and commentators seen on NewsNation programs will be featured on The Hill Insider. The service will also use the resources of Decision Desk HQ, the political media firm that was the first to call President Trump’s victory on election night in 2024. Decision Desk will be involved in a streaming show called “Data Nerds.”
The Hill Insider will be aimed at the political junkie who wants to go deeper on polling data and hear longer, in-depth discussion on issues. Bill Sammons, senior vice president of editorial content for Nexstar, said the company’s research shows there is a national appetite for such content, as only 5% of The Hill’s current audience is based in Washington.
The Hill has long touted itself as non-partisan and Stirewalt hopes users will gravitate to the subscription version to become better informed about legislative and political issues and not reaffirm their existing opinions.
“My imagined audience is of people in America who are not addicted to politics but are addicted to good citizenship and the idea of fulfilling their civic virtue,” Stirewalt said in a recent interview. “And they would like to do it in a way that doesn’t insult their intelligence.”
While the free version of The Hill has been growing, the new subscription product enters a crowded field of digital programs and platforms aimed at the consumers of political news.
The launch comes as journalists from legacy media such as former CNN anchor Jim Acosta, former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran, and Chuck Todd, the longtime moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” have launched their own daily podcasts and newsletters as second acts in their careers.
MS NOW, the progressive-leaning cable news channel, is entering the direct to consumer market later this year making the channel available outside of pay-TV packages for the first time. Like The Hill Insider, the MS NOW streaming product is expected to offer users additional benefits, such as access to live events and content not seen on the cable network.
Original topical programming that does not have a shelf life is challenging to sustain on a streaming service. When Fox News Media launched its streaming service Fox Nation in 2018, it carried a line-up of live, politically-oriented shows aimed at its conservative-leaning audience. The service eventually pivoted to documentary, movies and lifestyle programming and became the home of the annual Fox News fan event, The Fox Nation Patriot Awards.
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Political heavyweight Dana White, whose endorsement of President Donald Trump was instrumental in his 2024 victory, is now hinting that he may jump back into presidential politics in 2028 because he has “become really close” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
This comes as White’s UFC announced a rare “sports diplomacy” partnership with the State Department this week. White and Rubio signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the partnership last month, according to a UFC statement. The league said that as part of the agreement, UFC athletes and coaches will serve as “sports ambassadors” for young athletes around the world through the State Department’s Sports Envoy Program.
White was explicitly asked by OutKick’s Tomi Lahren, whether there are any leaders he is looking at for 2028, to which he responded, “It’s funny, As I was, leading up to the White House fight, doing all this media, you know, a lot of the left media was saying to me, ‘So, you’re out of politics after this, right?’ And I can’t remember who it was that I said it to but … I said, ‘I’ve become really close to Rubio.’ We’ve become really close.”
“People are asking me if I’m going to get out of politics when the president leaves and I just said, ‘I’ve become very close to Rubio.’ He and I have become friends,” he emphasized.
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UFC President and CEO Dana White and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shake hands as htey participate in a Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on June 11, 2026. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
White said that Rubio “is a great guy, I like him,” adding, “He’s smart, I like the way he handles himself.”
He also said, “I’ve met his sons, and I like his kids and, you know, so, never say never.”
Pressed on whether Rubio is his official pick to succeed Trump as president, White clarified, “I’m not saying I’m picking.” He noted that he also likes Vice President JD Vance, who, alongside Rubio, is a rumored 2028 presidential frontrunner.
“JD is a great guy too,” said White, adding, “It’s a tricky situation, and I don’t know enough about politics to even comment on that, but, yeah, I don’t know, but it’s not a bad thing to have two strong candidates.”
Rubio and Vance are the two Republicans most discussed as possible successors to Trump. While Rubio ran for president in 2016, he has expressed support for Vance, calling him a “close friend” and saying the vice president “would be a great nominee if he decides he wants to do that.”
VIRAL MARCO RUBIO CLIP ON HIS VISION FOR AMERICA SPARKS MORE 2028 SPECULATION
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a visit to ALTA Refrigeration Inc., Aug. 21, 2025, in Peachtree City, Georgia. (Brynn Anderson/The Associated Press)
Though White stopped short of issuing a full-throated endorsement of Rubio, his partnership with the State Department through UFC underscores the high regard he appears to have for the secretary.
This is the first time the UFC has entered into such a partnership with the State Department. The NFL, which entered into a similar agreement in January, is the only other major sports organization to have signed such a formal agreement with the department.
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UFC Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein said the league is “thrilled” about the partnership. He said it would allow the State Department and UFC to “work together to build bridges through community engagement.”
“We’re excited to join this program, led by Secretary Rubio, as UFC is a truly global organization with athletes representing 75 countries. We can’t wait to get started later this year,” said Epstein.
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President Donald Trump speaks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and UFC CEO and President Dana White during UFC 327 at Kaseya Center on April 11, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson – Pool / Getty Images)
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In turn, Rubio spoke very highly of the UFC, saying it “has become a global phenomenon by embracing values that resonate far beyond the Octagon: excellence, discipline, opportunity, and meritocracy.”
The secretary said the State Department is “proud” to launch the sports diplomacy partnership with UFC and to “continue growing the sport of MMA.”
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