Politics
RFK Jr. slams Democrats for toppling Confederate statues: 'Destroying history'
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. voiced opposition to the removal of Confederate monuments, including the Robert E. Lee statue that was taken down and melted in Charlottesville, Virginia, adding he did not think “it’s a good, healthy thing for any culture to erase history.”
Kennedy appeared on the “TimCast IRL” podcast on Friday, where the host, independent journalist Tim Pool, asked the Independent presidential candidate about activists tearing down statues like those from the Civil War or of former slaves like Frederick Douglass, who fought against slavery.
The host particularly asked if he would condemn those who melted a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was removed from Charlottesville in 2021.
“I don’t think it’s a good, healthy thing for any culture to erase its history,” Kennedy said. “I have a visceral reaction against, against the attacks on those statues.”
ROBERT E. LEE STATUE MELTED IN SECRET, ‘SYMBOLIC’ CEREMONY, TO BE REMADE INTO ‘INCLUSIVE’ PUBLIC ART
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign rally at Legends Event Center in Phoenix, Ariz. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
He said he grew up in Virginia, and that there were heroes in the Confederacy who didn’t have slaves.
“I just have a visceral reaction against destroying history. I don’t like it. I think we should celebrate who we are,” Kennedy said. “We should celebrate the good qualities of everybody…If we want to find people who are completely virtuous on every issue throughout history, we would erase all of history.”
A part of the discussion centered around Columbus Day, which Kennedy refers to as Indigenous People’s Day.
NYC TO CONSIDER REMOVING STATUES OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, CREATE REPARATIONS TASK FORCE AMID BUDGET CUTS
A tow truck removes a statue of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, after it was toppled in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, June 10, 2020. (Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Kennedy told Pool that he thinks it is important to recognize all kinds of people, whether Italian-Americans, who celebrate Columbus Day, or indigenous people.
“We can recognize the indigenous people who, you know, made the ultimate sacrifice as one of the greatest genocides in history,” Kennedy said. “My father always believed that our country would never live up to its ideals if we didn’t make some kind of amends…to the group that was exterminated in order for us to settle in this country, and I think it’s a good aspiration for every American.”
Kennedy did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for further comment on the matter.
PRO-NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVISTS FIGHTING TO SAVE INDIGENOUS TRADITIONS IN NATIONWIDE WAR AGAINST WOKENESS
Workers remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, after years of a legal battle over the contentious monument, in Charlottesville, Va., July 10, 2021. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
The statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that once stood in Charlottesville was secretly melted down at a ceremonial event.
After both cultural and legal battles, the statue of Lee that sparked the infamous Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally was reportedly melted in a secretive ceremony in order to ensure the safety of those involved. The Washington Post reported that the statue met its end “in a 2,250-degree furnace” when it was “secretly melted down” to become a new piece of public art.
Footage of Lee’s likeness being melted went viral across social media.
The “Unite the Right” rally took place in Charlottesville in August 2017, and participants included far-right White supremacist sympathizers upset over the proposed removal of Lee’s statue, as well as many counter-protesters.
On Aug. 12, James Fields Jr. deliberately rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens.
Fox News Digital’s Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
Politics
Video: Why Were These C.E.O.s in Beijing With Trump?
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By Ana Swanson, Nour Idriss, Nikolay Nikolov and James Surdam
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Politics
Senator John Kennedy introduces America to ‘Margaret,’ his elliptical trainer named after Thatcher
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Margaret Thatcher once ran Britain. John Kennedy’s “Margaret” mostly runs him into the ground.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is going viral after posting a tongue-in-cheek workout video introducing followers to “Margaret” — his elliptical trainer named after former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — while wearing a red bandanna and speaking directly to the camera from his Louisiana carport.
“Hey X, I have somebody I’d like you to meet,” Kennedy says at the start of the minute-long video posted to social media Friday.
“This is Margaret. Margaret is my elliptical trainer. I named Margaret after Margaret Thatcher because both kick butt and take names.”
ERIC SWALWELL’S ‘CRINGE’ WORKOUT VIDEO MOCKED FOR BENCHING LIGHT WEIGHT
Senator John Kennedy, R-La., posted the video showing his unconventional at-home workout routine with elliptical “Margaret” to social media channels Friday. (@SenJohnKennedy via X)
Kennedy goes on to explain that “Margaret” lives outside under the carport for three reasons: the machine is too heavy to move, his wife “won’t let” him bring it inside and because he enjoys getting in a workout during Louisiana summers.
The Senator said he enjoys working outside during Louisiana summers, a detail that drew disbelief from many viewers familiar with the state’s famously brutal heat and humidity.
“As you can see, Margaret, my elliptical trainer, is out here under my carport in Louisiana,” Kennedy says. “After Margaret kicks my butt, I look for air conditioning.”
The surreal, self-aware clip quickly drew thousands of reactions online, with users roasting Kennedy’s bandanna look while also praising the senator’s everyman personality.
SEN KENNEDY PRAISES FETTERMAN AS A ‘TOTAL BANGER,’ WHO ‘DOESN’T GIVE A DAMN’ ABOUT ANGERING LIBERALS
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., talks to reporters in the basement of the U.S. Capitol on July 31, 2025, as Senate lawmakers work to finish legislative business before the August recess. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“You are rocking the dadgum crap outta that bandana,” one user wrote. “I thought you were representing the Bloods for a minute. Tell Margaret I think she’s cute but evil.”
Others praised Kennedy’s personality and down-home delivery style.
“You are a gem to us normal folk Mr. Kennedy. Live long and prosper!” one supporter posted.
“Senator Kennedy is that kind of Southerner that makes you feel you’re sitting on the front porch having some bit of common sense enlighten you in that poetic Southern way,” another wrote.
The Louisiana Republican has long cultivated a folksy, humorous public image that often breaks through online with colorful one-liners and unconventional social media moments.
Sen. John Kennedy speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 21, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite/Reuters)
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Kennedy ended the video with a line that only added to the internet’s fascination.
“My work here is done,” he said. “And I can see myself out.”
Politics
Supreme Court turns away Virginia Democrats seeking to reinstate new voting map
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday turned down an appeal from Virginia Democrats whose new voter-approved state election map was canceled by the state’s Supreme Court.
The justices made no comment, and the legal outcome came as no surprise.
The U.S. Supreme Court has no authority to review or reverse rulings by state judges interpreting their state’s constitution — unless the decision turned on federal law or the U.S. Constitution.
But the Virginia ruling came as a political shock, particularly after 3 million voters had cast ballots and narrowly approved a new election map that would favor Democrats in 10 of its 11 congressional districts.
That would have represented an increase of four seats for Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Even worse for Democrats, the court setback in Virginia came a week after the Supreme Court’s ruling in a Louisiana case had bolstered Republicans.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices reinterpreted the Voting Rights Act and freed Republican-controlled states in the South to dismantle districts that were drawn to favor Black Democrats.
In the two weeks since then, the GOP has flipped seven districts in Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida.
The Virginia Supreme Court decision pointed to a procedural flaw that turned on the definition of an “election.”
To amend the state Constitution, Virginia lawmakers must adopt the proposal twice — once before a “general election” and a second time after the election. It is then submitted to the voters.
Last fall, Democrats proposed to amend the state Constitution to permit a mid-decade redistricting.
However, by a 4-3 vote, the state justices said the General Assembly flubbed the first approval because it took place on Oct. 31 of last year, just five days before the election.
By then, they said, about 40% of the voters had cast early ballots.
In defense of the Legislature, the state’s attorneys said the proposed amendment was approved before election day, which complies with the state Constitution.
But the majority explained “the noun ‘election’ must be distinguished from the noun phrase ‘election day.’ ”
It reasoned that because early voters had already cast ballots before the constitutional amendment was first adopted, the proposal was not approved before the election.
The dissenters said the election took place on “election day” and the proposal had been adopted before that time.
The state’s lawyers adopted that view in their appeal and argued that under federal law, the election takes place on election day.
But the Supreme Court turned away the appeal with no comment.
The result is that a state amendment that won approval twice before both houses of the Legislature and in a statewide vote was judged to have failed.
The state says it will use the current map, which had elected Democrats to the House in six districts and Republicans in five.
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