RFK Jr. says he might have a dead worm in his brain but he'll eat '5 more' and still be able to beat Biden and Trump in a presidential debate
"I feel confident of the result even with a six-worm handicap," the independent presidential candidate said in an X post.
Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images
- RFK Jr. said in a 2012 divorce deposition that doctors found a dead worm in his brain.
- But the long shot presidential hopeful isn't afraid of those "brain worms."
- "I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate," he said.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might have once claimed to have a dead worm in his brain, but the independent presidential candidate apparently isn't afraid of the little critters.
Kennedy said on Wednesday that he's confident of winning a presidential debate even if he were to eat a couple more of those "brain worms."
"I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate," Kennedy wrote in a post on X.
"I feel confident of the result even with a six-worm handicap," he said in a subsequent post.
Kennedy's remarks came after The New York Times wrote about his health issues in a report published on the same day. Kennedy claimed that doctors found a dead worm in his brain during his divorce deposition in 2012, per The Times.
Doctors, Kennedy said, told him that the dark spot that appeared on his brain scan was "caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died."
Kennedy's campaign press secretary, Stefanie Spear, earlier confirmed with BI that he was indeed infected with a parasite 10 years ago but has since recovered.
"Mr. Kennedy traveled extensively in Africa, South America, and Asia in his work as an environmental advocate, and in one of those locations, contracted a parasite," she said.
The presidential candidate's bizarre challenge on Wednesday can be seen as a lighthearted attempt to cast aside concerns about his health.
After all, the Kennedy campaign has long been positioning the 70-year-old as being more alert and fit than his rivals — 81-year-old President Joe Biden and 77-year-old former President Donald Trump.
Kennedy even posted a video of himself working out while shirtless in June.
"Questioning Mr. Kennedy's health is a hilarious suggestion, given his competition," Spear told BI.
Both Biden and Trump are fundraising aggressively to fund their 2024 war chests. But Kennedy, too, has won the support of wealthy and powerful backers like billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey. He's also running for the White House with Nicole Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin.
Kennedy's growing profile appears to have ruffled Trump's feathers, who told reporters last week that he will not be debating the long shot presidential hopeful.
"He's not a serious candidate," Trump said of Kennedy on May 2. "They say he hurts Biden. I don't know who he hurts; he might hurt me. I don't know. He has very low numbers, certainly not numbers that he can debate with. He's got to get his numbers a lot higher before he's credible."
Representatives for Kennedy didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.