Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed back against the idea that Americans should blindly defer to credentialed experts during a recent exchange with a journalist, arguing that questioning authority is a core principle of democracy rather than a threat to it.

The exchange began when the journalist challenged Kennedy’s background, telling him, “You're a lawyer and an activist, you're not a doctor or a scientist.”

Kennedy responded by rejecting the premise that only credentialed professionals should weigh in on scientific and public policy debates.

“Listen, we live in a democracy. We don't have a priesthood here. We don't have high priests who are telling us we're in charge of our own lives, and Americans need to do their own research,” Kennedy said.

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He argued that democratic societies are built on individual responsibility and independent judgment, not deference to authority.

Kennedy criticized the widespread use of the phrase “trust the experts,” particularly during the COVID pandemic, saying it was used to shut down debate rather than encourage understanding.

“And you know, listen, people say, trust the experts. That became a mantra during covid,” he said.

Drawing on his legal career, Kennedy said his experience handling scientific disputes has shown him that expert consensus is often far less settled than the public is led to believe.

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“I brought over 500 cases, and almost all of them involved a scientific controversy. My job is to read science, to learn it, and to be able to read it critically,” he said.

According to Kennedy, nearly every case involved competing expert testimony.

“And every case I've ever brought there's an expert on that side and an expert on this side,” he said. He pointed to a specific example involving elite academic institutions to illustrate his point.

“When I brought them out, when we brought them on Santo case, there were three experts from Harvard, Stanford and Yale. And we had three experts from Harvard Stanford Yale, and they were saying exactly the opposite thing,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy argued that such disagreements undermine the idea that the public should simply accept expert claims without scrutiny.

“Oh, you know, saying trust the experts, to me, makes no sense at all,” he said.

He went further, drawing a sharp contrast between democratic values and systems that discourage questioning.

“Trusting the experts is a function of religion and and totalitarianism. It is not a function of democracy. In democracy, we question everybody,” Kennedy said.

The journalist then shifted the conversation, telling viewers, “We have a lot of questions I want to get to, but before we do, I want to direct our viewers to our website to go deeper on the science of vaccines, as well as Mr. Kennedy's positions on everything from immigration to foreign policy, we have resources available for you online, and encourage you to check them out at newsnationnow.com.”

Kennedy responded by pointing to what he described as central issues that deserve broader public attention. “All right, a big issue, children's health, defense, and you can find the other side of the story,” he said.

WATCH:

MIC DROP: RFK Jr. shuts down reporter's ridiculous appeal to authority. 🔥Journalist: "You're a lawyer and an activist. You're not a doctor or a scientist."RFK Jr: "Americans need to do their own research... there are experts on both sides saying the exact opposite of each… pic.twitter.com/NnVvs3oXDM

— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) December 12, 2025

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