WEDNESDAY: Angry fellow makes accusations!

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2026

The rage of Kennedy Junior: Dana Bash and Bobby Kennedy never got on the same track on Sunday morning's State of The Union. The first apparent misstatement arrived right away—and it came from Kennedy Junior:

BASH (8/2/26): You have been placing nearly all the blame on the Covid pandemic and the way that the U.S. responded to it squarely with Dr. Fauci. But, of course, he worked for President Trump. Does President Trump also deserve some of the blame?

KENNEDY: Well, President Trump, as you recall, wanted to end the lockdowns. I think the thing that did the most damage to our country was the lockdowns, lockdowns that shut down 3.5 million businesses in our country with no due process, no just compensation, all of our churches, closed our schools, and our children are still paying the price for that. And yet we had the worst outcome of any country in the world.   

We had the worst outcome of any country? That seemed to be a misstatement. (To watch the whole session, click here.)

Bash asked him to explain his statement. But now, the first non sequitur arrived, and this time it came from Bash:

BASH (continuing directly): How so?

KENNEDY: We have the highest death rate from Covid of any nation on Earth.

BASH: Well, let me just say, because I have heard you say that before on the death rate from Covid. That's not accurate, because public health experts say that there is a combination of factors that went into that—higher rates of chronic illnesses, which I know you would agree with, gaps to our health care system, and misinformation about vaccines.

Experts say "a combination of factors went into" the American death rate? Assuming that's true, in what way would that mean that Kennedy's claim was inaccurate?  

Kennedy noticed the problem. He proceeded to repeat his claim—a claim which seems to be bogus: 

KENNEDY (continuing directly): You just said what I said was inaccurate. What I said was accurate. We had the highest death rate from COVID of any—

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Well, there are other countries that had higher. But go ahead.

For the record, Worldometer lists thirteen countries with higher death rates from Covid, several with much higher rates. The U.S. is listed with the highest death rate among comparable developed nations, but that isn't what Kennedy said, and the U.K. wasn't real far behind.  

Ninety seconds into the interview, the pair were off to a shaky start—and for what wouldn't be the last time, the transcript now said CROSSTALK. 

Within moments, Kennedy Junior proceeded to this apparent howler:   

KENNEDY: Anthony Fauci was mismanaging the COVID pandemic and was doing it under the Biden administration. President Trump wanted to end the lockdowns.

And, in fact, in Anthony Fauci's diaries, he talks about how President Trump is calling him every day, trying to get him to reopen the country.

BASH: Yes, well, the lockdowns were done by governors. I mean, certainly, Anthony Fauci and the president had opinions, but the lockdowns were done by governors, and largely because—and largely because they were hearing from hospitals saying that their ICUs were overrun and they needed some help while that was happening.

(CROSSTALK)

KENNEDY: Well, that's not true. Dana, that's just not true.

BASH: It is true.

KENNEDY: What you're saying is not true. No, they were doing it because Anthony Fauci was telling them from the top, you need to lock down. There were ICUs that were empty all over the country, including in New York at the height.   

In fairness, he didn't say that ICUs were empty "all over New York City." But even as Bash may perhaps have seemed to be "telling not asking," he now issued a statement which has been widely assailed in the fact-checks of his session with Bash. 

Did the rage of Achilles trigger events which eventually led to the fall of Troy? This interview was soon dominated by the accusations and insults Kennedy aimed at Bash. This is where it began:   

BASH: Again, I really want to move on. But you were saying you were—

KENNEDY: Of course you want to move on—

BASH: Yes, I do.

KENNEDY: —because you were part of the problem.

BASH: No, I wasn't part of the problem.

KENNEDY: There was absolute press malpractice. You weren't allowing—your job—

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Mr. Secretary, your job—

KENNEDY: Your job is a fierce skepticism toward authority.

BASH: OK. Yes, I am. I am.

KENNEDY: And you weren't doing that. You were beating up on people who were dissenting.   

No example was given there. Soon, jabbing his finger and raising his voice, Kennedy heatedly moved to this:   

KENNEDY: You're just— You're talking nonsense. You're making assertions you can't support, and then when I call you on them, you're telling me I'm arguing with you.

BASH: OK, do you want to talk about you want to talk about assertions that you can't support? I will get there in a second.

Let me just say, for the record, that I am not saying that the entire way that the Covid reaction was accurate. It was a scary time, and people made mistakes, absolutely. Let me finish.

KENNEDY: You were scaring people.

BASH: Why are you saying that?

KENNEDY: Because that was the job of CNN—

BASH: OK. OK, stop.

KENNEDY: .—was to put the chyrons up about many people are dying to get people to comply.  

CNN had misbehaved when it reported death totals! Before long, it was on to fuzzy claims about a possible link between vaccines and autism, with this exchange taking place:   

KENNEDY: Dana, you probably don't understand this because you're not a scientist.

BASH: Well, you're not either.  

Each statement was accurate. Of course, news broadcasters aren't supposed to be scientists or economist or even "education experts." Ideally, they should know how to interview and question such specialists, but before long the exercised Kennedy seemed to be criticizing Bash even for doing that:

KENNEDY: All you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, trust the experts. That's what you did during Covid. 

Now we know that Anthony Fauci, who was the expert, was lying about everything—about masks, about the social distancing, about natural immunity, about the transmission from the vaccine, about the source of Covid. 

He was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts. And now you're rolling out the experts again—

BASH: Yes.

KENNEDY: —to talk about something that you have no personal knowledge of.

BASH: OK. Well, guess what? That is my job to talk to people.

KENNEDY: Your job is to tell the truth to the American public—

BASH: Am I allowed to talk? Yes, yes. And my job is to get as much information as I can.   

Bash is still interviewing medical experts, the angry Kennedy said!

For the record, "we" don't know that Dr. Fauci "was lying about everything." In the course of Kennedy's manic behavior, he made no attempt to demonstrate the existence of any such act of misconduct. But so this useless interview proceeded, driven by the rage of Robert Kennedy Junior.

Kennedy made some plainly accurate statements during the session. In our view, Bash did seem to be a bit over-protective of official government procedures during the Covid years.   

That said, the rage of Kennedy was active, early and often, during this useless session. 

The rage of MAGA is visible all through the halls of the Fox News Channel. It was also visible as Kennedy raised his voice and wagged his finger, interrupted and made accusations all through this tribute to the dangers of our failing nation's destructive tribal procedures.