Many journalists and political operatives have taken to calling presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “crazy.” The label is low-hanging fruit for those looking to sideline a disruptive, anti-war establishment skeptic who isn’t susceptible to the standard politically motivated slurs of “racist” and “fascist.” But it is foolishly deployed at a moment when the majority of the country sees its leaders as its own band of cranks with little standing to judge the mental stability of others.

Our health officials deny biology, and our school administrators affirm 12-year-olds who identify as cats. Our tech companies collude with the government to censor speech in order to “protect democracy,” and racial discrimination is now a virtue in the United States. Penalty-free crime is the new American pastime, and buying deodorant at an urban drugstore requires assistance from someone with a key.

All of this and much more is the work of people for whom mental health treatment or prison cells would have been prescribed just 20 years ago. These are the people telling us that RFK Jr.’s ideas are disqualifying.

Kennedy claims that the childhood vaccine schedule could be linked to autism in children — a position with which many liberals, including former President Barack Obama and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, once openly flirted.

The fact is that all most of us know about RFK Jr.’s claim is what our doctors and the CDC have told us — that it has been debunked. Most parents haven’t poured through decades of scientific research trying to understand the implications of these medicines for themselves. Post-COVID, it seems the opposite of crazy to ask for further verification. Those who recommended masking 5-year-olds during the lockdowns can no longer expect to enjoy blind faith in their pronouncements.

Kennedy’s opinion on the war in Ukraine has also angered the establishment powers that be. Is the war in Ukraine an American proxy war against Russia, perpetuated to support the military-industrial complex? Kennedy believes it is. Is that crazy Kremlin propaganda?

That is what Kennedy’s critics say. But after the Iraq War, and the withdrawal from Afghanistan, they are a lot less persuasive than they used to be.

One would have to be crazy not to question our “experts” at this point, or to simply take them at their word. If they think they can evade scrutiny by asserting an authority they no longer have, they may be the crazy ones — and in their madness, they are stumbling strategically.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RESTORING AMERICA

The “crazy claim” boomerangs back on those whose own shaky grip on reality has killed their credibility. It simply serves to remind the public of the many times that their leaders dismissed as nonsense claims which later proved to be true: the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop, the lab-leak theory, and the open southern border, to name a few.

Refusing to debate RFK Jr. on his “crazy” ideas creates the impression that his detractors can’t defend their stance, only their standing. His assertions are only strengthened by their demands for unearned allegiance to theirs. Kennedy is willing to argue his case in front of the country. If his opponents aren’t willing to argue theirs, then perhaps, once again, they don’t have one.

Rebecca Sugar is a writer living in New York. Her column, The Cocktail Party Contrarian, appears every other Friday in the New York Sun.