As an independent candidate for the White House, Robert Kennedy Jr claims he would be the “best environment president in the entire past of America”, drawing on his past as a crusading lawyer who proceed to go after polluters in New York.
But dozens of Mr Kennedy’s previous colleagues at the Natural Resources Defence Council are thinking of him to withdraw from the race, in full-page advertisements sponsored by the group’s political arm that are anticipated to be seen in newspapers in six swing states on April 21.
Separately, a dozen other national environmental organisations have issued an open letter calling Mr Kennedy a “perilous conspiracy theorist and a science denier” who promotes “toxic beliefs” on vaccines and on climate change.
People involved in both attempts maintain that he cannot win the presidency but could siphon votes away from President Joe Biden and help elect former president Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax and pledged to reveal environmental laws and policies.