During a speech on Friday announcing the suspension of his independent presidential campaign, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a wildly inaccurate claim about the frequency with which President Joe Biden was mentioned at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in July.
Kennedy aimed to criticize this week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago, claiming it was more focused on style and former President Donald Trump than on substantive issues. He alleged that “Democratic speakers in Chicago mentioned Donald Trump 147 times on the first day alone… Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate? In contrast, at the RNC convention, President Biden was mentioned only twice in four days.”
**Facts First:** Kennedy’s claim about the mentions of Biden at the Republican National Convention is far from accurate. According to a New York Times analysis, the word “Biden” was actually spoken a total of 393 times during the RNC. Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance alone mentioned “Biden” 12 times in his convention speech.
Although Trump himself only said “Biden” twice in his own convention speech, Kennedy’s claim about the RNC as a whole is incorrect. The false notion that Biden was mentioned just twice during the entire four-day event has been circulating on social media this week, though its origin is unclear. A simple transcript search of just a few RNC speeches proves Kennedy’s claim to be inaccurate.
For instance, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich mentioned “Biden” nine times in his speech; former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “Biden” eight times; Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, mentioned “Biden” seven times, as did Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. Donald Trump Jr. and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake each mentioned “Biden” four times.
These counts include only direct mentions of Biden’s name, while numerous other speakers criticized the president without using his name.
Sendibad News has not conducted or seen a thorough independent analysis of the words used at the Democratic National Convention, which concluded yesterday.
