Topline
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., took a dig at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s reported claim that a doctor found a worm in his brain by bringing up the assassinations of his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Sr., and his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy —continuing his streak of controversial tweets.
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., speaks during a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on Tuesday, ... [+]
Key Facts
“You either die a Kennedy with a hole in the brain or live long enough to become a Kennedy with a hole in the brain,” Collins tweeted Wednesday, referencing Kennedy’s 1963 assassination, when he was shot in the head and back in Dallas, and Kennedy Sr.’s 1968 assassination, when he was shot in the head and back in Los Angeles.
Collins’ tweet appeared to reference a claim made by independent presidential candidate Kennedy Jr. that a doctor determined an abnormality on his brain scan “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” the New York Times reported, citing a 2012 deposition Kennedy Jr. gave.
Last week, Collins was widely criticized for sharing a video of dozens of white, male Ole Miss students taunting a Black woman at a pro-Palestinian protest, with some making racist gestures, which Collins captioned “Ole Miss taking care of business.”
Key Background
Collins also suggested in a February tweet the undocumented Venezuelan migrant, Jose Antonio Ibarra, accused of killing Georgia college student Laken Riley, should be killed, writing that he “would make a great first passenger for the new Pinochet Air,”referring to the so-called death flights deployed by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, in which dissidents and critics are dropped from helicopters. Earlier in February, Collins suggested another migrant who was charged, then later exonerated, in a Times Square attack on NYPD officers should also be a passenger on “Pinochet Air,”. Following widespread outrage over the Ole Miss video, Collins defended his sharing of the footage in a statement, and said he did not believe the racist behavior was “the focal point of the video,” but conceded that “there certainly seems to be some potentially inappropriate behavior that none of us should seek to glorify.” Collins doubled down on his initial “Pinochet Air” post when it appeared to be removed from the platform, but was later reinstated with a warning about violating the site’s community rules, writing “Never delete. Never surrender.”
Tangent
Kennedy Jr. made the comments about his alleged health issues in a 2012 deposition for divorce proceedings from his second wife, according to the Times. In it, he said he has “cognitive problems, clearly,” including short- and long-term memory loss, conditions he told the Times he has since recovered from. His campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear told the Washington Post Kennedy Jr. likely contracted the parasite found in his brain, possibly a pork tapeworm, while traveling “extensively in Africa, South America and Asia.”
Further Reading
Congressman: Racist trope not ‘focal point’ of video he shared of Ole Miss counterprotesters (Washington Post)
R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain (New York Times)
Georgia Congressman Casually Endorses Throwing Migrant From Helicopter (New York Magazine)
