You wanted attention, Aaron, and you’re getting it.
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is running as an independent, confirmed on Monday that he’s considering Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers as his running mate. Rodgers, who openly supports Kennedy but who has not political experience, has not denied it.
Until he does, or until Kennedy eliminates him from consideration, Rodgers will be subject to the probing eye of a far different segment of the media.
For example, Pamela Brown and Jake Tapper of CNN.com report that Rodgers has “in private conversations shared deranged conspiracy theories about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting not being real.” Per the report, Rodgers communicated his views directly to Brown, at the Kentucky Derby in 2013.
Here’s the key line from the article: “Hearing that she was a journalist with CNN, Rodgers immediately began attacking the news media for covering up important stories. Rodgers brought up the tragic killing of 20 children and 6 adults by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School, claiming it was actually a government inside job and the media was intentionally ignoring it.”
Rodgers, through his agency, declined comment to CNN.
CNN also cites another source, who contends that Rodgers has claimed that “Sandy Hook never happened. . . . All those children never existed. They were all actors.”
What about the parents of the killed children?
“They’re all making it up,” Rodgers allegedly said. “They’re all actors.”
Former NFL quarterback DeShone Kizer has suggested that Rodgers is a 9/11 truther. The supposedly ravenous New York media has never asked him about that.
If he runs for the second highest office in the land, it’s all fair game. He’ll be asked every question about every conspiracy theory he has ever embraced.
And he should be. American citizens deserve to have the information on which they can assess whether a candidate for position of significant power and influence is normal, or a nutcase.
Before Rodgers decides to share his Sandy Hook views publicly, however, he should do his own research on what happened to Alex Jones for pushing the idea children weren’t killed at Sandy Hook and that their parents are actors. His decision to spew such nonsense resulted in a very real $1.5 billion civil judgment.
UPDATE 3/14/23 1:41 p.m. ET: Rodgers has denied being a Sandy Hook denier, in a post on X.