Before Covid, Gabe Whitney, a 41-year-old from West Bath, Maine, didn’t think much about vaccines. He began following anti-vax figures like Del Bigtree, Robert Malone and, of course, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Whitney already admired for his environmental work. Kennedy has long touted an illusory connection between vaccines and autism, and has repeatedly said that pandemic restrictions arose from a C.I.A. plan to “clamp down totalitarian control.” If Kennedy was so wrong, Whitney thought, it didn’t make sense that his critics wouldn’t debate him. (I requested an interview with Kennedy, but never heard back from the person I was told could schedule it.)

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Persons: Gabe Whitney, didn’t, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Whitney, “, ” Whitney, Del Bigtree, Robert Malone, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy, ”, I’d, Joe Biden’s, Anselm, Marianne Williamson Organizations: Democratic, Saint Anselm College, Emerson College Locations: West Bath , Maine, Manchester, N.H