Whatever one may think of their politics, John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert could deliver a rousing speech. Apparently, that family trait has been passed on to Robert’s son, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

In his speech announcing the suspension of his presidential campaign in swing states and his support for Donald Trump, Kennedy delivered one of the best pieces of political rhetoric in years, a rhetorical gem combining fiery passion with cool logic.

Kennedy began by mentioning what his father and uncle had believed as Democrats. They were “against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, imperialism, and unjust wars. They were the party of labor, of the working class.”

Kennedy then moved on from this rhetorical enumeration to a critique of what he sees as a seismic shift in today’s Democratic Party: “As you know, I left that party in October because it had departed so dramatically from the core values that I grew up with. It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big ag, and big money.” Here he employed the tactic of juxtaposition to contrast the new and old parties, reinforcing that incongruity by his use of anaphora, the repetition of words or phrases, in this case “big,” to introduce successive clauses. Anaphora helps drum home certain concepts, and Kennedy employed it effectively here.

Kennedy’s adept inclusion of numbers and statistics in his address would certainly win him accolades as a debater. At one point, for instance, he noted that the speakers on day one at the Democratic National Convention had brought up their opponent Donald Trump 146 times, whereas at the Republican convention speakers only mentioned President Biden twice in four days. With these statistics, Kennedy was reinforcing his point that the Democrats are more focused on destroying the former president than on presenting alternative policies.

As with all great speeches, Kennedy’s word choice was sharp, to the point, and refreshing in its candor. Of the legacy news outlets, for example, he said, “The mainstream media was once the guardian of the First Amendment and democratic principles, and it’s joined this systemic attack on democracy … the media justifies their censorship on the grounds of combating misinformation, but governments and oppressors don’t censor lies. They don’t fear lies. They fear the truth, and that’s what they censor.”

No beating around the bush there.

Best of all, perhaps, was the skillful organization of this speech. After briefly explaining that he’d left the Democratic Party to run as an independent because “it abandoned democracy by canceling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting president,” Kennedy spent several minutes thanking his campaign workers for their devotion and for battling the obstacles erected by the Democrats to impede their efforts. He expressed his gratitude as well to all those Americans, more than a million of them, whose signatures had gained him a place on ballots across the country. By beginning with this gracious acknowledgment, like all good leaders Kennedy put his followers ahead of other issues.

Kennedy then shifted gears, turning the audience’s attention to the Democratic Party, which when Biden was the candidate “waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself.” He condemned the “palace coup against President Biden,” then assailed “a Democratic Party presidential nominee who, like Vice President Harris, has not appeared in a single interview or an unscripted encounter with voters for 35 days.” He also blasted the party for its “resort to censorship and media control and the weaponization of the federal agencies.”

Like a good trial attorney, Kennedy moved from the weakest to the strongest of his arguments. In this case, he elaborated on this collusion of government and media “to censor political speech” and the effects of that censorship on his own campaign.

Finally, Kennedy explained to his followers and to all those listening that the three main causes for his entrance into this race—“free speech, a war in Ukraine, and the war on our children”—were priorities shared by Donald Trump. Again, like a practiced debater, he outlined why these topics are at the top of his list, and then described how, though “we continue to have very serious differences,” he and Trump agree about the gravity of several national issues. “Vice President Harris,” he noted, “declined to meet or even speak with me.”

Last on his agenda was the issue closest to Kennedy’s heart: the poor health and chronic disease plaguing American children, and for that matter, the rest of us. Once again, we find a powerful mix of facts, figures, and anecdotes supporting his recommendations to achieve better health for all. As he stated at the end of his address, “Instead of vitriol and polarization, I will appeal to the values that unite us, the goals that we could achieve if only we weren’t at each other’s throats. The most unifying theme for all Americans is that we all love our children.”

You may reject nearly all of Kennedy’s political positions, as I do, but when he speaks on issues of censorship and corruption in the corridors of government, media, and corporations he offers solutions that should unite rather than divide Americans. Shared with family members and friends, whatever their politics, his address might serve as a conversation starter, a bridge across the canyon which currently divides us, and a vehicle for the conversion of hearts and minds.

If nothing else, given the absence of skilled political oratory in our time, RFK Jr.’s speech reminds us of the value of that neglected art.