John F. Kennedy’s grandson is desperately defending himself against claims that his congressional campaign is chaotic and that he retired early on his first official day in the race to take a nap.
Sources told The New York Times that Jack Schlossberg told his staff he needed a nap on the morning of his campaign launch and then vanished the rest of the day, leaving his aides scrabbling to rescue what had been a tightly planned schedule.
“There’s a lot in that article that’s not true,” Schlossberg told CNN’s Dana Bash in a live interview after the Times story was published. “But you know how this works. Once you’re declared the frontrunner, and early voting starts in less than a month, everyone’s got something to say.”
Schlossberg dismissed the anecdote about his nap as a non-story, saying, “Apparently, I took a nap in November, and that I exercise—those are kind of the main critiques of me.” He added: “I work harder than anyone I know. I’ve got four words for pundits trying to follow our strategy: Follow the bouncing ball.”
Bash pointed out that there were other critiques in the explosive Times dispatch, such as his high staff turnover rate and his former canvassing coordinator’s description of his operation as resembling a “dollar-store flower bouquet.”
The Times reported that since effectively bailing on his own launch, Schlossberg, who has “little traditional work experience,” has largely succeeded in capitalizing on his status as a member of one of the country’s most feted political dynasties to secure a narrow lead ahead of the Democratic primaries in June.
Sources with inside knowledge of the campaign nevertheless told the NYT that behind the scenes, his bid has proven “so erratic and plagued by turnover that it raises questions about how he might handle himself as a member of Congress.”
This has apparently included routinely dipping out of strategy meetings, or disappearing altogether without telling staff where he was heading. Most days, the paper notes, “he did carve out time to swim or paddleboard on the Hudson.”
Aides have also been left groaning by his social media output. Schlossberg built an online following prior to his campaign launch with Instagram videos eviscerating Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his cousin, but also dancing naked from the waist up and making wild claims about having a child with JD Vance’s wife, Usha.
@jack.schlossberg This is for Usha whom I love
♬ original sound - Jack Schlossberg
Schlossberg has managed to keep his shirt on since he became a congressional hopeful. But on one occasion, he posted a message to online followers about Trump’s military operations against Venezuela that turned out to have been closely copied from another shared by Seth Moulton, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts.
Moulton was unimpressed and reached out to let Schlossberg know. Schlossberg’s campaign later updated his post to credit Moulton, who has not spoken publicly about the incident.
The resulting staff turnover has been staggering. “In the six months since he entered the race, he has had at least two campaign managers, two field directors, a handful of advisers and a rotating cast of consultants,” the newspaper writes.
Some of them lasted only a matter of weeks. Others apparently continued working on his campaign even after he fired them—because he neglected to tell them.
One of Schlossberg’s canvassing coordinators, who ditched the campaign only a week ago, said they’d been frustrated by his chaotic management and a lack of focus on issues affecting the community in his prospective district, comparing his bid to a “dollar-store flower bouquet.”
“The colors might be nice to look at for a few days,” Jorge Muniz Reyes said. “But since the flowers lack roots, they can’t last very long.”
Schlossberg has apparently also implemented an erratic hiring style that has further complicated staffing efforts on his campaign.
One woman, who spoke with the NYT on condition of anonymity, recalled a Zoom interview that started courteously enough, but ended with Schlossberg slamming his hands on the table, leaning directly into the camera, and telling her he “needed her” with what the newspaper described as a “flirtatious tone.”
Schlossberg’s team has pushed back against the NYT’s reporting. His campaign manager, Paige Philips, pointed out that the Kennedy family scion is currently campaigning through a “deeply personal tragedy” after losing his sister, Tatiana Schlossberg, to cancer last December.
“If an anonymous source thought he ‘disappeared’ at any point, they should remind themselves of that fact,” Philips said. “No one works harder, cares more, or shows up like Jack Schlossberg.”
