Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has claimed half of his family supported him after the self-described “Make America Healthy Again” candidate suspended his presidential bid on Aug. 23 and subsequently endorsed Donald Trump. In the days since, many of his other prominent relatives have publicly dissed him.
“I think we all love each other, and there’s a lot of humor,” RFK Jr. said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Beast. But he acknowledged that “people have strong opinions about things.”
The Kennedy scion’s estrangement from much of his family first surfaced when he became a strong opponent of COVID-19 vaccines and circulated unfounded claims about the 1968 assassination of his father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr.
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Although the former independent presidential candidate did not name which of his relatives’ “strong opinions” are a source of inter-familial strife, five of his eight surviving siblings signed a public statement on Aug. 23 calling his actions “a betrayal of the values our father and our family hold most dear.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks on stage beside Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during a campaign event in Glendale, Arizona.
Tom Brenner/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesKerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.’s younger sister, who recently joined Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s campaign, told USA Today there are “an endless number of Kennedys who are wanting to and willing” to help the Democratic ticket.
She said she spoke for all of her other siblings bar one—the journalist Douglas Kennedy—when she expressed disappointment over RFK Jr.’s support of Trump.
“I completely disavow and separate and disassociate myself from my brother, Bobby Kennedy, and his flagrant and inexplicable effort to desecrate and trample and set fire to my father’s memory,” she said to MSNBC.
After the siblings crossed paths at the July wedding of Mariah Kennedy Cuomo—daughter of Kerry and her ex-husband, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo—she said her brother “knows my view and feelings very, very well.”
(In April, Kerry endorsed Biden at a campaign rally, telling the crowd “That’s right: The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president.”)
RFK Jr.’s younger brother Max also invoked the legacy of their late father, calling his sibling’s political endeavor a “hollow grab for power, a strategic attempt at relevance,” and “the opposite of what my father admired,” in an Aug. 25 op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times.
Max’s comments echoed statements made by the sole grandson of President John F. Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg, who has repeatedly spoken out since the start of his cousin’s presidential campaign.
“He’s trading in on Camelot celebrity conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame,” Schlossberg, the son of Caroline Kennedy, said. “I’ve listened to him. I know him. I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president.”
President Joe Biden speaks as members of the Kennedy family stand on stage at a campaign event on April 18, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters“There’s five members of my family that are working for the White House, and many others that have dealings because they run NGOs that are dependent on the White House and White House policies,” RFK Jr. said of his relatives’ allegiance to President Biden, and the Democratic establishment.
Still, RFK Jr. told the Beast, “I love my family, I can disagree with them without hating them.”
