Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy announced his withdrawal from the 2024 race last week and subsequently endorsed former President Donald Trump. However, not everyone in the Kennedy family, which has a longtime legacy in the Democratic Party, has welcomed the monumental decision that could seriously impact the upcoming election.
Earlier this year, RFK Jr’s family members publicly endorsed President Joe Biden before he dropped out of the race. After Kennedy’s move to support Trump, the situation has become increasingly tense. Within hours of RFK Jr. endorsing the Republican candidate, a handful of his family members publicly signed a letter that slammed Kennedy’s “betrayal” of the family’s values.
“We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise, and national pride. We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story,” the letter read, signed by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy, and Rory Kennedy.
The infighting within the Kennedy family has sparked criticism to the negative comments about RFK Jr. “Nobody knows any of your names except Bobby’s because his life’s work has actually been worthwhile & beneficial to humanity. Despite snobby relatives like you trying to undercut him [publicly]. Just makes us like him more!” Liz Wheeler posted on X
Meghan McCain, daughter of the late John McCain, wrote, “I don’t support Trump and will not be supporting Trump but this family drama playing out so publicly is really quite trashy and beneath all of you for a family who considers itself the premier American political dynasty (despite being almost a century removed from power).”
“To make private personal differences this public by insulting your family member’s character because he doesn’t agree with your political candidate actually makes you a really bad person,” Sara Gonzales said, slamming the Kennedy family. “However bad you think you have it, at least you don’t come from a gauche family that mistakes itself for royalty and gatekeeps a legacy they didn’t earn by publicly trashing/betraying their own family member,” stated radio host Dana Loesch.
Conservative commentator Evita Duffy-Alfonso, opined, “My dad is one of 11 children from the swing state of Wisconsin, so naturally, there is a wide range of political views in our family. But when he ran for Congress in 2010 as a Republican, his Bernie Bro parents and several of his Democrat-identifying siblings never would have dreamed of disavowing him publicly over these disagreements. Family always supersedes politics because family means everything. If your blood doesn’t have your back, no one does. Turning on your family is commie, disordered, and sick. Shame on the Kennedys.”
Michael Knowles, conservative commentator and host of “The Michael Knowles Show,” said, Your brother took a principled (not to mention correct) stand with which you disagreed, so you saw fit to disavow him publicly. What is wrong with you people?”
Watch Kennedy’s recent comments after he dropped out of the race below:
Featured image credit: Democratizemedia, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RFK_Jr_Long_Island_Rally_05.jpg
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