Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family members publicly endorsed President Joe Biden, posing with the sitting president for a St. Patrick’s Day photo — a photo from which RFK Jr. was pointedly excluded. But things got much uglier on Friday after the independent presidential candidate announced his plan to endorse former President Donald Trump.
The 2024 presidential race changed a lot over the summer, with a disastrous first debate showing for Biden, Trump getting shot in the head in an attempted assassination, and Biden’s eventual exit from the contest altogether.
With Biden gone, Kennedy pressed the party to go to a contested convention — one in which he could participate fairly after being effectively shut out of the primary. But the Democratic National Committee instead rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris, handing her the nomination without anyone casting a single vote. In addition, the Democratic Party filed lawsuit after lawsuit against Kennedy, attempting to keep him off the ballot wherever possible.
The day after Harris officially accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination, Kennedy made an official announcement of his own: he was pulling his name off the ballot in key swing states and throwing his support behind Trump — and he delivered a systematic takedown of the Democratic Party’s tactics in the process.
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But within hours, his own family had turned against him. Kerry Kennedy shared a statement, signed by several other family members, that read, “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.”
I am sharing a personal statement that my family and I have made in response to my brother’s announcement. pic.twitter.com/j7vTTabNYZ
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) August 23, 2024
Critics responded to the statement, arguing that the family could certainly have endorsed Harris without taking a swipe at their own brother.
“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.
“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),” Meghan McCain said.
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). https://t.co/m01a95QABE
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 24, 2024
“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 added.
“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,” radio host Dana Loesch commented.
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. https://t.co/CjhuFLsS2V
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 24, 2024
“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,” Evita Duffy-Alonso posted. “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.”
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… https://t.co/SxC3mOVfgX pic.twitter.com/K09yAnyoVb
— Evita Duffy-Alfonso (@evitaduffy_1) August 23, 2024
The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles added, “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?”
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? https://t.co/jiprDyBO6p
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) August 23, 2024
“Swindle business partners? Pssshh. Blatant adultery? Meh. Rape? Whatevs. Leave a girl for dead? Nbd. Endorse Trump? Oh hell no, that’s where we draw the line,” another posted.
Swindle business partners? Pssshh.
Blatant adultery? Meh.
Rape? Whatevs.
Leave a girl for dead? Nbd.
Endorse Trump? Oh hell no, that’s where we draw the line. https://t.co/T5KlwWmOx8
— J.R. Holmsted (@JHolmsted) August 24, 2024
