JFK's TikTok-famous grandson Jack Schlossberg launches bid for US Congress
A TikTok-famous Kennedy heir has announced he is running for Congress and drew fire from the White House after he attacked the Trump administration and his own relative RFK Jr.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed John F. Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg for his “ridiculous comments” about the Trump administration after he launched his Manhattan congressional bid.
Schlossberg, 32, is the only grandson of President Kennedy, whose nephew Robert F. Kennedy Jr. serves as President Trump’s secretary of health and human services.
Schlossberg trashed his elder relative, calling him a “rabid dog” and called the Trump administration “the most corrupt in American history” as he rolled out his campaign.
JFK’s TikTok-influencer grandson is aiming for a New York seat in the House of Representatives, set to be vacated by retiring Democrat Jerry Nadler.
The influencer lawyer has gained a combined 1.6 million followers for his online antics including impersonating Melania Trump.
But he was serious about his campaign launch, which said that America is facing a crisis “at every level” thanks to President Trump.
“It’s a constitutional crisis with one dangerous man in control of all three branches of government,” he said.
“He’s stripping citizens of their civil rights and silencing his critics.”
The son of JFK’s daughter, former Australian ambassador Caroline Kennedy, and the designer-artist Edwin Schlossberg, he said Democrats must retake control of Congress.
“With control of Congress, there’s nothing we can’t do. Without it, we’re helpless to a third term”.
If elected, running New York’s 12th Congressional district would be his first full-time job since graduating from Harvard Law in 2022.
He was previously Vogue’s political correspondent in 2024 but apeears to have only produced a handful of articles.
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TRUMP SIGNS BILL TO END LONGEST GOVT SHUTDOWN IN HISTORY
President Donald Trump has signed a bill to end the longest government shutdown in US history – 43 days that paralysed Washington and left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid while Republicans and Democrats played a high-stakes blame game.
The Republican-led House of Representatives voted largely along party lines on Wednesday (local time) to approve a Senate-passed package that will reopen federal departments and agencies, as many Democrats fume over what they see as a capitulation by party leaders.
Mr Trump lashed out at Democrats as he put his signature to the bill later in the Oval Office, urging Americans to remember the chaos when voting in hotly contested US midterm elections in a year’s time.
“Today we are sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion,” Mr Trump said, surrounded by gleeful Republican lawmakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson had earlier pointed the finger at the minority party in a withering floor speech before the vote.
“They knew that it would cause pain, and they did it anyway,” he said. “The whole exercise was pointless. It was wrong and it was cruel.”
The package funds military construction, veterans’ affairs, the Department of Agriculture and Congress itself through next fall, and the rest of government through the end of January.
Around 670,000 furloughed civil servants will report back to work, and a similar number who were kept at their posts with no compensation -- including more than 60,000 air traffic controllers and airport security staff – will get back pay.
The deal also restores federal workers fired by Trump during the shutdown, while air travel that has been disrupted across the country will gradually return to normal.
Trump falsely accused Democrats of costing the country $1.5 trillion. While the full financial toll of the shutdown has yet to be determined, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it has caused $14 billion in lost growth.
OBESE PEOPLE COULD BE DENIED ENTRY INTO US
American visa applicants who suffer common health conditions including obesity may soon find themselves in the reject pile.
The Trump administration’s State Department sent a cable to embassy and consular officials with guidance about how a visa applicant’s health status could impact their chances of success.
“You must consider an applicant’s health,” the cable obtained by KFF Health News reads.
“Certain medical conditions – including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancers, diabetes, metabolic diseases, neurological diseases, and mental health conditions – can require hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of care.”
It also specifically referred to obesity which can cause or worsen other conditions
such as asthma, sleep apnoea, and high blood pressure.
“All of these can require expensive, long-term care,” the cable notes.
While the health of an applicant has long been part of the visa decision process, the new guidelines expand the list of conditions officers are looking power and give them greater scope to refuse a visa on those grounds.
UK CEASES SHARING INTEL ON DRUG BOATS WITH US
The UK has stopped sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean, The Times has reported.
It comes after a US aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the Latin America region, escalating a military build-up that Venezuela has warned could trigger a full-blown conflict.
In a statement, the US Naval Forces Southern Command said the USS Gerald Ford, whose deployment was ordered nearly three weeks ago to help counter drug trafficking, had entered the command’s area of responsibility, which encompasses Latin America and the Caribbean.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier “will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell said.
The UN has described the Trump administration’s move to carry out lethal strikes against drug smugglers in international waters as “extrajudicial killing”.
Since strikes started in September, 76 people have been killed in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
British spy agencies and the military stopped sharing intelligence with the US more than a month ago, because the UK does not want to be complicit and are concerned about the legality of US President Donald Trump’s decisions to strike boats, according to The Times.
The US is Britain’s closest intelligence-sharing partner.
TURNING POINT EVENT TURNS VIOLENT
A Turning Point USA event held two months after the assassination of founder Charlie Kirk has descended into a violent melee after protesters stormed the packed rally at a California university.
Turning Point USA spokesmen described the protesters as “Antifa thugs” and a number were spotted wearing keffiyeh head scarfs.
“Antifa is breaking through police barricades, and threatening our event attendees,” TPUSA chief of staff Michael McCoy wrote on X.
Protesters clashed with police and event attendees, attempting to smash through police barricades at the event on the UC Berkeley campus.
At least two people were arrested and one man wearing a shirt emblazoned with the word “freedom” was seen with blood running down his face.
The sold out show featuring comedian Rob Schneider still went ahead.
“Despite Antifa thugs blocking our campus tour stop with tear gas, fireworks, and glass bottles, we had a PACKED HOUSE in the heart of deep blue UC Berkeley,” another TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet wrote on X.
“God bless these brave students.”
The demonstration came two months after TPUSA founder Mr Kirk was assassinated while speaking to students at a Utah university.
‘NEVER QUIT, NEVER SURRENDER’
President Donald Trump paid tribute to America’s troops at a Veteran’s Day service in Arlington, Virginia.
Speaking to Marines, Mr Trump explained his reasoning for designating May 8 as Victory Day to commemorate the United States’ triumph in World War II, saying he saw other countries celebrating success “and we’re the ones that won the wars”.
“America’s warriors, never quit, never surrender,” he said.
“They fight, fight, fight and they win, win, win. That’s what we do. We win battles.”
He said the idea to commemorate Victory Day came when he was in France and saw the nation commemorating the end of World War II.
“We’re the one that won the wars,” he said.
“And I said, from now on, we’re going to say Victory Day for World War I and World War II, and we could do for plenty of other wars, but we’ll start with those two.
“But when I see other countries celebrating victory day, I watched it, I watched UK, I watched Russia, they were selling celebrating Victory Day, World War II, and I said, we’ve got to have a Victory Day.”
President Trump also trumpeted his decision to rename the Department of Defence to the Department of War.
“We don’t like being politically correct, so we’re not going to be politically correct anymore from now on, when we fight a war, we only fight the fight for one reason, to win, we fight to win,” he said.
“Under my leadership, we’re also fighting for the great veterans who have always, always been there for us, and especially when we needed them and needed them most.”
‘PROBLEMS WITH FRANCE’: TRUMP VENTS DISPLEASURE
President Trump took a sudden swipe at France during an interview with US broadcaster Fox News, saying “we’ve had a lot of problems with the French.”
Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham questioned the US president on the enrolment of Chinese students at US universities, saying, “they’re not the French, they’re the Chinese.
They spy on us. They steal our intellectual property.”
But Mr Trump abruptly cut in to respond, saying: “Do you think the French are better, really? I will tell you, I’m not so sure.”
Mr Trump, who has been locked in a trade war with Beijing, has had a well-catalogued hands-on relationship with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, full of muscular handshakes, mutual backslapping and knee-touching for the cameras.
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Originally published as JFK's TikTok-famous grandson Jack Schlossberg launches bid for US Congress
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