Kennedy feud explodes over RFK Jr’s decision to endorse Donald Trump

Long-simmering tensions inside America’s Kennedy family has exploded into public view in ugly, personal fashion.

A bitter feud has exploded in the Kennedy family, the closest thing the United States has to royalty, over Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorse Donald Trump.

Mr Kennedy is the son of former attorney-general and presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy, who was the brother of President John F. Kennedy (there are going to be a lot of Kennedys in this article, sorry).

The brothers were both assassinated, JFK in 1963 and Bobby in 1968.

Bobby Kennedy. Picture: Netflix

His son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Picture: Olivier Touron/AFP

RFK Jr was running for president this year as an independent candidate, taking on Mr Trump, the Republican nominee, and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. But on Friday, US time, he withdrew from the race and endorsed Mr Trump.

“I was surprised to discover that we are aligned on many key issues,” Mr Kennedy said.

He added that, in meetings with Mr Trump, the pair had talked about forming a “team of rivals” which would let them “disagree publicly and privately” while also “working together on the existential issues upon which we are in concordance”.

Bit of a change, there, from Mr Kennedy’s attitude as recently as May, when he said there were “no circumstances” under which he would join forces with Mr Trump.

“Our positions on certain fundamental issues, our approaches to governance, and our philosophies of leadership could not be further apart,” he said then.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr speaking at a Trump rally after endorsing the former president. Picture: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images via AFP

The endorsement has not gone down well, at all, in Mr Kennedy’s overwhelmingly Democratic family.

“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,” RFK’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, said in a statement immediately afterwards, also issued on behalf of fellow family members Kathleen, Courtney, Chris and Rory.

“We believe in Harris and (Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim) 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’m disgusted’: RFK Jr’s sister lashes out

Kerry has sat for multiple television interviews over the last 48 hours. In each one, she blasted her brother in even stronger terms.

“I’m outraged and disgusted by my brother’s gaudy and obscene embrace of Donald Trump,” she told MSNBC, speaking to former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who is now a host for the network.

“And I completely separate and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr in this flagrant and inexplicable effort to desecrate, and trample, and set fire to my father’s memory.”

On CNN, Kerry said her father “would have detested almost everything Trump represents”.

“His lying, his selfishness, his rage, his cynicism, his hatred and his racism and his fascist sympathies. His felony convictions. His contempt for the poor and suffering,” she said.

“I love my brother, but this is an outrage.”

Asked whether she had spoken to Mr Kennedy recently, she said no, adding that he “knows my views very well”.

Kerry Kennedy speaking to CNN host Kaitlan Collins.

‘Inconceivable’: Brother also lashes out

Mr Kennedy’s brother, Max Kennedy, has spoken out in similar fashion, publishing a scathing opinion piece in The Los Angeles Times.

“I am heartbroken over my brother Bobby’s endorsement of Donald Trump,” Max wrote.

“I think often about my father, and how he might have viewed the politics of our time. I’m not sure what he would have thought about TikTok or AI, but this much I know for sure: he would have despised Donald Trump.

“Trump is exactly the kind of arrogant, entitled bully my father used to prosecute.”

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Picture: Logan Cyrus/AFP

Max said his father’s life “was dedicated to promoting the safety, security and happiness of the American people”, and therefore, he “would have admired” Ms Harris. Before she entered the Senate, and then became Vice President, the Democratic candidate was a prosecutor, district-lawyer and state attorney-general.

“Her career, like his, has been all about decency, dignity, equality, democracy and justice for all. Trump is the enemy of all that. The only thing he seems to be for is himself.

“Yet my brother now endorses Trump. To pledge allegiance to Trump, a man who demonstrates no adherence to our family’s values, is inconceivable to me.”

Max echoed reporting that Mr Kennedy had reached out to Ms Harris, as well as Mr Trump, in a “sordid” attempt to offer the Vice President an endorsement in exchange for a role in her administration. But he got no response from her.

“His is a hollow grab for power, a strategic attempt at relevance. It is the opposite of what my father admired,” he wrote.

RFK Jr. Picture: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images via AFP

He went on to list differences between the philosophies of his father and Mr Trump.

Max described Bobby Kennedy as “an anti-racist who joined Martin Luther King Jr in common cause”, claiming Mr Trump “is a lifelong racist whose entire career has been shaped by his dislike of people with a different skin colour”.

He said his father “believed in expanding legal immigration” while Mr Trump “stirs up hatred of immigrants” and “mischaracterises them as criminals and drug addicts”.

He argued that Bobby “believed in the rule of law” while Mr Trump “has contempt” for it.

And so forth.

“The truth is essential to democracy. And truth is essential inside a family too. For all of these reasons, the truth requires me to set the record clear,” Max continued.

“I love (RFK Jr). But I hate what he is doing to our country. It is worse than disappointment. We are in mourning.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be motivated to write something of this nature. With a heavy heart, I am today asking my fellow Americans to do what will honour our father the most: ignore Bobby and support Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic platform. It’s what is best for our country.”