Inside the Kennedy clan’s bitter civil war: RFK Jr’s allies slam his ‘corrupt’ family and claim his relatives are ‘slandering’ him

Allies of third-party presidential candidate RFK Jr. have criticized the activist politician’s famous family for “slandering” him as they come out strongly in support of Joe Biden’s campaign.

In mid-April, a group of more than a dozen strong Kennedys delivered a high-profile public endorsement of incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden at a rally in Pennsylvania, explicitly rejecting RFK Jr.’s candidacy for the White House.

A source close to RFK Jr.’s family conveyed to the New York Post the unacceptable nature of the Kennedy clan’s actions.

‘This is not a discussion at a dinner at home between brothers. These people are slandering him,’ they said. ‘With a family like this, who needs enemies?’

The uniform endorsement had been anticipated since the previous month, when an even larger version of the Kennedy clan stopped by the White House for a publicly documented St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

Following the April endorsement event, during which Kerry Kennedy, ex-wife of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and younger sister of RFK Jr., gave a moving speech about her family’s support for current President Joe Kennedy II , 71, said he hopes his brother abandons the race.

‘We cannot do anything that, in any way, will take away even one vote from President Biden. If you put Kennedy’s name on the ballot, Democrats will feel divided.

“We’re trying to make them understand that this is an issue that they don’t have to be upset about,” said Joe, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than a decade.

In late 2023, four of RFK ‘Bobby’ Jr.’s brothers, including Kerry and Joe, called his campaign ‘dangerous to our country’ to the extent that it could jeopardize Biden’s ability to win a second term. .

At the time, the brothers issued a statement saying, “Bobby may share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment.”

“We denounce his candidacy.”

The family’s increasingly public rebuke of Bobby’s political aspirations has led some in his inner circle to begin speaking out against the often-loud group.

‘RFK Jr. is a fighter against corruption just like his father and uncle. Family members who have opposed him when ordered to do so show his lack of integrity, backbone and honor,” said Tony Lyons, a close Kennedy confidant and president of the conservative publisher Skyhorse Publishing.

“They are part of the corruption that RFK Jr. has been fighting with all his heart for the last 40 years.”

Several family members have also taken a strong stance in opposition to Bobby’s intense skepticism about vaccines, an issue that has caused further division among the famously troubled family.

In a 2019 Politico article, several family members wrote that RFK Jr. is “tragically wrong about vaccines.”

Other themes that deepen the current rift include Bobby’s fringe theories about his father’s convicted murderer, Sirhan Sirhan, who was paroled several years ago over the objection of nearly everyone in the family.

RFK Jr. has said he does not believe Sirhan acted alone in assassinating his father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., who was assassinated during the 1968 presidential campaign.

The environmental lawyer-turned-presidential candidate broke with his mother’s wishes to condemn Sirhan’s parole, though any rift that decision caused did not appear evident during a recent family gathering at the Kennedy compound to celebrate the matriarch’s 96th birthday. .

Despite public political differences, RFK Jr. said after the rally in Pennsylvania that he is glad his family remains politically active, as is the family tradition.

He added that the family is “divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.”

The main question troubling the once-great American family is whether RFJ Jr.’s candidacy will effectively derail Biden’s bid for the White House, thus handing former President Donald Trump a second term.

Following Kennedy’s selection last month of his BP, Nicole Shanahan, a Silicon Valley lawyer and ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Biden’s top supporters within the Democratic Party began hitting the panic button over the RFK threat.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said the party is “doing everything in our power to get President Biden and Vice President Harris re-elected.”

But “it is essential that we take seriously all possible obstacles to achieving that goal.” And let me be clear: That is exactly what Robert F. Kennedy is in this election. He’s a killjoy.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrrow reflected last month on the potentially “horrible” impact Kennedy’s campaign could have on Biden’s chances in her state, a swing state that Trump won in 2016 and Biden in 2020.

Using his own version of an election conspiracy theory, California Congressman Robert Garcia said, “I think he (RFK Jr.) is probably interested in trying to get Donald Trump elected.” Maybe that’s what it’s about. And many of us are not sure, but he is someone who should not be taken seriously as a serious person.’

In recent weeks, the Democratic National Committee has launched a team designed to overturn third-party candidates by launching legal challenges and opposition investigations into their operations.

Recent rounds of polling suggest that Kennedy, as well as third-party candidates Dr. Jill Stein and Dr. Cornel West, would steal the votes needed from the two major party candidates, but Biden would risk losing more support .

The most recent RealClearPolitics poll average shows that in a three-way race, Kennedy could receive 15 percent of the vote.

In that case, the poll shows that Trump leads Biden by four points.

In a five-way race that includes West and Stein, Kennedy gets 11 percent of the vote, leaving Trump with a 2-point lead over Biden.