'Explicit betrayal of his father’s stated values': RFK Jr.’s cousin rips his Trump endorsement

23 August 2024

Prominent conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. officially suspended his independent presidential campaign on Friday and endorsed former President Donald Trump. His family is now publicly condemning the move as both opportunistic and antithetical to his late father's legacy.

In an interview with CNN host Erin Burnett, Stephen Kennedy Smith – who is RFK Jr.'s first cousin — condemned his cousin's decision to endorse the 2024 Republican presidential nominee (the Kennedy family is legendary in Democratic Party politics). He made it clear that the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (who ran for president as a Democrat in 1968 before he was assassinated in June of that year) would not have approved of his son's Trump endorsement.

Smith recalled RFK Sr.'s most famous speech after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, in which he called for an end to division and hatred. He added that the kind of "violence" and "lawlessness" that engulfed the country after the civil rights icon was slain "is exactly what Donald Trump has promulgated by promoting the attack on the Capitol."

"Robert F. Kennedy Sr. would be rolling over in his grave," Smith said. "For Bobby to endorse Donald Trump is an explicit betrayal of his fathers stated values."

Notably, RFK Jr. tried and failed to leverage his endorsement by extracting an apology from Trump for his "Operation Warp Speed" response to the Covid-19 pandemic. That was the federal program in which vaccine development, trials, testing and FDA approval were fast-tracked in order to get a Covid-19 vaccine available to the American public on a much faster timeline than vaccines typically require. Trump issued no such apology, yet RFK Jr. stood alongside the former president at a rally in Glendale, Arizona on Friday night and urged the crowd to support him.

After the news broke that the independent candidate was endorsing the 45th president of the United States, several surviving members of the Kennedy clan issued a public statement reaffirming their support for the Democratic ticket. The statement was co-signed by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy.

"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," the statement read. "We believe in [Vice President Kamala] Harris and [Governor Tim] Walz. Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family held most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story."

In late 2023, RFK Jr.'s campaign polled as high as 22% in a potential head-to-head matchup with both Trump and President Joe Biden. He originally ran for the Democratic nomination but switched his party affiliation to independent, pledging to get the required signatures to qualify for the ballot in all 50 states. However, after Biden dropped out of the race last month, RFK Jr. has been unable to move the needle beyond 5% support.

The scion of the Kennedy dynasty hinted earlier this week that he would be dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump. ABC News reported that he would be timing his announcement for Friday in an effort to blunt Harris' momentum following the 2024 Democratic National Convention. However, Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics cast doubt on the famed conspiracy theorist's endorsement having any significant impact in making Trump more competitive in the general election, saying it would only make the Republican ticket "even weirder."

Watch Smith's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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