The Kennedy family's legacy is in crisis as the once-celebrated political dynasty distances itself from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose crunchy-to-alt-right political realignment has ignited fierce—and increasingly public—disapproval among his relatives.
Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Australia and daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, did not mince words on Monday.
“I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous, but I don’t think most Americans share them,” she said, speaking before Australia’s National Press Club.
Once a prominent advocate for environmental causes, RFK Jr. is now more known for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation. He has drawn condemnation from scientists and public health experts for promoting the debunked and dangerous claim that vaccines cause autism, among other falsehoods. His anti-vaccine stances further aligned him with the right amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which fomented an anti-vaccination uprising among conservatives.
And now that Donald Trump has nominated him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, RFK Jr. finds himself at the heart of MAGA, dining on McDonald’s burgers and fries in a private jet, despite recently calling such food “poison.”
RFK Jr.’s nomination marks a dramatic departure from the Democratic values long associated with his family.
Formerly an outspoken Democrat, RFK Jr. made headlines last October after ending his primary challenge to President Joe Biden and running for president as an independent. (Much of his family, including sister Kerry Kennedy, already did not support his run.) But his political journey took a sharp turn this past August, when he dropped out altogether and endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump.
That move prompted a blistering response from his siblings. In a joint statement released the same day as that endorsement, five of Kennedy Jr.'s siblings—all children of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy—expressed profound disappointment: "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.”
The disavowal didn’t stop there. Kerry Kennedy, a prominent human rights advocate and one of RFK Jr.’s sisters, appeared on MSNBC shortly thereafter.
"I’m outraged and disgusted by my brother's gaudy and obscene embrace of Donald Trump," she said. "I completely disavow and separate and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. and his flagrant and inexplicable effort to desecrate and trample and set fire to my father's memory."
Her passionate condemnation painted a picture of a family in crisis, torn between their commitment to progressive values and the betrayal they feel from one of their own.
Another sibling, Max Kennedy, weighed in with a poignant op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times. "With a heavy heart, I am today asking my fellow Americans to do what will honor our father the most: Ignore Bobby and support Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic platform," he wrote. "It’s what is best for our country.”
The Kennedys have long been a symbol of Democratic leadership. The family’s political influence extends from the presidency to the Senate and spans decades of public service.
Earlier this year, they gathered in green suits and dresses at the White House with President Biden on St. Patrick’s Day, sharing a moment of family and party unity in the Rose Garden. Yet RFK Jr.'s absence from that photo was a glaring omission, highlighting a deepening divide. The family also spent time on the campaign trail, first with Biden and then with Vice President Kamala Harris when she became the Democratic nominee. RFK Jr. reportedly tried to ask Harris for a role in her administration if she were elected, and was denied.
RFK Jr.’s fringe ideas don't stop with his anti-vaccine beliefs. He has also stoked misinformation around fluoridated water and supported the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory, which falsely claims that normal aircraft condensation trails are actually the government spraying chemicals to control the population.
The Kennedys' public fracturing shows a family in disarray. Once seen as the torchbearer of progressive ideals, RFK Jr.'s embrace of Trump and the alt-right challenges this legacy.
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