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

Allies of long-term presidential candidate RFK Jr. have criticized the activist politician’s famous family for “defaming” him while coming out strongly in support of Joe Biden’s campaign.

In mid-April, a group of more than a dozen Kennedy stalwarts delivered a high-profile public statement of support for incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden at a rally in Pennsylvania, rejecting RFK Jr.’s bid. was explicitly rejected at 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 home between siblings. These people are slandering him,” they said. “With a family like this, who needs enemies?”

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

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

“There is no way we can do anything that will take away even one vote from President Biden. Put Kennedy’s name on the ballot and Democrats will feel torn.

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

In late 2023, four of RFK’s “Bobby” Jr. siblings, including Kerry and Joe, called his campaign “dangerous to our country” insofar as it could jeopardize Biden’s ability to win a second term.

The siblings released a statement at the time saying, “Bobby may have the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment.”

“We reject his candidacy.”

The family’s increasingly public rebuke of Bobby’s political aspirations has prompted some in his inner circle to speak out against the often scandalous group.

‘RFK Jr. is a corruption fighter like his father and uncle. The family members who stood up to him when ordered to do so demonstrate their lack of integrity, backbone and honor,” said Tony Lyons, a close confidante of Kennedy and chairman of the conservative publishing house Skyhorse Publishing.

“They are part of the corruption that RFK Jr. has fought against with all his heart for the past forty years.”

Several members of the family have also taken a strong oppositional stance towards Bobby’s intense vaccine skepticism, an issue that has caused further division among the famously troubled family.

In a 2019 Politico article, several family members wrote that RFK Jr. ‘tragically wrong about vaccines’.

Other issues deepening the ongoing rift include Bobby’s fringe theories about his father’s convicted murderer, Sirhan Sirhan, who was released on parole several years ago over the objections of almost all members of the family.

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

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

Despite public political disagreements, RFK Jr. said. after the meeting in Pennsylvania that he is happy that his family remains politically active – just like 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 spoil Biden’s bid for the White House, handing former President Donald Trump a second term.

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

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

But “it is critical that we take seriously any potential obstacle to that goal.” And let me be clear: that is exactly what Robert F. Kennedy is in this election. He’s a spoiler.’

Senator Mallory McMorrrow of Michigan last month reflected on the potentially “horrific” impact Kennedy’s campaign could have on Biden’s chances in her state — a swing state carried by Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.

California Congressman Robert Garcia, voicing his own version of an election conspiracy theory, said, “I think he (RFK Jr.) is probably interested in trying to get Donald Trump elected. Maybe this is what it’s all 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 DNC has launched a team designed to destroy third-party candidates by hurling legal challenges and opposition investigations into their operations.

Recent voting suggests that Kennedy, as well as third-party candidates Dr. Jill Stein and Dr. Cornel West, would take away needed votes from both major party candidates — but Biden would risk losing more support.

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

In that case, the poll shows that Trump has a four-point lead over Biden.

In a five-way race involving West and Stein, Kennedy clocked in with 11 percent of the vote, giving Trump a two-point lead over Biden.