Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must have known what would happen if he ran for president. For one thing, his wacko views would get greater exposure. When he floated a bizarre, arguably anti-Semitic theory about how COVID-19 was a bioweapon designed to exclude Jewish and Chinese people, even his own family members called him out. In the past RFK JR. has claimed that he’s cool with them doing that. Privately it’s another matter.
The New York Times has a new profile on the Democratic candidate, and buried within (as teased out by The Daily Beast) is a note on how he’s reacted when siblings and other close relatives have criticized his crackpot conspiracy theories, or the very fact that he’s running. (Some openly don’t support his campaign.) According to the report, Kennedy has “reached out” to some of them to complain about their public comments.” He’s also “engaged in tense discussions about his campaign and platform.”
Some of these correspondences have gone both ways. As per NYT, “Some family members recall pressing him on why he was running and warning him that he was putting his life up for scrutiny in a way that might be personally devastating.”
Has Kennedy’s controversial campaign been worth it? Is he fine with the extra scrutiny paid upon his wife, Cheryl Hines, whose most frequent coworker is no fan of her husband’s candidacy? Or is it part of some bigger scheme to peel off potential Biden voters, therefore making it easier for Donald Trump to amass more votes? The latter may be a conspiracy theory, but it’s a lot sounder than any of the ones Kennedy has ever floated.
(Via NYT and The Daily Beast)