Throughout the 2024 presidential election, JFK’s only grandson, Jack Schlossberg, spoke out against his cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr., denouncing both RFK Jr.’s policy positions and the way he used the Kennedy family name and imagery to further his political ambitions.
“I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president,” Schlossberg said in a video posted to social media. He also accused RFK Jr. of “trading in on Camelot, celebrity, conspiracy theories, and conflict for personal gain and fame.”
When Kennedy dropped out of the race, throwing his support behind former president Donald Trump, Schlossberg wrote on X, “Never been less surprised in my life. Been saying it for over a year — RFKjr is for sale, works for Trump. Bedfellows and loving it. Kamala Harris is for the people — the easiest decision of all time just got easier.”
Schlossberg remained vocal on social media throughout the election cycle, critiquing Kennedy and offering full-throated endorsements of first Biden and then Harris—and he wasn’t the only family member to do so.
Five of RFK Jr.’s siblings called RFK Jr.’s endorsement of Trump a “betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story.”
Several Kennedys had also previously spoke out against RFK Jr.’s decision to run against Joe Biden as a third-party candidate, and his use of vintage family imagery throughout the campaign.
In November, Schlossberg’s mother, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, broke her silence on RFK Jr.’s views on vaccines calling them “dangerous.” “I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous, but I don’t think that most Americans share them,” she said at the National Press Club of Australia. She added that her family, “is united in terms of the public health sector and infrastructure and has the greatest admiration for the medical profession in our country.”
“Bobby Kennedy has got a different set of views,” she said. (While RFK Jr. says he is not anti-vaccine, he has made his opposition to vaccines clear on multiple occasions. He lead an anti-vaccine nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, and even compared Covid-19 vaccine mandates to the Holocaust, an offensive comment for which he later apologized.)
President Trump has nominated RFK Jr. to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, a position with enormous influence over a number of governmental agencies that impact public health, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
On the eve of Kennedy’s senate confirmation hearings, Schlossberg is asking his family to once again denounce their relative, and calling out those who are keeping quiet, suggesting that silence should be read as support of RFK Jr.
“This is for the rest of my cousins. I’m asking the media to ask my cousins—I have a lot of ’em—what they think and why they don’t say anything, and what they know about Bobby Kennedy and why they aren’t talking and all the stories they have. The guy’s about to be in charge of public health for the United States of America,” he said in a video posted on social media. “How about you ask my cousins some real questions? How come I’m the only one who’s talking out? Wake up. This is not a fucking drill. These guys are taking over. If they don’t want to talk, then you know what side they’re on. Later.”
In a now-expired Instagram story, Kennedy also specifically referenced his cousin Anthony Shriver, asking him, “What do you have to say? What do you have to say about using our family like this? Do you like it? Are you happy? Are you happy to be closer to power?” He included a crude personal attack of RFK Jr.’s wife, Cheryl Hines.
While many Kennedys made statements against their relative during the campaign, there has been less vocal criticism of RFK Jr. and his ties to the new administration following Trump’s election. Additionally, members of the family—including several of RFK Jr.’s children and cousins—were in attendance at Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again Inaugural Ball.
Schlossberg has always had a somewhat eclectic social media presence, posting footage from ballet classes and days spent paddle-boarding in between shirtless photos, political videos, and satirical sketches. In the days following the inauguration, he not only voiced the appeal to his cousins and the press, and made an odd post comparing Second Lady Usha Vance to his grandmother, Jackie Kennedy, but he also shared a somber reaction to President Trump declassifying records relating to President Kennedy’s assassination.
“JFK conspiracy theories —The truth is alot sadder than the myth — a tragedy that didn’t need to happen. Not part of an inevitable grand scheme. Declassification is using JFK as a political prop, when he’s not here to punch back. There’s nothing heroic about it. Jack,” he wrote on X.
Additionally, Schlossberg recorded a direct message for Joe Rogan, asking the popular podcast host to set the record straight regarding these files. Rogan recently had RFK Jr. as a guest on his show, and they discussed conspiracy theories about JFK’s assassination.
“I thought you wanted to actually find out what happened, not just talk about it and make somebody famous so they can parlay that into a Cabinet position,” Schlossberg said, of course referencing RFK Jr.’s nomination.
Rogan has yet to publicly respond.
Caroline Hallemann is the Digital Director at Town & Country, where she covers culture, society, and entertainment, as well as the British royal family, among a variety of other topics. Prior to leading the digital team at T&C, she served as the brand’s Senior News Editor and Digital News Director, and has previously held positions at Travel + Leisure, DailyCandy, and Parenting Magazine. Caroline is also currently writing a book about the Kennedy family and the British royals, and she lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and their son, Tommy. You can find her on Instagram at the handle @challemann and on TikTok at @carolinehallemann.
