My heart breaks over my brother Bobby's support for Donald Trump.
I often think about my father and how he would have viewed the politics of our time. I’m not sure what he would have thought about TikTok or artificial intelligence, but I’m sure of this: he would have despised Donald Trump.
Trump was exactly the kind of arrogant, entitled bully my father used to prosecute. Robert F. Kennedy’s life was dedicated to promoting the safety, security, and happiness of the American people. That’s why he would have so admired another former prosecutor, Kamala Harris. Her career, like his, has revolved around decency, dignity, equality, democracy, and justice for all.
Trump is the enemy of all that. He seems to support only himself and, disturbingly, autocrats like Vladimir Putin, whom my father would have considered an existential threat to our country.
However, my brother now supports Trump. Pledging allegiance to Trump, a man who shows no attachment to our family values, is inconceivable to me.
Worse, it’s sleazy. Earlier this month, as Harris was surging in the polls, my brother offered his support in exchange for a position in her next administration. He got no response.
Now he has offered Trump the same deal. This is a vain attempt to seize power, a strategic attempt to gain relevance. It is the opposite of what my father admired: “the selfless spirit that exists in the United States of America.”
It is all the more tragic because of our brother's name. To be named after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signifies a special legacy within a legacy. It would strongly imply a desire to continue our father's work. But Bobby's alliance with Trump puts this in jeopardy.
Let me go over the record.
My father was an anti-racist who joined the common cause of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and forged a powerful bond with African Americans wherever he went in 1968.
Donald Trump is a lifelong racist whose entire career has been marked by his dislike of people with a different skin color than his own.
My father believed in expanding legal immigration because he came from a family of immigrants and knew how much talent and drive hard-working families bring to the table if we open our doors to them.
Donald Trump foments hatred towards immigrants, whom he wrongly characterizes as criminals and drug addicts.
My father believed in the rule of law, both as a prosecutor and as Attorney General of the United States.
Donald Trump has contempt for the law, as evidenced by his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his ongoing legal battles. He is the first criminal to run seriously for president.
My father believed in the need to unite Americans. He said, “I don’t think we need to shoot each other, hit each other, call each other names, and criticize each other. I think we can do better in this country.”
Donald Trump's entire campaign is about fomenting division.
My father loved the priceless heritage of our land and water and was certainly an environmentalist in his own way, although the term did not become popular until later.
It is especially hypocritical that Bobby, a true environmentalist, has joined forces with the most anti-environmental president in our history, who promises to “drill, drill, drill” if elected.
My father was against the “senseless threat” of gun violence. Donald Trump is against any meaningful form of gun regulation.
My father believed in democracy. Donald Trump did not.
My father believed in truth. Donald Trump did not.
At the University of Kansas, on March 18, 1968, My father said“[W]“As a people, we are strong enough and brave enough to be told the truth about our position. This country needs honesty and candor in its political life and from the president of the United States.”
Truth is essential to democracy, and it is essential to a family, too. For all these reasons, truth demands that I set the record straight. I love Bobby, but I hate what he is doing to our country. It is worse than a disappointment. We are in mourning.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be moved to write something of this nature. With a heavy heart, I am asking my fellow Americans today to do what will most honor our father: ignore Bobby and support Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic platform. It is what is best for our country.
As my father said in his campaign: “I want all of us, young and old, to have the opportunity to build a better country and change the course of the United States of America.”
Max Kennedy is an author, lawyer, and the ninth child of Ethel and Robert Kennedy.
