Robert F Kennedy Jr’s brother ‘heartbroken’ over Trump endorsement

Max Kennedy, the brother of Robert F Kennedy Jr , has implored the public to ignore his sibling’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election and endorse Donald Trump’s campaign to return to the White House.

In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Max Kennedy said “Trump was exactly the kind of arrogant, entitled bully” that his father, former US senator and attorney general Robert F Kennedy, stood against before he was assassinated in 1968 as he pursued the Democratic presidential nomination.

Max Kennedy predicted his father would have admired the Democratic nominee for November’s election, Vice-President Kamala Harris, because she was a former prosecutor as well.

“Her career, like his, has been all about decency, dignity, equality, democracy and justice for all,” Max Kennedy wrote.

“I’m heartbroken over my brother Bobby’s endorsement of Donald Trump,” the piece added. “Robert F Kennedy’s life was dedicated to promoting the safety, security and happiness of the American people.”

Robert F Kennedy Jr made the announcement to suspend his independent presidential campaign on Thursday. He soon appeared with Trump at a political rally in Arizona where he formally backed the former president, who clinched the Republican nomination despite his conviction on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, among various other legal problems.

Kennedy said he planned on removing his name from the 2024 presidential election ballot in swing states to boost Trump’s chances of retaking the Oval Office. But Kennedy said he would remain on the ballot in other states that are not expected to decide the presidential race.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Robert F Kennedy Jr claimed his campaign was undermined by “censorship” by the media – and not being included in the June presidential debate that preceded Joe Biden’s decision to halt his presidential re-election bid.

Kennedy also described his periodic conversations with Trump before Thursday’s endorsement announcement, including one hours after the failed assassination attempt of the former president in July.

While they agreed that they would be able to continue criticizing each other in connection with issues on which they don’t see eye to eye, “he invited me to form a unity government”, Kennedy said of Trump.

Kennedy’s presidential bid and endorsement of Trump has drawn sharp criticism from the rest of his family. That includes his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, whom Kennedy has acknowledged was “very uncomfortable” with his endorsement of Trump despite her statement that she “deeply” respected her husband’s decision.

And, before its suspension, his campaign was replete with controversies, including a sexual assault allegation made against him by a former staffer and the proliferation of numerous conspiracy theories over vaccine safety, Covid 19, wireless internet, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and antidepressants.

Max Kennedy, a lawyer, is younger than his former presidential candidate brother. He is the ninth child of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy – and he was the nephew of John F Kennedy, who was president when he was assassinated in 1963.

He characterized his brother’s endorsement of Trump as “inconceivable”, noting how he had offered Harris his endorsement in exchange for a position in her administration if she won. But Max Kennedy said his brother received no response from the Harris camp and successfully offered the same deal to Trump.

“It is all the more tragic because of our brother’s name. To carry the name Robert F Kennedy Jr means a special legacy within a legacy,” Max Kennedy wrote, explaining his father’s record cut a stark contrast with Trump’s on anti-racism, immigration, the rule of law, the environment and gun control. Max Kennedy said the same was true with respect to truth and democracy, apparently an allusion to Trump’s falsehoods about having been robbed of victory in the 2020 presidential race by electoral fraudsters, which drove his supporters to mount the deadly US Capitol attack in early January 2021.

“I love Bobby. But I hate what he is doing to our country,” Max Kennedy wrote. “It is worse than disappointment. We are in mourning.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be motivated to write something of this nature. 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. It’s what is best for our country.”

Kennedy on Sunday said everyone in his family needs “to be able to disagree with each other and still love each other”.

• This article was amended on 25 August 2024 to correct the year in which Robert F Kennedy was assassinated from 1967 to 1968.