On Wednesday night, Kerry Kennedy had just returned to a hotel room in Las Vegas after making three campaign stops on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris , the Democratic presidential nominee, and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.
The daughter of former U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and niece of former President John F. Kennedy , who were both killed by assassins, said stumping for the Democratic ticket was her way of countering what her brother, Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had done last week: Endorse former President Donald Trump , the Republican presidential nominee.
"I just called the campaign on Friday, and said, I would like to help. They said, 'Will you be on a flight Tuesday morning to Phoenix?' I flew to Phoenix, and then they said Nevada. And here I am in Nevada, " Kerry Kennedy told USA TODAY. "There's an endless number of Kennedys who are wanting to and willing to help out with this."
Except for Douglas Kennedy, who is a journalist, Kerry Kennedy said she spoke for all her other siblings about their disappointment over their brother throwing in his lot with Trump .
"Donald Trump is anathema to everything our family stands for. I distance myself and reject everything that Bobby is doing and saying because I think that it's a rejection of our family's values and everything that I've spent my life working for," said Kennedy. "And frankly, everything Bobby spent his life working for."
'They're troubled by my decisions': Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he understands family's disappointment after he endorsed Donald Trump
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 70, was a leading environmental water protection attorney for about 30 years and headed the Riverkeeper, a New York-based non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection of the Hudson River. His embrace of Trump, who rolled back more than 100 environmental rules, has mystified his family.
In a virtual address Friday, Kennedy Jr. said he planned to remove his name from the ballot in about 10 battleground states "where my presence would be a spoiler.” He then endorsed Trump .
But Kennedy Jr.'s attempts to withdraw his candidacy in some swing states came either after ballots were already approved, the deadline to withdraw had passed, or withdrawing wasn't an option. His name will appear on the ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan ; while in North Carolina, another key swing state, absentee ballots with Kennedy Jr.'s name on them have already been printed and will be mailed to voters beginning next week.
Kennedy Jr. support stood at 4% in an Ipsos poll taken this month, and his campaign appeared to be running out of money, according to Federal Election Commission filings published this week. At the end of last month, Kennedy Jr.'s campaign owed close to $3.5 million and had only $3.9 million on hand.
Kerry Kennedy on Trump: He is a 'threat to most basic rights'
Throughout his run as a third-party candidate, Kennedy Jr. has remained a controversial figure because of the conspiracy theories he’s promoted over the years, which include that COVID-19 was genetically engineered to target certain races and that mass shootings are linked to prescription drugs. Earlier this week, Trump added Kennedy Jr. to his transition team .
While Harris and Walz have been champions for the values her family has fought for years, Trump is the "polar opposite," Kerry Kennedy said.
"He's the threat to most basic rights and freedoms that are core to who we are as Americans," Kerry Kennedy said. If her father and uncle were alive today, they’d have detested everything about Trump, she added.
"His lying, his selfishness, his rage, cynicism, hatred, racism, fascist sympathies, deliberate misinformation about vaccines, criminal felony convictions," she said. "Kamala Harris is comfortable being tough on someone who represents a threat to the rights of Americans."
Asked when the last time she spoke to her brother was, Kerry Kennedy said he had attended her and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daughter’s wedding in July. "But we text each other all the time. I texted him on Friday (after he’d endorsed Trump)."
Asked if she knew what was going on with her brother, she said; "I’m not a psychiatrist."
Contributing: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kerry Kennedy on Trump: He's 'anathema' to everything the Kennedy family stands for
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