Video of RFK Jr.'s sister condemning his Trump support goes viral

A video clip of Kerry Kennedy, the sister of former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., condemning her older brother's support for Republican candidate Donald Trump, caused a stir on social media on Sunday.

The video segment, shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Acyn, senior digital editor of the left-leaning network MeidasTouch, had been viewed over 1.3 million times, liked 33,000 times and reposted 8,500 times by Sunday evening.

Kerry Kennedy, a human rights lawyer and activist who serves as president of the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, founded in honor of her father, spoke in an interview with MSNBC's Jen Psaki, a former White House press secretary under President Joe Biden, two days after her brother dropped out of the race and endorsed the former president.

Before dropping out of the race on Friday, Kennedy Jr. was the third-party candidate with the highest poll numbers, garnering about five percent of the vote, according to national aggregate polls.

During her interview on Inside with Jen PsakiKerry Kennedy said Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz are “champions of the values ​​my family has fought for for years. Donald Trump is the exact opposite. He is a threat to most basic freedoms.”

Steven Cheung, spokesman for Trump’s campaign team, said Newsweek in an email on Sunday morning in response to Max Kennedy’s Los Angeles Times Opinion piece expressing similar views to Kerry Kennedy: “President Trump is working to save America from Comrade Kamala, and everyone should join in. That's why so many people from all political backgrounds have supported President Trump.”

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign team via email on Sunday afternoon for an updated comment.

Like many other family members, Kerry Kennedy condemned her brother's support of Trump, saying she was “outraged and disgusted” by it. Five family members, including Kerry, released a statement Friday calling her brother's support a “betrayal” of their family values.

Kerry Kennedy initially supported Biden, but after he dropped out of the race on July 21, she shifted her support to Harris.

She and her brother Max Kennedy, in their opinion piece published today, cited their father Robert F. Kennedy – the late Democratic politician and human rights activist – and his legacy in condemning their brother's support.

“If my father were alive today, the real Robert Kennedy would detest almost everything Donald Trump stands for,” she told Psaki. She made similar comments on CNN yesterday.

The section ended with Kerry Kennedy's words: “I completely dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. and his blatant and inexplicable attempt to desecrate, trample on and set ablaze my father's memory.”

Newsweek also contacted Kennedy Jr.'s campaign team on Sunday and asked for comment.

Meghan McCain, a political commentator and daughter of the late Republican Senator John McCain, echoed Kerry Kennedy's statement on X on Saturday, writing: “I do not support Trump and will not support Trump, but this family drama playing out so publicly is really quite sordid and beneath the dignity of a family that considers itself the most important American political dynasty (despite not having been in power for nearly a century).”