Even for the remarkable number of Americans who may still vote for him,
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not exactly an ideal candidate. Setting aside the vaccine skepticism — which is likely a pro for many of the RFK-curious — there is his shaky campaign, his wavering on election-defining issues, his long years of philandering, and that pesky brain worm. Late last week, Vanity Fair added to this list with an oppo dump from his own extended family, which included a claim of sexual assault by his former babysitter and a picture of Kennedy from his brain-worm era in which he is pretending to eat a dog that has been roasted on a stick.
In response, RFK Jr. has commented only once on the accusations that he groped his baby sitter, saying on a podcast that he is “not a church boy” and that he is “not going to comment on it.” But the dog stuff? Kennedy was on the defense throughout the long weekend, trying several times to woo back the animal lovers — and animals — in his orbit. On Sunday, he posted an apology to his dogs, which he loves so much that they even have their own car. “Ever since that guy wrote the article about me saying I ate a dog, it hasn’t been the same,” Kennedy said.
“Daddy would never do something like that,” said Kennedy, perhaps not for the first time in his life. He then sat in a dog bed and opened an illustrated book he wrote on noted animal lover Saint Francis of Assisi. “I love you guys, I would never eat a dog,” he said. (In response to the story, Kennedy claimed that the dog was actually a goat, though contemporaneous texts suggest otherwise.)
Kennedy extended his PR campaign beyond the canine world. On July 2, he posted a video of him saving a gopher snake tangled up in some sort of mesh at his daughter’s house in California; after petitioning his wife, Cheryl Hines, and the actress Rachael Harris to keep it, he ultimately let it go.
Two days later, he posted another video in which he relocates a rattlesnake in his driveway — but only after showing Hines his new pet. “Honey, no,” she says in a way that suggests this may actually be a common occurrence at the Kennedy-Hines compound and not just a stunt because her husband posed with a roasted dead dog. To drive the point home, he also picked up a lizard on July 6.
As other presidential candidates deal with bedrock problems in their pitch to the American people, Kennedy’s image rehab is a telling little effort in what could destroy a campaign. Plenty of allegations, including sexual assault, don’t derail candidacies anymore. Being weird with or cruel to dogs? That could be a kill shot. Just ask South Dakota governor Kristi Noem how her vice-presidential chances look after she copped to shooting her hunting dog.
