Caroline adds her own chapter to JFK's "Profiles in Courage"...
What do you do when your cousin calls you out as unfit for a government post you have bartered your family’s name to get? Her message includes a litany of your drug abuse and odd behavior— of your irresponsible sharing of your addictions with other family members that has led them down a path that included wasted lives and even death.
The Kennedy family could be clannish, yet Bobby, Jr.’s latest entree into the world of Donald Trump certainly would have been the bête noire of his father and uncles — a shameful eyepoke for all they had stood for. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg seems to have taken up their cause and called out the family brat for his lifetime of bad behavior. She reminds us of his drug use, his violent behavior toward animals, and his trading on the family name. Her callout seems so out of character for the Kennedy who has chosen a relatively quiet life out of the spotlight. Now, however, compelled by what she must see as a service to her country and duty to her heritage, she exposes her cousin for his many hypocrisies,
“Bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children — vaccinating his own children while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs...”
in one of her most pointed examples. She recounts her memories of a young and troubled cousin who used his charismatic personality among his younger family members to model his risky proclivities:
“But siblings and cousins who Bobby encouraged down the path of substance abuse suffered addiction, illness and death, while Bobby has gone on to misrepresent, lie and cheat his way through life.”
She acknowledges the traumas that all family members have endured and praises her cousin’s battle against drug and alcohol abuse. She also recognizes the deep scars that obviously have not healed.
As she urged the Senate to reject his nomination to head the nation’s health needs under the aegis of the man who mishandled the world’s most dangerous health crisis in his first term, she chose stark language to ensure her message was transparently clear. She called him a “predator” and in a biting personal revelation,
She suggested that her father John F. Kennedy, her uncle Robert F. Kennedy and another uncle, the long-serving lawmaker Ted Kennedy, “would be disgusted.”
— NYTimes, “Caroline Kennedy Urges Senators to Reject Her Cousin’s Nomination,” by Christina Jewett and Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Caroline’s profile in courage exposed RFK, Jr.’s profile in shame, a shame he brings with him to an administration that will use him for their own purposes of political retaliation. Donald Trump intends to erase his past history of insurrection and incompetence using surrogates like Bobby Kennedy to undo the failures of his first term. The Kennedy “curse” will live on with his nomination to a post he neither deserves nor has earned The Kennedy “curse” will live on with his nomination to a post he neither deserves nor has earned as he ardently continues to assail his family’s good name. Caroline has decided to break her silence and add an addendum to reiterate her father’s words :
“It is when the politician loves neither the public good nor himself, or when his love for himself is limited and is satisfied by the trappings of office, that the public interest is badly served.”
― John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage