'A betrayal': RFK Jr's brother slams him for ruining their father's legacy under Trump
WASHINGTON, DC: Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr was slammed by one of his brothers, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, for ruining his father's legacy on Robert F Kennedy's 100th birthday.
Maxwell Kennedy wrote an op-ed in The Boston Globe where he explicitly called out President Donald Trump and his administration, saying their policies are in direct opposition to what his father stood for.
Maxwell Kennedy says his father 'would have been appalled' by Trump admin's cruelty
Maxwell Kennedy wrote in his piece, "I know, specifically, that [Robert F. Kennedy] would have been appalled by the cruelty the Trump administration has directed toward America’s neediest."
He said attacks on access to welfare are a "betrayal" of RFK while speaking about the near-suspension of the SNAP program during the recent government shutdown, and the alteration to SNAP made by the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill.
He wrote, "It’s a betrayal of all that my father worked for."
RFK, the younger brother of former President John F Kennedy, advocated for the expansion of JFK’s food stamps pilot program, which later became SNAP.
"All those complicit in that betrayal have lowered themselves—not least my brother, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump’s secretary of health and human services, who knows my father’s legacy as well as anyone," Kennedy added.
Meanwhile, RFK Jr also celebrated his father’s 100th birthday by sharing a picture of himself with his father on his Instagram. He captioned the post, "Remembering my dad, his 100th birthday."
Interestingly, RFK Jr has served as Donald Trump’s HHS secretary since January 2025 and has supported his $33 billion in cuts to health programs while championing the "Make America Healthy Again" movement.
Maxwell Kenney says Trump administration is 'zeroing out funding for the poor'
Further in his opinion piece, Maxwell Kennedy wrote, "Today hunger remains an acute problem in America and those programs my father fought for are being dismembered or dismantled."
"With an almost Dickensian cruelty, the Trump administration is zeroing out funding for the poor, while handing untold riches to itself and to its wealthy donors," he added.
Kennedy added, "This is unacceptable. And it is unacceptable, too, that my brother Bobby stands side by side with Donald Trump as these programs, particularly SNAP, are diminished. Preventing hunger is the primary duty of every public health official. You cannot Make America Healthy while denying food to our most vulnerable citizens."
Concluding his piece, he wrote that RFK Jr saw the gathered mourners as their father’s body passed through Washington, DC, and ought to remember what motivated them, "Black and white, weary and proud", to pay tribute.
"My father said: If we cannot prevent our fellow citizens from starving, 'we must ask ourselves what kind of country we really are'. Those words are as essential now as they were then," Kennedy wrote.
