RFK Jr admits he was wrong about 'empath' Trump: 'He’s the opposite of a narcissist'

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS: Robert F Kennedy Jr has done a complete 180 on Donald Trump since his 2024 presidential campaign.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Grapevine, Texas, on Saturday, March 28, the Health and Human Services secretary admitted he once bought into the common narrative about the president, only to now say he had it all wrong.

RFK Jr says Trump is the opposite of what Democrats portray him to be

Robert F Kennedy Jr was rather candid about his earlier take. “President Trump is exactly the opposite of everything that I believed him to be. I admit I basically drank the Kool-Aid that he was this bombastic narcissist that didn’t read books [and] was ill-informed. And now I know the exact opposite,” the 72-year-old said. “He’s the opposite of a narcissist; he’s an empath.”

He doubled down, pointing to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as Exhibit A. According to RFK Jr, Trump isn’t detached from the human cost. It is quite the opposite. “You will not hear any Democrat ever talk about that,” the HHS secretary told the Texas crowd, referring to Trump’s repeated focus on casualties in the conflict.

RFK Jr painted a picture of a president with a surprisingly deep bench of knowledge.

"He has an encyclopedic molecular knowledge on these, this wide range of very, very eclectic interests," he said. "Music, Broadway shows, pro wrestling, football, every sport, golf, and you know, and business and Wall Street, he knows how everybody made their money and what deals they made. And he tells stories all the time about it, it's just one after the other."

Then came the campaign trail moment that seemed to seal the deal for him.

"And one time, during the campaign, I was on the airplane with them, and we were sitting across the table from each other, eating McDonald's. Drinking Diet Coke, and he and I started talking about Syria," RFK Jr said. "And he got a place mat, and he turned it on its back, and then he took a Sharpie and he drew a perfect map of the Middle East, and then he put the troop strength of every country on every border on that map, and it just, it challenged a lot of the assumptions that I had been told about him."

The former Democrat added that Trump “understands the use of power better than probably any president that we’ve had at least since Roosevelt and maybe in American history,” though he didn’t clarify whether he meant Theodore Roosevelt or Franklin D Roosevelt.

His remarks echo comments from comedian Bill Maher, who said after a widely discussed White House dinner that “private Trump” is far different from his public persona and, notably, a strong listener.

CPAC without Trump

All of this unfolded at a CPAC gathering that was missing its usual headliner. Trump skipped the event for the first time in a decade, leaving allies and surrogates to carry the message.

Among them was FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who kept the crowd fired up with a full-throated defense of Trump’s long-running battle with the media.

“When he ran for office, he ran directly at the fake news media,” said Carr. “He said, ‘You don’t get to decide what we say, what we think, how we’re gonna vote inside the voting booth.’

President Trump took on the fake news media, and President Trump is winning.”

Carr then ticked through what he framed as victories.

“Look at the results so far,” he continued. “PBS — defunded. NPR — defunded. Joy Reid — gone from MSNBC. Sleepy-eyed Chuck Todd — gone. Jim Acosta — gone. John Dickerson — gone.”