RFK Jr. grapples with torrent of negative headlines

The cascade of bad headlines for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is threatening to completely derail his presidential campaign less than three months out from Election Day.

The latest scandal is over a piece in The New Yorker that reported the environmental lawyer threw a dead baby bear into Central Park in 2014 and tried to make it look like the result of a bike accident. In an attempt to get out in front of the story, Kennedy released a video with comedian Roseanne Barr in which he admitted to staging the event. 

The story came after a Vanity Fair piece showed Kennedy next to a charred barbecued animal carcass, which the article suggested appeared to be a dog. Kennedy said the animal was a goat.

That article followed reporting by The New York Times that he said a parasitic worm ate part of his brain.

The peculiar, largely negative news cycle is throwing the status of Kennedy’s candidacy into a tailspin, exposing him to attacks over his third-party bid as his poll numbers drop.

“These stories don’t help,” Democratic strategist Basil Smikle said. “Where Donald Trump has succeeded in creating a movement around his candidacy, RFK Jr. has failed to do that.”

Kennedy has had a rough go of it over the past few months, failing to circumvent several long magazine profiles that delved into the odd details of his past, including an allegation of sexual misconduct.

He’s confronted each story with criticism of the media outlets exploring his history as he seeks the Oval Office. His latest strategy was to post a video on the social platform X explaining the bear toss as a joke. 

“We thought it would be amusing for whoever found it,” Kennedy, 70, said in his video, which he distributed on social media over the weekend. “Looking forward to seeing how you spin this one, @NewYorker.” 

“Maybe that’s where I got my brain worm,” Kennedy quipped to The New Yorker.

One Kennedy supporter joined in his antimedia sentiment. “Obviously a hit piece,” the source said, adding that he “grabbed [the cub] off the road” before disposing of it in the park. “One of the people he was with suggested they put it on an old bicycle and leave it in Central Park,” the pro-Kennedy source added. 

But Democrats see the recent revelations as adding to the numerous concerns about Kennedy. 

“The @NewYorker profile of @RobertKennedyJr lays out a damning case against him- that he is a reckless, narcissistic, nepo baby who is seriously mentally unwell,” Democratic strategist Lis Smith wrote on X. 

Smith, who’s consulting with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) about an offensive against Kennedy, sees him as a problem in the race.

“He’s someone who has never cared about the consequences of his actions, including in this race,” she wrote.

Democratic groups have taken the lead in attacking Kennedy, with the White House staying out of the mix. The DNC has been at the forefront of fighting back against what party officials see as a possible threat to President Biden and now Vice President Harris’s candidacy against former President Trump. Other liberal outfits have also joined in their effort, with several organizations holding conference calls to outline his mounting flaws.

“The more we learn about RFK Jr., the more evidence we find of his bizarre and abusive behavior,” said Britt Jacovich, who serves as political director of MoveOn Political Action. 

“His abusive treatment of women makes him unfit for office. His bizarre behavior with dead animals is disgusting and disqualifying,” Jacovich said. “RFK Jr. is showing the American people who he truly is, and that’s why his entire campaign is in the gutter.”

Even amid the onslaught of unfavorable press, Democrats are still fretting that Kennedy could cut into their margins against Trump and possibly even help the former president win. 

That conventional wisdom has shifted a bit after Biden officially declared he would not seek a second term and Harris rose as his successor. It now appears, according to the available polling, that Kennedy could hurt Trump more than Harris. But the limited data is not conclusive, experts caution. 

Kennedy was previously hovering comfortably in double digits for a prolonged period after leaving the Democratic primary to become an independent. While Biden and Trump were unpopular, Kennedy had a slim but conceivable opening — enough to make Democrats afraid and rally to discredit him.

But his latest numbers show a change in public opinion around his candidacy as more information about his past is revealed in the final leg of the cycle. 

A new CBS News poll shows Kennedy earns just 2 percent of support while in the running with Harris, Trump and other third-party candidates including Jill Stein, Cornel West and Chase Oliver, who each receive 0 percent of support. Other polls show him slightly higher, including a Wall Street Journal survey that placed him at 4 percent among sampled registered voters.

“Seems like Team Kennedy is trying to leverage the 5 percent with both Trump and Kamala camps,” the Kennedy ally said. “I think s‑‑‑ is gonna get pretty real once Bobby is officially on all 50 state ballots.”

Republicans who are now working against Trump have also questioned Kennedy’s choices as a candidate. Many deem him unserious but still wonder if he can perform the dreaded spoiler role and help the 45th president.

“Everything I’ve learned about RFK Jr. has been against my will,” Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served in the Trump administration and has come out strongly against Trump’s bid, wrote on X.

Trump’s current allies are mostly withholding judgment, at least publicly, about where Kennedy could end up in the fall calculation. A phone call between the two contenders sparked commentary that Kennedy could try for a position in a possible second Trump administration, but he and his closest associates have stopped short of offering up a formal role at this point.

Smikle noted that while Trump has been in the race much longer than Kennedy, the independent candidate still hasn’t gotten widespread traction, despite his “popular name.” 

“More so now than ever, I think he’s lost a significant window to try to peel away any of Trump’s voters,” he said. “These stories that keep coming out, making him seem too fringe, not even aligned with Trump voters should tell you a lot about where he’s at right now.”

Jared Gans contributed.