Lawrence O’Donnell crowned embattled independent politician Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the “Jeffrey Dahmer of the animal kingdom” on Monday amid viral accounts of him beheading a whale and disposing of a dead bear in Central Park.
Further relating the behavior of Bobby Kennedy’s son to the notorious serial killer, MSNBC host O’Donnell added that he’s “horrified his family almost as much as Jeffrey Dahmer horrified his family by endorsing the most horrifying Republican presidential nominee in history.” Kennedy endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump after ending his own independent campaign on Friday.
“The only president who was more of a criminal in the White House than Richard Nixon, who Robert Kennedy Jr.’s father tried to keep out of the presidency by running against him until Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, which instantly, and it seemed permanently, created a beatific glow around the name ‘Robert Kennedy,’ which his son has now fully disgraced,” O’Donnell said.
Watch O’Donnell’s full takedown on Monday’s “The Last Word” below:
The anchor then outlined the recent headlines reporting his family’s response to his political move, starting with his sister, Kerry Kennedy, who also slammed Kennedy for cosigning for Trump. He then pivoted back to his own thoughts about Kennedy while breaking down the “lies” Kennedy spewed during his endorsement of Trump. O’Donnell also highlighted that Kennedy evaded his own request for an interview.
“Robert [Kennedy] Jr. told many lies in his speech announcing his endorsement of Trump, including this one, quote: ‘The mainstream media networks maintain a near-perfect embargo on interviews with me,’ end quote. On July 12, 2023, I issued a public invitation to Robert Kennedy Jr. to appear on this program at the time of his choosing, and he never chose to do that. If he does show up, I’ll make it easy on him by giving him the first question ahead of time,” O’Donnell said before detailing the revelations from Kurt Andersen’s The Atlantic writeup, “RFK Jr. Was My Drug Dealer,” in which the author alleges he bought cocaine off of Kennedy while freshmen at Harvard College in 1972. O’Donnell questioned aloud what that may mean for his relationship with Trump, considering the former president “favors the death penalty for drug dealers.”
“At the end of his article, titled ‘RFK Jr. Was My Drug Dealer,’ Kurt Anderson suggests this question for Robert Kennedy Jr., quote: ‘Given that you’ve sold cocaine in your youth, how do you feel about Trump’s advocacy, a regime that might have resulted in your own execution at age 19? Trump does not advocate the death penalty for violations of the Espionage Act, or any of the other crimes he’s been accused of and for which he is awaiting trial.”
“There are only 71 days left in Trump’s political career,” O’Donnell said as he wrapped that portion of the subject. “Assuming he comes in second in the Electoral College for the second time in a row.”
Kennedy dropped out of the presidential race on Friday and endorsed Trump, just a day after the Democratic National Convention wrapped up. Subsequently, Kennedy’s five siblings released a joint statement condemning his move while showing support for the Harris-Walz campaign.
“We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride,” the statement read. “We believe in Harris and Walz. Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story.”
Watch O’Donnell’s full “The Last Word” segment in the video above.
