Brain worms, dog meat and bear killing – inside wacky world of Trump’s health chief & Kennedy dynasty black sheep RFK
DONALD Trump has picked the Kennedy dynasty’s black sheep to be his health chief.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) has a bizarre backstory that includes a high-profile love affair with a reporter and having a worm inside his brain.
After a failed 2024 presidential run, the 70-year-old endorsed Trump and has now been named as his nominee to run the Health and Human Services Department.
The environmental lawyer has some wacky beliefs, including being sceptical of vaccines and pushing conspiracy theories.
RFK is the son of Robert Kennedy – the younger brother to President JFK who served as his Attorney General and a Senator for New York.
Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 while running for president – with son RFK Jr just 14 years old.
Some 55 years later, RFK Jr picked up the family’s mantle and ran for president himself with an outside chance as an Independent.
His campaign never seriously challenged the two established parties, but he managed to poll at 19 per cent when he launched.
The campaign was a wild ride, with RFK Jr confessing to bizarre behaviour that no one would expect from a presidential candidate.
In March, he revealed that doctors found he had a worm in his brain and he likely suffered memory loss because of it.
Doctors ultimately determined the remains of the parasite would not be harmful to him anymore – with experts telling the New York Times it was likely a pork tapeworm larva.
He subsequently posted on X: “I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate.”
Another strange incident happened when Vanity Fair published a picture of him eating what looked like a dog on a spit, the Guardian reported.
Kennedy denied it, saying there were three things he would never eat: a person, a monkey, or a dog.
Instead, it was RFK Jr faux biting into a goat – which has the same number of ribs as a dog, 13.
Just days before dropping out, RFK Jr confessed dumping a young bear in New York City he found on the side of the road in 2014.
The candidate said he was out falconing in New York’s Hudson Valley when the animal was killed by a woman driving in the car ahead of him.
RFK Jr pulled over and picked the bear up, intending to skin it and eat its meat.
In the video of him telling the story, he said he then put the carcass in the boot of his van but had to head into the city for a dinner.
But RFK Jr then had to catch a flight and so dumped the bear in Central Park in a bush with a bicycle.
He said: “We thought it would be amusing for whoever found it. But the next day it was on every television station, it was on the front page of every paper.”
It set off a minor shock in New York with people thinking it had been hit and killed by a cyclist after new cycle lanes had been introduced.
In another animal-themed incident, heat a campaign speech for Trump he revealed federal officials were investigating him for beheading a whale in 1994.
His daughter first revealed what happened in a 2012 interview with Town & Country.
She said: “[He] ran down to the beach with a chainsaw, cut off the whale’s head and then bungee-corded it to the roof of the family minivan for the five-hour haul back to Mount Kisco, New York.
“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet.
“We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day to day stuff for us.”
Then, after his campaign finished, high profile New York magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi left her role after revealing she had “an emotional and digital affair” with RFK Jr while reporting on him.
It came as the Kennedy is married to Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines.
RFK Jr dropped out of the presidential race in August after he was unable to gain steam in the polls.
He then endorsed Trump – with some of his fellow Kennedy’s calling the decision a “betrayal” of their values.
Trump promised to release all remaining documents relating to the 1963 assassination of JFK.
He has now been named as Trump’s health secretary but has questionable views on the topic.
Last year, he said: “I do believe that autism comes from vaccines.”
As part of his Make America Healthy Again, he wants to remove fluoride from water and stop all government research into vaccines and diseases.
Instead, he wants the health department to focus on other aspects of people’s life that make them sick like “loneliness, despair, disassociation, alienation.”
During his campaign he posted videos of himself shirtless and working out as he sought to appear fitter than the two major party candidates.
RFK Jr.'s family
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a well-known member of the famed Kennedy family.
He is the son of the late former US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and human rights advocate Ethel Kennedy.
He is also the nephew of the late former President John F. Kennedy.
RFK Jr. has been married to actress and comedian Cheryl Hines since 2014.
He was previously married to Mary Richardson Kennedy from 1994 to 2012 and to Emily Ruth Black from 1982 to 1994.
The politician has six kids, including Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy III, Kathleen Alexandra “Kick” Kennedy, Conor Richardson Kennedy, Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy, William Finbar “Finn” Kennedy, and Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy.