Another New York Times Hit Job on Kennedy Misses Its Mark

Even loyal readers of the 'paper of record' push back

By Blake Fleetwood, The Kennedy Beacon

Late last year, The New York Times published a long article dealing with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s finances, accusing him of making money off his public crusades. 

But despite all the efforts of the Times to discredit Kennedy, what they ended up proving is that Kennedy didn’t inherit much, is a hard-working guy, and never did anything sleazy or fraudulent, while spending all his life working for the public good.

Moreover, many readers felt that the piece was an obvious attempt by the NYT to demean him by saying Kennedy is a charlatan cut from the same cloth as the other two guys running for president. 

Nowhere does the article discuss the two elephants in the room: Donald Trump’s convicted fraudulent commercial dealings for over 40 years or the flagrant influence peddling, and perhaps bribery, by President Joe Biden, which, at minimum, enriched his family by tens of millions of dollars. 

If you are looking for the real grifters and hucksters, look no further than today’s headlines on Trump or Biden. Trump, already convicted, is currently on the hook for $370 million to New York State for what Attorney General Letitia James calls “ill gotten gains” from defrauding banks. Biden is facing an impeachment inquiry for bribery and influence peddling.

It is more than ironic that the newspaper of record chose this time to sic Pulitzer Prize winner Susanne Craig to do a deep dive, aided by a leaked deposition from an 11-year-old divorce proceeding, into Kennedy’s finances. 

The Times seems to be saying:

Hey, everybody does it. All politicians are corrupt; let’s forget about Hunter Biden and his $10 million deals with Burisma and China, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner’s, $2 billion Saudi deal.

The Times, as well as the rest of the mainstream media, has an obvious, and mostly admitted, motive for distorting and lying about Kennedy. They are scared stiff that Trump will be reelected.

They are also horror-stricken that Kennedy’s Democratic history and his progressive agenda will take away votes from President Biden and deliver the presidency to Donald Trump. 

Their Trump hysteria and hatred are so intense that they can justify odious, misleading distortions of Kennedy’s words and positions. The Times is also recently fighting off devastating accusations published in the Economist that the newspaper “is in the grip of an illiberal bias,” according to James Bennet, former NYT Opinion Editor. 

Even loyal NYT readers see through the distraction tactic:

After reading the article, Luke from Cambridge commented, “This hit piece doesn’t even hit. Essentially you are describing a man who works very hard to earn large sums of money.… This is the American Dream. At no point is there any indication or evidence that Kennedy has committed fraud or done anything wrong.”

Republicans have started impeachment hearings to find hard evidence that Joe Biden, as vice president, pushed for the firing of Ukraine’s top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, to quash a corruption probe of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company. Coincidentally, Hunter Biden sat on the board and made $6.5 million for his largely absentee advice. As part of the inquiry, House Republicans have also claimed that Biden slowed a Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial background.

Where is the logic?

Other Times readers made the same point: why is Bobby “bad” because he makes money suing giant corporations, Monsanto, Exxon, and Dupont, for flooding our fields and our rivers with cancer-causing chemicals? Where is the logic?

Robert Kennedy Jr.’s main car is a 25-year-old Toyota minivan, which one writer from New York Magazine described as looking “like it survived a nuclear war.” I’ve sat in the back seat, which was a wooden bench. His dogs had chewed up the seat cushions and the seat belts. The rearview mirror was smashed to bits, and shock absorbers were nonexistent.

To put it bluntly, Kennedy has always lived simply. He does not have fancy cars, jewelry, or expensive suits. His six adult kids can’t afford a mortgage to buy a home. (Joe Biden has a $100,000 vintage 1967 Corvette Stingray, which sits largely unused in his garage.)

Until the age of 55, Kennedy was forced to work many jobs to support his family and fund the causes he believes in. He has long bemoaned the fact that he was forced to spend 60 days on the road giving speeches to pay his large mortgage and feed his family and his children.

For many years, while he was setting up RiverKeeper and the WaterKeeper Alliance, Kennedy toiled without pay. For most of his adult life, he worked as a law professor at Pace Law School, heading up an environmental law clinic. He never tried to sell overpriced steaks or wine or set up a fraudulent university or sell his influence to a foreign nation.

“The NYT piece is an obvious smear, trying to make something out of nothing,” said Dick Russell, who wrote Kennedy’s biography, The Real RFK Jr. “There is no scandal. This man has worked his whole life for causes he believes in, specifically the environment. He could have made a ton more money in other ways.”

Book Review: The Real RFK, Jr.

President Joe Biden was an unsuccessful lawyer for a few years, then went into government service and yet somehow amassed a net worth of $10-12 million.

“What a shameful article and an attempt to further smear RFK Jr,” said NYT reader James Simermeyer from New York. “The NYT must be fearful of the rising RFK poll numbers and the possibility that Biden might lose the election. Where are these types of articles for the other Presidential Candidates?”

“What is wrong with anyone using their connections or profession to make a living for themselves and their family?” Simermeyer continued.

Joe, another Times reader from Long Island, said, “Anyone who inspires the smear campaign we’ve seen in the NY Times must be doing something that makes him a threat to the status quo. I’m for that.”

What the Times and the rest of the mainstream media do not understand is that Kennedy appeals to Republicans, Democrats, and independents. 

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that when the hypothetical 2024 general election matchup broadens to include environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Biden receives 39 percent, Trump gets 36 percent, and Kennedy receives 22 percent of support from voters. 

All of which suggests that Kennedy may be helping Biden more than Trump.

2024: The Year of the Independent Voter

Other quotes from NYT readers who objected to the slant of the article:

“RFK JR, despite his salary, has Earned it. He courageously takes on major Civil Rights Issues and Informed consent, both unpopular, but affecting the everyday life of People. And has instituted groundbreaking lawsuits to stop the Government from trampling over everyone’s rights.”

“From his numerous engagements, -- boards, writing, speaking, lawyering, advocating for children, environmental work, schmoozing with his celebrity wife, campaigning for public office, and then some -- one wonders whether this dude gets any sleep. Talk about being thinly spread! But then again, isn’t it the stuff of American dreams -- work till you drop. The critical and more important question is not how and whether he rakes in money doing what he does; it is whether he sincerely and genuinely believes in his causes. I am persuaded he does.”

Mimi from Phoenix wrote, “The NYT has treated other unorthodox candidates badly: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Marianne Williamson come to mind. Please, stop being so pro-establishment! We need fresh thinking to solve our urgent problems. And we need unbiased reporting so people can learn about new ideas and then support them.”

Any financial investigation of candidates is to be applauded and encouraged. But such deep probes must be fair, honest, and unbiased. Unfortunately, the Times, my former employer, and the rest of the mainstream media have usually been content to do a smear job on RFK Jr. Their motive is clear. They are out to damage his candidacy by throwing everything they can at him, including the kitchen sink.

Where are the articles comparing which of the three candidates has profited most from their public service careers? Who has the fancy cars? Who wears expensive suits and pricey jewelry? Who has taken monies for decades from the large domestic and foreign corporations which so dominate the Washington swamp?

It is certainly not Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

---

Blake Fleetwood was a reporter for The New York Times and has written for The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, The New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Village Voice, HuffPost, and Washington Monthly. He blogs at ScheerPost.com.