President John F. Kennedy's grandson this week attacked his cousin, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a series of mocking, funny videos that were, undeniably, uncharacteristically un-Kennedyesque and escalating. civil war within America's most storied political dynasty.
In a series of Instagram posts, the grandson, Jack Schlossberg, 31, also called Mr. Kennedy, 70, a “dick,” suggested he was on steroids, said he was “lying to us” and portrayed him as a Russian stooge and a stalking horse for Donald J. Trump.
But what viewers may be more struck or even offended by are the heavily accented caricatures the young scion used to dramatize his points.
He pretends to be Jimmy, a Kennedy fan from Massachusetts, and sounds like Ben Affleck in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial.
“You know, I'm a fan of his dad,” says Mr. Schlossberg as Jimmy. 'And you know his uncle? Rest in peace, I remember where I was the day he was killed. I mean, it was a tragic day, the whole country was crying. But listen, that guy, he's a dick. The new guy, the young guy, he's a fucking dick.
He channels a southerner named Wade who raises horses and says, “You can always tell when a horse is pumped full of testosterone; Steroids do not make the horse think better.” And he exclaims an Italian-American Long Islander named Anthony (or 'Ant'ny') who worries that Mr Kennedy would cut up the military at a time when China and Russia are 'everyone on our asses'.
What is perhaps the sharpest impression is that of Mr. Schlossberg image of Joshua, an older Jewish man from New Yorkwho speaks about Mr. Kennedy in a gentle, sing-song voice until he realizes he's afraid the candidate will make good on his promise to abolish the Federal Reserve.
If so, he shouts, “Who is going to protect my money?”
For a family whose chowder-speckled, “r”-averse New England timbre has long been the subject of hacky public impressions, Mr. Schlossberg's wheel of fake voter impersonations was a striking reversal: While so many hated the Kennedys imitated, It seems that this Kennedy was working on his impressions of so many.
Here was a prince of Camelot, John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg, with possible political ambitions of his own, cycling between stereotypes of everyday voters to reduce the relative thought that he would damage the Kennedy name.
Mr. Schlossberg has long been in Mr. Biden's corner. He was featured at the 2020 Democratic National Convention alongside his mother, Caroline Kennedy, who now belongs to Mr. Biden ambassador to Australia. And in a video on social media in July, he said mentioned his cousin's presidential campaignthen focused on defeating Mr. Biden in the Democratic primaries, “a shame.”
But this attack seemed more stinging.
Some online fans are cheering the online antics of the young Kennedy heir, who has three Ivy League degrees — and apparently an abundance of free time: Mr. Schlossberg bears a striking resemblance to his late uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr. bow on the beach, breaking open coconutssurfing and otherwise playing the part of one laid-back beach bum.
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond when asked whether Mr. Schlossberg's video barrage had been coordinated with the campaign.
However, it seemed likely that his extended family would come under even more pressure.
Mr. Kennedy, whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment, leaned heavily on old-fashioned imagery and Camelot nostalgia, offering himself as heir to the family's political legacy.
Mr. Schlossberg's videos — which often appear to have been filmed on the beach in a tropical-looking location — are a very modern reminder that large parts of the Kennedy family reject that idea entirely.
At the very least, Mr. Schlossberg, who has hinted in the past that he is eyeing elected office, has shown a willingness to take comical risks. On the other hand, candidate humor – itself an oxymoron – tends to succeed most when it is self-deprecating, rather than aimed at members of the electorate.
Whatever his shortcomings, and however dependent he may be on tired stereotypes, Mr. Schlossberg is clearly a committed artist.
And someone who pays attention to his answers.
Seeing the response to his videos, as well as some criticism from people who took offense to his caricatures, he posted a series of sorry-not-sorry clips, again in character.
“They say I use these accents, I make fun of people, I make fun of working people,” he says said as Anthony. “Not my intention, no disrespect.” And like Joshuahe insisted that he was “not fooling anyone, because I'm Jewish and I grew up in New York City.”
“These characters,” he added – still in Joshua's voice, but now appearing to speak as himself – “really help me cope.”