If ever there was a political campaign that demanded a credit screen showing "Directed by Robert B. Weide," it's Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential run.
The most embarrassing member of the Kennedy family hopes to win the Democratic nomination away from President Biden by spreading vaccine skepticism and aligning himself with online demagogues such as Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan, the latter of whom made headlines this week for demanding that Peter Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College and a prominent debunker of anti-vax conspiracy theories, debate Kennedy on his show, a challenge which Hotez claims inspired a stalker to accost him outside his home.
Kennedy seems unlikely to sway Democratic voters away from Biden with his circus campaign of scientific illiteracy and podcast grandstanding, but his powers of persuasion should not be underestimated. After all, Kennedy did convince Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines to marry him in 2014 - even after Hines' onscreen ex-husband Larry David, who introduced her to her beau, begged her to reconsider.
When Hines appeared on Alec Baldwin's podcast Here's the Thing, she told the story of how, over a decade ago, David broke the ice between her and her now husband at a party. Said Hines, "He introduced us - just because we were at the same event." Unaware that his innocuous niceties would lead to an anti-vax Kennedy joining the Curb family, David quickly tried to put the genie back in the bottle. Hines recalled how she revealed her attraction to her future partner to her work husband, saying, "Larry was like, 'That's a terrible idea. No, no, no, don't get involved.'" Unfortunately for David, the sparks had already flown. Said Hines, "Cut to - we've been married for eight years."
"I think I've taught him to - I don't want to say lighten up," Hines said of her husband and his ardent "activism." She told Baldwin of her marriage and her husband's work, "Hopefully I'm teaching him to check it at the door. Like don't bring everything home. He's invested in so many heavy causes that it's like: 'Oh man.' Sometimes you just need to watch 30 Rock and get your mind off things."
Hines has publicly disagreed with her hubby on some of his more extreme views, once denouncing his comparison of the COVID vaccine mandates to the Holocaust as "reprehensible and insensitive." She told Baldwin that she does occasionally tire of Kennedy's intensity, saying, "Sometimes I get so frustrated and I'm like, 'Look, yes, we're all dying of everything. Whatever you think is killing us, it is. It is. So let's enjoy the night.'"
Imagine finishing an exhausting day of arguing with David about toilet paper or coffee table coasters just to come home to Kennedy ranting about autism rates and aluminum adjuvants. Imagine Larry David being the saner of your two husbands.
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