Jack Schlossberg — a Democratic congressional candidate and grandson of late President John F. Kennedy — listed off several ways Donald Trump could receive the Profile in Courage Award, an honor created by the Kennedy family.
Schlossberg, who looks to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) in a crowded race for his House seat, appeared on MS NOW on Sunday when host Jackie Alemany asked him about the honor, Trump’s “love of receiving awards” and the president’s “proclivity” for things tied to the Kennedy name.
“Is there anything that would ever warrant your family’s consideration of Donald Trump receiving this award?” asked Alemany of the honor given to officials whose “actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership in the spirit of” Kennedy’s book, “Profiles in Courage,” per the JFK Library’s website.
Schlossberg, a fierce Trump critic who sits on the award committee, laid out his criteria.
“If President Trump admitted to the many crimes and the grift that he has committed while president in office, stepped down and handed over the power of the presidency to somebody responsible and not somebody in his own cabinet,” the 33-year-old Democrat began.
Schlossberg continued, “If he came forward with all the true reasons behind his pick for RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services and who is paying for the words that are coming out of RFK Jr.’s mouth, then maybe that would be some kind of courage that we would consider.”
He concluded, “But, to be honest, I don’t think he’s in the running anytime soon.”
Schlossberg’s comments add to his history of criticizing his cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his HHS leadership.
Last year, he asked Kennedy’s wife, former “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines, if she could call up the family of a child who died of measles and apologize to them.
The comments were a reference to a measles outbreak in Texas at the time. Under Kennedy, measles cases in the U.S. rose to a record high last year and three people died of the disease, which marked the first reported deaths of measles in the country in about a decade.
The Profile In Courage award has gone to several anti-Trump Republicans in recent years including former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), ex-Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former Vice President Mike Pence, the latter of whom was recognized “for putting his life and career on the line to ensure the constitutional transfer of presidential power on Jan. 6, 2021,” according to the JFK Library Foundation.
This year’s recipients were Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for his “years of personal attacks and threats from the highest levels of government,” a nod by the foundation to Powell’s refusal to cave to Trump, as well as “the people of the Twin Cities, Minnesota” who protested the president’s immigration policies.
