What to Know
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used to think President Donald Trump was a “bombastic narcissist,” but now that they work together, he’s changed his mind. During a recent interview, he tried to say that he was wrong about Trump, and that Trump is actually a super caring and intelligent person.
RFK Jr. even described Trump as “an empath,” and critics aren’t sure he actually knows what that word means.
He claimed that he “drank the Kool-Aid” before.
In doing so, he seemed to be implying that all the negative perceptions people have of Trump are actually false. As if people aren’t judging Trump based on his actual words and actions? Kennedy, however, suggested that the haters aren’t seeing the full picture.
During an interview at the Conservative Political Action Summit, the Health and Human Services Secretary said, “President Trump is exactly the opposite of everything that I believed him to be. I admit I basically drank the Kool-Aid that he was this bombastic narcissist that didn’t read books [and] was ill-informed.”
At that point, some people nearly agreed with him. Until he got to his next point. “And now I know the exact opposite,” RFK Jr. continued. “He’s an empath.” Um, what?
These comments didn’t go over well.
It's so funny that RFK, Jr. carefully and accurately describes what Trump is – and what everyone knows he is – before saying he was wrong. https://t.co/ZeVJ7rCm6S
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) March 29, 2026
A clip of the interview has been circulating on social media, where critics have accused RFK Jr. of outright lying and gaslighting people. Some thought he actually described Trump perfectly… when he referred to him as a “bombastic narcissist” who doesn’t read, that is. “lol… he had it right the first time…” someone commented on X.
People honestly couldn’t believe that RFK Jr. really tried to say that Trump is an empath. “RFK Junior does not know what empath means,” one critic on X concluded. But others assumed Kennedy’s comments were a lot more malicious than that. “That’s not even a stretch,” another person argued. “It’s just a lie.”
Someone else said, “Whenever these people go on about the ‘real’ Trump, they describe a version of him that not only has this man who has never, ever shut up been able to convey about himself but is nowhere to be found in any public statement or deed.”
RFK Jr.’s reasoning came across as questionable at best.
RFK Jr. has the audacity to call Donald Trump an “empath” at CPAC after Donald bombed school children.
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) March 29, 2026
Peak gaslighting.pic.twitter.com/kb6rMPbssj
If you’re wondering why, exactly, Kennedy sees Trump as an empath, it apparently has something to do with how he has reacted to the war in Ukraine. “You’ll see that every time he talks about the Ukraine war, he talks about the casualties on both sides,” RFK Jr. explained. “You will not hear any Democrat ever talk about that. And he talks about the Russian kids who are dying. He gets the reports every week, and they make a huge impression on him about the death rate.”
But people essentially argued that saying something doesn’t make it true. Reacting to clips on X, several people mentioned the callous way Trump has talked about people dying in the Iran war. “As service people are *dying* in Trump’s war in Iran, he golfs regularly, attends galas & speaks glibly of his ‘little excursion,'” one critic argued.
And there are, of course, many other reasons why people aren’t convinced that Trump is a closet empath who absorbs other people’s emotions and really feels for them in private. “Sooooo Trump put his name on the Kennedy centre, wants his face on a coin but that isn’t possible so he wants his signature on American money, constantly sells garbage like shoes, watches, etc but he isn’t a narcissist?” someone else wrote.
READ NEXT: Trump Got Another Participation Trophy & People Are Mocking Him
