On Friday, Joe Kennedy III criticized his cousin, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calling him “a threat to the health and well-being of every American” in a harsh social media post.

This unusual public criticism follows RFK Jr.’s heated Senate hearing just a day earlier, intensifying a family feud that has divided one of America’s most iconic political families.

Kennedy’s statement, viewed more than 1.2 million times, opens the curtain behind the extraordinary rift inside the political dynasty. 

Previously known for their Democratic unity, the Kennedys are now divided due to RFK Jr.’s support for President Donald Trump and his role as HHS Secretary under the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.

Joe Kennedy’s demand that his cousin resign marks a dramatic escalation of the feud.

In 2024, five of RFK Jr.’s siblings issued a joint statement blasting his endorsement of Trump as “a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story.” 

Caroline Kennedy later urged senators to block her cousin’s cabinet nomination, writing in a January 2025 letter that he was a “predator” who was “addicted to attention and power” and “unqualified” to lead HHS.

On Sept. 4, RFK Jr. appeared in a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., accused him of firing CDC scientists and replacing them with “cranks” and “conspiracy theorists” who were “endangering children, leaving parents confused and scared.”

As Joe Kennedy wrote in his post, “None of us will be spared the pain he is inflicting… Those values are not present in the Secretary’s office. He must resign.” 

His cousin Jack Schlossberg, President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, piled on in real time, mocking RFK Jr.’s testimony: “RFK LOSER is choking so badly LIVE.”

With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial tenure in Trump’s cabinet, the Kennedy dynasty’s divisions are now spilling into public view with some of the sharpest blows coming from within.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.