Jack Schlossberg appears to be copying his late uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., in his new campaign ad for Congress.
In the launch of his Democrat primary campaign for New York’s deep-blue 12th Congressional District, Schlossberg, the only grandson of President John F. Kennedy, is leaning heavily on family nostalgia.
His official campaign site shows him biking through Manhattan in a dark suit, backward baseball cap and backpack, right pant leg hiked up, strikingly similar to iconic photos of JFK Jr. cruising the city before his 1999 death in a plane crash.
For critics, the staging underscores a larger problem: style over substance.
“His whole campaign is ridiculous,” veteran New York strategist Hank Sheinkopf told the New York Post, blasting Schlossberg as a man with “no record, no accomplishments trying to make himself into something he’s not.”
Sheinkopf said the Kennedys “still think they are all entitled to something,” a sentiment many conservatives share as yet another dynasty heir seeks power in a city drowning in crime, costs and illegal immigration.
Schlossberg, 32, a Harvard-educated lawyer and MBA, is running for the seat held for three decades by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y.
Nadler himself has dismissed the young Kennedy as lacking “a record of public service” and predicted he “certainly is not going to be a major candidate.”
Behind the scenes, Schlossberg’s own mother, Caroline Kennedy, is said to be “living in fear” over his decision, worried that today’s toxic political climate could make him a magnet for “violent haters,” according to Post sources.
Schlossberg is half Jewish at a time antisemitism has been rising.
If voters look beyond the moody bike shots, they will find a would-be congressman best known for bizarre social-media rants.
Schlossberg has publicly joked that second lady Usha Vance might be the mother of his child, run online “hotness” comparisons between her and his grandmother Jackie Kennedy, and even referred to himself as a “literal pervert” who will “do anything for attention.”
His cousin Kick Kennedy has openly hoped “he gets the help he needs.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tapped Schlossberg for the committee planning America’s 250th birthday, boasting he would help stop Trump from “aggrandizing” the celebration.
The commission is supposed to be nonpartisan and comprised of members appointed by House and Senate leadership from both political parties.
In his campaign video, Schlossberg describes America as in “crisis at every level” and accuses Trump of stripping citizens’ civil rights and seeking a “third term” if Democrats do not retake Congress.
The N.Y. race in one of the country’s most Democrat districts already is crowded with progressive hopefuls, including Assemblyman Micah Lasher and activist Liam Elkind.
Schlossberg is betting that mimicking JFK Jr.’s look, invoking his grandfather’s legacy and courting 1.6 million social-media followers will be enough to buy instant credibility.
Many conservatives, though, see a Democratic Party so obsessed with celebrity, dynasties and anti-Trump theatrics that it is willing to overlook troubling judgment and a thin résumé.
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