From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - From the Kennedys to the Bidens: How Media Lies Destroy Democracy

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

For decades, whispers about what the Kennedy family does behind closed doors have snaked throughout the country -- from JFK's sister Rosemary receiving a life-altering lobotomy at age 23 to Mary Richardson Kennedy, the former wife of Robert F Kennedy Jr., committing suicide in 2012 after allegedly finding a journal where her husband tracked and rated his affairs.   Well, these whispers are now being put in the spotlight with DailyMail columnist Maureen Callahan's new book, “Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed.”   Follow Sean & Rachel on X: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everyone, welcome to From the Kitchen Table. I'm Sean Duffy, along with my co-host of the podcast, my partner in life, and my separated today wife, Rachel Campus Duffy. We're in two different locations. We're not separatinguffy, we're in two different locations. We're not separating. We're just in two different locations. We're separated. We're not separating.

We're not divorced. But we are separated. And Sean is only mentioning that because he's super jealous. Because I'm up in northern Wisconsin by the lake with the kids. And he is stuck in New Jersey and working. And he's just jealous. So that's why he's bringing it up. And it's true. Rachel's in the homeland. And I'm stuck here New Jersey and working. And he's just jealous. So that's why he's bringing it up. But and it's true.

Rachel's in the homeland and I'm stuck here. So, yes, it's such a beautiful day here, which gets me to thinking about our next guest, because a lot of people are going to the lake, going to the beach, trying to, you know, find something fun to read. And boy, talk about a page turner. The book is called Ask Not, The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed. All the juicy stuff you thought you knew all put together with added stuff. And it's all written by one of my favorite writers from the Daily Mail.

I don't miss anything that she writes in the Daily Mail, which is, of course, everyone who listens to this podcast knows is my guiltiest pleasure. And it is Maureen Callahan. And Maureen, we're so honored to have you on the podcast today. Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Rachel and Sean. Thank you so much for having me to talk about this book. Absolutely. And you know, this book, you might think you're just kind of like, you know, getting all the juicy details on the Kennedys, but nothing could be more relevant right now than this book, because it's a story about the Kennedys and all the sordid things. And by the way, there's a lot of new stuff in there, too, that, you know, we didn't know about. And one of the people you talk about is actually running in the field, RFK, and we're going to get to that. But let's first, Maureen, start with the press, because there is a direct line between the lies told by the press back then and what we're experiencing right now as we see the Democrat Party in meltdown

over the lies of the press about Joe Biden. 100 percent Rachel, 100%. You can draw a direct line from the ways in which the mass media covered for JFK. And I'm not just talking about consensual affairs with women. I'm talking about like shuttling a teenage intern around the country as a sex toy. The press covered up for that as well. But JFK, a lot of Americans don't know this, was his health was in dire straits throughout his entire presidency. He had a rocking chair because he could barely stand up. But he was always promoted as, you know, sort of the epitome of youthful American vigor, always spray tanned. And, you know, I don't know if this sounds familiar, but like, let's smash cut to now. And we have a media that is acting as though they just learned something that the rest of us honest brokers have been observing since 2020, which

is that Joe Biden is far too infirm and cognitively impaired, not to mention his physical condition, not only to run for president, but to currently serve as president. And I think that this is a kind of toxicity that has existed in our body politic since the days of JFK. And I'm hoping that this sort of combination of the reaction this book is getting, along with this national trauma, this needless national trauma we're currently going through, is enough to finally flush this disease out of our systems. I mean, I think that's a really good point because we just, you were talking about JFK and the imagery. You said he's sick.

The press covered for him. When I think of him, it's like the Kennedy boys out there throwing a football, you know, playing, you know, you know, basically tackle football with no pads on, you know, they're out there sailing. The all American family was the image that was presented to the American people. And it was presented by the press. And I think in this book, you lay out, this is not what this family was, he was sick, but they were anything but the all American family. Talk about what, what you expose in the book about who JFK was, and I'll put this in air quotes, as a family man. Yeah, happily so. You know, so

this all sort of really originated with the father, the patriarch Joe Senior, who spent time as a big Hollywood producer. And his motto was, it doesn't matter how many lies you tell as long as people believe it right it doesn't matter who you actually are it matters what you show to people um of his father JFK had a constant sort of saying slash warning to female guests of his sisters who would stay over on the Cape. And that was, quote, the ambassador has a tendency to wander at night, which was code for the ambassador has a tendency to sneak into your bedroom, female guest, and rape you. And that's just what goes on at House Kennedy. When he married Jackie, he really had to find the perfect political wife.

And it was Joe Sr. who really recognized Jackie's gifts in that way. Now, for her service, she was rewarded with multiple sexually transmitted diseases that caused the loss of two pregnancies, a stillbirth, and an infant son who died 39 hours after birth. Jackie was blamed for all of it, of course. Her stillbirth, I talk about that in detail in the book. It's probably the most painful time of Jackie's life aside from losing her son and then, of course, the president. She delivers a baby. She's unconscious. She is awoken to Bobby, her brother-in-law, telling her that the baby is dead, that he cannot reach her husband, who is sailing on a yacht in the Mediterranean with a bunch of other women.

Jackie knows this is a lie. Jack has been told the baby has died. And he says to Bobby, what does it matter? The baby is lost. There's nothing to be done. Jackie lays in a hospital bed alone for eight days, mourning a baby she never got to see. She never got to hold. She was physically incapacitated. She couldn't bury her baby. Jack finally hustles back on day 10 after being warned by a colleague, if you ever want to become president of the United States, you better haul your back to your wife. This is just a glimpse

behind the curtain of what life as a Kennedy wife really is about. You know, Maureen, I remember, and you talk about this in detail in your book, but I remember, what was the name of the young intern that he groomed, that was groomed, that had sex with him? He basically took her virginity and then he forced her to give a blowjob to his friend in the White House pool. What was her name again? So that was Mimi Beardsley. Okay, so I remember when her book came out. Yeah. She's now, I believe at that point, she was probably in her fifties or something. I can't remember how old she was and she, her book came out and she told this story, which, you know,

should have shocked the world. Right. I mean, I don't think there's anything in the book that to me, that was more gross than what happened to that poor girl. And I believe she's the one you said that was being shuttled around as well. And yet, do you remember Maureen seeing her on The View? I'll never forget it, Rachel. I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it. Talk about what happened. I don't know if you mentioned this in the book or not. But the way Barbara Walters chastised her instead of getting on, you know, going after the Kennedys. Go ahead. Tell that story. Yeah, absolutely. This is so salient. I love that you brought this up. So talk about it in the back of the book, because the meat of the book is written like a novel, right? You're in the minds of these women.

And in the back, I sort of talk about the ways in which the mass media and our culture have further victimized these women. So Amy Alford writes this memoir, which is like unputdownable and reveals JFK as really a monster. And she goes on The View. This is, by the way, like the mass media ignored this book. Can you tell that? Can you just, before you get to that, can you just tell a little bit more

of what happened to her? I kind of alluded, but I kind of talked a little bit. I want people to really understand how gross, disgusting this is. So Mimi Alford's first day at the White House, she's 19 years old. She's a virgin. She's

in the secretarial pool. She is invited upstairs at the end of the workday to the White House residence. And she's like, me, why? Who am I? I'm nobody. She goes up there. She's fed alcohol. Suddenly, the president of the United States materializes and asks Mimi if she would like a tour of the private White House residence. Of course she says yes. She suddenly finds herself on the first lady's bed. Jackie is away. He's suddenly on top of her. Within three minutes, her virginity is taken. She had never even been kissed by a boy. She still to this day will not call it rape, but she doesn't think it was fully consensual either and says that short of screaming, there was nothing she could have done to get him off of her. A few days later, she's back at work. She's invited to go swimming in the White House

pool where JFK takes his daily swims. She goes, she finds the president in the pool. His aide, Dave Powers, is sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water. Mimi gets in. JFK says to her, Mimi, Dave looks a little tense. Why don't you go over and relax him? And she knows what this means, that her president is asking her to orally service his lackey while he watches and she doesn't because what else is she going to do she's 19 you know this is who this guy is and this is who the press was covering for and to this day continues to cover for so to your point when mimi's book is published and the media has no choice but to cover it, even one of our most esteemed presidential historians, Robert Dalek, says Mimi is credible.

Her story is now part of American history. There's no putting this horse back in the barn. Barbara Walters has her on The View and says to her, why are you doing this to a president's legacy and to his living family members? Wrong question. OK, Janet Maslin in The New York Times writes a scathing review of this book. The headline, I'll never forget it, is, quote, sure, Mr. President, if you really want me to. And she goes on to paint Mimi as the villain here and the one who's exploiting somebody. And that's why I think this book is so important. And I think that Mimi had her book come out after, let's say, Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of multiple counts of rape. The press would have no choice but to treat

her differently, no matter what they thought privately. Now, in a post-1992 era, you do not valorize the offender. Yeah, but that was, by the way, that was Barbara Walters. And she wasn't just some, like, tacos. This is a journalist, probably the most esteemed female journalist in American history. And she was blaming the girl, but also the lie. And I think this is where we need to come back to this, because I think some of the hatred for Donald Trump isn't that Democrats hate Donald Trump or whatever. It's the media hates Donald Trump for saying fake news, which was the truth, Maureen.

Well, and now the Biden administration turned around and used, quote unquote, cheap fakes over the past two weeks until that debate told us all the truth. Barbara Walters, I mean, I was never a fan and I don't think she's ever been a friend to women. You know, this is the same woman who went down to Cuba and flirted with Fidel Castro and always him is like the one who got away. So, you know, the idea that she's like the, the sort of leading voice in American media for women, I always thought was such a canard. And she really revealed herself as no friend to women. When she went after me, she used that platform.

She invited Mimi on the show. And, you know, I write in the book, Diane Sawyer did a very similar thing to Pamela Bowman, who credibly accused William Kennedy Smith of rape, you know, and said, well, you're a single mom and you've ruined this guy's life. And what are you doing? And, you know, just like impugning her character. And I think, though, to your point about what's happening now is this is why you see so much of american the american electorate evincing so much distrust of the media you know it's and and people will take a lot but they will not take being told they are stupid and don't believe what's in front of your eyes and we are the ivy league educated elite and

we know better than you well they're they're telling us we're here to give you the news give you the facts and we're talking about jfk we've talked about you know what's happening today with joe biden i thought they did it um in true liberal media fashion with barack obama they were really no investigative journalism about about his past and his history and how he came to be. And again, they'll go after every single Republican. It becomes partisan. What fascinates me in the story, Maureen, of the Kennedys is Jackie.

Obviously, she's not a wallflower. She's a smart lady, and she's got a lot of power she has to know what's happening what's what's going on with jackie at the time that that jfk is is you know engaging in these escapades and he's off in the mediterranean as she's having this stillborn baby. Again, I look at my own marriage. I can tell you how well that would go for me. It wouldn't go very well.

I told Sean once, I said, because you saw this again with Hillary Clinton as well. I'm like, I told Sean, if I was in Hillary Clinton's shoes and what happened with Monica Lewinsky happened, do you know what I would do? I would open the windows that open up to the Rose Garden. I would throw all his out the window. Yeah, that's what most women would do. That's what most women would do. Now, with Jackie, it's so interesting because this was a real challenge for me in writing the early part of her life and her marriage because she was nobody's fool.

She's extremely bright, extremely well-read and traveled and sophisticated. And women of her class at that time were really bred to make a great marriage. That doesn't mean a faithful one, but it means one that's interesting and is going to give somebody like Jackie access to a big life. like Jackie access to a big life. But when what happened with her stillborn daughter, you know, is buried by Bobby and her husband's still off on the med, she leaves Jack. This is like an unknown part of American history. She left him and she was going to divorce him. And she really agonized over this. And she consulted with a very famous media mogul at the time and asked him how this would play out. Jack was not yet president. And he said to her, if you leave him, you will deprive the country of a potentially great leader.

Do you want that on your shoulders? Again, wrong question. Jack was the one doing all of this to Jack, not Jackie. But she was made to feel that she would be depriving America of a truly great president if she left him. So that was like deal with the devil, number one. She also left him again or threatened to leave him after the Marilyn Monroe sort of catastrophe that I also cover in the book. Marilyn sang happy birthday to him at Madison Square Garden, dressed in a gown that was skin tight and made her appear nude. She was basically announcing to the world that she and the married president were having an affair. announcing to the world that she and the married president were having an affair and this is also another scandal because at the time she also was sexually involved with his brother bobby

um and jackie said to jack after that event she said i'm gonna divorce you unless you end this right now and i will cost you a second term she knew she had power we'll be right back with much more after this streaming now on fox nation You believe you were sent by God? Yes. An exclusive new series hosted and narrated by Martin Scorsese. These are stories of the saints. Martin Scorsese presents The Saints, streaming now on Fox Nation. Go to FoxNation.com and sign up today.

And then I think the fact that Jack believed that, right? JFK believed. Oh, he knew she meant it. Yeah. She knew. believed that, right? JFK believed it. Oh, he knew she meant it. And so he never saw Marilyn Monroe again, which devastated Marilyn Monroe and added to her own

mental health spiraling and eventually many people blame the Kennedys for her eventual death. You know, as I read it and so many of the things, even the stuff you write about RFK, you know, I didn't want to believe the stuff about RFK. I've always thought like, you know, the Mimi story, obviously, you know, was so gross and really had a big impact on my image of JFK. I didn't want to believe the stuff about RFK because there is a part of him that is truly courageous. up about RFK because there is a part of him that is truly courageous.

And I was thinking these stories about him are because he's going after pharma and these stories are because he's going after powerful interests in our country. Are we saying RFK Jr.? Yes. RFK Jr. I'm sorry. RFK Jr. And I just didn't want to believe him because I just really had this, a lot of respect for his courage in that regard. And yet the stories that you tell are just, they're just undeniable. I also think, Maureen, that as I put it all together, all of the brothers, the father, JFK, RFK, and then RFK Jr., Teddy, all of them,

it sounds to me like it's beyond just being entitled. Did you ever think, do these people just have a sexual thing that's just so out of control? I mean, with RFK Jr., for example, With RFK Jr., for example, he kept a diary of the women that he bedded and he ranked them. And you say that he would have sex with like three, four women in a day. That just doesn't seem normal. It's not normal. It's not normal. It's and that's really why I wanted to put this story together in this way, because you see it feels congenital. It feels cultural within that family. It's definitely generational. And Rachel, I've heard from several women just like you who were like, I was going to vote for RFK Jr. And then I read

this book and I can't look at him the same way again. The vindictiveness. Can you speak to that? Just the mean vindictiveness of it. The way he contributed to his estranged wife, Mary's decompensation and depression. This is the mother of four of his children, and he was starving her out. He cut off her access to court ordered monthly stipends of twenty thousand dollars. He cut off her credit cards. She was showing up at the school run begging other mothers for 20 bucks so she could fill up her gas tank or get groceries for the day. I mean, he was humiliating her. He told her she would be better

off dead. He was, you know, always coming on to women in the house in front of her. It was ritual serial humiliation after humiliation. After she kills herself, he fights her siblings for her remains, which he gets. He has a huge funeral for her with celebrities and Kennedy family members, and the media is there, and they're all watching this latest, quote-unquote, Kennedy tragedy unfold, and he runs to the New York Times and talks about poor Bobby and this Kennedy curse, and how did he even survive this marriage? A week goes by, Rachel, and without telling anybody, without getting proper permits, he has Mary's casket dug up out of the Kennedy family plot and reburied 700 feet away, alone on the side of a hill facing traffic. That is what this man thinks of women yeah it's just so and like why would you fight the family for the body of a woman who killed herself that clearly

you are responsible for you know her sadness her depression i, so unbelievable. It is. It is. And I think it's interesting that these stories, you know, but for you kind of bringing them to life in your book, Maureen, that these aren't common questions that he gets, that he's not getting the, you know, the press is, again, there's a lot of things I like about RFK Jr. And to Rachel's point, he's done a lot of really brave things. And I'm proud of him for

that. A lot of things politically and policy-wise, I couldn't disagree with him more. But on the character side, we should delve into the character of the people that we're looking at electing. And we can make a judgment. We kind of know who Donald Trump is. And when people know that, they can make a judgment and a decision. But there's something else if you're going to hide that from me. And I don't get it. The media doesn't seem to ask him the questions.

There was more negative press about Donald Trump burying Ivana at Bedminster on the golf course than there has been about this situation with R.K. Jr. That is such a great point, Rachel. That is such a great point. It was driving me crazy to watch this campaign rollout and have RFK Jr. be taken to task by the media about all manner

of controversial opinions, expressions of thought, whatever. And the stuff about mary nobody cared who cares who cares about the dead ex-wife who killed herself in your barn and it also goes to me with all this stuff you know trump will be assailed for everything and grab them by the we'll live forever yep joe biden his daughter ashley maybe a month ago in court filings says the diary that was found that has my name on it. That's real. The diary that contains this entry quote, was I molested? I think so. Showers with my dad, probably not appropriate. There is a media blackout over this diary.

Imagine if this were Trump's daughter's diary. The FBI was weapon. The FBI got involved and started hounding and arresting the people who were in possession of the diary. I mean, it's just imagine again, and I know it

sounds so repetitive, but imagine if Donald Trump had a diary like that with Ivanka. I mean, if Ivanka had a diary saying that she showered with Donald Trump had a diary like that with Ivanka. I mean, if Ivanka had a diary saying that she showered with Donald Trump, I mean, she would be over. It's it. That's it. He'd be done. He'd be a pariah politically, socially, every which way. And, you know, but there's always a double standard when it comes to male liberal icons on the left. Yes. Yes. So, Maureen, can i i don't know that if i should know this i don't hold myself out like you and rachel i'm not all knowledgeable

on all things kennedys or culture but i think rachel what we have in the conversation was there an affair between Jackie and, and RFK with Robert, with Jack's brother, was there some tryst that was going on? What was happening? Talk to us about the story, not just of Jack, but now of Jack's brother. And again, how weird is it? The two brothers keep sharing women together. I'm sorry. That's bizarre. I don't want, I'm sorry, Rachel. Don't don't go near my brothers. I don't want, I'm sorry, Rachel. Don't go near my brothers.

I don't care if I die or stay away from my brothers. That is a really weird thing, the brothers sharing the women. Bizarre. Oh, yeah. And the brothers shared women with the father as well. I mean, they're very sexually incestuous. The Bobby stuff is really fascinating. And again, the media covered this up.

Everybody knew it. Everybody saw Jackie and Bobby out together in New York, dancing cheek to cheek and stolen glances and making out openly in restaurants. And they protected them because the country was in this major post-traumatic state after we all, those who were alive at the time I was not, but saw Jack Kennedy assassinated on television. I think today it would probably be considered a trauma bond. Jack and Bobby were the closest people to Jack. They were the two most important people in his life, saved their children. And they were both suicidally depressed after jack died they were both on the verge of killing themselves and i think they were each other's life raft for a time but you are right sean it was not an isolated incident in terms of the brothers sharing women or sharing women with the father and then sort of disposing of them

when they became inconvenient. It's very psychologically messy. You know, it also reminds me of how weird it was that Beau Biden's widow ended up with Hunter Biden. And again, the, you know, Joe Biden and Jill Biden came out and said, we we stand by them and their love. And like, it's just everyone knew that was just that one, Hunter is a weirdo. And two, this thing was strange. And he got that poor widow hooked on heroin and crack. And I mean, it just it was so unseemly.

And that also is not very big of a story. I mean, it really is only a story because of the laptop that was revealed. But that again, another great example of the media, you know, doing the heavy lifting for Democrat politicians. You know, we're talking about the fake media and what they're doing. But the other part that it exposes, Maureen, is just how fake their, you know, purported concern is for women and women's rights and women's dignity. 100 percent. So just very quickly to circle back to the hunter and the sister-in-law, Bo's widow. Here's another part of that story that is the best part of the story that the media completely ignores.

He wasn't only involved with her sexually. He was involved with her sister sexually. And that is the thing. That's the thing that women were always told about Ted Kennedy, right? Problematic with women in his personal life. By the way, the minimizing of problematic, that word, I think leaving a 29-year-old campaign aide to suffocate to death for nine hours in a car that's overturned in three feet of water is more than problematic, as is the public sexual assault of a waitress in a D.C. restaurant 20 years later.

But this is what women voters have always been told. He may be problematic in his personal life with women, but God, he's sure great at legislating for you. You know, you want reproductive rights. You got to vote for this guy. He's your he's your dirtbag. And now the Dems, the only thing they have to run on in their desperation against Trump is reproductive rights. They are hanging their hat on this. And it's a cover for a man who has no business sitting in office for another minute. weaponization of his justice system to keep a rival off the campaign trail, to cut sweetheart deals for his degenerate son. And as you said, Rachel, to weaponize the FBI, to go after people who found a diary his daughter left behind. These five kids have a habit of leaving their most

personal information in places for a random person to find it and make it public? Which, of course, are really deep cries for help. I mean, the Biden family is weird, troubled. You know, it's a mess. And it is not what they have tried to present on the stage, on the political stage. And people have been able to peek through it, but boy, they've had so much help, as you said, from the police, from the law enforcement, and also from the media. And I just want to reiterate what you just said about abortion rights. rights. Abortion rights have, you know, has always been this dirty deal that feminists have made with Democrat politicians. You can hurt women. You can abuse them. You can kill them. You cover

that in your book as well. You can do whatever you want. You can be Bill Clinton. You can also besmirch these women. Remember how the Clintons were ruthless in trying to present the accusers of Bill Clinton as white trash and that they were just ruthless with these women, which is why, Maureen, one of my absolute favorite moment of any debate, as we're talking about debates here, is when Donald Trump brought all the accusers and put them in the front row of that debate with Hillary Clinton. Because it was like, finally, somebody is fighting back. And it is that kind of, you know, I don't care what you say. You guys are corrupt. Donald Trump talking to the media that I love about Donald Trump. And anyway,

this dirty deal, like if you are for abortion rights, you can do anything you want for women, because they are not a women's movement. They are an abortion movement that's masquerading as a women's movement. They never have cared about women. They've only cared about abortion, my view, child sacrifice. And I just think that that's another part of the story. It 100% is. And I think it's why this revisiting of this family, the Kennedy family, which I consider, you know, it's a reconsidered history,

but also a reflection of women's circa now because we're still dealing with the same garbage. Bill Clinton held up as great for women in America. What was the campaign inside the White House when all these women started coming out of the woodwork? Nuts and sluts. That's what they called it. That's what our buddy on ABC taking down Biden. That's what he was doing in the White House when he worked as Bill Clinton's foot soldier, denigrating these women, calling them poor white trash liars, making shit up.

Juanita Broderick, who has an extremely credible account of her rape by Bill Clinton, dismissed summarily by the media. So this legacy is still very much with us. And to your point, what Trump did to Hillary at that debate was not only a great example of his understanding of showmanship, but what he got to is what Americans hate the most, rank hypocrisy. Hillary cannot stand there as a standard bearer for women, as a breaker of the last glass ceiling, standard bearer for women as a breaker of the last glass ceiling while she stood by and not only allowed but aided her husband to trash these women this way yeah yes 100% Maureen what has been the reaction to your book I mean I know that I know a ton by the way I'm sure your sales are good because I know so many women were buying this book. Everyone's reading it right now.

I do think that it's a great summer read. It's just such a page-turner, and you've written it so beautifully. Thank you. What has been the reaction outside of sort of like, you know, women who would generally care about sort of these JFK stories? Have you had any reaction from the press? Have you had historians, you know, sort of go, wait, right. We need to retell these stories.

What has been the reaction? Oh, I'm so glad you asked. Yeah, it is a beach read, weirdly. It is a it is a page turner. We sold out on Amazon before we we even hit our pub date before it was even on sale. So that says to me, there's this amazing pent up feeling that is collective, that we really have yet to sort of put our finger on, that this book is really hitting, especially with female readers. I've gotten great reviews across the board, except you'll love to hear in the New York Times, where they took me to task

for writing a lurid book about a family that is lurid. And for having the temerity to work at a place like the Daily Mail and not the New York Times. It was so vicious, I kind of had to love it. And yeah, I mean, it's and I will tell you, Rachel, that the feedback that truly is really the most meaningful. I went up to Cape Cod a couple of weeks ago and I had lunch with one of the women who spoke to me for this book. Her sister, her name is Karen Kelly. Her sister, Pam was paralyzed as a teenage girl by a Kennedy man in a Jeep on Nantucket. She died during COVID. I gave Karen the book. We talked, she wrote me a letter and she was effusively thankful and felt like her sister had been seen and heard. I also just got a handwritten letter from Martha Moxley's mother.

Wow. Murdered at 15. Michael Skakel, RFK Jr.'s cousin, was convicted in that crime, a conviction that has since been vacated. But her mother wrote me a beautiful handwritten letter. What did she say to you? She lives in New Jersey, and I'd gone to see her to talk to her for the book. And she said basically that reading Martha's chapter was very difficult, but she also realized how important it was and how she feels this book is really important and should be a conversation that we all continue for a long time. You know, pulling strings, talking about that murder. When we talk about two tiers of justice, we see that here as well, right? And it's played out with what the left has done to Donald Trump. First time prosecuting an American president over crimes that no one else would be prosecuted for. Peter Navarro is in jail as we speak. So are several other Trump administration officials. Steve Bannon's in prison right now as well. And again, you have these horrific stories, Maureen, that involve the Kennedy family. And they seem to skate.

And not only skate, but they seem to still be celebrated. They still seem to be lionized in American culture when they have committed some pretty heinous and horrible crimes. I've been thinking about that a lot, and I thought about that a lot while I was writing the book, because it continues to this day. And my question at first was, well, is it because so much of the media back then was really run by an elite group of white men and they all were sort of enthralled to Jack Kennedy and the Kennedy family and everything that they represented. Lie though it was, they sort of represented this kind of grandeur and glamour that american

politics especially in the mass media age never really had and that of course wound up them becoming sort of america's royal family which is another load of garbage um and i think there is a very childish, my team, your team kind of feeling in politics in America still, where like, well, it's okay if my side does it, or, you know, my guy may have problems or, you know, but, but, and I think, I don't know the answer. I think I think I think what we can take from what we're seeing now, I think for as traumatic as all of this is that's playing out with Trump and Biden, I actually really think it's very healthy for America. I think we are going to it's basically like sort of purging a huge parasite out of our collective system. Like, we can't go on this way anymore.

We cannot go on with a press that is covering for one side and part of the electorate deeply wanting to believe in a lie that they know deep down is a lie. Yeah, I think from COVID to Russiagate to the laptop, I think. And then, of course, I think Americans are getting so sick and tired of being lied to. And their lives, by the way, were so directly impacted by the covid lies that I just think everyone's sick of it. And I just I do. I think that there's something wonderful happening right now where I hope I'm not wrong, but I do think that this purging is happening and that the press and that's why the press is lashing out at Joe Biden. Right. They've been exposed. Yeah. And they're like, you guys, I thought we were working together.

You guys have to do your part. We're doing our part. You didn't do your part. He you didn't pump him up with the right drugs or whatever. And he failed at that debate. You didn't do your part. He you know, you didn't pump him up with the right drugs or whatever. And he failed at that debate. Now we look like. And so there's just a lot of infighting. And meanwhile, I think Americans are sitting back and going, gosh, you know, this fake news thing is true. By the way, has R.K. Jr. responded at all to any of this? Because immediately he is the most affected by these stories. He is not. He hasn't asked to respond.

He hasn't. Nobody's asked him about it. I know I was on Megyn Kelly's show a couple of weeks ago, and we had a very in-depth conversation about this book and RFK Jr. And she said that she and her team had reached out to him for comment and they heard nothing back. Yeah, I bet he won't be doing Megyn Kelly's show again because she's going to ask him for sure. But yeah, she's fearless. I said, thank you for for writing this book. I think it's a part of the story that, as you said, for whatever reason, it could be because it was, you know, white male journalists or just sort of that team playing that you talked about, you know, we're Democrats, so we cover up for Democrats. I think that was a large part of it.

But people like you putting it out there in such a readable form, so it's not in some obscure book that, you know, no one wants to pick up. I think you're doing a real service to the country, to women and to the expectations that we should have of how of how our press should be operating in this country. And the role, the important role that they're playing in elections and the way they're swinging them. Hopefully we're, you're part of that, that new moment that we might just have where, you know, we might get a new press. We might get a new way of, of, of looking at things. And the internet has a lot to do with that as well. Podcasts. I don't think that you would, you know, 10 years ago, you know, you might be treated the way Mimi was treated, right? Why are you telling these stories? A hundred percent. I mean, Rachel,

I've been told there are major media outlets that will not touch this book, not because they don't believe it's true. They believe it's all true, but because they don't want to participate in tearing down the Camelot myth or offending living famous Kennedys. Have you been booked on like good morning America and sort of they show, it's still happening. It's still happening. It's still happening. And I think everybody should send a message, you know, with this book. I think that the one thing I just want to say, especially to female voters out there, asking that your elected officials treat women with respect is not a big ask.

Yeah, I agree. I totally agree. I totally agree. It isn't. It isn't. And by the way, let's be fair. I mean, Donald Trump hasn't been great either. But when you read this book, Donald Trump looks like a Boy Scout. I'm sorry. I mean, it's not perfect, with, he has not been, you know, the lion of, you know, women.

However, it's our right to know and our right to judge as voters. And when you don't give me that right because you don't give me the information, that's what angers people. Because some people might go, now I know all these things about the Kennedys, and I still love them. And I still, you know, I'd still want to vote for JFK back in the day or if RFK had made it to vote for RFK or RFK Jr.

But it's the media's job not to tell us what we need to know to make decisions, but to give us all the relevant facts so we can make decisions that fit our morals and our values. And that's the disservice of the media. You're so right, Sean. give us all the relevant facts so we can make decisions that fit our morals and our values. And that's that's the disservice of the media. You're so right, Sean. We should be able to put Stormy Daniels up against Tara Reid and Joe Biden showering with his daughter and everything you read about. And we should be able to see the journal. I mean, it should be fair treatment for everybody. So we can make an informed choice because information is power.

And that is what I think you've provided Marine. And I just want to thank you. And I'm just going to fangirl on you, everybody. I mean, she has her and Kennedy, both, the best stuff to read in the daily mail, which is fun to read anyway. But I always look forward to your takes, especially your royal takes, which have always been spot on as well. So Maureen, I can't thank you enough for joining us. Super honored.

When they told me that you said yes, I said, she said yes. Oh my God. Are you kidding? This is such an honor for me too. Thank you so much. And thank you for like a great deep dive and discussion and questions. And I just Rachel, I got to circle back to that earlier thing you just said. I was writing this book during Trump's first term. And all I could think was, if you put up what's going on in Trump's White House versus what went on in JFK's White House, everything would calm down immediately. It's way worse under JFK's White House. You're putting it all in perspective. Can I just ask you one last thing?

I alluded to this, but I wanted to get a firmer answer based on because I know you've done such deep research on this. you've done such deep research on this. Of course, the Kennedy sexual crap was about entitlement and there was a family history of it and the dad and all of that and privilege and all of that. But do you believe there was a physiological because the amount of sex we're talking about just to me is so crazy. Like, is there was there something actually like genetically wrong with these people that they're such sex addicts? You know, it's so interesting because Jackie went and consulted a doctor on her own. She could not figure out what was wrong with her husband. And every woman who slept with him said the same thing. He didn't enjoy sex. He didn't enjoy it. Sucked in bed. They said he sucked in bed bed he was like a two-palm chump like yeah

he got no pleasure out of it it was like they they compared him to like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant like every five minutes um it's it's not that is a that is a mystery for a finer mind than mine i'll just say that. Well, it's also a good point that, you know, handsome doesn't, you know, whatever the images that he put forward didn't equate into the bedroom very well. And poor Jackie, you leave this whole book just really feeling bad for her in so many ways. And when you see behind the curtain,

and there's a reason that Carolyn Bessette's story sort of bookends the book, you know, everybody thought she landed the greatest prize on the planet in JFK Jr., and he turned out to be the, not just a booby prize, but he took her life. And her sister's life. That came against so much tragedy

in the wake of these men and so many women and families that suffered. And if the press had told the truth, maybe some of the pain could have been mitigated. And we're just so glad that you're telling the truth. You're getting the story out there. And I think hopefully other journalists, other writers will take note and say, you know, this is worth doing, that we need to do better as a country when it comes to informing the public. And I just want to thank you for joining us, Maureen.

Thank you so much for having me. What a pleasure. Maureen, as Rachel said before, it's a great summer read. If you want to give the middle finger to the press that won't cover this book and you want to have a great time reading it um the book is ask not the kennedys and the women they destroyed you can pick it is it back do we have more copies now on amazon they're being shipped to amazon as we speak from the warehouse to be able to get it you can get it on amazon uh or in i imagine bookstores all over so check out the book sit on on the beach and read the filthy history of the Kennedys. And again, can I just say one last thing? It's not just history. It's not just history.

What you read is, is like so relevant to the moment we're in. Everyone should read it because there are so many parallels that you can draw from that moment to the moment we're living in. And everything is on the line in this election. I don't think we've ever had an election more important. So, Maureen, you're part of that history and we want to thank you. Thanks, Rachel. Thank you, Sean, so much for having me. Absolutely. Thanks for joining us at the kitchen table. Thanks, Maureen. We'll have more of this conversation after this. We'll have more of this conversation after this. the Kennedys were and are today. And I think, again, it's great to get people who will go back,

go, you know what, there were so many lies told. Let's break down and get to the truth. And I love your point, too, that what happened then is so relevant, because it hasn't ended. It's still going on today. Yeah, you know, one of the things if we ever have her back that I wish we could impact is just there was so much there. And again, I really encourage people to get the book. You know, you're so right, Sean, Jackie is sort of like the looming figure in this in so many ways, the compromises she was willing to make for a man who truly treated her like shit gave her like chlamydia and syphilis and I don't know what else, all these venereal diseases. And, you know, he just was so awful. But there is a part that, that, you know, Jackie came from, you know, her own, you know, troubled, traumatic background. Both her and JFK were natural introverts. And she was very smart. He really loved her intellect.

And so they had this connection. And yet I think her own family trauma caused her. And maybe also a part of this is just the time, right? The 1950s, the 1960s, when expectations of women were probably different. But she just was willing to accept so much. And you just wonder why. And really, Maureen does get into some of that as well. And that's another part of the book. But I agree, Sean. It's just there's so much going on today. And again, not excusing what Donald Trump has done or whatever. But when you compare it to what Joe Biden has done or even that family, I mean, you know, look at Donald Trump's kids. Look at Joe Biden's kids.

You know, it's crazy. Or you mentioned with Obama, Sean, you know, the letters where Obama had all these homosexual fantasies that he wrote to his girlfriend. Those letters are under seal at like Emory University. You can't access them. You know, there's still a lot that's being covered up about Democrat icons in politics that we don't know about and the press just is not intellectually curious about you know i want i want to go back to um to jackie and again i think the relationships should not have been different in the 50s than they are today or even 200 years ago or 400 years ago people got married and they got married for life and they made commitments to each other.

There was not some bubble in the 50s. But I do think it's important for us to say it was a different time. And stories were covered differently. And there was some protection around the American president that the press gave. But again, you look at that era um to today and the press seems to only give that coverage one way and in one direction correct and again i think that's that that's the troubling part and again um i come i keep coming back to this point because we keep bringing up Donald Trump and that's naturally where anyone's going to go as they think about these stories.

I don't know. We should know about Joe Biden. And did he shower with his his daughter? And at what age were they showering? And what's up with the intern in in the Biden office that said he attacked her in? I think it was in the gym in the in the Capitol. All things I think are relevant. But again, they want us to know sort of the things about. You talk about Tara Reid. Tara Reid. Yes.? Tara Reade, yes. About Donald Trump. I thought that was in the hallway. I thought that was in a hallway in the Senate. But I thought it was in the gym. But just so you know, John, what's interesting about Tara Reade is 60 Minutes, only 60 Minutes, Australia covers her story.

She couldn't get a blockbuster interview with an extremely credible story, extremely credible story, if you watched it. She was interviewed by a few podcasters, but no one in the mainstream press wanted to know the story. They didn't care about it. They treated her like crap. Like, again, it's the same thing. How dare you interfere with Joe Biden's presidency this way? That was how she was treated, just like Mimi was treated when she had her tell all book. So, you know, and what happens, Rachel, is because you've democratized media, right? You just don't have some major networks and major newspapers that cover the news any longer.

Really, with the breakout of Twitter with Elon Musk buying it, there's been far, far more ability to share stories and information. And I think with that, you've seen a decline in those who watch and read mainstream media because they know they're being lied to. They know they're being given, fed, force-fed a perspective and a narrative that fits the ideology of the owners or the hosts or the writers from big media, as opposed to just giving me the truth. And I think if media went back to just giving me the truth. And I think if media went back to just tell me the truth. And again, to be very clear, you have opinion pieces where we go, okay, I know that I'm going to get someone's opinion. And then we have news. What we've seen with the liberal media is their news coverage

has become opinion coverage as well. And the editorial decisions they're making, and even the language that they use, its opinion as opposed to fact. And I'm really hoping that, and maybe I'm being again too optimistic, Sean, but that this covering up of Joe Biden's mental decline, something as we've talked about on this podcast, we knew since he was locked up in the basement that that was part of the the reason for that um and then you know i i had the first lady's office going after me for for bringing it up back in 2021 um so you know anybody who said that was threatened in some way they tried to threaten

you know me with my job i i firmly believe that that's what they were doing, trying to send a message. And that's what they do. And I just believe that I'm hoping that this might be a reckoning, that the combination of the lies from COVID, the lies of the laptop, the lies of Russia collusion, the lies of the phone call to the Ukraine, the lies being told about the Ukraine war, all of this stuff. Hopefully, we're getting to a moment where the press is just being finally wholeheartedly discredited. And I think when we get to that point, we might stand we might stand a chance in this country because our country depends on information from the press. It's it's it's it's part of the system. And right now they're corrupt. And they're not giving us the information. And if you don't have all the information, you can't, you know, give decisions. Exactly, Exactly. So anyway, great interview. Great book.

Yes. Rachel's excited for its launch to get it and start reading it. So we thank Maureen for joining us. I've already started that book, Sean. I saw it come in. You ordered from Amazon. I want to thank you all for joining us. Rachel and I are separated. Rachel, up in the delicious northern Wisconsin around Lake. I'm stuck here in New Jersey. Someone has to work, bring home the bacon. That's me. Rachel.

Enjoying the Lake. So, listen, thank you all for joining us at the Kitchen Table. If you like our podcast, you can rate, review, subscribe. Wherever you get your podcasts, always find us at foxnewspodcast.com or Spotify or Apple. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can find us. We drop Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. So please subscribe.

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