Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services has posted yet another cringeworthy video. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., best known for his anti-vaccine conspiracies, having a dead brain worm, and telling a torturous story about wanting to skin and eat a dead bear cub, posted a strange video of himself at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California, on Sunday.
“Practicing moves for my confirmation hearing,” Kennedy captioned the post, which featured the Cabinet nominee shirtless, wearing only jeans and sneakers, alongside another shirtless fellow gym bro. In the video, Kennedy’s gym buddy does a pull-up into a handstand and then Kennedy performs a pull-up into a backward roll, his feet coming dangerously close to the other guy’s face.
Kennedy’s move is also referred to in calisthenic circles as “skin the cat.” Yes, it’s called that.
This latest bit of cringe comes just a couple of days after his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, posted a video on her beauty products’ social media channels promoting Black Friday sales—while a nude RFK Jr. showered behind her.
Kennedy’s history of blue jean-clad exhibitionism goes back to his failed presidential campaign days, when he posted a video doing push-ups sans shirt. But his attempts to sell masculinity as a political policy aren’t unique. Here is an equally awkward video of two terrible GOP lawmakers showing how manly they are while not helping the American people.
When your health policy ideas include getting rid of public safety measures like pasteurizing milk and adding fluoride to water, the aesthetics of toxic masculinity are an easy way to distract from the fact that you have zero relevant credentials.
