West Wing actor Bradley Whitford had some choice words on social media for actress Cheryl Hines after Hines’ husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), suspended his 2024 independent presidential campaign and offered a highly-caveated endorsement of Donald Trump.
In an X post, Whitford wrote, “Hey @CherylHines, way to stay silent while your lunatic husband throws his support behind the adjudicated rapist who brags about stripping women of their fundamental rights. Gutsy. Great example for the kids. Profile in courage.” Whitford also shared in the post footage from the Kamala HQ X account of Trump in Nevada, gloating about overturning Roe V. Wade with the help of six “very brave” Supreme Court Justices.
Has Cheryl Hines responded?
After RFK Jr.’s Arizona press conference where he shared the news, Cheryl Hines, best known for appearing on Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David, thanked everyone who worked on her husband’s campaign. At this writing, Hines has not commented publicly about her husband’s decision to endorse Trump.
In her post, Hines added, ” … I deeply respect the decision Bobby made to run on the principle of unity. Over the last year and a half, I have met some extraordinary people from all parties — Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. It’s been my experience that the vast majority of all parties are truly good people who want the best for our country and for each other. It has been an eye-opening, transformative, and endearing journey.”
The fact Hines didn’t mention Trump in her post was noticed in her comments section. “Robert Kennedy Jr. sold out his supporters for a promised job in the Trump Administration. We know how Trump keeps his promises. 😂,” one comment said. “So the guy who dumped a dead bear in Central Park is endorsing MAGA…seems on brand,” another added.
Unconfirmed reports say Trump offered Kennedy a post as secretary of Health and Human Services in a possible second administration. It has also been confirmed that RFK Jr. contacted the Harris-Walz campaign about an endorsement in exchange for a cabinet position. Harris’ campaign officials declined to take the meeting.
RFK Jr.’s marriage “might not survive” a Trump endorsement
In Jan. 2023, Variety asked RFK Jr. if he’d consider being Trump’s Vice President. “I don’t think my marriage would survive it,” he responded. TMZ later asked Hines and RFK Jr. about that quote, and Hines, 58, said, “I think Bobby knows me very well.”
In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Hines called Trump’s rhetoric, ” … [R]idiculous and disrespectful.” And in 2016, when Trump was elected she said, “I had to really have a long talk with myself because I thought, ‘I’m not going to make it through these four years [of a Trump administration].’”
Hines has criticized her husband in the past
Among many other controversial views and opinions, in 2022, RFK Jr. compared Anne Frank’s fate in the Holocaust to U.S. vaccine policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” Kennedy said. At that time, Hines did respond to her husband’s comments in a since-deleted X post. “My husband’s reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in D.C. was reprehensible and insensitive. His opinions are not a reflection of my own,” Hines wrote. Not long before Kennedy endorsed Trump, The New Yorker reported that RFK Jr. offered to separate from Hines in the past to maintain her reputation in Hollywood.
Response to Whitford’s post was mixed, with some defending RFK Jr., and others attacking Whitford for seeming to harass Hines online. Some comments pointed out issues from Whitford’s private life, while many agreed that Hines should take a stand against what her husband did.
In Whitford’s comments, an apparent Trump supporter also tried to point out that the former president was never “convicted” of rape, making Whitford’s post inaccurate. Whitford did use the term “adjudicated,” not “convicted,” and Trump was found liable for sexual assault in a court of law so again, MAGA seems to grasp at straws to support their candidate.