Donald Trump Is 'Obsessed' with the Affair Between RFK, Jr. and Olivia Nuzzi

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | September 27, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | September 27, 2024 |

There hasn’t been much drama in the Presidential campaign this week; honestly, that’s good news. Polls favor Kamala Harris nationally and in swing states (a combination of Fox News and Bloomberg polls yesterday showed Harris with small leads in six of the seven swing states and tied in the seventh). The quieter it is, the better. We want to maintain the status quo, so it was positive that Harris’s MSNBC interview didn’t make major headlines. She stubbornly stuck to her message. Nothing to see here!

Only one major event remains before the election: the Vice Presidential debate. If JD Vance performs poorly, I suspect Donald Trump might reconsider debating again. I don’t want to set any false expectations, but there’s reason to believe JD Vance will be a strong debater despite his unlikable persona, while Walz — though likable — may not be as technically skilled on stage.

All of this is to say that the most significant drama right now isn’t relevant to the campaign, although Donald Trump is reportedly obsessed with the RFK Jr. and Olivia Nuzzi scandal, according to Puck.

Nevertheless, the former president has found himself captivated in recent days by a series of less-pertinent micro-dramas. Trump, always a consummate gossip, is “obsessed” with the sexting scandal… In fact, I’m told from multiple sources that Trump called RFK Jr. after the news broke to ask if it was true that they had a digital relationship and whether it involved anything beyond the swapping of “demure” nudes. “[Kennedy] denied the whole thing to Trump,” said a source with direct knowledge. “He said he hardly knows her. He said he met her one time.”

Alas, like the rest of the political-media class, Trump has felt compelled to weigh in. I’m told that Trump almost posted to Truth Social, his social media platform, “My condolences to Ryan Lizza…” But ultimately, he showed better judgment, realizing it wouldn’t help his newest surrogate, RFK Jr.

And this, aside from a shared gender, is the only thing I have in common with Trump: I like mess. And there’s plenty of it here, and better still, it’s relatively low-stakes (relatively speaking). Vanity Fair has the full rundown of the saga, which reportedly began on a hike during their one meeting, where RFK Jr. allegedly grabbed Nuzzi’s hand—something he’s done with at least one other reporter, who called it “creepy.”

It seems the digital affair, during which they exchanged nudes, lasted about nine months until late August of this year. The affair was described as “multilayered and complicated, intense at times, dormant at others.” Although it never became physical — I’m not sure if it’s more disconcerting that Nuzzi was enamored with Bobby Kennedy’s looks or his mind — it did lead to the breakup of Nuzzi and her ex-fiancé, Politico’s Ryan Lizza, who ended the relationship during a “heated” phone call when he found out about Kennedy.

Meanwhile, colleagues of Nuzzi and New York magazine believe her position there is “untenable.” I highly doubt it. While the affair may tarnish her reputation as a journalist, I suspect it will also make her more sought-after on cable news and in the world of political gossip—much like her ex-fiancé Ryan Lizza, who deals in similar content over at Politico.

The important thing is that as long as this is the biggest headline in the world of politics, Harris can continue to run out the clock on Trump. Early voting has already begun in some places, and there are still 38 excruciatingly long days until election day. According to Puck, Trump is also confident that he can’t be beaten by that “awful woman,” and I hope that overconfidence will be his undoing.

Sources: Vanity Fair, Puck