RFK Jr.’s Sex Poetry Is Sophomoric Cringe: Author

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News & Politics

4.6 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kurt Andersen joins Joanna Coles to unpack the life and controversies of RFK Jr. From college cocaine escapades to audacious poetry and family scandals, Andersen, the author, radio veteran, and co-founder of Spy magazine, traces how recklessness and legacy collide in shaping the polarizing figure. He shares insights on RFK Jr.’s rise in politics, the chaos behind his public persona, and why his choices continue to reverberate through American culture. Along the way, Joanna reflects on how charisma and controversy intertwine, and they explore what RFK Jr.’s story reveals about ambition, legacy, and the Kennedy mystique.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm going to read you.
0:01.8	This is poetry that RFK Jr. has sent to Olivia.
0:05.7	Your open mouth awaiting my harvest.
0:08.9	Drink from me, love.
0:10.8	He continues.
0:12.1	I mean to squeeze your cheeks to force open your mouth.
0:16.1	This poem, you know, first of all, reckless because he's married and he's running for president and like,
0:23.0	dude, really? This is, but it's so a cringe in a particularly to me adolescent way. Just the sheer
0:32.0	awfulness of the poetry in its adolescent way is the thing that struck me.
0:39.7	I'm Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast, and we have today a wonderful cultural
0:46.3	commentator, co-founder of Spy Magazine, former editor of New York Magazine, novelist and radio veteran Kurt Anderson to break down all the things.
1:02.1	Marjorie Taylor Green resigning, the Mamdani and Trump meeting, who won?
1:07.8	We're going to analyze the love poetry of RFK Jr., who you will remember, was Kurt's
1:14.8	cocaine dealer at Harvard, and we're going to look at the competing memoirs of RFK Jr's digital
1:22.6	mistress, Olivia Nuzzi, and his wife, Cheryl Hines. The both books are out at the same week, which one is
1:29.3	going to sell more and which one is better written?
1:32.6	Kurt makes a decision.
1:34.3	So, no time to waste.
1:36.2	There is a lot going on and we're going to get into it.
1:41.1	I think of you as one of the actually rare people who can pull in everything from pop culture, politics, economics, world peace, wars and makes sense out of it.
1:53.2	Where do we begin? Should we begin with Zoran Mamdani and Donald Trump?
2:00.1	Sure.
	...

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