Georgia Rep. Mike Collins appears to mock Kennedy assassinations, days after sharing racist video

Kennedy is running for president as an independent, and is widely believed to be losing the support of former President Donald Trump. His campaign is based in part on Kennedy presenting himself as a younger, fresher political voice than Trump and President Joe Biden.

Collins, who is a Trump surrogate and known for his sarcastic and biting social media posts, made a crude reference to Kennedy.

“You either die as a Kennedy with a hole in your brain, or you live long enough to become a Kennedy with a hole in your brain.” Collins wrote.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 after a gunman shot him in the head and back while he rode in a motorcade in Dallas. Robert F. Kennedy Sr. was killed in Los Angeles five years later while campaigning for the presidency. He was shot several times, including in the back of the head; the bullet left fragments in his brain.

Gun control activist Fred Guttenberg, whose son was killed in a 2018 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, uttered an expletive to Collins in response.

“It wasn’t even funny,” Guttenberg wrote. “I guess for a demented person like you, that might seem like a normal thing to say.” However, for the rest of us, it’s just a reminder to VOTE for people who don’t joke about gun violence.

A spokeswoman for Collins said the message referenced a famous line from the movie “Batman: The Dark Knight”: “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

The spokeswoman did not explain why Collins replaced the words in the quote with what appeared to be direct references to the elder Kennedys’ deaths.

Over the weekend, Collins faced widespread reprimand, including from the Georgia NAACP, after sharing a video of counterprotesters at the University of Mississippi yelling at a pro-Palestinian protester, a black woman. A student in the video appeared to make monkey sounds and gestures towards the woman.

On Monday, Collins released a statement acknowledging the criticism and clarifying his purpose in reposting the video.