It would be a mistake for Democrats and the media (same thing) to demean and underestimate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the impact he will have on the presidential election.

But they will continue to do it anyway to help elect Kamal Harris president.

Kennedy will never be president, of course, but he just might help elect the next one, and it will not be Harris.

Kennedy, 70, whether you agree with him or not, is the last Kennedy around who stands for something outside of the Kennedy family — or what’s left of it — Democrat Party orthodoxy.

His endorsement of Republican Donald Trump also proves that he is willing to take the heat for it and for his beliefs, from establishment Democrats, including the almost hysterical reaction from many of his Kennedy family siblings and offspring.

This is understandable if you consider that half of what is left of the once formidable and historic Kennedy family is on the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris payroll.

Yet one of the things he believes is that the Democrat Party has become so dictatorial, leftist, and authoritarian that it would be unrecognizable to Democrat icons like President John F. Kennedy, his uncle, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, his father.

Both were assassinated in the prime of their political lives, President Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, at age 46, and presidential candidate Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles June 6, 1968, at age 42.

Before that Joseph Kennedy Jr., a veteran combat pilot, was killed on a secret World War II mission when his plane blew up over the English Channel on August 12, 1944. His remains were never found. He was 29 years old.

Following the deaths of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Sen.
Ted Kennedy, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1980, became the head of the Kennedy family dynasty.

His once-successful political career and march to the White House came to an end in 1969, however, when he drove off a bridge at Chappaquiddick off Martha’s Vineyard with Mary Joe Kopechne in the car. While he survived Miss Kopechne was trapped in the car and died. Kennedy died in 2009 at age 77.

The point is that since then no Kennedy has reached national recognition or prominence until RFK Jr. announced his candidacy for president, first as a Democrat and then as an Independent.

While a couple of Kennedys — Joe Kennedy II, Robert F. Kennedy’s brother, and Joe Kennedy III, his nephew—served in Congress, their careers ended there.

Other Kennedys in public life worked for Biden/Harris. Three of them are Caroline Kennedy, JFK’s daughter, who is U.S. Ambassador to Australia; Vicki Kennedy, Ted Kennedy’s widow, who is U.S. ambassador to Austria, and joe Kennedy III, who is Biden’s special envoy to Northern Ireland,

Still, no Kennedy has attained national prominence with the voting public for years until RFK Jr, announced his candidacy for president, first as a Democrat and then as an Independent.

His endorsement of Trump and his take down of the Democrat P arty has thrust him into the national limelight.

Whether Democrats and fellow Kennedys like it or not—and they do not—RFK Jr. is the current brand of the Kennedy political dynasty as far as the public is concerned.

Despite the passage of time, the Kennedy brand is still the best-known political brand in American politics.  And RFK Jr. is the head of the brand, at least for now. That is what makes his endorsement of Trump important.

While they differ on issues, Kennedy and Trump bonded over how they have been treated by the Democrats. Kennedy complained how Democrats used the Democrat-controlled court system to keep him off the ballot in several primary states.  Trump complained that the same corrupt court system wanted to send him to prison and still does.

Robert Kennedy Jr. realized that the Democrat Party was not his father’s Democrat Party–or his uncle’s either.

What took him so long?

Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter, Email him at: peter.lucas@boston herald.com