RFK's dueling personas take center stage

The big picture: The Kennedy who made his personal fame — and some of his fortune — around challenging the safety of vaccines and embracing other positions well outside the GOP mainstream has largely disappeared from public view since President Trump nominated him in mid-November, replaced by a more buttoned-down persona.

• The question is which version appears in potentially heated exchanges with senators from both parties. Kennedy can only afford to lose three Republican votes, assuming Democrats are united in opposition.
• "He's got to have a good hearing, address some of the concerns we all know, like vaccine, couple other things like that," Sen. Thom Tillis told reporters this week, Axios Pro's Peter Sullivan reported Tuesday.

Between the lines: Beyond being one of the nation's most prominent vaccine skeptics, Kennedy has also been a lifelong Democrat with liberal views on issues like the environment and abortion — until he teamed up with Trump late in the campaign.

• His personal life is littered with controversy and scandal, including new accusations by his cousin Caroline Kennedy in a letter to senators in which she called him a "predator." The letter was first reported by the Washington Post.
• "His basement, his garage, his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence," she wrote of Kennedy.

State of play: Kennedy's vulnerabilities haven't changed much in the months since his nomination was announced. A spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment for this story.

• One tightrope Kennedy will have to walk is abortion, a subject that even lifelong foes of the procedure have struggled to navigate politically since the Supreme Court ended the federal right to abortion.
• "I think the challenge is his personal beliefs versus Trump's personal beliefs versus what GOP senators need to hear," said the source working on the confirmation.
• Treading that line "requires finesse and humility. Neither are characteristics he has in great abundance," the source added.

Although most anti-abortion groups have held their fire against Kennedy despite his prior pro-choice views, Advancing American Freedom — a group led by former Vice President Mike Pence — has voiced full-throated opposition to his nomination.

• A new ad from the group features a video of Trump himself from last year calling Kennedy a "radical left Democrat," and urging senators to vote against his nomination.

Where it stands: So far, he's not convincing major conservative editorial boards that he's moderated enough to be qualified for the position.

• "Senators would be wise to believe RFK Jr.'s career of spreading falsehoods rather than his confirmation conversions," the Wall Street Journal editorial board recently wrote.
• "[N]othing has changed about Kennedy from last spring. He's still a radical left lunatic who is anti-energy, a 'big time' taxer and completely incoherent about our nation's health," the NY Post editorial board wrote. "No Republican can vote for this guy. No senator should."

What we're watching: The only audience that matters, of course, are the 100 senators, half of whom Kennedy must convince to back him. The more Kennedy can stick to safe answers around topics like vaccines and abortion, the better off he'll be with members who are still on the fence.

• Some GOP lawmakers have said Kennedy's recent statements that he won't take away the polio vaccine are reassuring, but others are looking to this week's hearings, Peter reports.
• "I'm certainly concerned about it," Sen. Lisa Murkowski said when asked about his vaccine views. "I know others have other points of concerns that they want to drill down on and try to get some public commitments from him on."