This house is part of the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass.Vincent DeWitt
‘Untouchable’ Kennedys boast about bad behavior all over Hyannis Port
HYANNIS PORT, Mass. — They’re America’s white-trash blue bloods.
The Kennedy clan has been famous over the years for limitless political ambition, immense wealth, excruciating tragedy — and seemingly constant scandal.
Their storied family tale began with an immigrant Irish family-done-very good and rose all the way to a US presidency, only to go from Camelot to trailer park.
So when father-daughter duo Max and Caroline “Summer’’ Kennedy were busted by cops during a raucous house party this month, the duo’s alleged low-life shenanigans were hardly a surprise.
It was all part of c’est la Kennedy, where bad behavior gets boasted about and consequences . . . what consequences?
“They don’t really feel like they have to answer to anybody,” a source close to the family recently told The Post. “They still have this outlook that they’re untouchable.”
Summer Kennedy’s response to cops on Cape Cod, as she and her 52-year-old father were being cuffed for disorderly conduct Aug. 20, seemed to sum it all up. Asked to take a Breathalyzer, the 23-year-old brat sniffed to cops, “No. I’m drunk. I know that,’’ according to police.
When the officers went to handcuff her, she allegedly stuck out her tongue and told them to “f–k off’’ — adding for good measure, “I went to Brown, and I’m a teacher, sweetheart!’’
Max’s father was Robert F. Kennedy — former US attorney general, US senator and assassinated presidential candidate.
The only statesman in the prestigious political dynasty who outranked Bobby was older brother John. At the heart of the family today is Bobby’s wife and Max’s mother, 89-year-old matriarch Ethel Kennedy.
The queen bee is still feisty.
On July 4, she hopped behind the wheel of a golf cart — with a blue bandanna tied around her head — and drove along the parade route in Hyannis Port with her daughter Kerry by her side. They drove behind a parade float carrying hordes of Kennedy grandchildren.
A massive, booze-fueled party at the family’s famed summer compound surely followed. The sprawling estate, which consists of three mansions, sits on 6 acres of rolling green on the edge of sparkling Nantucket Sound. The Kennedys have flocked to the compound in times of triumph and tragedy — always close-knit, ever loyal, even three generations in.
“As a family, they’re constantly together, constantly doing something,’’ said a source who has worked for them.
But while the older generation made humanitarianism their life’s work, the younger Kennedy crowd is all about flitting “to events or galas and things like that,’’ the source said.
“That’s what their whole lives are about, socializing. The people who aren’t involved politically, they’re just socialites.”
The privileged air of those carrying the family name rankles some locals. At the Hyannis Port Yacht Club, where the family docks their half-dozen or so boats, the clan is known to race its sailboats out in the sound.
“Teddy was actually a pretty good racer,” one resident said, referring to Jack and Bobby’s late brother, former Sen. Ted Kennedy.
But the younger cousins recklessly use the waters outside their sprawling estate as a playground, some residents said.
“They act like little a–holes out on the water,” said an employee at a local marina.
“They come to Baxter’s [restaurant] and get trashed and then ride their boats out. One time, they were coming out of here and hit two boats out in the middle of the water.’’
The worker added there is a buoy in the middle of the harbor that the kids like to jump off.
“They’re always getting chased off it,” he said.
Less than a week after his arrest, Max was pictured on his brother Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Instagram account sailing with country-music superstar Kenny Chesney. Max was “burying the rail,” or catching so much wind that the boat’s deck was almost vertical, the boat’s side underwater.
His teeth were bared like a warrior shouting a battle cry, his hands tightly clutching the massive wooden helm, looking like he was straight out of a “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.
“They’re very high-profile, and they know it,’’ the family source said. “They make you feel less-than.’’
Max is the ninth of Ethel and Bobby’s 11 children, a Harvard grad best known for penning a book about his dad: “Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy.’’
This month, he became the seventh of the siblings to be arrested. Before their bust, he and his daughter kept a low profile — at least by Kennedy standards.
Caroline is rarely seen on the quaint, bustling streets of Hyannis Port. She has been known to frequent the rowdy Trader Ed’s bar and restaurant at Hyannis Harbor on Sundays for big events such the “Tuna Tournament” but “never at night,” according to staff.
She and her father are close, the family sources said. The night they were arrested, she was just sticking up for him, they said.
The source described Caroline as “sweet, very nice” and “one of my favorites” of the grandchildren.
She often heads to Salon 700, a beauty salon off Main Street, for waxing. The spot is a family favorite.
“But they can be tough to work with. They expect a lot . . . they’re like, ‘I’m here, so hurry up,’ ” a salon employee said.
Ethel feels so “entitled” that she goes to her salon barefoot, employees said. “She’s very eccentric . . . She gets chauffeured right to the door by her assistant, and . . . she feels like she’s walking into her home,” a source said. The matriarch is enjoyable to have around, though. “Ethel’s a hoot . . . She’s just fun,” a salon employee said.
Still, tales of family cheapness abound. During the recent wedding of Caroline’s cousin Meghan Kennedy Townsend to Billy Birdzell, a stylist had to “chase them” for money, the family source said.
The bill was about $875. “They’re very stingy,” the source said. When they’re not being cheap, locals say the family can be very petty.
A homeowner near one of the Kennedys’ homes put a pool in the back yard that apparently came just a little too close to the family’s property line, a landscaper said.
“They put a hawk coop up right at the property line,’’ the man said.
“The smell was really bad, especially in the summer. It was as bad as bat guano. The owners were always fussing about it, but [the Kennedys] refused to change it.”
But in the end, the town stays true to the denizens who put it on the map.
The workers at Salon 700 may groan a little when Ethel strolls in barefoot, but they still respect her and her history.
“We all kind of have our own little ‘Ugh, she’s here again’ when we see her. But at the same time, I respect her a lot. I know she’s been through hell and back, so I don’t really flinch too much,” a worker said.
The family’s presence can be felt everywhere, from the JFK museum on Main Street to the posters of the ex-president’s face plastered on every lamppost along the strip to celebrate the 100 years since his birth.
Like it or leave it, “They are Cape Cod royalty,’’ a salon worker said of the Kennedys.
“They’ll always be our claim to fame for the Cape.’’
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