@jackuno is one of a kind
Jack Schlossberg is the Voice of a Generation
A New Yorker named Jack Schlossberg is making waves on the socials, giving his heartfelt commentary on politics. He goes by the handle @jackuno, hosting a show called Test Drive. You can watch it on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. Jack has a massive following, amassed over time, showing himself to be a vibrant, energetic, and impressively educated person. There is no doubt that some of his initial appeal had to do with famous family ties, and a strong willingness to speak out against his wayward cousin RFK, Jr. In earlier videos, he also spoke intelligently in defense of President Biden’s energy policies. As the son of Caroline Kennedy and Ed Schlossberg, he is President Kennedy’s grandson. In many ways, he is everything you expect from a Kennedy—raised Catholic, devoted to public service, hardcore Democrat, Ivy Leaguer with a JD as well as an MBA. Yet he is far from being a cookie cutout scion. Despite initial impressions evoking his uncle John, looks wise, he actually takes after his father. He is very close to his father and proudly claims his Jewish half. While he does evoke something of uncle John’s effervescence and that famed Kennedy athleticism,1 there is no question that Jack is his own man, and one who is in touch with his own generation. Uncle John died before the internet really took off and, while he edited a very successful magazine called George, that was then; Jack is now. Magazines were the flashy media of the 1990s. In 2025, if you want to win friends and influence people, you have to go digital and put out lots of content everyday. Do a substack, post on Instagram, do shorts & live events for YouTube. There are no shortcuts, not even for Kennedy descendants.
A few impressed me about Jack more than anything else. One, he and his mother (his personal hero, he often says) came out strong in support of Kamala Harris for President in 2024; as selection committee members for the JFK Library’s Profile in Courage Award, they honored Mike Pence for courageously (yes) doing his job, as President of the Senate as the January 6 mob chanted for him to be killed;2 and more recently as the host of Test Drive, Jack has been honored by the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to be part of the America 250 Commission. Next year, 2026 will mark 250 years since the founding of the nation. Jack took some criticism from fellow liberals for doing a special livestream with the 74-year-old Senator, who is not well appreciated in the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Progressives insist he’s too pro-Israel (and therefore, insufficiently supportive of Palestinians) and that he is too soft in resisting Trump. Jack spoke with the Senator about his new book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning. He also wanted to hear what Schumer had to say for some of the recent actions which have been widely criticized, like his decision not to shut down the government in March. “It’s fashionable to criticize Senator Schumer,”3 Jack said, but he went on to say that Senator Schumer helped him to see the forest for the trees. Schumer made his decision to allow the Republicans’ funding bill to advance to the Senate for a vote (instead of letting the federal government shutdown) in order to avoid giving even more unilateral power to Trump and Elon Musk.4 5 For the Senator’s part, he wanted to announce Jack’s appointment to the America 250 Commission.
In my opinion, Jack has shown multiple times that he himself is a Profile in Courage. Not only is he bold and outspoken, he doesn’t back down. Lately, in his Test Drive episodes, he has devoted more and more time to his passion for environmentalism. Climate change, he laments, is something people hardly talk about anymore. He wants to reverse that trend, to remind people why clean water and clean air matter, and to remind us that eco-friendly doesn’t have to mean unprofitable. In fact, President Biden was committed to renewable energy and low carbon emissions in the two key bipartisan laws of his presidency, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. No one in the world has done enough to combat the effects of climate change, but some have done more than others. Biden is unarguably on the side of “more,” Trump being the opposite. That’s why it is especially important for people like Jack, with high numbers of followers and lots of watchers, to speak out on behalf of Mother Nature. With Trump decimating EPA regulations, Jack and those who support him need to be screaming out, making damn sure that people know what is being dismantled...because we are going to have to build it all back. Building it back will require knowing how the pieces fit together and what parts go where. We’re going to have to study the old blueprints and revise them to reflect new data. Science is taking a beating in the Trump Era, research is being defunded, but we can’t give up. There is too much at stake. We have to keep pushing to fill the gaps, teach critical thinking and spread awareness where we can. We have to push back. We have to resist. We have to combat lies with truth. Climate change really should not be a politically divisive issue. After all, it’s about the climate we all live in—the air we all breathe, the water we all drink, the oceans we all benefit from, the fish who depend on those oceans. Anyone who cares about the planet that makes our lives possible ought to care about its sustainability.
When it comes to Kennedys, there has always been that inevitable question: will they run for office? Here again, Jack has carved out an exceptional reputation and role for himself. One professional blogger speculated that Jack might be the Democrats’ answer to Joe Rogan.6 Like Rogan, he is unafraid of controversy, fearless to express unpopular opinions, and immensely savvy at getting attention on social media. Jack confessed to Jen Psaki last February that he thinks Democrats, in general, are too cautious and that’s why Republicans have been able to make such gains ahead of them in mainstream culture.7 Now, though, the 32-year-old is behind the wheel. Before long, he’ll have a million subscribers on YouTube; he’s near 700K on Instagram. Followers drop into his live videos to watch him shoot the breeze while he steers the van on unknown roads. We don’t know where we’re going with Jack, but there’s something about him that feels trustworthy. He is honestly testing himself, testing us, and we’ll just have to see where it all leads. In the meantime, buckle up!
RECEIPTS, NOTES, EXTRAS
https://people.com/politics/jfk-grandson-jack-schlossberg-puppy/
https://www.dailydot.com/viral-politics/jack-schlossberg-launches-youtube-show-test-drive/