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Dark horse presidential contender and well-known vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Friday that he is suspending his independent bid for the White House and throwing his support to Donald Trump.
“The mainstream of American politics and journalism derided my decision [to run],” Kennedy, 70, insisted during a press conference Friday afternoon, where he railed against chronic disease, “corruption” in health agencies, and the Democratic Party.
“In an honest system, I believe that I would have won the election,” the independent candidate claimed, slamming the media, without evidence, as being “tainted by government propaganda.”
At an appearance in Las Vegas, Trump commented, “I want to thank Bobby. That was very nice. That was really very nice. That’s big. He’s a great guy. Respected by everybody.”
Kennedy, who infamously revealed during his campaign that a parasitic worm had embedded itself in his brain and died there, blew through millions in cash to get to his present five percent share of the expected national vote in November, an inarguably anemic figure even for a third-party candidate. Polls showed that figure continuing to drop, and the rest of his own family fully disavowed his candidacy.
“Conventional wisdom said that it would be impossible even to get on the ballot as an independent,” Kennedy said on Friday. “Because each state poses an insurmountable tangle of arbitrary rules for collecting signatures, I would need over a million signatures — something no presidential candidate in history had ever achieved, and then I’d need a team of attorneys and millions of dollars to handle all the legal challenges from the DNC. “
“In my heart, I don’t believe that I have a realistic path to electoral victory in the face of this relentless systematic censorship and media control,” Kennedy insisted.
Kennedy said he would now be endorsing Trump’s run, while at the same time lobbing bitter brickbats at the DNC. He will not be terminating his campaign, but rather, will be “simply suspending it,” Kennedy went on, clarifying that he would remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states.
“My name will remain on the ballot in most states,” he continued. “If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris, and [in] red states, the same will apply... If you do vote for me, [and] the major party candidates don’t win 270 votes, which is quite possible.. I could conceivably still end up in the White House in a contingent election. But in about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me.”
Kennedy said he met with Trump and was “surprised to discover” how many ideas and views the two shared. He called himself a “ferocious critic” of Trump’s during his first administration, and continues to disagree with him on many issues, then went on to decry “legal warfare against both President Trump and myself,” arguing the Democratic primary was “rigged,” echoing Trumpian grievances about “shadowy” government forces out to silence him. Kennedy said he “tried unsuccessfully to open similar discussions with Vice President Harris,” who declined to take the meeting.
Endorsing Trump was “agonizing” for him, Kennedy said, and will damage his existing relationships with family and others, he said. However, he believes Trump is allied with his stance against Big Pharma, and said, somewhat nebulously, that he thinks a Trump administration will work to combat chronic disease.
The Democratic National Committee responded to Kennedy’s announcement before it had even ended, calling the appearance “bizarre” and “rambling.”
“[H]is candidacy has never been anything other than a spoiler campaign for Trump,” the DNC statement said. “ He was recruited into the race by MAGA Republicans like Steve Bannon, he was propped up by Trump’s largest donor, and he parroted MAGA attacks on Democrats.”
DNC Senior Advisor Mary Beth Cahill said, “The more voters learned about RFK Jr. the less they liked him. Donald Trump isn’t earning an endorsement that’s going to help build support, he’s inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate. Good riddance.”
The Kennedy family also put out a statement about their relative’s speech, saying, they want “an America filled with hope,” and that they were endorsing Harris and her VP contender, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“Out brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear,” the statement said. “It is a sad ending to a sad story.”
Trump will be holding a campaign rally in Phoenix on Friday evening, and has promised a “special guest.” Kennedy, who recently outed himself as the one who dumped a baby bear carcass in Central Park a decade ago to make a point about bike lanes, has previously called Trump a sociopath, a “terrible human being,” and the “worst president ever.”
On Thursday, Kennedy withdrew his name from the ballot in Arizona, just a week after (somewhat mysteriously) gathering enough signatures to get on it in the first place. On Friday, several hours before Kennedy revealed his plans to drop out, Trump, who has been endorsed by rapper Waka Flocka Flame, actress-turned-conspiracy-theorist Roseanne Barr, and the former keyboard player from Journey, responded to speculation about the possibility of receiving the nod from Kennedy.
“I have a lot of respect for RFK Jr, I’ve known him a long time,” Trump told reporters. “There are rumors that he is going to make an endorsement. That would be a great honor for me.”
Shanahan had been teasing an endorsement for several days, saying she feared drawing votes away from Trump were the duo to stay in the race.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump Jr. told right-wing broadcaster Glenn Beck that if his father retakes the presidency, he would welcome Kennedy in “some sort of role in some sort of major three-letter entity or whatever it may be and let him blow it up.” The former president’s son and ex-Fox News personality Tucker Carlson had reportedly pushed Kennedy to leave the race and line up behind Trump.
