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A notable Republican donor heavily criticized Donald Trump for choosing “fringe” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to his presidential transition team, warning it would narrow his base.
Eric Levine, a New York-based attorney who once backed Tim Scott and Nikki Haley’s respective presidential campaigns, sent an email titled “Is Trump Trying to Lose?” following the announcement from Trump’s campaign on Tuesday.
“It is hard to imagine a more self-destructive announcement,” Levine wrote in the email obtained by a reporter from Jewish Insider.
“RFK is an anti-vax kook who sees conspiracies behind every tree and under every bed,” Levine added.
After suspending his independent presidential bid, Kennedy endorsed Trump and accepted a position on the transition team. Kennedy has stirred controversy throughout his adult life and political career, most well known for pushing debunked medical theories, anti-vaccine agenda and more.
The Trump campaign also gave Gabbard, a former Democratic House Representative who endorsed Trump, a position on the presidential transition team.
Gabbard changed her political affiliation after leaving office in 2021 and has since aligned herself with MAGA Republicans.
Levine criticized Gabbard’s Democratic record, specifically calling out her endorsement of Bernie Sanders for president in 2016.
“Sanders is a self-avowed socialist. He is an isolationist. He hates the America we love and everything it stands for. Yet, Gabbard endorsed him and this is who Trump is embracing,” Levine wrote.
“There is something terribly wrong with this picture,” he added.
Levine warned that Trump’s decision to covet the endorsement of “fringe candidates with fringe policy positions” would narrow his base who find Kennedy and Gabbard offensive. He advised Trump to “reject the fringe” and begin targeting potential voters who are in the “middle” in order to win the election in November.
Those voters, he suggested, are Haley supporters.
Levine was a top fundraiser for Haley during her presidential campaign. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Republican Jewish Coalition – a group that has raised more than $2.8 million for Trump’s campaign.
