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Donald Trump “liked how Trump-Kennedy sounded” on the Republican presidential ticket and considered making Robert F Kennedy Jr his running mate, according to reports.
Before Kennedy dropped out of the race and backed Trump for president on August 23, the two men had been smearing one another throughout the election campaign.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, members of both camps had been working for weeks, some even months, to unite them as one political force, The New York Times reports.
Trump has “long been fascinated by the allure of the Kennedy name”, sources told the Times, and the former president had considered naming Kennedy as his running mate as recently as April.
With Kennedy still in the race, his presence on the ballot had the potential to harm the Trump campaign, particularly in the 10 battleground states, and they were ready to put up a fight by running negative ads about him throughout the summer.
The assassination attempt on Trump’s life in Butler on 13 July changed everything, and a phone call between the two men was brokered by Calley Means, a healthcare entrepreneur who had previously advised Kennedy on chronic disease policy, according to the newspaper.
Kennedy reportedly turned down the vice-presidency at first – though it is unclear if the offer was serious – but had a change of heart and wanted to speak with the former president following the assassination attempt.
The call – mere hours after Trump was shot – came at “a moment of unity”, perhaps, in the hope Kennedy would identify with Trump’s cause given the assassinations of his father, Robert F Kennedy, and his uncle, John F Kennedy.
“I would love you to do something,” Trump said in an attempt to lure Kennedy off the ballot as an Independent candidate and into his camp. “I think it’ll be so good for you and so big for you. And we’re going to win.”
Part of the conversation was later leaked by Kennedy’s son, causing Trump’s team to deem him “untrustworthy” and communication between the camps ceased.
Instead, Ohio senator JD Vance was named the Republican vice-presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention.
The mood in Trump’s campaign was “invincible” after the convention where he officially accepted the nomination. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden was suffering with covid and slipping in the polls after his disastrous debate performance in June.
Days after the RNC, Biden dropped out of the race, and Trump was rattled by the momentum behind Kamala Harris. Kennedy and Trump’s advisers began talking again two weeks later as it became apparent the Republican presidential nominee would need every vote he could get in the battleground states.
Kennedy and Trump reconvened at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on August 12 as their teams went back and forth, according to the Times.
There were reservations on both sides, including from Kennedy’s wife Cheryl Hines, who told her husband that Trump was “untrustworthy”, and from Trump’s team who were concerned about Kennedy’s mounting, and expensive, legal battles to get his name added to ballots.
A major hurdle for Kennedy was Trump’s position on vaccines. A member of the anti-vaccine movement and well-known conspiracy theorist, Kennedy has been a long-time critic of Operation Warp Speed – the Trump administration initiative that expedited vaccines to the public during the covid-19 pandemic.
Despite their differences, soon after the meeting at Trump’s private club, Nicole Shanahan – Kennedy’s then-running mate – said in an interview they were considering dropping out.
On August 23 it was official. Appearing on stage in Glendale, Arizona, Kennedy joined Trump after announcing he was dropping out of the race and was backing his former political opponent.
Kennedy has been named as the co-chair in Trump’s campaign transition team while a long-term role in his potential administration has not been made clear. But if Trump wins in November, Kennedy’s advisors are holding out that he could lead the Health and Human Services Department, according to the Times.
Since dropping out, Kennedy has been fighting in key swing states to get his name removed from ballots he took legal action to join in the first place. He is suing in North Carolina, where the election board refused his request on the grounds it was “too late”, and he has also been rejected in Wisconsin and Michigan.
