Third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his hopes of profitable the White Home and as an alternative helps Republican candidate and former U.S. President Trump.
Friday’s announcement was the end result of weeks of hypothesis as Kennedy’s help dwindled within the polls. Nonetheless, he despatched a message of defiance, denouncing “opponents” of his marketing campaign.
“We proved them fallacious,” Kennedy mentioned at a marketing campaign occasion in Phoenix, Arizona. “With the eye of mainstream media shops, we impressed a large unbiased political motion.”
“Underneath an sincere system, I imagine I’d win the election,” he later added.
Nonetheless, he admits his probabilities of profitable are slim. “I can’t in good conscience ask my workers and volunteers to proceed working lengthy hours, or my donors to proceed giving, after I can’t actually inform them that I’ve an actual path to the White Home.”
Kennedy harassed that he was “not terminating” his marketing campaign, simply suspending it. However he mentioned he would take away his title from ballots in states the place he fears votes will probably be taken away from Trump.
“In about 10 swing states the place my presence would disrupt these states, I’ll take away my title. I’ve begun that course of and am urging voters to not vote for me,” he mentioned.
He defined that he and Trump share issues about “free speech, the conflict in Ukraine, and the conflict on our kids.”
Earlier than Kennedy spoke, his marketing campaign joked that his speech in Arizona would focus on “the present second in historical past and his path ahead.”
The situation of the speech amplified hypothesis a couple of doable alliance between Kennedy and Trump. Simply three hours after Kennedy’s speech, Trump himself was scheduled to reach in Arizona to attend a rally in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix.
Kennedy filed papers to withdraw his candidacy in Arizona on Thursday in preparation for a speech on Friday.
Who’s Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.?
Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, launched a presidential marketing campaign in April 2023, initially operating as a Democrat.
“My mission over the subsequent 18 months of my marketing campaign, and all through my whole presidency, will probably be to finish the corrupt merger of state and company energy,” he mentioned on the launch of his marketing campaign.
His choice to run despatched shockwaves all through the political world. Kennedy is a scion of a legendary political household with shut ties to the Democratic Celebration: his uncle, John F. Kennedy, was president within the Nineteen Sixties, and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, was a U.S. senator. Members of Parliament and the Legal professional Basic.
Each males have been assassinated, the previous whereas in workplace and the latter whereas operating for president.
When Kennedy Jr. determined to run for the presidency in 2024, he instantly entered right into a race in opposition to fellow Democrat President Joe Biden, who was in search of re-election on the time.
It additionally put him at odds along with his family, who condemned his choice to problem Biden.
Kennedy’s youngest brother, Rory Kennedy, expressed opposition even earlier than he introduced his candidacy for president in April.
“I love the work he has executed up to now as an environmentalist,” Rory informed information outlet CNN. “However due to the breadth of Bobby’s positions, I help President Biden.”
Kennedy has confronted widespread criticism, together with from his household, for sharing vaccine-related conspiracy theories and selling baseless therapies in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. He additionally unfold false claims concerning the origins of HIV and the well being results of Wi-Fi networks.
Dealing with stress from the Democratic Celebration, Kennedy ultimately modified his technique and restarted his marketing campaign as an unbiased third social gathering in October 2023.
Nonetheless, that hasn’t assuaged Democratic criticism, as some fear he might grow to be a “spoiler candidate” who would drive voters away from the social gathering within the common election.
What occurred to his marketing campaign?
Kennedy’s marketing campaign in the end didn’t generate a lot traction. An ABC Information ballot launched earlier this month confirmed his approval score amongst voters dropped to five % from a excessive of 12 % in April.
That is far decrease than the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Trump, each of whom have approval scores between 45% and 50%.
His marketing campaign additionally generated unfavorable publicity from weird revelations about Kennedy’s marketing campaign.
In early August, for instance, Kennedy appeared in a video with comic Roseanne Barr by which he recounted how he left a lifeless bear cub in New York’s Central Park and dressed it up as if it had been run over by a bicycle The way in which it was.
Kennedy insists he didn’t kill the bear himself however picked it up off the highway after it was hit by a automobile in upstate New York.
As his ballot numbers waver, rumors of a doable alliance with Trump have grown.
In July, Kennedy’s son, Bobby Kennedy III, briefly posted a video on social media exhibiting his father talking on the cellphone with Trump. Through the name, Trump recounted surviving an assassination try at a rally in Pennsylvania and appeared to court docket help from the unbiased candidate.
“I hope you are able to do one thing,” Trump informed Kennedy on speakerphone. “I feel it’s going to be superb for you and we’re going to win.”
The video was later deleted, and Kennedy apologized to Trump for leaking the non-public dialog.
Kennedy’s operating mate, lawyer Nicole Shanahan, additionally appeared on the podcast “Affect Principle” earlier this week to speak about potential paths ahead for his or her marketing campaign.
One avenue, she mentioned, was to type a brand new political social gathering. The opposite is to hitch forces with Trump.
“Let’s go away now and be part of forces with Donald Trump,” Shanahan mentioned, suggesting that as a doable avenue. “We waive this and clarify to our supporters why we made this choice.”
Trump himself informed the information program “Fox & Mates” on Thursday that he could be glad to just accept Kennedy’s endorsement.
“I’d be honored if he supported me,” Trump mentioned.
What did Kennedy say in his speech?
When Kennedy lastly introduced he was suspending his marketing campaign on Friday, he started by lashing out at Democrats.
“Lengthy earlier than I used to be sufficiently old to vote, I started this journey as a Democrat, the social gathering of my father, my uncles, and the social gathering to which I swore allegiance,” Kennedy mentioned.
“At the moment, the Democratic Celebration was the defender of the Structure and civil rights. The Democratic Celebration was in opposition to authoritarianism, in opposition to censorship, in opposition to colonialism, imperialism and unjust wars. We have been the social gathering of the Labor Celebration, the working class.
However Kennedy defined that occasions have modified, and so have his social gathering loyalties.
“I left that social gathering in October as a result of it went in opposition to the core values of my upbringing,” he mentioned. He additionally particularly criticized the “systemic censorship” of mainstream media in his speech.
“Are we actually nonetheless the mannequin for democracy on this nation? Or are we making a joke?” he requested, claiming that he and Trump confronted media scrutiny and “ongoing authorized battles” in the course of the marketing campaign.
Kennedy additionally took direct purpose at Harris, calling her speech accepting the Democratic nomination on Thursday night time “belligerent” and “belligerent.”
In contrast, Kennedy praised Trump for wanting america to distance itself from Ukraine, an ally making an attempt to fend off a full-scale Russian invasion.
“I used to be fiercely essential of many insurance policies throughout his first administration, however we nonetheless have very critical variations on some points and approaches,” he mentioned.
“However we agree on different essential points, like ending ceaselessly wars, ending childhood illness epidemics, and securing our borders.”
Kennedy mentioned Harris declined his request to satisfy, however in distinction, Trump “requested for me to hitch his administration” and “come collectively as a united social gathering.”
“For me, suspending the marketing campaign is a heartbreaking choice, however I imagine it’s the finest hope for ending the conflict in Ukraine and ending the persistent illness epidemic that’s consuming away at our nation’s vitality from inside,” he mentioned. Well being points resembling diabetes and weight problems query.
Though Kennedy mentioned he felt “peaceable” along with his choice, his household as soon as once more condemned his political techniques.
“We would like America to be full of hope and united by a shared imaginative and prescient for a brighter future,” his 5 siblings, together with Rory, wrote in a publish. statement on Friday.
“Our brother Bobby’s choice to help Trump as we speak is a betrayal of the values our father and our household maintain most pricey. It’s a unhappy finish to a tragic story.
