By Calvin Freiburger
RFK Jr. is throwing his support behind Donald Trump over agreement on ‘existential issues,’ including free speech, and over his concern about the Democratic Party ‘dismantling’ democracy and rejecting its previous ideals.
Democratic environmental activist turned independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has withdrawn from the race and endorsed the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, following Democrats’ replacement of incumbent President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris as their presumptive nominee.
Kennedy made the announcement in a speech live-streamed across social media, opening by recalling that he considered the Democratic Party of his youth a party of workers, free speech, transparency, and democracy, but left when it became clear to him that was no longer the case. He then thanked his team for their strenuous work to collect the signatures necessary to get on the ballot.
“I will leverage your tremendous accomplishments” to advance his and his supporters’ shared values, he went on, claiming he believed he would have won the election in a fair system and independent media, and without social media censorship.
But “in the name of saving democracy, the Democratic Party set itself to dismantling it,” he said, describing the Democratic National Committee’s legal challenges to his own bid, “rigging” of the Democratic primary on behalf of Biden, and eventual replacement of him with Harris, as well as the government’s various prosecutions of Trump.
At the same time, he took solace in his ideas “flourishing” over the past year, particularly among young people, thanks in large part to alternative media.
In keeping with his desire not to become a “spoiler” with no path to the White House himself, and considering his internal polling showing that remaining in the race would have thrown the outcome to Harris, Kennedy announced that he is suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump over the issues of “free speech, war in Ukraine, and war on our children,” including chronic disease.
Notably, he stressed that while he is having his name removed from the ballots of 10 battleground states where he could impact a close race, it will remain in solid red and solid blue states, where he gave his blessing for supporters to vote for him on the outside chance nobody else won enough support for an outright victory.
Kennedy added that over the past two months, he and Trump have had a series of productive discussions about working together on “existential” issues on which they are aligned, while continuing to disagree on issues where they differ. By contrast, he says he tried to initiate similar discussions with Harris, but was rebuked.
Video Note: RFK Jr speaks at 41:10 of this video. Skip ahead to 41:10
Kennedy, nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy and son of the late Attorney General Robert Kennedy, announced in April 2023 he would be running in the Democratic primary against Biden, presenting himself as a challenger to the platforms of both parties. But after months of accusing party leadership of having “rigged” the primary process against him, Kennedy announced that October that he was switching to an independent bid.
As a longtime Democrat, Kennedy held and continues to hold left-wing views on most issues, but enjoyed support along non-traditional lines and even among some conservatives for his strong criticism of COVID-19 lockdowns, mandates, and shots, to the point that there is some overlap between fans of Kennedy and fans of Trump, whose administration initially backed the lockdowns before changing course and who embraces the shots to this day while criticizing mandates.
Few expected Kennedy to actually become president, but he generated significant speculation as to whether he would draw more votes from Trump or Biden (who has since stepped aside in favor of nominating Harris) and was embraced as a symbolic protest vote for many dissatisfied with the major parties.
However, Kennedy blunted much of the enthusiasm for himself in March when he announced as his running mate tech industry insider Nicole Shanahan, whose background as a Democratic donor disappointed many who had expected a more outside-the-box pick.
Rumors first surfaced last month that Kennedy was planning to drop out and endorse Trump, which he called “FAKE NEWS” at the time. The same rumor returned this week, but instead of denying it Kennedy announced only that he would “address the nation live on Friday about the present historical moment and his path forward.”
Further adding credibility to the speculation was Shanahan expressing unusual candor in a Tuesday interview about the campaign contemplating whether to “stay in the race and run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz presidency because we draw votes from Trump” or “walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump.”
It remains to be seen whether Kennedy’s support will impact the trajectory of the race. National polling aggregations by RealClearPolitics and RaceToTheWH currently show a close but persisting lead for Harris in both popular vote and Electoral College projections.
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