Image via: Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
USA– Multiple sources reported Wednesday that Robert Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate could drop out, as he plans to deliver a speech on Friday.
NBC News originally reported that he would deliver a speech on the “path forward,” before editing the article to report that he is dropping out, and supporting Donald Trump, the republican candidate for president.
Now, NBC News did say in the article titled, “RFK Jr. is planning to drop out of the 2024 presidential race and endorse Trump” that it is unknown if his campaign for president will conclude by the end of the week.
The reporting — not only from NBC News — comes after Kennedy announced an event where he would speak “about the present historical moment and his path forward” in a livestreamed press conference.
The Washington Post — also one of the first to report on the possible drop-out — reports, “Kennedy and [Donald] Trump agreed to meet in person in Milwaukee early last week during the Republican National Convention.”
That meeting came after a phone call was leaked between the two, where Trump appeared open to offering a position to Kennedy on the administration, if Trump were to win the election.
In the call Trump said, “I would love you to do something, and I think it would be great for you too.”
The Washington Post reported that during the in-person meeting, Trump and Kennedy talked “about endorsing his campaign and taking a job in a second Trump administration, overseeing a portfolio of health and medical issues.”
Health, something RFK Jr. has ran his campaign on, also left the question open in a recent interview, “all I will say to you is I am willing to talk to anybody from either political party who wants to talk about children’s health and how to end the chronic disease epidemic.”
But Kennedy didn’t say he was leaving the race, continuing on to say, “We are in it to win it.”
While his running mate, Nicole Shanahan — who’s not held many campaign events, — left the question open in a recent podcast.
“There’s two options that we’re looking at,” Shanahan said. “One is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump or we draw somehow more votes from Trump. Or, we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. We walk away from that and we explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”
That reporting has also suggested that RFK Jr. will endorse Donald Trump, that matches his opinion on the Democratic National Convention — that happens to be going on right now. — Kennedy said in a recent interview, “I have a lot of respect for President Trump for reaching out to me. Nobody from the DNC, high or low, has ever reached out to me in 18 months. Instead, they have allocated millions to try to disrupt my campaign.”
ANALYSIS: After that statement it would be interesting to see him get on the cabinet or work within the administration of Kamala Harris (the democratic presidential candidate), if she were to win in November.
The campaign has not been doing aswell as the Harris and Trump camps., from debt, to polling and lack of events.
Kennedy and Shanahan have been out of the public eye and rarely hold events — especially Nicole Shanahan, who was last seenat a public campaign event months ago. While six days ago, she did appear in a livestreamed event.
Robert F. Kennedy has been in the public eye — mostly on cable news — and the last time he was seen publicly, was on August 30th, in New York.
Polling has also been an issue for the campaign, that’s if you believe in polling.
According to five-thirty-eight, Kennedy polls an average of 4.75%, in national presidential polls.
ANALYSIS: To bring that into reality, a candidate for president usually polls forty-percent or more.
Funds have also been an issues as the campaign is carrying debt worth half of they report to have.
Brookland News will continue following this story.