Image via: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
PHOENIX, AZ– In a press conference on Friday afternoon, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump.
In the press conference, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about his past as a Democrat, where democracy stands and how he began to run as and independent “because it [the democratic party] had departed so dramatically from the core values I grew up with.”
Kennedy attacked the democratic party for much of the conference by saying, “it had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Ag, and Big Money,” he continued. “When it abandoned democracy by cancelling the primary to conceal the cognitive decline of the sitting President, I left the party to run as an independent.”
Those beliefs led him to throw his “support to President Trump,” the republican presidential candidate as he suspended his campaign.
“I would likely hand the election to the Democrats with whom I disagree on the existential issues of censorship, war, and chronic disease.
I want everyone to know that I am only suspending my campaign, not terminating it. My name will still be on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris. In red states — the same applies. I encourage you to do so. And if enough of you vote for me and neither of the major party candidates win 270 electoral votes, I could still end up in the White House in a contingent election.”
– Bobby (Robert) Kennedy
ANALYSIS: It sounds as if he still thinks he’s able to win The White House, but is accepting a loss, if it were to happen, before it does, and if it does.
Kennedy spoke on on his polling, that has averaged at or around 5% since the beginning of his campaign, according to five-thirty-eight polling. “Our polling consistently showed that by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election to the Democrats with whom I disagree on the existential issues,” RFK Jr. said.
In a rally held by Trump late Friday — RFK Jr. joining him — Trump said, “upon my election I will establish a new “independent presidential commission” that would release the remaining document of the John F. Kennedy assassination and conduct a “rigorous review” in the investigation” on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Trump, also during the rally, saluted RFK Jr.’s “work as an advocate for the health of our families and our children nobody’s done more millions and millions of Americans.”
Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump and suspension of his campaign add a new layer of complexity to the 2024 election, potentially influencing voter dynamics and electoral strategies as he keeps his name on the ballot in key states.