Updated August 23, 2024 at 4:00pm ET
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., announced on Friday that he is suspending his independent campaign for president and endorsing Donald Trump.
Kennedy put an end to the speculation that had been growing in recent weeks during a speech in Phoenix, Arizona. “Many months ago I promised the American people I would withdraw from the race if I became a spoiler,” he said. “In my heart, I no longer believe I have a realistic path to electoral victory.”
He went on to condemn Democrats for the ‘lawfare’ he sees both himself and Trump as victims of and criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for not having won “a single delegate” during her 2020 presidential campaign, ignoring the press, and failing to present a policy platform. That is why he throwing his support behind Trump.
“These are the principled causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” RFK said. “The causes were: Free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on our children.”
Original article below:
A lot has changed in the last month of presidential politics. J.D. Vance was named Donald Trump’s running mate just days after the former president survived an assassination attempt. Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. And the polls at both a national and state level have tightened considerably.
All the while, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has remained in the race as an independent candidate. His poll numbers have dropped from the 10 to 15 percent range to around 5 percent. But in a race where a few thousand votes in a few key battleground states could make the difference, that 5 percent of the electorate may prove to be key.
Reports suggest Kennedy is planning to suspend his campaign by the end of the week and throw his support behind Trump. On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Tucker Carlson, host of The Tucker Carlson Show, to discuss what an RFK endorsement could do for the GOP ticket and if he could have a role in a second Trump administration.
What We Know
Rumors have been swirling for weeks that Kennedy may be considering an exit from the 2024 race, and his campaign offered the strongest hint of that earlier this week. His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said in an interview on the Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu podcast posted Tuesday that they were weighing their options.
SHANAHAN: There’s two options that we’re looking at. 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.
RFK’s press secretary subsequently announced that he will speak on Friday afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona, about “the present historic moment and his path forward.” Notably, Trump will be holding a rally in nearby Glendale, Arizona, later in the day on Friday.
According to reports, conversations between the Kennedy and Trump teams have been ongoing since before the RNC, with Donald Trump, Jr., donor Omeed Malik, and, yes, Carlson all playing a role.
Carlson told Megyn he “definitely didn’t broker anything,” but he believes RFK getting out of the race would help the Trump-Vance campaign. “I’ll kind of believe it when I see it. But if that happens, I think it will help Trump,” he said. “I know for a fact that Bobby running third party would hurt Trump because there is a big overlap in their voters.”
While he said Trump and RFK disagree on a lot, they contrast Harris in a similar way. “Anyone who thinks the current system is corrupt is not voting for Kamala Harris because she is, of course, the physical embodiment of corruption,” he explained. “So you are voting for Bobby Kennedy or Donald Trump… So I think if he stayed in the race, it would definitely hurt Trump.”
RFK to the CIA?
In an interview with CNN following Shanahan’s comments, Trump said he would consider giving Kennedy a role in his administration. “I like him, and I respect him,” he said. “I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it.”
The former president’s eldest son struck a similar tone and had an idea for what that role could be. “RFK has been railing about the intelligence community and how corrupt he thinks they are,” Megyn noted. “Don Jr. was on with Glenn Beck yesterday and said he loves the idea of RFKJ as head of CIA or doing something to take apart these organizations and start rebuilding them.”
Carlson signed onto the idea as well. “I love the idea of him running the CIA or at least having the power to declassify,” he said. “If Trump gets elected, it is absolutely essential that a tool of permanent Washington doesn’t take a job like CIA director. You need to have someone who cares about the country more than the federal agency. That is absolutely essential.”
In his view, it is the only way to restore trust in the intelligence agencies. “There is so much that we don’t know that we have a right to know,” Carlson said. “This is our government. It does not belong to Mike Pompeo or to Joe Biden or to Kamala Harris or to anybody. It belongs to all of us. That is what democracy is.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Carlson by tuning in to episode 868 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.