Critics Say RFK Jr. Just Proved Campaign Was Always a 'MAGA Front Designed to Help Donald Trump Win'
"This is always what his campaign was about."
After days of reporting and signals from the campaign, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday officially suspended his Independent presidential run and endorsed the Republican nominee, far-right former President Donald Trump.
In response to Kennedy suspending his campaign and backing Trump, five of his surviving siblings from his prominent Democratic political family released a joint statement stressing that "we believe" Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
"We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise, and national pride," they said. "Our brother Bobby's decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story."
Kennedy—a lawyer who first ran as a Democrat—was known earlier in his political career for his environmental activism but later became associated with spreading anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, taking a hardline against Palestinian rights, and downplaying the climate crisis. His campaign has been dogged by a series of bizarre revelations, including of sexual assault, a brain worm, and a dead baby bear.
Kennedy's endorsement plans were revealed in a Pennsylvania court filing. While both the lawyer responsible for the filing and a spokesperson for the campaign initially toldCNN that Kennedy had not endorsed Trump, he ultimately did so in Phoenix, Arizona.
"Three great causes drove me to enter this race in the first place, primarily, and these are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an Independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump," said Kennedy, whose running mate was billionaire Nicole Shanahan. "The causes were free speech, the war in Ukraine, and the war on our children."
Kennedy also claimed that Trump "has asked to enlist me in his administration." Public health advocates fear that a Trump win in November could lead to the conspiracy theorist being appointed as secretary of health and human services.
There is speculation that Kennedy will join Trump for his Friday rally in Glendale, Arizona. Before heading there, Trump said: "We just had a very nice endorsement from RFK Jr., Bobby... I want to thank Bobby—that was very nice... He's a great guy, respected by everybody."
Meanwhile, MoveOn
said on social media that "we have always recognized what the RFK Jr. campaign was: a MAGA front designed to help Donald Trump win in November. With Kamala Harris on the rise and both Trump and RFK Jr. cratering, this is a desperate play to shake up the race. RFK Jr.'s endorsement will not save him."
The group's executive director,
Rahna Epting, declared that "as RFK Jr. has been exposed for his extremist views, disturbing behavior, and allegations of sexual violence, his support has dried up, and he's no longer useful to Trump in this race."
"That's why JD Vance publicly asked him to drop out," she added, referring to the Republican's running mate, "and why he's been begging Trump for a job in exchange for leaving the race."
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, said in a statement that "this shameful endorsement reveals the egomania and rot at the core of RFK Jr.'s candidacy. From the start, right-wing billionaires propped up his campaign to support Trump as a spoiler candidate."
"In the end, Trump and RFK Jr. are just two out-of-touch millionaires looking out for the interests of billionaires," he continued. "If we're going to see a third party in American politics, it will come from the ground up, not a top-down effort driven by another trust fund failson. This November, the Working Families Party is going all-in to beat MAGA and secure a government that will work for the people, not the powerful or the privileged."
Harris-Walz campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said that "for any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you. In order to deliver for working people and those who feel left behind, we need a leader who will fight for you, not just for themselves, and bring us together, not tear us apart."
"Vice President Harris wants to earn your support," she added. "Even if we do not agree on every issue, Kamala Harris knows there is more that unites us than divides us: respect for our rights, public safety, protecting our freedoms, and opportunity for all."
This post has been updated with comment from the Working Families Party and the Harris-Walz campaign.
