The Daily Dazzling Dawn

US & Canada |

RFK Jr. Ends Campaign, Backs Trump

by DD Desk

August 24, 2024

RFK Jr. Ends Campaign, Backs Trump

key takeaways

RFK Jr. Drops Out, Endorses Trump

A few hours after Mr. Kennedy declared in a local press conference that he was suspending his problematic independent presidential campaign, Mr. Kennedy briefly joined Mr. Trump on stage at an Arizona event.

At a Phoenix event on Friday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the suspension of his independent presidential candidacy and the endorsement of former President Donald J. Trump, marking the latest development in a rapidly changing 2024 campaign.

Later, during a Trump event in Glendale, Arizona, the two shared an onstage appearance. Mr. Kennedy, who has gained notoriety for his anti-vaccine views, support of conspiracy theories, and dissemination of right-wing misinformation, recounted a conversation he had with the former president and said to the assembly, "We talked not about the things that separated us — because we don't agree on everything — but on the values and the issues that bind us together."

Mr. Trump’s allies on Friday relished the fact that the former president had won the backing of a member of America’s most storied Democratic family, albeit one who has had many of his relatives denounce him. On Friday, five of Mr. Kennedy’s siblings released a statement on Instagram saying that his decision to endorse Mr. Trump “is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.” They concluded: “It is a sad ending to a sad story.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump, campaigning in Las Vegas, gushed about the endorsement. “That’s big,” he said.

Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, chair of the Harris campaign, suggested in a statement that Kennedy supporters should turn to Ms. Harris. “For any American out there who is tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward, ours is a campaign for you,” said the statement, which did not refer to Mr. Kennedy by name.

Mr. Kennedy’s withdrawal is not expected to affect the race substantially; polls have diverged on whether he pulled more potential voters from Mr. Trump or Ms. Harris.

His announcement came the morning after Vice President Kamala Harris closed her often jubilant nominating convention in Chicago with a sober-minded address that sought to establish her as uniquely qualified to lead and unify the country — and paint her opponent as divisive and dangerous.

After weeks with the political spotlight nearly all to herself, Ms. Harris is moving into an intensive new phase of the campaign against Mr. Trump, the fiercest combatant in American politics.

The Harris campaign has not announced her first post-convention campaign appearance. Nor has it announced when she will hold her first press briefing since Mr. Biden’s withdrawal from the race, even as Mr. Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, jab at her lack of engagement with reporters.

But preparations are already underway for what will be the next major marker in the campaign, a Sept. 10 Harris-Trump debate on ABC.