Robert F Kennedy Jr is suspending his impartial bid for US president to help Donald Trump’s marketing campaign.
Kennedy, 70, has been a Democrat most of his life and is a scion of the Kennedy dynasty.
He insisted at a information convention in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday that he wouldn’t stop however that he would search to have his identify faraway from the poll in 10 battleground states.
When Trump later welcomed Mr. Kennedy at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, he praised him as “extraordinary” and “sensible.” Democratic rival Kamala Harris says she’s going to “win over” Kennedy voters.
Because the November election approaches, Mr. Kennedy’s polling has slipped from double-digit highs as funding and nationwide protection dry up.
He’s the son of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He comes from essentially the most well-known household in Democratic politics.
His determination to help a Republican for the White Home angered his kinfolk, who had beforehand condemned him for invoking his final identify in a Tremendous Bowl advert in February.
His sister Kerry Kennedy mentioned his help for Trump was “a betrayal of the values our father and our household held most expensive. It is a unhappy finish to a tragic story.”
“This determination pains me due to the hardship it creates for my spouse, kids and pals,” Mr. Kennedy mentioned Friday.
“However I knew for certain that this was what I used to be presupposed to do. Even within the midst of a storm, that certainty gave me internal peace.
His spouse, Cheryl Hines, stars within the HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm. She posted on X (previously Twitter) that she deeply respects her husband’s determination to droop his marketing campaign. She didn’t touch upon his help for Trump.
Kennedy instructed reporters on Friday that Trump’s insistence that he might finish the struggle in Ukraine by negotiating with Russia “justifies my help of his marketing campaign.”
“We nonetheless have very critical variations on many points and approaches. However we’re united on different key points.”
He mentioned he would take away his identify from 10 states as a result of his presence would “disrupt” Trump’s efforts. He has withdrawn troops from the battleground states of Arizona and Pennsylvania.
However election officers instructed The Related Press it is too late for him to withdraw from swing states equivalent to Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.
Mr. Kennedy mentioned he launched his marketing campaign in April 2023 “as a Democrat, the occasion of my father, my uncle… a defender of the Structure.”
However he left as a result of “it had turn into the occasion of struggle, censorship, corruption, massive pharma, massive tech, massive cash.”
He blamed his determination to droop his marketing campaign on “media management” and his former occasion’s efforts to thwart his candidacy, including: “In my coronary heart, I not consider that within the face of ruthless and systematic censorship, I’ve a A sensible path to victory.
Mr. Kennedy is hovering round 14% – 16% in his hottest polls. Nevertheless, since Ms. Harris grew to become the Democratic nominee, his approval rankings have fallen to single digits.
He instructed a information convention that he had supplied to work with Ms. Harris and take part in her White Home bid.
Democrats appeared unfazed by his assertion.
Mary Beth Cahill, senior adviser to the Democratic Nationwide Committee, mentioned in an announcement, “Donald Trump has not acquired the help that will assist construct help, and he has inherited the luggage of a failed fringe candidate. Good riddance.” .
Mr. Kennedy’s marketing campaign grew to become synonymous with the anti-vaccination motion as he usually touted his management of the Youngsters’s Well being Initiative, previously generally known as the World Mercury Mission.
In latest weeks, Mr. Kennedy jokingly instructed the story of how in 2014 he threw away a bear that had been hit by a automotive in New York’s Central Park.
Early in his marketing campaign, it was revealed that he had suffered from a mind parasite greater than a decade in the past, inflicting extreme reminiscence loss and mind fog.
His announcement ends days of rumors that Mr. Kennedy was keen to again Mr. Trump to safe a spot within the subsequent administration.
Trump instructed CNN earlier this week that he was “undoubtedly open to a task for Mr. Kennedy,” whereas Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., mentioned he can be suited to “blow up” a federal division.
Meryl Matthews, a resident scholar on the conservative Institute for Coverage Innovation, instructed the BBC that Mr Kennedy’s determination highlighted America’s two-party system and “how troublesome it’s to get new concepts and new folks concerned within the course of”.
Mike Wendling additionally contributed to this report.
