In what will likely go down in history books as a pivotal speech in American history, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced Friday he will suspend his campaign and endorse former President Donald J. Trump.
In a climate of heartbreaking political division in America that has seen palace coups at the height of Democratic Party politics and an attempt on former President Trump’s life, the move signifies a tidal shift in the 2024 election. And, perhaps, the country itself.
The Story
Kennedy highlighted his and Trump’s alignment and their intent to “join forces as a unity party,” focusing on the priorities where they overlap. Kennedy said in his speech their focus will be “ending the forever wars, ending the childhood disease epidemic, securing the border, protecting freedom of speech, unraveling the corporate capture of our regulatory agencies, getting the U.S. intelligence agencies out of the business of propagandizing, and censoring, and surveilling Americans and interfering with our elections.”
On the heels of his speech, Kennedy took the stage with Trump at a rally in Glendale, Arizona later that day.
RFKJ enters the arena.
— Ida (@HeidiSnow381) August 23, 2024
Trump Rally, Glendale, AZ.
Welcome to America First
♥️🤍💙🇺🇸♥️🤍💙🇺🇸
pic.twitter.com/EN19oFeUaG
The Party That Lost Its Way, And The Candidate Who Found It
Kennedy’s speech highlighted his Democratic bona fides, but excoriated the party, which had “abandoned democracy” and become a party of “war, censorship, and corruption.” He then cataloged the way Democrats and media bullied his campaign off of ballots and out of the press.
The lawyer, health, and environmental activist also tore into Kamala Harris’ nomination and her deafening silence to media and conveying policies to the American public — that hasn’t stopped her from receiving adoring headlines.
Kennedy will hit the trail with Trump, and hinted that there would be high-profile democrat defections to the Trump camp in the coming weeks. He will remain on the ballot in blue states to aid independent candidates’ ballot access, but remove his name from ballots in battleground states to throw support behind Trump.
Kennedy’s bid for the Democratic nomination was met with a major push from the Democratic Party to keep him off ballots, along with a media blackout before he announced a run as an independent.
Still, his campaign brought to the foreground corruption in government, which he showed has led to a health catastrophe in the form of America’s obesity epidemic, the rise of chronic disease in children, and extreme environmental degradation.
Trump has won over a string of high-profile centrist and liberal-leaning figures over the years, including the likes of Elon Musk, former Democrat and St. Paul, Minnesota mayor Norm Coleman, and former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.
The Democratic Party remarkably nominated Kamala Harris without holding a single primary election with her name on the ballot. Kennedy called Harris’ rise, without holding a single interview or interacting unscripted with voters, “profoundly undemocratic.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsome sardonically criticized the Democratic Party’s nomination:
🚨Wow. Gavin Newsom mocks the Democrats’ coronation of Kamala Harris:
— Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) August 24, 2024
Host: “How are you feeling about the switch?”
Newsom: “We went through a very open process, a very inclusive process. It was bottom-up, I don’t know if you know that. That’s what I’ve been told to say.” pic.twitter.com/yz9AVq2TN6
Ohio Stakes
#ThankYouKennedy pic.twitter.com/45ABqRnY0B
— Ohio For Kennedy (@OhioansForRFKjr) August 24, 2024
Ohio was likely to remain behind Trump irrespective of Kennedy’s contingent. Still, Kennedy's Ohio operation threw support behind the move: “It’s time to unite,” Ohio campaign accounts said.
To all my new Trump followers and my longtime Kennedy followers, it’s time to unite. Even if we don’t agree with everything Trump says, it is so much better than Harris and the DNC. Kennedy can make a great impact on Trump’s team and I’m excited for the future! #Trump2024
— Ohio For Kennedy (@OhioansForRFKjr) August 23, 2024
It’s unclear whether the move will affect down-ballot contests, but Ohio is a signpost for much of the country. The state, formerly a manufacturing giant insiders consider deeply independent is a stronghold of “Reagan democrats” and was decisive in 2016 for Trump’s MAGA agenda of limited foreign intervention, reshoring American manufacturing, and immigration-restriction.
Kennedy’s endorsement may be a sign of a further political realignment in the state, and among America’s moderate and independent electorate.
American Realignment
It’s unsurprising Kennedy would see parallels between his campaign and former President Trump’s. Both vocal critics of different but interlocking facets of the establishment and capture of American institutions by corrupt elites, Kennedy has faced ballot-access headwinds and media blackballing. The former president himself survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally in July.
Both Kennedy’s father, Bobby, and uncle President John F. Kennedy fell to assassins’ bullets.
Their joining forces may signal a pivotal American realignment around America’s founding ideals of representative government, freedom of speech, and putting the U.S. government intelligence apparatus on notice.
This is the first election of my lifetime that feels like a realignment.
— Tandy (@dantypo) August 24, 2024
I don’t know what Trump is going to do. I don’t know if Kennedy has what it takes.
But I’ve never seen 2 men so openly attacked by the system.
If anyone has had enough, it’s those 2.
Feels like us v them
The DNC fully expected that RFK Jr would just accept getting screwed over. They assumed he would obediently fall in line after they destroyed his campaign and tried to silence & sideline him.
— Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) August 23, 2024
Turns out RFK Jr isn't Bernie Sanders. And that miscalculation has cost the DNC dearly
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