Topline
Former President Donald Trump doubled down on his claims that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the “most Radical Left Candidate” in the 2024 election in a video posted to Truth Social Thursday, as Trump’s campaign appears to be promoting third-party candidates as a way to take votes away from President Joe Biden.
Thursday’s video reiterated claims made in a previous Truth Social post.
Key Facts
In Thursday’s nearly three-minute video, Trump reiterated many of the claims he made about Kennedy in a March 27 Truth Social post—also doubling down on his claim that Kennedy’s running mate Nicole Shanahan is “also a very liberal person.”
Trump said there are “some nice things” about the independent candidate and that “I happen to like him,” before going on to slam Kennedy’s support of the “Green New Scam”—in reference to the Green New Deal, a progressive measure aimed at tackling climate change.
Kennedy’s support of the Green New Deal, according to Trump, could mean the former environmental lawyer “is going to be taking away votes from Crooked Joe Biden,” a claim which the New York Times reported Wednesday is a new strategy of Trump allies.
The former president said, without evidence, to expect Kennedy “to be indicted any day now, probably for environmental fraud,” though he apparently connected the idea to Kennedy being Biden’s “political opponent,” saying: “Biden can’t speak. Biden can’t debate. Biden can’t put two sentences together, so I guess he’s probably going to indict RFK Jr.”
Representatives for Kennedy’s and Trump’s campaigns did not immediately respond to Forbes’ requests for comment.
Crucial Quote
“I guess that would mean that RFK Jr. is going to be taking away votes from Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump said. “And he should because he’s actually better than Biden. He’s much better than Biden. If I were a Democrat, I’d vote for RFK Jr. every single time over Biden.”
Key Background
Trump has been relatively silent on Kennedy since the start of the election cycle, once referring to him as “a very smart person” in an interview on Fox News last July, according to multiple outlets. Trump’s seeming attack on Kennedy and Shanahan in late March came amid reports of renewed concerns that Kennedy, a known critic of vaccines, could take away voters from the former president, who has taken credit for and praised the COVID-19 vaccine, due to their differing stances on the hotly debated topic. The Times report, which cited unnamed individuals involved with the matter, said Trump allies have turned their efforts towards promoting Kennedy and Jill Stein to draw voters away from Biden, as well as a separate effort in Michigan to emphasize concerns about Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Kennedy’s long-shot independent bid has been viewed as more of a threat to Biden’s re-election campaign than Trump, but the former president’s campaign was reportedly worried about losing voters from the third-party bid ahead of the October announcement.
Tangent
Rita Palma, the New York director of Kennedy’s presidential campaign, reportedly said in a now-deleted video that her main goal for the campaign was to “get rid of Biden.” Kennedy’s campaign announced Wednesday that Palma was fired, according to multiple outlets.
Further Reading
Trump Allies Have a Plan to Hurt Biden’s Chances: Elevate Outsider Candidates (The New York Times)
Trump Blasts RFK. Jr. And Nicole Shanahan, But Says His ‘Radical Left’ Bid Is ‘Great For MAGA’ (Forbes)
RFK Jr. Staffer’s Top Goal Is To ‘Get Rid Of Biden,’ Report Says (Forbes)
Why RFK Jr. Could Hurt Biden More Than Trump—As Democrats Launch Anti-Third Party Campaign (Forbes)
