RFK suspends his presidential campaign and backs Trump : NPR

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suspending his long-shot impartial presidential candidacy. He introduced Friday that he’s in search of to take away his title from ballots in battleground states, and is as an alternative asking supporters to again Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Kennedy — a scion of a well-known American political household who’s now identified broadly as an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist — vowed to upend the two-party system however failed to achieve the traction wanted to compete within the race.

Talking in Phoenix on Friday, Kennedy mentioned in an “trustworthy system” he believed he would win the election and railed towards the media and the Democratic Get together for perceived slights towards his marketing campaign.

“In my coronary heart, I not consider that I’ve a sensible path of electoral victory within the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media management,” he mentioned.

All through the prolonged handle, Kennedy continuously bemoaned what he referred to as assaults on democracy — whereas backing a candidate in Trump who tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

Kennedy mentioned he and Trump have spoken in latest weeks, and mentioned that whereas he disagrees with Trump on a number of points, they agree on sure necessary issues, just like the battle in Ukraine, alleged censorship and childhood security.

He additionally indicated the 2 of them have mentioned a doable function for Kennedy going ahead.

“[P]harma executives and consultants and lobbyists cycle out and in of those [government regulatory] businesses,” Kennedy mentioned. “With President Trump’s backing I’ll change that. We’ll workers these businesses with trustworthy scientists and medical doctors who’re free from business funding, or be certain that the selections of customers, medical doctors and sufferers are knowledgeable by unbiased science.”

After Kennedy’s working mate signaled in latest days that they might finish their marketing campaign and again Trump, the previous president informed CNN that he would take into account giving Kennedy a task in a possible second Trump administration if Kennedy dropped out and endorsed him.

In remarks in Nevada Friday, Trump thanked “Bobby” for the endorsement and referred to as him “an awesome man.”

Kennedy’s marketing campaign has upset many members of his household. 5 of his siblings wrote in a press release Friday that, “Our brother Bobby’s resolution to endorse Trump at present is a betrayal of the values that our father and our household maintain pricey. It’s a unhappy ending to a tragic story.”

RFK noticed diminishing assist in latest months

Kennedy initially challenged President Biden within the Democratic main earlier than switching to an impartial run, promising to ship one other selection for voters sad with what was then a rematch between Biden and Trump.

Whereas his marketing campaign launched with an formidable plan to attraction to voters throughout the ideological spectrum, RFK leaned into conspiracies about America, the federal government and vaccines that appealed particularly to a smaller swath of voters and people who don’t usually solid a poll.

Partially because of his well-known political title, Kennedy appeared poised to siphon votes from Democratic-leaning voters who soured on Biden’s age and perceived health for workplace, however Kennedy targeted his efforts extra towards speaking with the fitting.

Kennedy frequented right-wing podcasts and tv reveals, and unsuccessfully tried to woo the Libertarian Get together at their nationwide conference. He noticed a barrage of destructive headlines overshadow his marketing campaign, from allegations of sexual assault to consuming a barbecued canine to a latest revelation he was answerable for dumping a bear cub in Central Park.

His marketing campaign confronted vital challenges acquiring entry to state ballots, but it surely ran probably the most profitable impartial nationwide poll entry effort in 30 years, navigating onerous state legal guidelines and preventing off well-funded authorized challenges to submit greater than one million signatures throughout 50 states. As of Friday, his marketing campaign was on roughly 20 state ballots.

However these efforts didn’t translate to a lot electoral assist, particularly after Vice President Harris changed Biden because the Democratic nominee.

Kennedy dropped from a excessive of round 15% to the low single digits in nationwide election polls. Within the newest NPR/PBS Information/Marist ballot, performed earlier this month, he loved 5% assist.

The newest monetary disclosures confirmed indicators of Kennedy’s struggles, too, with the marketing campaign ending July with $3.9 million money readily available, $3.4 million in debt and an almost $1 million refund to his working mate Nicole Shanahan, a rich California lawyer who poured in $15 million of her personal cash to assist with poll entry measures.

What occurs subsequent?

So what occurs subsequent in locations the place Kennedy is already on the poll, and what affect does his endorsement of Trump probably have on the result in November? It relies upon.

Every state has its personal deadlines for finalizing the slate of candidates and getting ready ballots for voters, and differing guidelines for eradicating these names.

Kennedy withdrew his title from the Arizona poll Thursday, for instance, and a Pennsylvania submitting obtained Friday seeks to take away him from that state’s poll. However he reportedly missed Nevada’s Aug. 20 deadline to again on the market — although Nevada is one among a number of states the place authorized challenges to his candidacy are nonetheless pending.

Many latest polls present Kennedy drawing barely extra assist away from Trump than Harris, so Kennedy may need an incentive to take away his title from the poll in battleground states to keep away from enjoying a spoiler for his newly endorsed ally.

In a marketing campaign memo Friday, Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio pointed to survey outcomes and wrote, “That is excellent news for President Trump and his marketing campaign – plain and easy.”

Democrats disagree, with a celebration memo despatched Friday morning arguing that his candidacy was a “a device to mislead voters and harm Democrats, and RFK Jr.’s exit is an admission their gambit failed.”

Kennedy spent most of his life as a Democrat and nonetheless has sure political beliefs that align extra with the celebration, particularly round local weather change and environmental activism, that might stop some supporters from switching to Trump.

Supporters who backed RFK Jr.’s marketing campaign as a result of they needed an choice apart from the Democratic and Republican events might change to a different impartial marketing campaign. Others, who informed NPR that Kennedy was the one candidate they’d vote for, might additionally sit out this election.