Robert F. Kennedy Jr ends US presidential campaign, endorses Trump

WASHINGTON – Independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr abandoned his campaign on Aug 23 and endorsed Republican Donald Trump, ending a presidential bid that he began as a Democrat trading on one of the most famous names in American politics.

His campaign indicated that he feared staying in the race would siphon support from former president Trump, who is locked in a tight contest with Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov 5 election.

“His candidacy has inspired millions and millions of Americans, raised critical issues that have been too long ignored in this country,” Trump said of Mr Kennedy.

Mr Kennedy said he met Trump and his aides several times and learnt they agreed on issues such as border security, free speech and ending wars.

“There are still many issues and approaches on which we continue to have very serious differences. But we are aligned on other key issues,” he said at a news conference.

He reiterated much of that when he joined Trump at an Arizona rally and repeated positions on his core issues of combating chronic illness and ridding the environment and food supply of hazardous chemicals. Mr Kennedy said he would remove his name from the ballot in 10 battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the election but would remain as a candidate in other states.

An environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist and son and nephew of two titans of Democratic politics who were assassinated during the turbulent 1960s, Mr Kennedy entered the race in April 2023 as a challenger to President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.

With voters at the time turned off by both the ageing Mr Biden and the legally embattled Trump, interest in Mr Kennedy soared. He shifted his plans and decided to run as an independent, and a November 2023 Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Mr Kennedy drawing the support of 20 per cent of Americans in a three-way race with Mr Biden and Trump.

He ran a high-profile advertisement during the February 2024 Super Bowl that invoked his father, former US senator Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, former US president John F. Kennedy, and drew outrage from much of his high-profile family.

His sister, Ms Kerry Kennedy, said on Aug 23 that his decision to endorse Trump betrayed the family’s values.

“It is a sad ending to a sad story,” she said on social media.

For a time, both the Biden and Trump campaigns showed signs they were worried that Mr Kennedy could draw enough support to change the election outcome. His name is on the ballot in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota and North Carolina – half of the competitive swing states expected to determine the election’s outcome.

But as the race changed quickly in the last two months – with Trump

surviving an assassination attempt

and the 81-year-old Mr Biden bowing to pressure from his own party and

passing the campaign torch

to Ms Harris – voter interest in Mr Kennedy, 70, waned. 

An Ipsos poll early in August showed his national support had fallen to 4 per cent, a tiny number, but one that could still be meaningful in a tight race such as the current Trump-Harris matchup.

Democrats shrugged off his announcement.

“Donald Trump isn’t earning an endorsement that’s going to help build support, he’s inheriting the baggage of a failed fringe candidate. Good riddance,” Democratic National Committee senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement.

In exchange for endorsing Trump, Mr Kennedy was hoping for a job in a potential Trump administration, a super PAC (political action committee) supporting Mr Kennedy told Reuters on Aug 21. He also wanted Trump to allow his political movement to continue in some fashion, which could include staying on the ballot in some states.

Mr Kennedy painted himself as a political outsider. He told Reuters in an interview in March that if elected president, he would not restrict abortion, would repeal many provisions of Mr Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act and would seek to close down the southern border to immigrants entering the US illegally. He also offered staunch support for Israel.

Trump mega-donor Timothy Mellon, an 82-year-old banking heir, has given millions of dollars this election cycle in support of Mr Kennedy, and has given US$75 million (S$97.5 million) in support of Trump, according to Federal Election Commission filings until July 31.

In a video of a phone call posted online in July, Trump suggested to Mr Kennedy that the independent candidate could do something to support the Trump campaign. Soon after, both candidates spoke a day apart from each other at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, trying to court votes.

Dead bear, brain worms

Mr Kennedy said in a video posted online in August that

he dumped a dead bear in New York City’s Central Park

a decade ago and staged it to look like a bike had hit it.

He proclaimed he had “so many skeletons in my closet”

after a former family babysitter accused him of sexual assault. He denied that the barbecued carcass of a large animal he posed with in a picture belonged to a canine.

And then there was the brain worm. Mr Kennedy

had a parasite in his brain

more than a decade ago, but has since fully recovered, a fact unearthed by The New York Times and confirmed by the campaign. 

Those stories prompted ridicule from late-night talk show hosts.

The Democratic Party especially has been ruthless in its opposition to Mr Kennedy’s candidacy, including waging legal challenges against his ballot access, as concern grew that Mr Kennedy could hurt the party’s chances in November. REUTERS