Trump accepts Kennedy endorsement
Former US President Donald Trump has accepted the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has said he will end his independent run for office in swing states.
Hours after making the announcement on Friday, 70-year-old RFK Jr. joined Trump on stage during the Republican presidential candidate’s rally in Glendale, Arizona. Kennedy said that Trump will “make America healthy again” and be a president “who is going to protect us against totalitarianism.”
Trump embraced and thanked Kennedy for his support and stated that his father, US Senator Robert Kennedy, and his uncle, John F. Kennedy, would be “very, very proud of Bobby.”
“I am proud of Bobby,” Trump said, as the crowd chanted “Bobby! Bobby!”
The former president vowed that if he wins the election in November, in honor of RFK Jr. he would establish a “new independent commission on presidential assassination attempts” that would be tasked with releasing “all of the remaining documents pertaining to the [1963] assassination of president John F Kennedy” and conduct an investigation into the attempt last month on Trump’s own life.
The Republican candidate has also applauded RFK Jr.’s “decades of work as an advocate for the health of our families and our children.” Trump reiterated his vow to establish “a panel of top experts” that would work with Kennedy to investigate “what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic health problems and childhood diseases.”
A former Democrat, Kennedy tried last year to challenge US President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. However, after facing obstruction within the party, he announced a third-party bid last October.
On Friday, he announced would partially withdraw from the race, having previously vowed to do so if he felt that he’d turned into a spoiler candidate. “In my heart, I no longer believe I have a realistic path to electoral victory,” he said, announcing that he will remove his name from the ballots in swing states while continuing to run in solidly “red” or “blue” states so that his supporters can still cast a vote for him without “harming or helping” anyone.
