Tipsheet

Here's What Trump Had to Say About RFK Jr.'s VP Pick

Former President Donald Trump seemed pleased with independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy’s choice of Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, calling the left-wing pick “great for MAGA.” 

“RFK Jr. is the most Radical Left Candidate in the race, by far. He’s a big fan of the Green New Scam, and other economy killing disasters,” Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social. “I guess this would mean he is going to be taking votes from Crooked Joe Biden, which would be a great service to America.”

Trump continued: “His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, is even more ‘Liberal’ than him, if that’s possible. Kennedy is a Radical Left Democrat, and always will be!!! It’s great for MAGA, but the Communists will make it very hard for him to get on the Ballot. Expect him, and her, to be indicted any day now, probably for Environmental Fraud!”

While there was initial uncertainty over how RFK Jr. running as an independent would affect the race, current polling indicates his candidacy helps Trump more.  

“He is Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine,” Trump added. “I love that he is running!”

Conservatives cautioned that far-left Shanahan is a "major red flag for commonsense independents and centrist voters who are also sick of rising crime but intrigued by his campaign."

Many others joined Trump in seeing RFK Jr's VP pick as beneficial to his campaign.

Fox News's Jesse Watters argued Kennedy needed Shanahan's financial support to get on the ballots as an independent. 

"And one of the reasons he tapped Shanahan is because she has deep pockets, who can self-fund and help get him access," he said. "A lot of people that I know, who like RFK, weren’t thrilled with the choice. They were expecting someone a little bit more electrifying to kind of jolt that ticket and continue the momentum. There is a lot we don’t know about her. But she has a lot of money, and you need a lot of money if you’re running a third party. If you look at the polls...Joe is losing to Trump head-to-head in every battleground still. If you introduce RFK, he pulls from both, but he pulls more from Biden. Right now, he’s polling in double digits in Arizona, Nevada, and Wisconsin, and basically at 8 percent or 9 percent in the rest of the swing states. If he gets on ballots and continues to get more face time, he is going to be in double digits in all of the major battlegrounds, and Biden will lose this election if he performs like these numbers say.”