BREAKING: RFK Jr. Drops Out, Endorses Trump

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew from the race and endorsed former President Donald Trump, an event brewing for days. There was initial speculation if he would just quit and walk away. However, sources have told multiple news agencies, including ABC News, that Mr. Kennedy has been critical of Democrats since announcing his third-party run. Kennedy has not been supportive of the Democrats’ replacement of Biden.

Kennedy went on at length trashing Harris as someone
"without a single policy that anybody thinks isn't ridiculous."
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) August 21, 2024

Hey Keith 👋 https://t.co/reimg1OxeJ pic.twitter.com/Ix4QahYNna
— Nicole Shanahan (@NicoleShanahan) August 22, 2024

RFK Jr’s VP Nicole Shanahan says they cannot endorse Trump until he admits Operation Warp Speed was a failure:

"The hesitation we have right now in joining forces with Trump is that he has not apologized or publicly come out and said Operation Warp Speed was his fault.

The… pic.twitter.com/K08QJnweNT
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) August 23, 2024

.@RobertKennedyJr: "The DNC is in Chicago talking about their commitment to voting rights, while they're spending tens, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars to keep me off the ballot."

"There's a million people in this country who have signed petitions trying to get me on the… pic.twitter.com/qCeBui3tI0
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) August 22, 2024

There was some palace intrigue regarding the Trump endorsement reports since a) his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, wants the Trump camp to admit Operation Warp Speed was a failure, and b) Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, isn’t keen on the former president at all. Yet, ahead of his speech in Arizona, Mr. Kennedy decided to endorse Trump, with the Associated Press reporting on his new Pennsylvania filing, which indicated he was jumping on the MAGA train (via AP):

BREAKING: Ahead of a speech, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says in a Pennsylvania court filing that he will be endorsing Donald Trump. https://t.co/45npx3wW5u
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 23, 2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign said in a Pennsylvania court filing Friday that he’s endorsing Donald Trump for president.
The campaign also requested that he be removed from the Pennsylvania ballot, though it wasn’t immediately clear that he was officially dropping out of the race. It came a day after he sought to be removed from Arizona’s ballot. He is running as an independent.
Kennedy is set to speak in Arizona shortly “about the present historical moment and his path forward,” according to his campaign. Hours later, Trump will hold a rally in neighboring Glendale. Trump’s campaign has teased that he’ll be joined by “a special guest,” though neither campaign responded to messages about whether Kennedy would be that guest.

When he took the podium today, Mr. Kennedy torched the Democratic Party and the liberal media. That's where CNN cut to break. Kennedy also torched Kamala Harris for refusing to do interviews while slamming the 2024 Democratic National Convention for being a wholly manufactured event aimed at boosting their candidate's poll numbers based on vapid talking points.

RFK Jr: "I'm sorry to say that while Democracy may still be alive at the grassroots, it has become little more than a slogan for our political institutions, for our media, and for our government, and most sadly of all for me, the Democratic party." pic.twitter.com/27AZsJCt2F
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 23, 2024

RFK Jr. absolutely SHREDS the Democratic Party for "abandoning democracy."

"It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption..." pic.twitter.com/hEXzre14T5
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 23, 2024

RFK Jr calls out Kamala Harris for failing to give a single interview or speak to voters unscripted. pic.twitter.com/PH9ldLvuLs
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 23, 2024

RFK Jr: "Instead of showing us her substance and character, the DNC and its media organs engineered a surge of popularity of Vice President Harris based up...well, nothing." pic.twitter.com/jFuYOHpcWX
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 23, 2024

RFK Jr: "Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate?" pic.twitter.com/02PoOfou2F
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 23, 2024

RFK Jr. suspends his campaign, throws his support behind Trump:

"Three great causes drove me to enter this race in the first place [...] and these are the principle causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to… pic.twitter.com/EMqxLfU9Y3
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 23, 2024

RFK Jr: "The mainstream media was once the guardian of the First Amendment and Democratic principles, and it's joined this systemic attack on Democracy." pic.twitter.com/Vf0bZ9E5O8
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 23, 2024

Katie wrote about the Democratic Party’s anxiety about RFK endorsing Trump, which could put the former president over the top in key states yesterday. In Arizona, Mr. Kennedy formally withdrew his name from the ballot. This move had to be done before ballots got printed, so we shall see how this shakes up the race. When Biden was in the race, Kennedy’s candidacy was hurting him. It flipped when Biden quit. We shall see how this recalibrates the race. These moves matter in an election that will be decided by tens of thousands of votes and razor-thin margins across a few states.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "We just had a very nice endorsement from RFK JR!" pic.twitter.com/yNmooMWGo4
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 23, 2024

🚨CNN cut away from RFK Jr's speech as he was explaining how the DNC rigged the primary, replaced their candidate with one who didn't receive a single vote, and how the media covered up for it and censored him. pic.twitter.com/sQfGcmWKWT
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 23, 2024