Reports have emerged of a proposed endorsement deal between independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump.
According to sources close to both camps, Kennedy allegedly offered to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential bid in exchange for a position in a potential second Trump administration.
The reported meeting between Kennedy and Trump took place in the days following the July 13th assassination attempt on Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
This timing adds an extra layer of intrigue to the alleged discussions, as both men were likely acutely aware of reports that President Joe Biden was poised to step down and offer the coronation as top of the Democratic presidential campaign to Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Horn News first reported that Biden was expected to step down last Thursday.
While details of the proposed arrangement between Trump and RFK, Jr. remain murky, the rumor of such a deal has raised eyebrows across the political spectrum.
Trump reportedly rejected the initial offer from RFK, Jr., primarily due to concerns about the optics of such an exchange. The former president’s team seems to be wary of the potential political backlash from critics if such a deal were to come to light. But negotiations will likely continue in the near future.
Kennedy, for his part, has not directly confirmed or denied the reports. In a statement that carefully sidestepped the issue, he said, “All I will say to you is I am willing to talk to anybody from either political party who wants to talk about children’s health and how to end the chronic disease epidemic.”
The independent candidate did, however, praise Trump for reaching out to him, contrasting this with the complete lack of communication from the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
“I have a lot of respect for President Trump for reaching out to me,” Kennedy said. “Nobody from the DNC, high or low, has ever reached out to me in 18 months.”
The talks come at a crucial juncture in the 2024 presidential race after Biden’s withdrawal from seeking re-election.
Kennedy has used this opportunity to call for an open process within the Democratic Party to select their nominee, rather than simply “anointing” Vice President Kamala Harris.
Having left the Democratic Party after being blocked from challenging Biden in the primaries, Kennedy has positioned himself as an outsider candidate appealing to voters disillusioned with both major parties.
The suggestion that he might be willing to throw his support behind Trump in a “unity ticket” could galvanize supporters of both candidates and offer Trump access to RFK, Jr’s voters that have been drawn from the left of the political spectrum — a major win in what is expected to be an extremely narrow presidential election.
This latest development in the unpredictable 2024 election isn’t set in stone.
Kennedy is maintaining his independent bid and Trump’s campaign pushing forward, continuing the race against each other — and Harris — for the White House.