(The Center Square) – Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped his presidential bid Friday to endorse Republican nominee Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election.
Kennedy, his voice hoarse, called it quits during a speech Friday in Phoenix.
“In an honest system, I believe I would have won the election,” he said.
Kennedy said Friday that the Democratic party had changed significantly since he attended his first Democratic National Convention at the age of 6. He said it was no longer the party of his father and uncle. He blamed “shadowy DNC operatives” for fighting his campaign at every turn in legal battles challenging the signatures he turned in to get on the ballot in state after state. He also blamed media companies for failing to do their jobs.
He said Democrats abandoned democracy.
Kennedy said he had no path to victory and would suspend his campaign. He said his name would remain on the ballot. He also encouraged supporters to vote for him in both red and blue states. However, he said he would remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.
Kennedy also endorsed Trump.
On Tuesday, Trump said he’d “love” Kennedy’s endorsement and that he’d be open to having Kennedy in his administration.
Kennedy has been an outspoken critic of the deep state, even floating the possibility that the CIA may have been behind the high-profile assassinations of his father, RFK Sr., and uncle, President John F. Kennedy.
Conservatives—including Donald Trump Jr.—supported the idea of appointing Kennedy as CIA chief after the news broke that he was communicating with Trump’s campaign.
Another possibility would be to appoint Kennedy—a prominent vaccine skeptic and critic of ex-COVID czar Anthony Fauci—to oversee the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, over which Fauci lorded for several decades prior to his 2022 retirement.
The move would be likely to roil Democrats to the extreme, although it may be poetic justice considering their own track record of controversial appointments during the Biden administration.
Ken Silva contributed to this report.
