RFK considering dropping out, endorsing Trump, says running mate

‘We run the risk of a Harris presidency because we are drawing votes from Trump,’ says Kennedy’s vice presidential pick, signaling campaign may withdraw from the race and call on voters to back Trump.

By World Israel News Staff

Independent presidential candidate and former Democratic activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is seriously considering dropping out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsing former President Donald Trump, Kennedy’s running mate said.

Tech entrepreneur and attorney Nicole Shanahan, the vice presidential candidate running on an independent ticket with Kennedy, told the “Impact Theory” podcast Tuesday that the campaign is deeply concerned by the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris winning the 2024 presidential election, and fears its own third-party bid could funnel votes away from Donald Trump.

While Kennedy has throughout his campaign criticized both Trump and President Joe Biden, the latter’s withdrawal from the race and replacement atop the Democratic ticket with Harris has apparently led to qualms over the possibility an independent bid could disproportionately draw from Trump supporters.

Shanahan appeared to hint at a growing concern within the Kennedy campaign regarding a Harris presidency, alluding to political forces who have “corrupted” American democracy.

“We are taking a very serious look at making sure that the people that have corrupted our fair and free democracy do not end up in office,” Shanahan said.

Shanahan emphasized that the campaign was never intended to “be a spoiler. We wanted to win. We wanted a fair shot.”

Since Biden’s departure last month, however, Kennedy’s polling numbers have fallen by nearly 50%, from an average of 8.7% in the last week of polling according to the RealClearPolitics rolling average of polls, to 4.5% now with Harris in the race.

The Silicon Valley lawyer said the campaign has yet to make a decision on whether to continue through to the November election, or bow out and “join forces” with Trump.

“There’s two options that we’re looking at and one is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency because we draw votes from Trump, we draw somehow more votes from Trump.”

“Or we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump and, you know, we walk away from that and explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”

Shanahan said she was “so disappointed” by the Democratic party’s reaction to the Kennedy campaign, accusing them of underhanded tactics to prevent the ticket from gaining ballot access.

“They have banned us, shadow-banned us, kept us off stages, manipulated polls, used lawfare against us, sued us in every possible state, they’ve even planted insiders into our campaign to disrupt it and to create actual legal issues for us.”

When asked by CNN whether he would consider including Kennedy in his administration, Trump said he had not considered the idea but was open to it, saying of Kennedy: “I like him a lot, I respect him.”