Former President Donald Trump said that he would be “honored” to receive presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement, if the independent should decide to end his bid for the White House.
“I like him, and I respect him,” Trump told CNN at a campaign stop in Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday.
“He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a very long time,” the GOP presidential nominee added. “I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it.”
Asked if he would offer RFK Jr. a place in his administration, Trump responded, “I probably would, if something like that would happen. He’s a very different kind of a guy — a very smart guy. And, yeah, I would be honored by that endorsement, certainly.”
🚨Donald Trump responds when asked if he would consider Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a role in his administration if he dropped out and endorsed him: “I like him a lot. I respect him a lot… I probably would, if something like that would happen.”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 20, 2024
Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, suggested in a podcast published earlier Tuesday that RFK Jr. is considering dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump in order to reduce the risk of a victory by Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“We draw more votes from Trump,” she explained.
If they stay in the race Shanahan argued it would better set up an independent run for a third party candidate in 2028.
Would an RFK Jr. endorsement be a big boost for Trump?
“Or we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump, we walk away from that and explain to our base why we’re making this decision,” she said.
Nicole Shanahan, VP on the Robert Kennedy ticket, says the RFK campaign is currently debating whether to stay in the race or drop out to endorse President Trump. She does not want Kamala to win.pic.twitter.com/iLsSuLEyQ5
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) August 20, 2024
The Real Clear Polling average shows Harris with a 1.6 percent lead over Trump (46.4 to 44.8 percent), with RFK Jr. pulling 4.5 percent of the vote.
Newsweek reported, despite Kennedy’s liberal views on some issues like the environment and abortion, he is drawing more voters from Trump than Harris based on recent surveys conducted by New York Times/Siena College and Emerson College.
Would-be Trump voters likely resonate with RFK’s views on border security, foreign wars, and the rule of law.
As always, I am willing to talk with leaders of any political party to further the goals I have served for 40 years in my career and in this campaign. These are: reversing the chronic disease epidemic, ending the war machine, cleaning corporate influence out of government and…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 20, 2024
In the Times survey, 41 percent of respondents said they would back Trump and 27 percent said they would vote for Harris in a two-way race.
Emerson College reportedly found the breakdown was 64 percent for Trump and 36 percent for Harris in a two-way contest.
During his CNN interview Trump acknowledged the race has tightened since Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, but insisted the fundamentals of the race still favor him.
“I’m leading in the polls, but not by as much,” he said. “But regardless of that, my whole thing doesn’t change. We don’t want crime. We want to have a strong military. We’ve got to stop drugs from coming in. We have to stop people from pouring into our country through an open border.”
