Tuesday, November 5, 2024

‘A sad ending to a sad story’: Kennedy family criticises RFK Jr after he endorses Trump

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The Kennedy family has hit out at their sibling Robert F Kennedy Jr for endorsing Donald Trump in the US presidential race, calling it a “betrayal” of their values.

Mr Kennedy, also known as RFK Jr, announced he was suspending his independent campaign for the presidency to lend his support to the Republican candidate in certain states.

“In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started the process,” Mr Kennedy said during a news conference in Phoenix.

RFK, whose father Bobby Kennedy was assassinated as he ran for president back in 1968, said the Democratic Party was no longer “champions of the constitution” and had departed “dramatically” from the “core values” he grew up with.

Mr Kennedy is also the nephew of former Democratic US president John F Kennedy, who was killed in 1963.

RFK was 14 when his father, the former US attorney general Robert F Kennedy, JFK’s brother, was killed.

Image:
Robert F Kennedy in August 1964. Pic: AP

In response to RFK Jr’s announcement, his brothers and sisters shared a statement, saying: “We want an America filled with hope and bound together by a shared vision of a brighter future, a future defined by individual freedom, economic promise and national pride.

“We believe in Harris and Walz.

“Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.

“It is a sad ending to a sad story.”

Pic: AP
Image:
Kamala Harris addressing the DNC this week. Pic: AP

‘In an honest system, I would have won’

RFK Jr hit out at the media and the Democrats during his announcement, while saying his campaign team had “pulled off a miracle” by making him a presidential candidate.

“You showed everyone democracy is still possible here,” he said. “Today I’m here to tell you I will not allow your efforts to go to waste.”

Robert F Kennedy in August 1964. Pic: AP
Image:
Robert F Kennedy in August 1964. Pic: AP

Mr Kennedy added he believed that in an “honest system” he would have won the election.

He criticised the Democratic Party, saying it had waged “legal warfare” against him and Mr Trump, who is running against vice president Kamala Harris to be elected in the presidential election on 5 November.

During his speech, Mr Kennedy also took aim at Ms Harris, who officially accepted her Democratic nomination yesterday, arguing that she had ducked scrutiny and interviews.

He also said of Democrats: “Who needs a policy when you have Trump to hate?”

According to Sky News’ partner network NBC, Mr Kennedy will be speaking at a Trump rally later today.

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump visits the frontier with Mexico in Cochise County, Arizona, U.S. August 22, 2024. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
Image:
Mr Kennedy is expected to publicly endorse Donald Trump for president. Pic: Reuters

Reports of Mr Kennedy’s decision emerged earlier in court documents filed by the 70-year-old’s campaign team.

A Pennsylvania court filing asked to remove him from the state’s ballot, according to the AP.

And on Thursday, Arizona officials said Mr Kennedy filed paperwork to remove himself from the presidential ballot there.

Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr speaks at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. July 26, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm
Image:
Pic: Reuters

Anti-vax views and turn against Democrats

Despite his family’s history with the Democratic Party, RFK Jr was running as an independent, after leaving the Democrats in October.

Mr Kennedy has made a name for himself as an anti-vaxxer during the pandemic – and beforehand.

As well as sharing disinformation online, Mr Kennedy became a regular on the anti-mandate rally circuit during the coronavirus response.

At one event, he compared the US government’s use of vaccine mandates to laws in Nazi Germany.

“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” he told the crowd at a march in January 2022.

“Today, the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run, and none of us can hide.”

Read more:
Who is Robert F Kennedy Jr?
RFK Jr claims worm ate part of his brain
Video shows Kennedy telling bizarre bear story

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