Former President Trump is taking concrete steps to deprive Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of oxygen as they compete for a portion of the same voters.
Trump is going to the Libertarian Party national convention this month and criticized Kennedy, who is running as an independent but who has ties to the party, as “not a serious candidate.” Republicans also pounced on the “unhinged” Kennedy last week for saying “red state people are more likely to murder you.”
The strong anti-Kennedy sentiment from Trump’s orbit comes as polling suggests the independent could take support from the former president, who is looking to galvanize the anti-establishment lane to win the White House.
“Are there lunatics that won’t vote for Biden? Are there lunatics that won’t vote for Trump?” mused a former Trump campaign adviser. “Yeah, it’s a third option.”
Many Republicans believe Kennedy, an ex-Democrat whose family has enthusiastically endorsed Biden, will likely take more votes from the incumbent president than his predecessor. They predict Kennedy’s still-forming base is coming from displeased Democrats who don’t want to support an octogenarian they see as ineffective. Some, they also hope, still respect the Kennedy name.
“I think Kennedy’s going to pull real numbers,” the former Trump adviser added, expecting more to come from Biden’s coalition.
But Trump is covering his bases nonetheless. He recently mocked Kennedy as a “Democrat plant,” baselessly suggesting that he is being backed by liberals using him to hurt Trump. Many Democrats, meanwhile, argue it’s the other way around — that Kennedy was recruited and funded by Trump allies.
To some in Trump’s circle, the 45th president’s response to Kennedy has been remarkably tepid. He hasn’t eviscerated the environmental lawyer the way he has with other targets, instead opting for random one-offs implying that he can’t win.
Yet Trump’s associates have been coordinated in their attempt to discredit him. Several Trump supporters on Capitol Hill took to the social platform X to knock Kennedy after his comments about “red state people,” as well as other disparaging comments made in a years-old clip that surfaced online.
The pro-Trump Make America Great Again Inc. PAC circulated a memo with a roundup of 10 GOP leaders’ comments denouncing the third-party candidate. The release included voices from battlegrounds such as Florida and Texas, as well as more traditional conservative states like Oklahoma and South Carolina.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) fumed that Kennedy was much worse for Republicans than what some may initially think. “RFK is a WOLF in Sheep’s Clothing!! He HATES our Conservative movement and thinks people from Red states are IGNORANT and VIOLENT. Don’t be FOOLED this November – TRUMP 2024!!!’” Jackson wrote on X.
Sen. John Barrasso, the Senate Republican Conference chair, went a step further by arguing that Kennedy should not be allowed to occupy the Oval Office. “I’m proud to be from the most conservative state in America and represent the best of our country,” said Barrasso, who is from Wyoming. “RFK Jr.’s divisive attacks are disqualifying.”
Trump has suggested that many within his own party don’t know enough about Kennedy and that more information needs to be brought to the surface to illuminate the 70-year-old candidate’s views.
“A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Polling suggests reasons for Trump to be worried. A NewsNation/DecisionDesk HQ poll released Monday found that Kennedy has a higher favorability rating among Republicans than the public at large. However, the same poll also found Kennedy rating reasonably well among young voters — a key constituency for Democrats.
Trump’s circle is looking to fill in the gaps to paint Kennedy as the most liberal of the three major contenders. Trump’s campaign has been slinging opposition research to bring past comments into the current discussion. Just last week, it listed several hot-button issues and major figures Kennedy has supported intended to make Republicans grimace. That included his past praise of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described democratic socialist running for reelection, and support for former President Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The video composite compiled by the Trump campaign also highlighted so-called culture war topics where Kennedy is likely to clash with the GOP, such as previously referring to the National Rifle Association as a “terror group.”
“You don’t spend money trying to define somebody if you don’t think they could hurt you,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist. “I think there’s a race to define Kennedy by both Republicans and Democrats.”
“Trump folks want to define Kennedy as the heir to the Kennedy throne and a very liberal Democrat,” he said.
The effort to brand Kennedy as a progressive is growing with Election Day only six months away and the candidate gaining access to more ballots. Initially, he only qualified for a few states that aren’t essential to get to 270 and struggled to get going after leaving the Democratic Party. But his campaign got a new boost of financial momentum after he chose Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. Shanahan’s money as a tech lawyer — she was once married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin — has given Kennedy essentially a blank check to extend his ballot access journey to now include 10 states.
Kristen Hawn, a Democratic strategist, said the electorate has shifted to show more surprising signs of worry for Trump.
“Once people are looking more and more at RFK, the more and more it seems to be that it’s becoming a Trump problem,” Hawn said. “More than a problem for President Biden.”
Kennedy, for his own part, is currently more preoccupied with Biden than his GOP rival. He has formed a new messaging campaign attempting to convince voters that Biden is “the real spoiler” of the 2024 cycle.
“To be a spoiler, a candidate has to fulfill two requirements. First, they must not be able to win themselves, and, second, by participating in the election, they must prevent someone else from winning who otherwise would,” Kennedy said during a press briefing in New York last week. “By that criterion, the only spoiler in the race is President Biden. He is the one who cannot win against either candidate.”
Kennedy’s direct attacks against the 81-year-old president also come as Democrats have stepped up their offense against him. But the more he focuses on Democrats, the less bandwidth Kennedy may theoretically give to counter Trump-style attacks from the right.
“The Democrats would love to elevate his populism and his conspiracy theories,” Conant said. “Because not only does that offend Democratic voters, but it could … drive some Trump voters too.”
Julia Mueller contributed.