Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family condemned his endorsement of former President Donald Trump in a joint statement on Friday.
Kennedy announced that he is suspending his campaign and threw his support behind the Republican frontrunner during a speech in Phoenix, Arizona after his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, previously alluded to the candidates joining forces. In response, his family posted a joint statement calling the decision a “sad ending to a sad story.”
“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,” the statement reads. “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’s a sad ending to a sad story.”
I am sharing a personal statement that my family and I have made in response to my brother’s announcement. pic.twitter.com/j7vTTabNYZ
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) August 23, 2024
Kennedy said that the decision to end his campaign was made with great difficulty, but that he saw no “realistic path to an electoral victory.” He cited censorship, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the “war on our children” as the three primary issues that led to his decision.
“Three great causes drove me to enter this race in the first place, primarily, and these are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said Friday.
“In my heart, I no longer believe I have a realistic path to an electoral victory,” Kennedy said. “I am not terminating my campaign. I am simply suspending it.”
RFK Jr. drops out of the race and endorses Trump:
pic.twitter.com/DZGLMDdMVM— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 23, 2024
Kennedy was also bashed online by his cousin, Jack Schlossberg, who claimed that Kennedy was “for sale” and urged his audience to vote for Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris instead.
“Never been less surprised in my life,” Schlossberg said in a post on X shortly after the announcement. “Been saying it for over a year — [RFK Jr] is for sale, works for Trump. Bedfellows and loving it. Kamala Harris is for the people — the easiest decision of all time just got easier.”
Trump welcomed the endorsement shortly after Kennedy’s speech and previously said he “would be honored” to gain his support.
“He is a little different kind of a guy, very smart guy, a very good person. If he endorsed me, I would be honored by it, I would be very honored by it,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” co-hosts Ainsley Earhardt, Lawrence Jones, Brian Kilmeade and guest host Will Cain on Thursday. “He really has his heart in the right place, he is a respected person.”
The letter was posted by Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and signed by his siblings Kathleen, Courtney, Chris and Rory Kennedy.
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