Former President Donald Trump told CNN on Tuesday that he would be open to appointing independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to a cabinet position if Kennedy exited the race and endorsed his campaign.
In an interview with CNN’s Kristen Holmes, Trump reportedly referred to Kennedy as a “brilliant guy” whom he respects, before saying he would be “open” to offering him a role should Kennedy decide to leave the race and support Trump.
“I like [Kennedy] a lot. I respect him a lot,” Trump is quoted stating later in the interview. “I probably would [offer him a position], if something like that happened. He’s a very different kind of a guy — a very smart guy. And, yeah, I would be honored by that endorsement, certainly.”
Trump’s remarks followed a recent video in which Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s vice-presidential running mate, expressed concerns on the Impact Theory podcast about potentially aiding a Kamala Harris victory. During the conversation, Shanahan shared that the campaign is grappling with the choice to either stay in the race and use a strong showing to form a new party that could potentially qualify for federal matching funds, or to join forces with the Trump campaign. It’s worth noting that in the same interview, Shanahan still had reservations and questioned whether Trump would follow through on his promises if re-elected.
Kennedy previously met with the Trump campaign last month, according to the Washington Post, during which both parties reportedly discussed the possibility of Kennedy withdrawing from the race and endorsing Trump, as well as a potential cabinet role for Kennedy focused on health and medical issues in a future Trump administration. Kennedy said at the time he was not dropping out and noted that he is open to discussions with any campaign to share priorities and explore topics like potential cabinet appointments.
Nuña has some very good points.
I would add that unless one is very slick or has a lot of respect as a e.g. statesman, in my experience this is how it works.
RFK JR if he must drop out should endorse the LP candidate while saying nice things about the other candidates, start an education think tank and also PAC, and build from there.
After all this work his best move is likely stay the course and keep building a progressive-libertarian coalition political base.
Then again, RFK JR may simply be keeping himself in the news cycle, or the reporters need something to write about. Or it may be The Establishment signaling what it wants done to someone not listening.
I notice the polls are getting goofier (300 respondents?) and excluding the LP candidate. Interesting survey on RFK… https://apnews.com/article/robert-f-kennedy-jr-polls-rfk-trump-harris-fd8463cfcdd1bb9399466be59ce0db97
RFK is cashing in his credibility for a cabinet post instead of ca. 5% of the vote.
If RFK is at risk of damaging his credibility surely he is also facing the possibility of losing his stores of unobtanium. Regardless, he would be foolish to depend upon the promise of being paid with a cabinet post on Tuesday in exchange for an endorsement today.
Trump having the outward grace to say he would be honored by Kennedy’s endorsement, is a far shot from Trump wanting Kennedy’s endorsement, and even further from only entertaining the possibility of giving him a cabinet position in return for such endorsement.
If Trump actually wants to put Kennedy in his cabinet – and I don’t know that he does! – he should not want Kennedy’s endorsement. He doesn’t need it, to beat Harris. And if Kennedy dropped out of the race, quite a few of his (former) supporters would transfer their vote to Trump without any endorsement from Kennedy. In fact, making an explicit endorsement of a candidate whom he has been running against clearly and consistently, would be more likely to rub (former) supporters the wrong way and they would refuse to transfer their votes to the endorsed candidate. So Trump should want Kennedy to drop out without endorsing him.
Giving an endorsement would irreparably damage Kennedy’s credibility, which would in turn make him unsuitable for a cabinet appointment. Kennedy certainly is clever enough to know that, and Trump probably is too. In the unlikely event that Kennedy is foolish enough to endorse Trump, he will not get a long-term cabinet position. Very possibly he won’t get one at all, but even if he does he will be in and out within one month.
tl;dr: If Trump is serious about offering a cabinet position to Kennedy, he does not want his endorsement. And conversely, if he asks for Kennedy’s endorsement, then he does not want him in his cabinet. But even without the cabinet position, I think Trump would gain more voters from Kennedy without an endorsement than with one.
Massachusetts hasn’t held its state primary yet. Maybe Kennedy could jump in as a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary for US Senator against Lizzy Warren.
Are we ready for TrumpCare?
It would be interesting to see how long Kennedy lasts in a Trump cabinet.