In a series of three social media posts late Friday, former President Donald Trump launched what one news outlet referred to as "his biggest attack yet" against independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calling him a Democratic "plant" out to help incumbent President Joe Biden win re-election in November.
"RFK Jr. is a Democrat “Plant,” a Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, get Re-Elected," Trump wrote in his first post.
Trump claimed that "protest" votes for Kennedy would be "wasted," as they would cut into Trump's performance more than Biden's -- although even the right-leaning Washington Examiner noted that that claim was questionable.
"Analysts aren’t entirely sure as to whether he would take more votes away from Trump or Biden, as his eclectic platform and Kennedy name give different appeals to both," Brady Knox wrote for the Examiner.
As for what that "eclectic platform actually looked like, Trump suggested: "Junior’ is totally Anti-Gun, an Extreme Environmentalist who makes the Green New Scammers look Conservative, a Big Time Taxer and Open Border Advocate, and Anti-Military/Vet."
Kennedy has actually sided with Texas against the Biden administration on border issues, it should be noted.
In a second post, Trump said that Kennedy's "Radicalized Family will never allow him to be a Republican," although what exactly he meant by that claim was unclear.
Kennedy has never attempted to identify himself as a Republican, and in fact announced that he would run for president in 2024 as a Democrat before shifting to an independent run in October of last year.
He worked on the campaign staff of his uncle, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, at least twice, as well as on his 1980 presidential campaign.
He endorsed then-Vice President Al Gore for president in 2000 -- and, it should be noted, railed against Green Party candidate Ralph Nader for stealing votes from the Democratic ticket. In the next election, he endorsed Sen. John Kerry against President George W. Bush.
And in 2008, he endorsed former first lady Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primaries and later actively campaigned for Barack Obama after he won the party's nomination.
Trump went on to criticize Kennedy's choice for running mate, California lawyer and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan, whom the former candidate said was picked because of her personal wealth.
Shanahan divorced Google co-founder Sergey Brin through a confidential arbitration process, but various media outlets have reported that she may have received $390 million or more in the divorce.
She has in the past supported numerous left-wing candidates and causes and, as a vice presidential candidate, she is legally allowed to contributed to the presidential campaign without limit.
Trump went on in a third post to criticize Kennedy's radical environmental policies -- he was at one time a supporter of the "Green New Deal" proposal -- and argued that his anti-establishment views on the safety and efficacy of vaccines, a topic Kennedy has spoken about for at least a decade, are "fake."
He even suggested that America would be better off under another four years of a Biden presidency than it would with Kennedy in the Oval Office.
Kennedy responded to Trump's posts with one of his on, but on X, suggesting that they two settle air out their differences in a debate -- a similar proposal to one Trump just made to Biden.
When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged. President Trump's rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate.…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 27, 2024
What prompted Trump's attack on Kennedy at this time was not clear. According to polling averages from RealClearPolitics, Trump is leading Biden in national polling by 0.3 points when only the two major party candidates are considered, but that lead increases to 0.9 points in a five-way race including Kennedy, fellow independent Cornell West, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
In poll averages from seven swing states, Trump fares even better, winning all but Pennsylvania, where Biden currently shows a 0.4-point lead.
As a result, RCP currently predicts a Trump electoral victory of 293-to-245 -- though it is obviously too early to give that much credence.
