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RFK Jr. takes ‘agonising’ decision to suspend presidential campaign, endorse Trump: ‘Difficult sacrifice for…’
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced he is suspending, not ending, his campaign for president. difficult sacrifice for my
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced he is suspending, not ending, his campaign for president and will seek to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states because he believes his presence in the race would help Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris accepted her party’s nomination and offered her policy agenda on the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.
Donald Trump will hold a rally in Arizona on Friday.
Trump gave a shoutout to former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt of court for disobeying a judge’s 2011 order to stop his traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.
Arpaio was spared a possible jail sentence when his misdemeanor conviction was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump in 2017. Arpaio lost his reelection in 2016.
RFK Jr. addresses the crowd
Trump brought Kennedy to the podium to speak. Kennedy told the crowd that Trump wants to end a neoconservative grip on American foreign policy and end censorship. He asked the crowd, “Don’t you want a president that’s going to make America healthy again?”
Trump invoked Kennedy’s slain uncle and father, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and said, “I know that they are looking down right now and they are very, very proud of Bobby.”
Trump announced he would establish a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts and would release all remaining documents related to John F. Kennedy’s slaying.
He also indicated he’d tap Kennedy if he’s elected president and announced he would establish a panel “working with Bobby” to investigate the increase of chronic health problems and childhood diseases, including autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity, infertility and other issues.
Trump faithful queue in line despite triple-degree heat
Trump’s rally in Glendale, Arizona, set for Friday afternoon is a joint event with the conservative youth organization Turning Point, which has flourished with the rise of Trump’s MAGA movement and become a key well of base support for the former president.
The event reflected the youth organization’s imprint, with a high-tech production that included strobe lights, rock-star walk-on music and LED screens that’s a departure from Trump’s typical setup.
A long line of people waited in triple-digit temperatures outside waiting to get in, even though the event was nearing capacity. At least one person was seen being loaded into an ambulance near the back of the line as people waiting without shade.
Voter Voice: Democrats are ‘not the party of integrity’
Alida Roberts, 49, said Robert Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement of Trump speaks volumes about the current state of the Democratic Party.
“It says a lot. It says that he doesn’t trust what’s going on, that it’s not the party he grew up in,” Roberts said shortly after hearing Trump speak in Las Vegas. “It’s not the party of integrity. It’s not the party for the people anymore, even though they would like to think they still are.”
Roberts, who voted twice for Trump, said she was relieved and excited by the endorsement. She’d been “teeter-tottering” between the two candidates but knew that Kennedy’s campaign faced headwinds too strong to overcome.
Trump reiterates promise to eliminate taxes on tips
At his campaign stop Friday in Las Vegas, Trump sought to reclaim his vow to eliminate taxes on tips for service industry workers.
It’s a promise that Trump shared in June at a Las Vegas rally that Harris later echoed when speaking to her own supporters at a rally earlier this month on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“In our case, we mean it,” Trump said. “Somebody I know just copied it. You know that’s not going to happen.”
The Culinary Workers Union, a political powerhouse in Nevada representing 60,000 service-industry employees at hotels and casinos, has endorsed Harris. But on Friday, Trump said, “Can we get the Culinary Union to maybe vote for Trump?”
The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump reacts to RFK Jr. endorsement
Trump, who is campaigning in Las Vegas, said he’d just got a “very nice” endorsement from RFK Jr. that he’ll be talking about in Arizona.
“That was very nice,” he said. “That’s big.”
Dozens of his supporters packed inside a Mexican and Italian fusion restaurant cheered.
RFK Jr. calls his decision to support Trump ‘agonizing’
As Kennedy shared what he called an “agonizing” and “heart-wrenching decision to suspend my campaign and to support President Trump,” it evoked another decision he had described as difficult for himself and his family — when he left the Democratic Party to run as an independent.
When he announced that move last fall, he said it was “very painful to let go of the party of my uncles, my father, my grandfather and both of my great-grandfathers.”
During Friday’s announcement, he noted that joining the Trump campaign would be a “difficult sacrifice for my wife and children.”
