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Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
CNN
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As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. maintains his support in opinion polls and makes steady progress in winning the right to vote in states across the country, his independent presidential candidacy faces former President Donald Trump and his Republican Party. It is confusing the campaign of allies.
In recent weeks, Kennedy has gone from being seen as a nuisance to a political issue that the Trump campaign wants to quickly extinguish, according to conversations with people close to the former president.
Trump himself has significantly escalated his attacks on Kennedy in recent weeks, taking to social media on Thursday to label Kennedy as a “Democrat supporter” who would steal votes from his campaign to support President Joe Biden. He posted a long video labeling him and calling on Republicans not to do so. This is to cast a “useless protest vote.”
The shift comes as recent polls show that Mr. Kennedy could reduce support for Mr. Trump just as much as he pulls votes away from Mr. Biden, a result that has so far been independent. This is a clear warning for the Republican Party, which has been eliminating affiliated candidates, sources said.
The consensus among Trump’s top advisers and allies was that Biden had more to lose in November from the presence of independents, especially Kennedy. However, the former president’s team has made headlines, including Kennedy’s ranking in some state polls and his regular appearances on conservative networks such as Newsmax and Fox News, where he openly courted anti-establishment voters. We are noticing that it is receiving increasing attention. That prompted a more concerted effort by Republicans to prevent Mr. Kennedy from slipping into pro-Trump support.
Trump advisers and people close to the former president told CNN they still view Mr. Kennedy as likely to further undermine Mr. Biden. But they privately acknowledge that his influence on Trump’s candidacy varies from state to state. They also reject the idea that Mr. Kennedy could be considered a serious threat to the former president, but rather that the increased attacks on Mr. Kennedy are aimed at current or potential supporters of Mr. Trump. It claims this is an effort to prevent people from considering voting for independent candidates.
“RFK is a problem, not a threat,” one of Trump’s senior advisers told CNN, citing Pennsylvania as one of the key battleground states where Kennedy could hurt Trump, pointing to Keystone. He argued that voters in the state may be drawn to candidates other than Trump. Not even Biden.
As CNN previously reported, there are people in President Trump’s circle who are concerned about Kennedy’s eligibility for the presidential debate, and that holding the debate sooner would allow Kennedy to vacate the debate before gaining further traction in the polls. Some believe it will be easier to keep them away from the podium.
“It’s not that he’s a threat. A lot of it depends on the states, and it’s not yet clear who Trump is receiving more from,” said a source close to Trump. . “If we could make it easier for people on the right who are tolerant of him to dislike him because he’s too liberal. Why not target conservative or conservative voters and squeeze him as much as possible?”
CNN has reached out to the Kennedy campaign for comment.
The Trump campaign attacked Kennedy several months ago, creating a strategy that defined him as “a parade of liberals in conservative clothing.” A senior Trump adviser described Kennedy to CNN by pointing to a series of policies on climate change and abortion. He was active as a member of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
But in the months since, the message has changed. While Mr. Trump’s team and Republican National Committee officials stuck to the script, portraying Mr. Kennedy as a far-left Democrat who did not embody conservative values, the former president himself often held a different view.
Last month, during a campaign stop in Harlem during Trump’s criminal trial, Kennedy suggested that Trump’s envoys had been in contact with him about the possibility. However, the Trump campaign categorically denied this. . Trump instead gently praised Kennedy.
Days later, in an interview with Real America’s Voice, he called Kennedy a “good man” and added that he didn’t know whether Kennedy had hurt him more or Biden had hurt him more.
“Well, I think he’s a good guy. I know him. He’s very liberal. He’s as liberal as anybody,” Trump told the radio host. “They say he’s hurting Biden, but I don’t know if that’s true. But he might be hurting Biden a little bit more, we don’t know.”
Fast forward to May, and Trump took a more aggressive stance against his independent rivals. On Truth Social, he labeled Kennedy a “radical left-wing lunatic,” called him the “stupidest member of the Kennedy family,” and criticized his positions on things like vaccines and environmental policy. , has attacked repeatedly.
Asked about President Trump’s gradually accelerating attacks, a Trump campaign adviser told CNN: We would like to reiterate our message. We want President Trump to do the same thing he’s doing, the same thing we want everyone else to do. He separates the individual from the politician. ”
CNN’s Aaron Perish contributed to this article.