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Trump operatives reportedly recruited RFK Jr. ‘early on’ as possible running mate

January 28, 2024 | | Print Article

Folks close to former President Donald Trump reportedly sought to recruit independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his running mate.

“Trump operatives expressed an interest in Kennedy early on, but it was all premature,” an unnamed source told the New York Post, adding that it was “right out of the box when Bobby announced” his candidacy.

“Anything’s possible. I wouldn’t write it off by any means,” the source continued.

However, Kennedy reportedly wasn’t interested and has in the meantime “continued to shoot down speculation that he would ever take a job as Trump’s veep,” according to the Post.

Yet according to a large donor who’s contributed to both Trump and Kennedy’s campaigns, the former president’s campaign is still quietly pushing the idea.

“It’s very much behind the scenes at this stage. As we progress you might see it bubble up a little bit more. Bobby can bring new people to the polls,” the donor said.

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One of the voices close to Trump publicly calling for RFK to be his vice president is former Trump era chief White House strategist Steve Bannon.

“If somehow it worked out [that] you could get Kennedy as a running mate — and I don’t know, that is far from even technically can happen because of the structure of the Democratic and Republican parties and ballot access and all that — you could get 60 percent or higher in the country and win a massive landslide,” he predicted on his podcast last August.

Asked on the social media platform  X this Saturday whether they support RFJ as Trump’s vice president, Trump supporters appeared divided, with some viewing it as a great opportunity:

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And others fearing the consequences of RFK, who’s technically a liberal, eventually succeeding Trump:

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All this comes days after Trump announced that fellow presidential candidate Nikki Haley “probably” will never be his VP pick.

“She is not presidential timber,” Trump said at a Concord, New Hampshire event two Fridays ago, moments after suggesting the former South Carolina governor had been out of her depth after being named a diplomat.

The president hedged as he clarified, “Now when I say that, that probably means that she’s not going to be chosen as the vice president.”

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“You can go and you can say certain things — ‘I don’t like ’em…’ — but when you say certain things it sort of takes them out of play, right? I can’t say, ‘she’s not of the timber to be a vice-‘ and then say, ‘ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to announce that I’ve picked-‘ You understand?” he said to crowd, “But that’s the way it is, okay. Tell it like it is.”

Earlier in his remarks, Trump had told those gathered, “You have people that put America last and Nikki is somebody that puts America last. I used to watch her when we were dealing with different countries like Russia or China and she was sittin’ there like,” he said before acting as someone with their mouth agape and acknowledging, “I put her in the room.”

Vivek Saxena
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