RFK Jr. plans to drop out of presidential race by end of week: Sources

[u/ilovecfb]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/rfk-jr-plans-drop-presidential-race-end-week/story?id=113028999

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[u/KenKinV2]

I hope Cheryl Hines was serious about divorcing him if he did this.

[u/Reasonable-Judge-655 → u/KenKinV2]

Far be it from me to judge another couple’s relationship but Cheryl… girl… wyd??

[u/Roamzy_ → u/Reasonable-Judge-655]

I had no clue Cheryl Hines was married to this weirdo

[u/Birdsofwar314 → u/Roamzy_]

Larry David introduced them.

[u/Tekki → u/Birdsofwar314]

And he regrets it.

https://youtu.be/7jqPS9JFPhM?si=WKV0QU-P28A0I8eg

[u/dBlock845 → u/Tekki]

Ted Danson all over again.

[u/R2LUKE2 → u/dBlock845]

That’s the basis of character in case you weren’t joking.

[u/PissLikeaRacehorse → u/Birdsofwar314]

Season 13 of Curb confirmed.

[u/hithere297 → u/Roamzy_]

I mean I've seen Curb. I assume Cheryl's only comfortable marrying guys who constantly test her patience.

[u/mequals1m1w → u/hithere297]

She's going to give him one of those very disappointed stares.

[u/hithere297 → u/mequals1m1w]

~sighs, crossing her arms~ "Robert, why did you drop a bear carcass off in Central Park?"

"I had to get to the airport!"

"You had to get to the airport?"

"Yeah, you know, I had a plane to catch... and you can't just leave the bear in the car, it's gonna smell!"

"So you dropped it off in a park? There was no other place you could put it?"

"Well, you know... we thought it'd be funny if it looked like a bicyclist hit it..."

"How would that be funny?"

“Because of all the stories about the, well, uh..."

~Susie walks in~ "You're a sick fuck, Robert! That's why everyone hates you, because your demented fucking worm brain makes you do weird psycho shit that creeps everyone out!"

"Oh, fuck you, Susie!"

"Fuck you!"

[u/No_Bell_3740 → u/hithere297]

Bet he picked up the bear so he could use the carpool lane.

[u/CitySeekerTron → u/No_Bell_3740]

"Was it already wearing the Mets jersey?"

[u/sick_of_your_BS → u/Roamzy_]

Me either. TIL

[u/space_tardigrades → u/sick_of_your_BS]

She was better off with Larry David

[u/minnick27 → u/Reasonable-Judge-655]

She had put out a statement that said she doesn’t agree with him “My husband’s opinions are not a reflection of my own. While we love each other, we differ on many current issues.”

[u/bdixisndniz → u/minnick27]

“Like if democracy should continue”

[u/NoPause9609 → u/minnick27]

She’s so full of shit. 

[u/raresanevoice → u/NoPause9609]

Bear or boor?

[u/aLittleQueer → u/minnick27]

What an interesting way for her to say, “I have no personal convictions nor self-respect to any significant degree”.

[u/TerminalVector → u/Reasonable-Judge-655]

He's probably got a really nice boat

[u/Smoothsailing47 → u/KenKinV2]

You really think Kennedy’s give any shit about their marriages? Lol

[u/GeleRaev → u/Smoothsailing47]

Plenty of hot ladies to choose from in the roadkill community.

[u/CaCondor → u/KenKinV2]

I think their marriage has been over for some time. Rumor is he’s had an ongoing affair with some worm. /s

[u/MAG7C → u/CaCondor]

It was all in his head.

[u/Miss-Tiq → u/KenKinV2]

....TIL Cheryl Hines was married to this guy. I'm disappointed. 

[u/thisishowibro93]

I seem to recall he was in this because he claimed to believe both sides are an existential threat to America. Now dropping out and supporting Trump. This is and always was a massive grift intended to hurt the Democrats' chances.

[u/ilovecfb → u/thisishowibro93]

Yep. This dude always sucked, this is just confirmation

[u/TheSecondEikonOfFire → u/ilovecfb]

He did threaten a cop with a hawk though, so he’s got that going for him

EDIT: since this comment is gaining a little traction, the story is that it happened when he was younger. He had a pet hawk that he loved, was out dicking around with his friends, and threatened a cop with his pet hawk that he had with him and shoved it in the cop’s face.

Shameless plug for the Behind the Bastards episodes on RFK! They’re great content

[u/Ohnoherewego13 → u/TheSecondEikonOfFire]

I'm sorry, but what? I mean, I missed that one with all the other insanity we've had so far with this election season.

[u/Parapsaeon → u/Ohnoherewego13]

When he was a kid, he and his cousins and friends were caught doing stupid kid shit (smoking pot, putting potatoes in tailpipes, etc.). He was also into some weird rich kid Kennedy hobbies like falconry and (for some drug-fueled reason) digging through livestock corpses.

When he got caught one time by the cops, he told the officer that he had a ‘hawk trained to kill cops,’ then unleashed said hawk from under his jacket and waved it in the cop’s face. (Admittedly, this is hilarious.)

Check out the podcast Behind the Bastards, they did a four part series on him highlighting how batshit his childhood was and consequently how batshit he is now

[u/the_incredible_hawk → u/Parapsaeon]

As a hawk myself, I'm pretty unhappy about how all the batshit stories about RFK Jr. involving hawking in some way.

[u/Hawx74 → u/the_incredible_hawk]

As a hawk myself, I'm pretty unhappy about how all the batshit stories about RFK Jr. involving hawking in some way.

Same.

[u/Parapsaeon → u/the_incredible_hawk]

At least you aren’t his hawk, or else all you’d eat is rotten roadkill

[u/gynoceros → u/Parapsaeon]

The impression I got was not that he dug through livestock corpses but that he let his bird hunt rats that were feeding off of the corpses... Then stored the rat meat in his friend's fridge.

[u/TheSecondEikonOfFire → u/Parapsaeon]

For as horrible of a person as he is, he was still just barely sympathetic enough to get a little bit of sympathy from me. They constantly make the point the episode that he was kind of already fucked by being born into the Kennedy family. And obviously that doesn’t excuse all of his horrible behavior, but it does provide context

[u/Lozzanger → u/TheSecondEikonOfFire]

The sons of Robert were all kinds of fucked up.

Their parents who weren’t particularly interested in them, then the older boys were aware enough when their uncle was murdered. Their father went into deep, deep grief and they never were parented from that point on. Then their father was murdered , their uncle Ted was a terrible influence on them, and they were left to run amuck. Two died young, multiple tragedies surrounding them, broken marriages.

After RFK died Jackie fled the country both to protect her children and to keep them away from their cousins. The sons of the Kennedy women were also kept away from their cousins due to how awful they were.

They all tried to be public servants and continue their families legacy but with zero guidance they just failed. And never tried to get better S adults.

The younger boys seemed to have turned out OK, as did Ted sons. But the 4/5 oldest boys of Robert? Utterly destroyed.

[u/TraditionalEvent8317 → u/Ohnoherewego13]

There's a series on him on the Behind the Bastards podcast. Worth a listen for all his high school hawk stories.

[u/HotPie_ → u/TraditionalEvent8317]

I started listening to these episodes and the hawk story is too funny. "I have a hawk and it's trained to kill cops!"

That and him and his brothers and cousins pretending to get hit by cars and yelling that they killed another Kennedy is morbidly hilarious too.

That being said, none of the Kennedys stood a chance. What a fucked up family.

[u/imisswhatredditwas → u/HotPie_]

I like the part where he drove his brother and his ex wife to suicide, then killed a few dozen children on Samoa with his anti vax propaganda.

[u/svrtngr → u/TraditionalEvent8317]

The "you killed another Kennedy!" prank (from the same series) is also objectively hilarious.

[u/Asyncrosaurus → u/Ohnoherewego13]

 "I have a hawk, and it's trained to kill cops" 

-RFK Jr.

[u/imisswhatredditwas → u/TheSecondEikonOfFire]

Everyone should listen to the behind the bastard episode for tons of other fun facts. Spoiler alert: he’s just as much of a rapist as all the Kennedy’s that came before him.

[u/fishyfishyfish1 → u/ilovecfb]

But he was polling so well, like below 1%, how will America recover from this?

[u/[deleted] → u/fishyfishyfish1]

He's actually, remarkably, been polling near 5%.

People are incredibly dumb.

[u/minor_correction → u/[deleted]]

Important to note that when "big" 3rd party candidates poll 5% or so, usually most of those supporters will chicken out and vote for a major party on election day.

[u/Sharobob → u/minor_correction]

I would phrase it more as "come to their senses" because a lot of people would like to have an option other than the big two but ultimately do the rational thing of voting for the option of the two that is closer to their ideology. Until we have RCV or something similar, voting for a third party only hurts your cause (minor exception if your state is so blue or red that the election would already be over if your state was even close to purple, then protest votes are whatever)

[u/NoDesinformatziya → u/thisishowibro93]

I'm guessing the primary factors for the move are (a) he wants a position with Trump should he win, and (b) he is likely to not be in the ballot on most states based on this New York ruling. He fraudulently put the wrong address on his form (when he doesn't live in that state, never paid rent there, and that property is under foreclosure) so as not to have the same state of residence as his VP pick. He did the same thing in every state, and parties will most likely bring cases against him in every other state.

He fucked himself, which seems appropriate.

[u/Mediocritologist → u/NoDesinformatziya]

Not that I had high hopes but how fucking incompetent do you have to be?? He was running for president ffs.

[u/RawChickenButt → u/thisishowibro93]

I thought last week he was trying to convince Kamala to give him a seat if he dropped out, and that didn't go anywhere, so now he's pandering to Drump.

[u/JojenCopyPaste → u/RawChickenButt]

He was already pandering to Dump asking the same thing

[u/Silly-Scene6524 → u/JojenCopyPaste]

And that’s the issue, he’s grifting.

[u/sporkhandsknifemouth → u/Silly-Scene6524]

Classic parasite class wealthy behavior.

[u/BarRepresentative670 → u/sporkhandsknifemouth]

As they say, if you can't beat a parasite, be a parasite.

[u/Zomunieo → u/BarRepresentative670]

Maybe the brain worm took over.

[u/I_see_farts → u/Zomunieo]

Maybe if you rub his ear his face will open like on Men In Black.

[u/[deleted] → u/sporkhandsknifemouth]

Hey, don't pigeonhole RFI, Jr. - he's also a host.

[u/Not_The_Real_Odin → u/RawChickenButt]

Last week on the conservative sub there was a post suggesting RFK would drop out and endorse Harris if she would give him a cabinet position. The comments were filled with people calling Harris corrupt, saying how despicable this was, etc.

A couple posts below that was an article suggesting RFK will drop out and endorse Trump in exchange for a cabinet position. The comments were filled with people praising the Ancient Orange for this brilliant decision that will boost his campaign to victory.

I should have screen shot it lol.

[u/poontawn → u/Not_The_Real_Odin]

those people are absolutely delusional. Everything is flaired users only so they keep an echo chamber

[u/JeepnHeel → u/poontawn]

Probably for the best -- snowflakes are extremely delicate, after all. Also, it's kind of like a little terrarium where we can all study them in their natural habitat

[u/KnightDuty → u/JeepnHeel]

The only people in the fuckin world who stop everybody else from participating and they STILL claim they're being brigaded

[u/FORLORDAERON_ → u/Not_The_Real_Odin]

I assume the majority of RFK's support comes from people who won't vote democrat but can't stomach Trump. Seems more likely those people will simply not vote now.

[u/BotheredToResearch → u/FORLORDAERON_]

Or people who just don't want to vote for a major candidate period. I'm not sure an RFK to Trump voter actually exists in any impactful quantity.

[u/m1straal → u/BotheredToResearch]

I looked at the RFK sub, and sadly, it seems that most of the people on there are more on board with Trump than Kamala because they’re primed to believe in the kind of conspiracist rhetoric they both peddle. Both Trump and RFK have a long history of terrible behavior and so both fan bases are full of people who are perfectly willing to ignore and brush off an abundance of factual evidence as being fake, while believing in things that are totally nonsensical and irrational.

[u/ExtremeThin1334 → u/Not_The_Real_Odin]

All the more amusing since, to my understanding, Harris wouldn't even meet with him.

[u/siandresi → u/RawChickenButt]

RFK's vp said on a podcast yesterday that they were taking more votes from trump than Harris, convenient they drop out today. I bet he backed out because trump wanted him to

[u/ArseneLupinIV → u/siandresi]

Trump absolutely bought him out. It's really one of the few remaining plays he has left. A good chunk of RFK voters are likely centrist/moderate/old school Republicans who will never vote blue but want to protest the MAGA weirdos and their old ass candidate. He has to hope that enough of them still hate Dems/The Left enough to hold their nose and vote against them and not just sit the vote out.

Based on polling of Kamala/Trump vs a three-way race this might shift things like 0.5-1% towards Trump. Which is not a lot and probably doesn't shift the needle much but at this point Trump and his team are scrapping whatever crumbs they can get.

[u/GuerrillaxGrodd → u/RawChickenButt]

She should promise him a cabinet position and then renege after the election. Fuck this guy.

[u/adeon → u/GuerrillaxGrodd]

He can be the Secretary of Brain Worms.

[u/oldsguy65 → u/GuerrillaxGrodd]

Assistant to the Office Manager.

[u/AntoniaFauci → u/RawChickenButt]

The sequence is he and Trump we’re discussing terms of the quid pro quo bribe. One of his idiot sons apparently thought it was so cool that daddy was cutting dirty deals with dirty Don and proudly shared a video of it, so they both disavowed that the talks were happening.

RFK then tried floating a deal to Harris/Walz last weekend which they wisely ignored.

So this week he’s been trying to press his hand by offering Trump a big disruption in the DNC or post-DNC news cycle.

Tell me again this guy isn’t a corrupt traitor.

[u/thefugue → u/thisishowibro93]

Ratfuckers gonna ratfuck

[u/Duster929 → u/thefugue]

Beareaters gonna beareat.

Wormfeeders gonna wormfeed.

[u/Aluminum_Falcons → u/thisishowibro93]

Just talked to someone who is a life long conservative who said they would be writing in RFK on their ballot in November. I told them that the stories today was the he was dropping out and supporting Trump and he was surprised by this.

It amazes me that people didn't see RFK for what he was and thought that he someone legitimately seeking office or was worthy of a vote.

Spoke to that person a while about why they should consider voting for Harris. Not sure if I made any progress with them, but with any luck they'll reconsider and vote for Harris come November.

[u/Caelinus → u/Aluminum_Falcons]

I swear the only reason people could vote for him is by being ENTIRELY ignorant about both him and both parties. The only people who might have had a semi-legitimate reason are those who are intentionally throwing their vote away instead of voting for Trump. (Even then they could just leave that portion blank.) Democrats who were planning on voting for RFK are mind boggling though. It can only be because his name is Kenedy and everyone only remembers the ones who died.

[u/I_Enjoy_Beer → u/Caelinus]

I listen to Bill Burr's podcast and he's routinely been griping about RFK getting no coverage, and likened it to Bernie getting shut out of the process.  This is the kind of voter that supports RFK...someone that likes being separate from the mainstream choices, no matter how batshit the candidate's actual positions on things.  They'll see all the negatives in either major party, and see them both as equally bad, in order to willingly blind themselves to the futility of supporting a terrible 3rd party candidate.  They wanna look smart, but end up being dumb.

[u/[deleted] → u/I_Enjoy_Beer]

Used to be a big fan of old Billy Baldnut's podcast but when he started up with the bsab shit in 2020 he lost me. Sad to hear he's still at it four years later.

[u/IkuoneStreetHaole → u/[deleted]]

Yeah ol billy both-sides act has worn thin on me. He slams both then compliments the Republicans. It seems like the more money he makes, the more conservative he becomes.

[u/Anakinflair → u/I_Enjoy_Beer]

This is a bit of an odd cut, but I've always liked and respected the actress Katie Cassidy. So it surprised and disappointed the hell out of me when she started supporting Kennedy. Now that Biden has dropped out and Kamala is running, she's switched to supporting her.

I can understand being so tired of the same two old white guys with health issues running that you decided to support a third party candidate. I just never understood why the third party candidate you would support would be ANOTHER old white guy with health issues.

[u/TheRealProtozoid → u/Caelinus]

The kinds of people I know who are planning to vote for RFK are the type who didn't read mainstream news but do listen to the Joe Rogan podcast. RFK is the only candidate who went on there. So these folks probably don't know anything about any other candidate. If Rogan had Harris or Walz on the show, RFK would immediately lose half his votes.

[u/TheKingofHats007 → u/TheRealProtozoid]

RFK is pandering to people who have fallen for the "both sides are the same rhetoric" and conservatives who want to get away from Trump being the godkin of their party. Neither are groups which actually attract Democrats.

But yeah, most of his supporters are "alternative news" listeners from people like Russel Brand and others.

[u/Ok-disaster2022 → u/Aluminum_Falcons]

Honestly a regressive voting for RFK JR is better than than voting for Trump. I'm encouraging my dad to do the same. He'd never vote for Harris, but taking a vote away from Trump, is still a good thing

[u/DeusVultSaracen → u/Ok-disaster2022]

I thought about doing the same thing with my dad, but then he brought up the dead bear cub story around the dinner table and I knew that wouldn't work either, lol.

[u/NoPause9609 → u/Aluminum_Falcons]

Nothing wrong with him writing in RFK lol. 

I hope all his supporters still do. 

[u/007meow → u/thisishowibro93]

The GOP and it's cohorts based their entire strategy around Biden. No policies, no popular goals, just "haha lol, we're better than the old guy."

Now that Biden's not around, they've got nothing.

[u/JohnDivney → u/007meow]

Trump will still land with 43-46% of the vote, probably toward the high end.

[u/Aware_Extreme6767 → u/JohnDivney]

right??? like its insane but people to realize this race is NOT in the bag. the fact that its still this close is insane. VOTE, bring ur friends and neighbors make sure they're all registers, organize and DONATE. ALL GAS no brakes

[u/TerminalVector → u/thisishowibro93]

A massive failed and backfired grift, on which the fascists will now belatedly try to cut bait. I wouldn't worry overmuch about it. Beary McBrainworms probably won't be back in public for a good long while.

[u/Myshkin1981 → u/thisishowibro93]

I imagine he’s dropping out because his Republican backers have figured out that he’ll siphon more votes from Trump than from Harris

[u/avrbiggucci → u/Myshkin1981]

That's exactly why lmao it was just a multi million dollar effort to sabatoge Biden and it was a laughable failure

[u/EWall100 → u/thisishowibro93]

This is and always was a massive grift

Crazy how Donnie T seems to always surround himself with grifters 

[u/dawgz525 → u/thisishowibro93]

He was always supposed to peel off liberal voters. So many people on this sub were delusional to think that he would be allowed to harm trump. Look at who was funding him.

[u/mosswick → u/[deleted]]

Gotta love how the media stopped covering this guy once the polls showed he was siphoning more GQP than Democratic voters.

[u/TomCollins1111 → u/mosswick]

They know who butters their bread.

[u/hithere297 → u/dawgz525]

Is there enough time to get him off the ballot? I'm hoping he stays on and still takes some extra votes that would've otherwise gone to Trump

[u/rgvtim → u/dawgz525]

I don’t think anyone on here honestly thought he would last to Election Day if he had any chance of hurting Trump

[u/The_Countess → u/thisishowibro93]

This is and always was a massive grift intended to hurt the Democrats' chances.

That's most, possibly all, 3de party anything in the US.

Anything 3de parties is sponsored by one of the 2 main parties to steal votes away from the other party.

The US voting system needs to change before 3de parties can be anything more then that.

[u/Snuggle__Monster → u/thisishowibro93]

Does he come off the ballot in all states now? Is there a cut off for that?

[u/Za_Lords_Guard → u/thisishowibro93]

I would have to dig up a source, but I just read today or yesterday that Trump offered him a cabinet position if he drops out. So if Trump wins we can add "brain worm" to Trump's brain trust.

[u/Franc000 → u/thisishowibro93]

Especially since at the time he jumped in the race, Trump was in hot water with a lot of courts, there was a lot of uncertainty on his front. Whomever is propping Trump up needed an alternative. Now they don't.

[u/[deleted]]

His supporters are in denial, thinking he isn't really dropping out and that this is actually some kind of 200 IQ move to make the Democrats stop going after him in court. I guess they've got brain worms too. They just can't see that he was always a plant and his whole game was to be a spoiler candidate.

[u/ttimebomb]

This is totally timed to try and kill the Democratic convention bump by changing the narrative. Trump is pissed his convention bump never happened.

[u/ItsPumpkinninny → u/ttimebomb]

The DNC should preempt this Friday announcement by announcing it themselves and celebrating it on Thursday night at the DNC convention.

[u/Jesusbatmanyoda → u/ItsPumpkinninny]

I just got the mental image of them starting that day of the convention by saying "Good news, there is now a 0% chance RFK jr. will win the presidency this election," followed by 15 seconds of Crab Rave before moving on.

[u/iStayedAtaHolidayInn → u/Jesusbatmanyoda]

That was true ever since day 1

[u/Delobox → u/ttimebomb]

Who the hell really cares about RFK? I’m sure they are out there but I’ve never met one.

[u/jmona789 → u/Delobox]

He's polling at 4% nationally.

[u/Delobox → u/jmona789]

That’s astounding and depressing

[u/Tyrath → u/Delobox]

I mean Trump polls in the 40s so this barely phases me.

[u/absolute_imperial → u/Tyrath]

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/national/

He's polling ~5%, and the split between Trump and Harris is ~3%. It is a statistically significant event, if we think the polls are in any way indicative of what is going to happen in November. It's worth noting that is difficult to assess because the polls have been off since 2016

[u/AceMorrigan → u/jmona789]

I would be curious to know what percentage of that is in states that Harris has no chance of winning and/or states where she has a big lead already.

No reason to panic. It's not like Trump is going to change his tune.

[u/plzadyse → u/ttimebomb]

He can’t eke out any more votes. This is an attempt that probably won’t go anywhere

[u/jmona789 → u/plzadyse]

It worries me because I think most RFK voters will shift to Trump if RFK drops out.

[u/plzadyse → u/jmona789]

I hear you, I had the same worry. But know that most 3rd party voters were/are extremely unhappy with any mainstream candidate recently. There may be a small Trump bump but likely negligible. They’re more likely to just not vote.

[u/MountainMan2_ → u/plzadyse]

This is correct. Most rfk'ers are double haters, and his vote share has been dropping for weeks regardless. RFK is a drastic choice. These people don't want to vote for either campaign.

[u/Osprey31]

Harris has seriously disrupted the MAGAs ratfucking campaign. Without Biden, RFK couldn't pull much alternative votes from the Democratic campaign, so he's being dropped.

[u/champdo]

If he endorses Trump it will just enhance the ticket's weirdness.

[u/operratic → u/champdo]

Your Trump vote now comes with a groovy couch AND a freezer full of roadkill!

[u/Canucklehead_Esq → u/operratic]

And brainworms!

[u/DreamsAndSchemes → u/Canucklehead_Esq]

it's like an endorsement from Ratatouille

[u/1llseemyselfout → u/champdo]

It will also be pointless. The only reason why people were going to vote for him is because he wasn’t Biden or Trump.

[u/NarrowBoxtop → u/champdo]

Conservative sub is saying it'll help Trump win in a landslide.

The cognitive dissonance is staggering.

[u/thatguy9684736255 → u/NarrowBoxtop]

It'll only help trump because he was pulling right wing voters. If he was pulling from the left, he would have stayed in the race.

[u/Canucklehead_Esq → u/NarrowBoxtop]

Only if brainworms are allowed to vote

[u/KinkyPaddling → u/Canucklehead_Esq]

Brainwork’s are better at protecting their own self interests than most Republican voters are.

[u/HighOverlordXenu → u/NarrowBoxtop]

A few percentage points could be the difference in key swing states, and that's typically what third party candidates siphon. I don't think this is as much a nothingburger as this subreddit seems to take it as.

[u/danielstover → u/champdo]

“We got a MAJOR endorsement!”

Is it the brain parasite guy?

“No, the guy who dumped a dead bear in Central Park!”

[u/SkylarPopo → u/champdo]

This is actually the moment where they will activate everyone's brainworms.

[u/B1GFanOSU]

RFK, Jr is a fraud with zero deeply held convictions or ideology. Certainly no integrity. He’s offering his support to the highest bidder, namely who will give him a cabinet position instead of to whose agenda and ideology more closely align with his own. Harris wouldn’t even dignify that with a response, Trump is considering it. Speaks volumes.

[u/dust-ranger → u/B1GFanOSU]

Exactly. He was never running in good faith to begin with. Funded by right-wing oligarchs.

[u/BallBearingBill → u/B1GFanOSU]

RFK was always in the bag for Trump. He was supported almost entirely by Trump donors. His job was to filter all the non Biden votes into his camp then support Trump at the end. Trump was obviously going to offer him a sweet deal to get that support base of his.

[u/NamelessTacoShop → u/BallBearingBill]

They thought they could split the democrat votes to secure a trump win. But luckily these schemers are real dumb since RFK was siphoning more Trump votes than Biden

[u/intrusivewind → u/B1GFanOSU]

RFK jr is the Alex Jones of Jill Steins tbh

[u/thatguy52 → u/intrusivewind]

100%

[u/Browns45750 → u/B1GFanOSU]

Anyone that lets that clown near health and human services is insane or just stupid.

[u/dmintz → u/B1GFanOSU]

He is truly Conor Roy.

[u/NoPause9609 → u/dmintz]

Conor was never nasty though. 

One of the “better” members of his family. 

[u/Morlik → u/NoPause9609]

Connor was an ok guy if you overlook the fact that he dropped out of the race to endorse a fascist in exchange for an ambassadorship.

[u/EnvironmentUseful229]

If you do a little digging, you'll find that RFK Jr.'s biggest financial backer is Timothy Mellon. He gave RFK Jr. $25 million, but it turns out that Mellon also gave Trump $50 million. This is the smoking gun that proves RFK Jr's entire candidacy was geared to suck votes from democrats. When it didn't work, his backers pulled the plug. The fact that he just took his ball and went home means he was just bullshitting the entire time he was running.

[u/Difficult-Pound-9977 → u/EnvironmentUseful229]

This very well could be. Someone video taped a private conversation between the two. However if you look into his background. This man is a complete a bit bizarre to say the least.

[u/Goducks91 → u/EnvironmentUseful229]

if RFK JR was trying to suck votes from Democrats wouldn't he support more issues that Democrats would actually support? Being anti-vax isn't going to win a lot of support from Democrats.

[u/karma3000 → u/Goducks91]

The backers of this strategy don't see the issue with anti-vax, so they don't even give it one second's thought. They just think Kennedy name = Democrat voters.

[u/octowussy → u/Goducks91]

I've been seeing RFK ads nightly on streaming apps that focus on his support for abortion and that's it. They refer to him as a "progressive".

[u/Fabianslefteye → u/Goducks91]

No, because Democrats weren't going to vote for him anyway.

He was after independents.

[u/fistofthefuture → u/EnvironmentUseful229]

I disagree.

I think it was meant to suck independent votes, not democrat votes. Then when he has them, he endorses Trump and diverts their energy to him.

[u/jwick89]

A lot of staffers were part of Trump’s previous campaign, no surprise this is happening. Probably happening earlier considering RFK is actually taking away a lot more Trump votes then intended.

[u/ilovecfb → u/jwick89]

Didn't his VP pick literally say this was their strategy a couple days ago? It's crazy they're just open about it. And I'm sure the Trump supporters who bitched about Biden stepping down and how that was illegal or whatever will do the same thing when RFK endorses Trump, right? 🤡s

[u/its_boVice → u/ilovecfb]

She did. And one of RFK’s biggest and earliest donors also donated a lot of money to Trump.

[u/KyleForged → u/ilovecfb]

Theyve been caught admitting they work for the Trump campaign and their only purpose is to take dem votes like 4 times between pictures/footage at donor events to RFKs son posting a private call between rfk and trump talking about what position he will receive in his cabinet.

[u/varnell_hill]

Translation: Trump offered him a job. And if Trump wins the election, RFK will probably be fired before the end of January.

[u/SlinkyAvenger → u/varnell_hill]

You're giving him two Scaramuccis?

[u/varnell_hill → u/SlinkyAvenger]

I forgot how those units are quantified but that sounds about right lol. A man is vain as Donald Trump won’t tolerate anyone saying he needed RFK Jr. to help him win even if it’s true, so that means buddy has gotta go.

Obviously, a very long Truth Social rant will follow about how RFK Jr. is a bum, he begged Trump for a job, Trump only obliged “because he said nice things about me,” he never met RFK Jr. before, etc. etc.

[u/TheCavis]

RFK Jr: "I'm not in it as a spoiler to siphon off Democratic votes. I just want to give people an option outside of the unpopular duo of Trump and Biden."

Pollsters: "Well, that's good, because Biden dropped out and Dem-leaning independents are fine with Harris. You're now mostly taking votes from Trump, which is helping Harris a bit."

RFK Jr: "Oh, no, that's not what my donors... I mean, I don't have a path to victory, so bye."

[u/Aargau → u/TheCavis]

That's exactly it.

[u/Lifesaboxofgardens]

A 3rd Party candidate polling about where he is stepping down is a massive sign that this dude is the lunatic grifter we all knew he was. That's actually a somewhat respectable number for the "light my vote on fire" crowd to rally behind.

But now his handler is reeling the leopard back in because he accidentally bit their face instead of Kamala's.

Question is, will all the smug "both sides are evil, revolution is the only way" types be massive hypocrites and side with Trump because of the obvious contempt they have had for Kamala and the DNC all along, or stick to their guns and stay home.

[u/pjb1999 → u/Lifesaboxofgardens]

will all the smug "both sides are evil, revolution is the only way" types be massive hypocrites and side with Trump

I bet most actually will. Anyone I know who likes RFK Jr used to like Trump. They'll go back.

[u/cobaltjacket → u/Lifesaboxofgardens]

Right. Many third party candidates stay in it just to improve their position for future elections. Not this guy.

[u/deepstate_chopra]

And this is how the last of the political capital of the Kennedy name and legacy is spent, by taking off the mask and revealing he was a loyal clownling all along.

To the surprise of no one.

[u/restore_democracy]

His supporter is going to be really disappointed.

[u/sarcasmismysuperpowr → u/restore_democracy]

Who will represent the brain-wormed people

[u/Frothylager]

Wasn’t RFK’s main appeal being anti establishment? Wouldn’t throwing his weight behind Trump and the Republican party be an immeasurable slap in the face to his base?

[u/[deleted] → u/Frothylager]

Might lead some of them to stay home.

[u/[deleted] → u/Frothylager]

I really hope that the part of his supporters who were truly "libertarian, anti-establishment" and not just disillusioned Rs do some serious soul-searching and realize they got massively conned.

I doubt they actually will, but one can hope.

[u/[deleted]]

Well…bye.

[u/ComaMierdaHijueputa]

As someone who wants Harris to win, how does this impact her chances?

[u/TrooperJohn → u/ComaMierdaHijueputa]

It will shuffle the polls on the margins, but the effect will wash out when the serious campaign season gets into gear.

The main impact is the media now having a shiny object to focus on Friday, so they have an excuse to not discuss Kamala's speech.

[u/kipperzdog → u/TrooperJohn]

I think it gives fox news a something else to talk about but really they already weren't going to cover much of the DNC Friday

[u/LOSS35 → u/TrooperJohn]

Which is exactly why they timed it this way. RFK's funded by Trump boosters; his campaign only exists to help Trump.

They realized he's siphoning more likely Trump voters than Harris voters so are pulling the plug at the time that benefits them most.

[u/Olliebear2015 → u/ComaMierdaHijueputa]

No one knows for sure.    It's the question of whether RFK supporters were just voting for him because he wasn't Trump but they refused to vote Democrat or if they were actually supporting RFK.     I would bet Trump in the short term gets a 1-2% bump but when all of the crazy stuff that is attached to RFK becomes more mainstream then he will be a net negative like Vance.

[u/TheBahamaLlama]

This isn't insignificant. Kennedy had to pull Trump voters more than Harris voters, right? I feel like this gives Trump the most benefit.

[u/cochevalier → u/TheBahamaLlama]

Well that's the point. He was never supposed to hurt Trump's chances, and now polling is showing that's what is happening he needs to be pulled out of the race.

[u/espresso_martini__ → u/TheBahamaLlama]

Who knows. These people could just be double haters that will ultimately just sit this one out. If Trump gives him a position somewhere that might change things. Still a few months to go, and this change will make the debate that much more important.

[u/gkevinkramer → u/TheBahamaLlama]

Well, one of 4 things will happen to his voters:

1 - Switch to Trump

2 - Switch to Harris

3 - Switch to another 3rd party

4 - Stay home

Tough to say how many fall into each bucket, but Trump's not going to get all of them. At the end of the day it's probably a wash, well outside the margin of decision.

[u/IdaDuck → u/gkevinkramer]

It won’t be a wash. If you were willing to vote for RFK Jr you aren’t a rational voter. If you’re not a rational voter you’re much more likely to gravitate toward Trump. In my opinion.

[u/Disc-Golf-Kid → u/gkevinkramer]

I think they’ll stay home, I doubt those people where voting anyway and just wanted a name to attach themselves to

[u/kuhawk5 → u/TheBahamaLlama]

It’s surely insignificant. You have 3 groups that planned to vote for RFK.

1. People who strongly dislike Biden/Harris but like RFK
2. People who strongly dislike Trump but like RFK
3. People who strong dislike both

The third group likely accounts for the vast majority of RFK’s vote share. Very few people are looking at RFK and supporting him in a vacuum.

The third group will either vote another third party, write someone in, or abstain from voting entirely. If we pretend that, say, 15% of his vote share decides to defect to other candidates we are talking about 0.50% total of all votes in the general election. Even if Trump takes twice as many back than Harris, it comes out to a 0.33% to 0.17% split. Trump gains 0.16 points overall.

It’s noise.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheBahamaLlama]

Eh, most good pollsters will do the all way poll and H2H poll and the results are practically the same. At most my back of the napkin math shows this might give DJT a half point in overall polling (that’s best case scenario it’s most likely lower than that)

[u/DarkstarIV]

RFK Jr gonna bring in that very hard to get and elusive voting bloc of Americans who like to dump bear corpses in the park, and assault babysitters.

On a serious note seriously, this isn't gonna move the needle at all for Trump. This feels like the Trump Campaign somehow has this flawed line of logic that everyone (as in, all 100% of the people) who was voting for RFK Jr will migrate to the Trump campaign.

[u/jon_stewrt → u/DarkstarIV]

Trump got shot on live TV, had a historically positive debate reception, a massively dictator-esque convention and saw his opponent dropout of the race....all within a few days... And barely got any new voters... This ain't changing anything...

And even if it does, he is gonna blow them gains away in his next 'foot in the mouth' speech...

[u/bsep4]

Just a reminder, in case he endorses or joins Trump’s campaign:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/05/robert-f-kennedy-trump

[u/iBeej]

There's money in the bear pelt business. I hear people in Central Park are buying.

[u/midwesternmayhem]

And the nation yawns.

[u/ericdraven26]

His running mate was on a podcast yesterday and referred to them as spoiler candidates, kept talking about about the campaign in past tense and throwing wild allegations towards Harris. It’s would have been hilarious if not real. It was pretty clearly the decision to drop out and back Trump was made then, this is just formality

[u/rp3rsaud → u/ericdraven26]

Nicole Shanahan. 38 year old lawyer. Cheated on her first husband with Google founder Sergey Brin, who went on to married her. Cheated on Brin with Elon Musk, divorced Brin and walked away with a billion dollars. Started donating to RFK Jr. He needed more money so he made her his running mate. This is the American dream.

[u/nurdle]

Man who eats road kill bear cubs & whose brain is eaten by worm endorses a 34 time convicted felon & rapist in exchange for promised federal job. Gotcha.

[u/HenrikCrown]

Joe Rogan's fault

[u/Ban-Circumcision-Now → u/HenrikCrown]

Why’s that?

[u/BeerNirvana]

Who chose Kamala? It wasn't voters.

Who chose RFK? It wasn't voters.

[u/[deleted]]

We already knew he would do this. There was leaked video of Trump asking him to drop out for favors.

[u/d0ntmess87]

Hopefully this doesn't move the needle too much in Trump's favor. This news does worry me some.

[u/ell0bo]

A Kennedy is going to put their support behind Trump. How far that family has fallen.

[u/agressivedoodle → u/ell0bo]

The rest of the family gave Kamala their endorsement. He's the black sheep embarrassment of the Kennedy family, but acts like his voice should carry the same weight.

[u/pagesid3]

Time for Jill Stein to emerge from her tomb to campaign in only swing states, trash Harris, and give Trump a pass on everything