There was a bit of a bombshell in recent days regarding a possible move by the Kennedy campaign.
Kennedy’s VP, Nicole Shanahan, suggested that Kennedy could drop out and team up with Trump to defeat Harris in November.
Talking Points…
- Campaign for sale
- Trump reaction
- Analysis
Reports broke last week that Kennedy allegedly approached the Harris campaign to trade his endorsement for a cabinet position. After the report surfaced, Kennedy immediately came out to say that he would never endorse Harris and that the report had been completely fabricated. Now, there has been a new development on that front.
Kennedy clearly knows he cannot win, but he does still have options. It would be a risky move, but if Kennedy could win 5% nationally in a federal election, he could receive federal funding to start a legitimate third party, then make another run in 2028. The problem, however, is that Kennedy is right at that number and his campaign has lost all momentum, so I don’t think that would be the prudent move to make here.
Another option blew up on social media over the last couple of days regarding comments made by Shanahan. During the Tom Bilyeu podcast, she suggested that Kennedy could join Trump’s campaign. She stated:
“There’s two options that we’re looking at, and one is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz presidency because we draw votes from Trump.
“[The second is] we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump … and we explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”
Shanahan said this was about picking the lesser of two evils for her and Kennedy. They would obviously like to win, but they know they cannot, and they don’t want to hand Harris the win by staying in and taking away votes from Trump. To that point, she stated:
“If we are splitting hairs, I would say that I trust the future of this county more under the leadership of Trump and the [Peter] Thiels and the JD Vances than I do right now under Harris and the Reid Hoffmans.”
The moment that report was made, the media could not get a microphone in Trump’s face quickly enough. Trump and Kennedy do have some history, and they genuinely seem to like each other, but the question remains: how would conservatives feel about someone who is clearly a liberal joining forces with Trump? For now, Trump seems up for it, stating:
“I like him, and I respect him. He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a very long time.
“I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it.”
If we are being honest, Trump’s first term definitely had some liberal-leaning policies that were put into play, mostly due to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, so this is not out of the realm of possibilities for the Trump team to consider. Trump could pick something he and Kennedy agree on and add Kennedy to his Cabinet for that specific task.
Honestly, at this point, I think conservatives are so desperate to defeat the Democrats in November that this deal would be a no-brainer. Whatever concession Trump would have to give to Kennedy would unlikely be something that would upset the apple cart too much, so while I am definitely hesitant to have a liberal in the administration, Kennedy’s support could be what puts Trump over the top. Right now, getting back into the White House is the most important thing, so if this helps Trump win, I think most conservatives would eat whatever comes with it.
