Who will Trump pick as his Vice President now that he is clearly in the lead over the other 2024 hopefuls and seems to clearly want a break with the GOP political establishment? Some are speculating that Trump, in a bid to steal Democrat votes from Biden and avoid choosing a GOP Establishment apparatchik, could choose populist Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Trump gave some hope to the rumors recently, when he called RFK Jr. a “smart guy.”
That comment came during a phone conversation between Newsmax host Rob Schmitt and former President Donald Trump. Schmitt first asked Trump if an RFK Jr. run as a third-party candidate would impact the election and Trump said, “I don’t know, but he’s got great support in the party. He’s got great support in the Democrat Party.” “That’s a lot of vote,” Trump added
Schmitt then asked Trump if he had considered bringing Kennedy on as his Vice President pick, asking, “A lot of people like you and him as a combination, too. I don’t think that can happen, but have you ever thought about that?” He added, “Trump/Kennedy looks good on a bumper sticker.”
Trump, in response, said that he hadn’t considered the idea yet but thinks Kennedy is “a smart guy and well-intentioned,” telling Schmitt, “No, but people have suggested it. I read the same things that you do. There are a lot of people suggesting it, there’s no question about that. I’ve known him over the years. He’s a smart guy and well-intentioned. I really believe he’s very well-intentioned.”
Listen to that here:
Donald Trump reacts to people suggesting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his running mate in 2024
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) July 21, 2023
Trump has repeatedly complimented Kennedy recently. In a June interview, for example, Trump told radio host Howie Carr, “He’s a common sense guy and so am I. He’s been very nice to me, I’ve actually had a very nice relationship with him over the years. He’s doing really well, I saw a poll, he’s at 22. That’s pretty good! That’s pretty good, doing very well.”
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As background, Steve Bannon recently said that “If [Kari Lake is] not available to be Trump’s VP … Bobby Kennedy would be an excellent choice for Trump to consider.” Watch that here:
Steve Bannon: “If Kari Lake isn’t available to be Trump’s VP, then RFK Jr. would be an excellent choice.” pic.twitter.com/60wpFYKgDK
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 24, 2023
Bannon also said, “Robert RFK Jr. is not going to win the Democratic nomination. The reason is that hard-core Democrats are not going to vote for him. If you look at the polling, his voters, that 19 to 20 plus percent, whatever it is right now in the polling, are people that voted for Obama twice looking for a change and many of whom voted for Trump in ’16. What you have is this anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian, populist movement that doesn’t trust the administrative state, doesn’t trust the deep state . . . Listen to these [RINOs]. Listen to all the Keebler elves and then listen to what Robert F Kennedy is talking about. And you see the Venn diagram. There’s a much bigger overlap, potential overlap with what President Trump’s talking about. So this is something that’s emerging and you got to keep your eye on it. Is it perfect? No. We live in a very imperfect world. But you see something that’s aborning right here.”