Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly described former President Trump as a "terrible human being," calling him the "worse president ever" in a recent text exchange reported by The New Yorker on Monday.
"In a recent text exchange, Kennedy told one person that Trump was 'a terrible human being. The worse president ever and barely human. He is probably a sociopath,'" The New Yorker's Clare Malone wrote in a profile of Kennedy published Monday.
Kennedy, though, said President Biden was “more dangerous to the Republic and the planet” than Trump.
Trump and Kennedy had a phone call meeting ahead of last month's Republican National Convention, where the former president was officially named the Republican Party's presidential nominee.
In a leaked video of the call, Trump was heard on speakerphone saying he agrees with some of Kennedy’s stances on vaccines.
Trump could also be heard saying he would love for the long-shot candidate to “do something,” adding it would be “so good” for Kennedy. Trump also told him “we’re going to win,” according to the footage.
Kennedy apologized for the leak of the call shortly after it was posted online.
Amaryllis Fox, Kennedy’s campaign director and daughter-in-law, told The New Yorker that Trump and his team asked Kennedy, "Is there something that you want to do?"
Fox said Kennedy is not opposed to serving in the Trump administration, mentioning the possibility of leading the Department of Health and Human Services as "an incredibly interesting" role. Kennedy, who switched from running as a Democrat to independent last fall, would also be open to serving in Vice President Harris's administration should she be elected in November.
Kennedy has struggled to gain significant ground in the 2024 election. A polling index by Decision Desk HQ shows the environmental lawyer with 4.2 percent of the vote, while Harris sits at 45.9 percent and Trump is at 44.4 percent.
Kennedy acknowledged his low odds of becoming president when speaking with The New Yorker.
“I think I was always conscious that it was kind of a dangerous thing to make that [the presidency] my ambition,” he told the magazine. “I always had at least a part of me that recognized the implausibility of ever achieving that.”
He later suggested Trump's 2016 election win altered how he thought of his own political future, since the former president, like himself, "had skeletons in his closet," Malone wrote.
“I think that it enlarged the notions of what’s possible,” Kennedy reportedly said.
The Hill reached out to Trump and Kennedy's campaigns for further comment.
