Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to drop out of the presidential race and not only endorse Donald Trump but join his transition team came after weeks of secret discussions and meetings—and one stunning phone call.
Only hours after a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July, health care entrepreneur Calley Means, who had advised Kennedy in the past, asked him over the phone to consider joining the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign, possibly as his running mate. Kennedy initially declined but then agreed to speak to Trump, setting in motion weeks of back-and-forth, culminating in Kennedy joining the Trump campaign, according to a report from The New York Times.
The two would join forces thanks to efforts from Trump’s co-campaign manager Susie Wiles and Kennedy’s campaign manager, Amaryllis Fox, his daughter-in-law. Also playing major roles were Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., as well as Omeed Malik, a businessman and donor who supported both candidates.
The Trump-Kennedy partnership couldn’t have come together without conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, though, whom Means reached out to right after his call to Kennedy. Carlson was enthusiastic, and connected Trump and Kennedy in a group text. Trump would speak on the phone with Kennedy for a half an hour after being examined at a hospital that night.
“I would love you to do something,” Trump said in the conversation, which was later leaked. “I think it’ll be so good for you and so big for you. And we’re going to win.”
But a partnership still wasn’t a done deal after that conversation, with Kennedy still considering the idea. He received pushback from his wife, Cheryl Hines, a Democrat who was very critical of Trump, as well as advisers who warned him that Trump couldn’t be trusted. Kennedy then met with Trump in Milwaukee as the Republican National Convention was being held, and Kennedy began to push for a specific position if Trump was elected: secretary of health and human services.
The next day, however, Kennedy’s son, Bobby Kennedy III, posted video to X of his father’s initial phone conversation with Trump the night he was shot, alarming staffers in the Trump campaign, who now saw Kennedy as unable to be trusted. While Kennedy quickly apologized, discussions between the two camps came to a halt.
When the convention ended, though, President Biden dropped out of the race and Democrats rallied behind Vice President Kamala Harris, surprising Trump. Kennedy apologized again, and two weeks later, he and Trump were talking. They met on August 12 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, with Wiles, Fox, Trump Jr., and Malik present, and hashed out their alliance.
Last week, Trump named Kennedy to his transition team, giving him a part not just in selecting staffers for a possible presidency but also in crafting policy. The infamous anti-vaccine pseudoscience peddler will seemingly be an integral part of Trump’s White House if he wins in November. Time will tell if this will be an asset or liability to Trump in the election, but having a brain worm–addled animal carcass enthusiast on board certainly won’t make the convicted felon seem any less weird.
