Sources with knowledge of the meeting between the two candidates and the aftermath, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to reveal details of the private conversations, explained how over the course of several days talks between the two parties fell apart.
Trump first requested on Saturday to meet with Kennedy – the day after he was shot by a would-be assassin at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The former president wanted an endorsement from Kennedy, who he thought was eating into his base of support. Kennedy drew 8% of the vote in the first Reuters/Ipsos poll since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and his inclusion added two points to Vice President Kamala Harris’ lead over Trump.
In their meeting on July 15, Trump attempted to persuade Kennedy to endorse his campaign, and cited the polling. Kennedy refused. Instead, Trump and Kennedy came to an agreement that they would make an announcement together about unity at the RNC, in the wake of the harrowing assassination attempt.
Trump’s team then requested that Kennedy draft a “Unity Government Proposal” which would outline what they planned to work on together, including vaccines and “government corruption.” They requested that the pledge also outline what role Kennedy would like should Trump become president again.
The source said that Monday evening, Kennedy drafted the pledge and sent it to the Trump team. Kenney and his team never received a response.
“Kennedy was not going to endorse Trump, but agreed to drafting a Unity Government Pledge requested by the Trump team,” the source said. “Trump wanted something fairly desperately to make people think Kennedy was in support of him, but in lieu of not giving him an endorsement he agreed to the pledge. Team Trump was anxious to move forward with announcing the Unity Pledge before the RNC was over and was texting that Monday night with urgency.”
“Kennedy was prepared to do this pledge with Trump at the RNC and then conversations halted,” they added.
It’s unclear why the Trump campaign went dark. The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Trump advisers had “concerns” that Kennedy, who is a fervent anti-vaccine activist, would be “appropriate in such a job (such as HHS) and that such an agreement could be problematic”
Other reports suggest even Republican Senators would not be keen on Kennedy having a cabinet level post given his history of promoting questionable individuals and groups which throws doubts on whether he could be confirmed. A number of Republican senators are not fans of Kennedy's style or his opinions. Kennedy is also not known to be a team player and could pose problems for the administration or any agency.
You're doing that thing again, Dave.
This is total propaganda by The Washington Post. These crappy mainstream media outlets are scared to death of Kennedy endorsing Trump.
Kennedy currently at the BTC Conference with Trump. If/When he drops out of the race, he will likely endorse Trump. Trump will then likely have him go after and remodel the corrupt health and food bureaucracy which has been plaguing our nation for decades.
Try to start thinking of the "whys." Why would The Washington Post be interested in writing a piece like this? Because it's an arm of DC and DC is sacred to death of Trump. Critical thinking in today's world is essential.
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