Ironically, one of the Donald TrumpTrump’s greatest political responsibility may also be his greatest achievement as president: the rapid development of a COVID-19 vaccine. A segment of the Republican base remains openly hostile to vaccines, leading Trump to face rare criticism from his MAGA supporters. Trump allies like Tucker Carlson And Roger Stone were so worried about the former president’s weakness on vaccines that they wanted him to publicly disavow Operation Warp Speed, the public-private program that rolled out a COVID vaccine in less than nine months. But Trump refused because, well, has Trump ever missed an opportunity to take credit for a success? (Carlson and Stone declined to comment.)
As a result, sources said Carlson, Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. and others helped design an alternative: Robert Kennedy Jr.decided to drop out and endorse Trump. Stone told people that Kennedy, whose third-party campaign served as a vehicle for his anti-vaccine views, had attracted enough voters to swing the election. Who is Kamala Harris? “There are probably about 3% of voters who oppose vaccines as their only issue,” said one Republican who was involved in Kennedy’s courtship.
But Kennedy and Trump almost formed an alliance. The two New Yorkers are known for their big egos and have a history of taking fierce shots at each other. Trump has previously called Kennedy a “phony, far-left fool,” a “Democratic ‘plant’” and a “liberal lunatic.” Kennedy, meanwhile, wrote a 2018 op-ed Newsweek The editorial said that “Trump’s presidency discredits not only our nation but the entire American experiment in self-government.”
A breakthrough came after the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Hours after the shooting, Carlson put Trump and Kennedy in a text message thread, according to a person briefed on the conversations. Kennedy texted Trump that he was ready to step down and support him but wasn’t sure when, the source said. In a phone call the next day, Trump courted Kennedy by supporting Kennedy’s unproven view that vaccines harm children. “When you give a kid, Bobby, a vaccine that’s like 38 different vaccines and it looks like it’s for a horse, not a 10-pound or 20-pound kid,” Trump said, “and then you see the kid all of a sudden start to change completely. I’ve seen that too many times.” But the relationship hit a snag when Kennedy’s son, Robert Kennedy III, posted a video of the call with Trump on social media.
Damage control falls to Florida financier Omeed Malik, a Trump donor and close friend of Don Jr. and Robert Kennedy III. (Malik’s anti-woke private equity firm, 1789 Capital, invested in Tucker Carlson’s digital video venture.) Malik arranged an in-person meeting between Trump and Kennedy on the opening day of the Republican convention to discuss the endorsement. According to people briefed on the meeting, Kennedy came with unrealistic expectations that he might be chairman of the FDA or secretary of Health and Human Services in a Trump administration. “There were overtures,” a source briefed on the talks told me. (Kennedy denied this.) “The meeting ended without a deal,” the source said. The Trump campaign declined to comment.
The negotiations between Kennedy and Trump soured. Over the next few weeks, Malik worked behind the scenes to get Trump and Kennedy back together. According to the source, Kennedy and Trump agreed on four broad policy areas: treating chronic disease, opposing censorship, pursuing an isolationist foreign policy, and exposing the deep state. The deal-breaker, the source said, was Kennedy’s need to be on Trump’s transition team. “That was non-negotiable,” the source said.
“There was no quid pro quo,” Kennedy said. Vanity Fair.
On Tuesday, the Trump campaign announced that Kennedy would serve as honorary co-chair of the transition alongside former Democratic congresswoman Who is Tulsi Gabbard? “This would give Bobby the power to decide who gets into government,” the source said.
Former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg said Kennedy’s presence during the transition was a signal to anti-vaccine voters that Trump would be an ally in office. “This is Trump’s way of winking at Kennedy’s supporters,” Nunberg said.
An open question is what role would Kennedy’s pick for vice president have? Nicole Shanahan, could play in Trumpworld. On Tuesday, Shanahan declined to say whether she would campaign for Trump. And she objected to Kennedy dropping out. “Technically we are still running and on the ballot! Just suspended,” she texted.
