When reports emerged that Donald Trump had spoken to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., it was only natural to wonder what the two conspiracy theorists had to say to one another. As it turns out, the public received an unexpected peek behind the curtain. NBC News reported:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized this morning after his son posted a video on X showing a call between Kennedy and Trump. Bobby Kennedy III wrote in his post that the call took place Sunday, the day after the assassination attempt on Trump. In the video, Trump can be heard talking about children’s vaccines and the gunshot he experienced at the Pennsylvania rally Saturday.
The candidate’s son took down the clip he posted to social media, but not before it was captured and republished.
A video of Trump’s call with RFK Jr. was leaked – Trump talks about vaccines, tells RFK Jr. doing something with him would be “big,” mentioned his call with Biden and said the bullet was like “the world’s largest mosquito.”
— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) July 16, 2024
RFK Jr apologized for the leak. pic.twitter.com/Z6DQ955P6W
Part of what makes the video notable was the apparent suggestion that Trump and Kennedy are, or at least should be, on the same page politically. “I would love you to do something,” the Republican could be heard saying. “And I think it’ll be so good for you and so big for you. And we’re going to win.”
Kennedy apparently agreed, replying, “Yeah.”
This did not sound like a conversation between two rival candidates, competing for the same office. Rather, it came across as a nice, cooperative chat — which probably won’t help the chatter about Kennedy deliberately playing the role of spoiler candidate.
Also notable was Trump’s anti-vaccine rhetoric.
“When you feed a baby, Bobby, a vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines, and it looks like it’s meant for a horse, not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby,” the Republican said. “And then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically. I’ve seen it too many times. And then you hear that it doesn’t have an impact, right? But you and I talked about that a long time ago.”
In apparent reference to vaccines, Trump went on tell Kennedy, whose known for his anti-vaccine rhetoric, “I agree with you man, something’s wrong with that whole system.” The best-case scenario is that Trump knew what he was saying was nonsense, but he made the comments anyway in the hopes of currying favor with someone whose endorsement he was seeking. From a public-health perspective, the worst-case scenario is that Trump actually believes what he said — echoing similar earlier comments — and his prospective second-term administration would govern with such beliefs in mind. Postscript: The fact that Kennedy had Trump on speaker has led to speculation that the independent candidate wanted their conversation to be recorded. That’s possible, though it’s also worth noting that Kennedy has said he’s afraid to keep cellphones by his head.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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