‘Wasted Protest Vote’: Trump Says He'd Take Biden Over RFK Jr.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during his hush money trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York on April 26, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump criticized Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for presidency in the 2024 elections, pointing out his progressive stances on climate, guns, border, and energy.

“RFK Jr. is a Democrat ‘Plant,’ a Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, get Re-Elected,” President Trump wrote in an April 26 Truth Social post. “A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him. Junior' is totally Anti-Gun, an Extreme Environmentalist who makes the Green New Scammers look Conservative, a Big Time Taxer and Open Border Advocate, and Anti-Military/Vet...”

“I lived with RFK Jr. in New York and watched him convince Governor Cuomo to make Environmental moves that were outright NASTY,” he wrote in another post.

“Upstate New York was not allowed to drill or frack as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and others ripped off New York Energy. Because of this, prices have skyrocketed all over that part of the Country, but especially Upstate New York and New England.”

The former president pointed out that New York’s energy costs are the “highest in the U.S.” except for California. President Trump insisted he prefers President Biden over Mr. Kennedy as the United States “would last a year or two longer prior to collapse - But it would be dead either way.”

“I’d even take Biden over Junior,” Mr. Trump added.

President Trump had criticized Mr. Kennedy in March along similar lines, calling him the “most Radical Left Candidate in the race” late last month. Calling RFK Jr. a “big fan of the Green New Scam, and other economy killing disasters,” he suggested Mr. Kennedy could take away votes from President Biden.

Mr. Kennedy initially wanted to challenge President Biden for the Democratic Party nomination. However, he alleged that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was “rigging the primary” by not allowing any challenge against the current administration. In October last year, he announced running for the 2024 presidential race as an independent.

RFK Jr. claimed in a social media post that the DNC attacked him as they feared he would be a “spoiler candidate” in the election. He said Democrats were spending “millions” to take down his campaign and that they “never expected” his movement to gain the momentum it has.

Stefanie Spear, the Kennedy campaign’s press secretary, says both Republican and Democrat parties are unable to “understand a candidate who does not fit into conventional political categories.”

“We are neither right nor left, neither liberal nor conservative,” she said in a statement to The Epoch Times. RFK Jr.’s key policy positions “defy those categories. Is ending the forever wars liberal, or conservative? How about freeing agencies from corporate capture? Ending the chronic disease epidemic? Protecting free speech?”

“The DNC and GOP try to pigeonhole our candidates as liberals or conservatives, which perpetuates the divisiveness that has paralyzed our political system. Both are screaming, ‘He’s one of THEM!’ Our ticket represents the broad majority who have unsubscribed from the right-left paradigm.”

Kennedy’s Policy Positions

In a Truth Social post, President Trump also criticized RFK Jr.’s vice president pick, Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan.

Ms. Shanahan, 38, was formerly married to Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. She helped fund Mr. Kennedy’s Super Bowl ad campaign which cost $7 million. A day after Mr. Kennedy announced Ms. Shanahan as his running mate, she sent $2 million to the Kennedy campaign as a contribution.

“His Chief ‘Funder’ is the V.P. Candidate that nobody ever heard of, except her ex-husband, who’s been stripped of a big chunk of cash,” President Trump wrote in the post.

“She puts herself down as a businesswoman, or maybe a doctor, and actually, I guess you could say that she’s right. Her business was doing surgery on her husband’s wallet! She’s more Liberal than Junior’ by far, not a serious person, and only a Pot of Cash to help get her No Chance Candidate on the Ballot.”

Among the several policy issues raised by Mr. Kennedy, the Independent candidate recently said he is going to file a lawsuit challenging the potential ban of TikTok in the United States.

President Joe Biden recently signed a bill requiring Beijing-based ByteDance to sell off its TikTok business. If the company fails to do so, the app will be banned from U.S. app stores and web-hosting services.

“Don’t be fooled—the TikTok ban is not about China harvesting your data. That’s a smoke screen. Intelligence agencies from lots of countries, especially ours, are harvesting your data from everywhere all the time,” RFK Jr. said in an April 26 post.

President Biden has won endorsement from members of the Kennedy family including Rory Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy’s sister, who raised concerns that RFK Jr.’s campaign could end up siphoning off votes from President Biden in the upcoming elections.

In another X post, he slammed the DNC for treating him “as if I am President Biden’s big challenge.” However, “his real problem is not me.”

President Biden’s “real problem is $4 milk, $4 gas, $6 loaf of bread, and the fact that this generation of American kids are never going to own their own home,” he said.

According to a recent The Economist/YouGov poll, both President Trump and President Biden garnered 43 percent support each from likely voters for the presidential race. RFK Jr. is lagging behind with just three percent support.