by Sharon Rondeau
(Aug. 23, 2024) — At 2:30 p.m. EDT Friday, Fox News reported a 45-minute delay in independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy’s public remarks originally scheduled for 2:00 p.m. EDT/12:00 p.m. MDT.
Kennedy began speaking at exactly 2:45 p.m. EDT.
He recounted that he launched his campaign as a Democrat and said the party once stood for freedom of speech and the welfare of the working person.
At 2:49 p.m., RFK thanked his aides for “the sacrifices you made for the country” by doggedly obtaining signatures for his candidacy through severe cold and heat.
“I will not allow your efforts to go to waste…I’m here today to describe the path forward…in an honest system, I believe that I would have won the election,” he said, invoking the campaigns of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and father, Robert F. Kennedy, Sr.
Both were assassinated domestically, the former in Dallas, TX in 1963 and the latter while campaigning during the Democrat presidential primary in Los Angeles in 1968 when his son was 14.
He decried the Democrats for having “rigged” a “sham primary” in its quest to keep his name off of state ballots as well as the “installation” of Kamala Harris over Joe Biden after the latter dropped out of the race on July 21.
He said his father and uncle “would be astonished to learn” that Harris has not had “an unscripted” exchange “in 35 days” nor earned any primary votes as Trump did.
“My father and my uncle were always conscious of America’s image abroad”…as “the leader of the free world,” he said.
He criticized the “censorship” he has experienced and the Biden regime’s criminal prosecutions of 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.
He said the mainstream media maintained an “embargo” on interviews he conducted and that a large group of those outlets granted him only two interviews. “Representatives of those networks are in this room right now,” he said.
Shifting to foreign policy, Kennedy said the war between Ukraine and Russia has destroyed Ukraine’s infrastructure and caused “kids” on both sides to die needlessly.
“The neocons in the White House don’t seem to care at all,” he commented.
He criticized Harris’s acceptance speech Thursday night at the DNC and speculated she would support further longevity of the Ukraine-Russia war if she were elected. Conversely, he recounted, Trump said he would “stop the war overnight,” an issue over which Kennedy said he could support him.
“Endless military adventurism” must halt, Kennedy said.
Trump asked to “enlist me” in his administration should he win in November, Kennedy said, revealing that Trump called him just after he had been shot by a would-be assassin on July 13 in Butler, PA.
“Chronic disease” is an “avenue of cooperation” between the two, Kennedy added.
He has met with Trump at least twice, he said, as well as Trump’s family members in Florida. Trump “suggested that we join forces as a kind of Unity Party,” he said, while acknowledging deep disagreement might remain on certain issues.
“Regulatory capture” and U.S. intelligence agencies’ “interfering with our elections” are additional issues of common interest, Kennedy said.
He confirmed reports he had reached out to the Harris campaign about a meeting but was rebuffed.
Kennedy announced he removed his name from the ballot in Pennsylvania, a key “swing” state in recent elections, as well as Arizona, where he was told earlier this week the signatures he submitted for ballot access were sufficient.
He could be a “spoiler” in those states, Kennedy said, were he to maintain his name on their ballots.
Just afterward, Trump made an appearance at a Las Vegas, NV restaurant, where he promoted his “No tax on tips” proposal and faulted Harris for having “copied” it.
On Thursday morning in a telephone interview, Trump told “Fox & Friends” hosts he “would be honored” to receive Kennedy’s endorsement.
“We just had a very nice endorsement from RFK Jr.,” Trump began his remarks at 3:25 p.m. “I want to thank Bobby…he’s a great guy, respected by everybody,” he added, and that at his Glendale, AZ appearance later Friday, “we’ll be talking about that.”