Trump claims RFK Jr will do a ‘great service to America’ by taking votes from Biden

Independent candidate could peel support from both Republican and Democratic nominees

Donald Trump has claimed that Robert F Kennedy Jr’s presidential run is providing “a great service to America” by syphoning votes away from President Joe Biden – despite concerns the Independent candidate could also damage the Republican former president’s chances.

Taking to Truth Social just after RFK Jr unveiled attorney and Silicon Valley investor Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, Mr Trump declared: “RFK Jr is the most Radical Left Candidate in the race, by far. He’s a big fan of the Green New Scam, and other economy killing disasters.

“I guess this would mean he is going to be taking votes from Crooked Joe Biden, which would be a great service to America.

“His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, is even more ‘Liberal’ than him, if that’s possible. Kennedy is a Radical Left Democrat, and always will be!!!”

Mr Trump went on to insist: “It’s great for MAGA, but the Communists will make it very hard for him to get on the Ballot. Expect him, and her, to be indicted any day now, probably for Environmental Fraud! He is Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine. I love that he is running!”

But beneath the bluster, Mr Trump might actually be worried about the opposite possibility coming to pass – that RFK Jr could be poised to peel votes away from his own campaign instead.

While Democratic activists are said to fear that a greater number of candidates in the race will do more harm to the current president than it will to his predecessor, current polling suggests that RFK Jr could entice roughly the same number of supporters away from both Mr Biden and Mr Trump in November.

The latest RealClear Polling average foresees Mr Trump winning a three-way race between the three candidates by a 5.4 per cent margin, picking up 40.7 per cent of the vote to Mr Biden’s 35.3 per cent and Mr Kennedy’s 12.3 per cent.

Nicole Shanahan greets people as she is announced as the vice presidential candidate of independent presidential candidate RFK Jr (REUTERS)

That’s why Democrats moved to attack RFK Jr during a Democratic National Committee call with reporters on Tuesday, with California congressman Robert Garcia calling him a “tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist” and “anti-science” and “anti-truth” in response to the candidate’s well-known proclivity for anti-vaccine grandstanding.

Mr Garcia further accused RFK Jr of running a “spoiler campaign”, adding: “He’s likely interested in trying to get Donald Trump elected.”

On the same call, Pennsylvania Democratic Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis similarly alleged that RFK Jr “was drafted into this race by Donald Trump’s top supporters” and declared: “He has no realistic path to victory in Pennsylvania. All we can do is take away votes from President Biden and make it easier for Donald Trump to win and we simply can’t afford to let that happen.”

However, RFK Jr has previously claimed that Mr Trump approached him to be his running mate, which, if true, is perhaps the clearest indication yet that the presumptive Republican nominee does indeed see him as a threat to his own candidacy and was seeking to nullify the danger by bringing him inside the MAGA fold.