Former President Donald Trump accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of being a “Democrat plant” in a tirade against the independent presidential candidate.
Mr. Trump took to Truth Social on Friday to contend that Mr. Kennedy could play a spoiler if people vote for him.
“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,” Mr. Trump wrote.
He continued, “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.”
Mr. Trump previously suggested that the third-party candidate, who switched from Democratic to Independent last year, hurts President Biden’s chances of winning more so than his own.
But a pair of polls recently released by NBC News and Marist College suggested that Mr. Kennedy was siphoning more votes from Mr. Trump, and that Mr. Biden was gaining ground with voters when matched against the trio of third-party candidates — Mr. Kennedy, Cornel West and Jill Stein — running for the White House.
That shift in dynamics could be behind why Mr. Trump suddenly switched from a fan of Mr. Kennedy to spitting venom and could signal that Republicans are taking the independent candidate’s run more seriously.
The former president ripped Mr. Kennedy over various stands, including wanting stricter anti-gun laws.
“I’d even take Biden over Junior, because our Country would last a year or two longer prior to collapse — But it would be dead either way,” Mr. Trump said.