Not every day does a relatively obscure vice-presidential candidate drop a potentially gargantuan piece of news.
Nicole Shanahan, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, said in an interview posted to YouTube on Tuesday that she and Kennedy have two options for their ongoing campaign, one of which would involve a move to “join forces” with former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
Shanahan made those comments in an interview with YouTuber Tom Bilyeu, host of “Impact Theory.”
In fact, if we probe deeper into the hour-long interview, we find not one but two massive pieces of news.
First, as for the game-changing teaser of a possible Trump-Kennedy alliance, Shanahan indicated that she and Kennedy have a difficult decision to make.
Their difficulty, it seems, stems from the fact that earning a mere five percent of the national vote in the 2024 election would establish their party and allow it to enjoy important financial benefits as they look toward 2028.
As hopeful as that sounds, however, Shanahan acknowledged that their choice amounts to a binary one.
“There’s two options that we’re looking at, and one is staying in, forming that new party,” she said.
Then, she explained the danger in that approach.
Do you think RFK Jr. will end up endorsing Trump?
Yes: 91% (610 Votes)
No: 9% (59 Votes)
“But we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz presidency,” she added.
Indeed, they would run that risk, for she acknowledged that the Kennedy ticket draws some votes from Trump.
“Or,” Shanahan said, “we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump.”
As a matter of simple electoral politics, of course, every Trump voter should welcome this sort of alliance.
The good news, however, did not end there.
In fact, earlier in the same interview, Shanahan laid the groundwork for a possible Trump-Kennedy alliance with a revelation that nearly all Trump voters surely would regard as music to their ears.
“You know, Trump’s Achilles’ heel in his first term was really Big Pharma,” she said. “And I don’t think he understood that it would cripple his entire reputation and legacy as much as it did.”
Indeed, Trump’s insistence on touting the COVID vaccine as one of his presidential achievements probably helped fuel the Kennedy candidacy.
In other words, some anti-establishment voters who otherwise loved Trump’s policies on closing the border and destroying the deep state almost certainly drifted toward the anti-establishment Kennedy because of the latter’s views on vaccines in general, or at least on the COVID vaccine in particular.
Now, according to Shanahan, the former president has begun to see things differently.
“What we’re hearing from the Trump camp is very positive,” she said. “We are hearing that he wants to distance himself from Big Pharma. We are hearing full acknowledgement that he now in retrospect should not have fallen prey to the pressures in Washington to capitulate to the lockdowns and the needed bailouts.”
Shanahan then praised Trump’s pre-COVID record and — in breathtaking news — said that he has expressed COVID-era regrets in private.
“I don’t see acknowledgement — I mean, he’s not doing it publicly, but privately — I don’t see much acknowledgement from any political leadership that has contributed to the problem like I’ve seen from Donald Trump,” she said.
Readers may view the entire interview below. Shanahan’s comments about Kennedy’s binary choice and possible Trump alliance began around the 49:45 mark. Her COVID-related comments began around the 31:17 mark.
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Tuesday afternoon on the social media platform X, Kennedy himself responded to the buzz.
The independent candidate described himself as “willing to talk with leaders of any political party to further the goals I have served for 40 years in my career and in this campaign.” Then, he enumerated a handful of goals with which all anti-establishment voters could agree.
As always, I am willing to talk with leaders of any political party to further the goals I have served for 40 years in my career and in this campaign. These are: reversing the chronic disease epidemic, ending the war machine, cleaning corporate influence out of government and…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 20, 2024
In other words, he did not refute his running mate.
The latest Rasmussen poll — one of the few polls not manipulated by establishment minions, and one of the most reliable — showed Trump with a 4-point lead over Harris nationwide, 49 percent to 45 percent. Kennedy earned less than 5 percent in that poll.
Thus, Shanahan’s stated goal of securing 2028 party legitimacy and financing could remain elusive.
On the other hand, an alliance with Trump would help prevent the dreaded Harris-Walz administration.
In short, Trump might steamroll the establishment on his own. But a Trump-Kennedy alliance makes sense and would almost certainly finish the job.
