(Kitco News) – The 2024 U.S. Presidential election got another shake-up on Friday after independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he was suspending his campaign – not dropping out of the race completely, as many media outlets reported – while speaking during a live-streamed event from Phoenix.
“In my heart, I no longer believe that I have a realistic path of electoral victory in the face of this relentless, systematic censorship and media control,” Kennedy said. “So I cannot, in good conscience, ask my staff and volunteers to keep working their long hours, or ask my donors to keep giving when I cannot honestly tell them that I have a real path to the White House.”
Pushing back against what he described as dubious efforts by Democrats to derail his campaign, Kennedy said that he would now “throw my support to President Trump.”
“Three great causes drove me to enter this race in the first place, primarily, and these are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” he said.
He added that he was not ending his campaign but conceded that he was in the process of withdrawing his name from appearing on ballots in swing states to help minimize his effect on the eventual outcome.
“My name will remain on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming – or helping – President Trump or Vice President Harris. In red states, the same will apply,” he said. “… But, in about 10 battleground states, where my presence would be a spoiler, I’m going to remove my name, and I’ve already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me.”
Kennedy also suggested that he had a chance of winning the White House if a contingent election occurs – which happens when neither of the major party candidates receives the necessary 270 electoral votes to win the election.
“In an honest system, I believe I would have won the election,” Kennedy said.
Many see the move as positive for Trump, as Kennedy and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, have been vocal in recent weeks about the nefarious actions taken by the Democratic side of the aisle to ensure their campaign wouldn’t succeed.
“How did the Democratic Party choose a candidate that has never done an interview or debate during the entire election cycle?” Kennedy asked.
"We know the answer: They did it by weaponizing the government agencies. They did it by abandoning democracy. They did it by suing the opposition and by disenfranchising American voters,” he said. “What most alarms me isn't how the Democratic Party conducts its internal affairs or runs its candidates. What alarms me is the resort to censorship and media control and the weaponization of the federal agencies.”
Discussing his endorsement of Trump, Kennedy said that after meeting with the Presidential hopeful and his team, he realized they had more in common than he first realized. He compared a partnership between the two to President Lincoln's famous “Team of Rivals,” which saw him stock his Cabinet with former rivals.
“I was surprised to discover that we are aligned on many key issues,” Kennedy said.
“In those meetings, he suggested that we join forces as a unity party.”
Kennedy also said that he made attempts to contact Vice President Harris first but was rebuffed in those efforts, saying she neither wanted to talk or meet with him, which independent voters should take to heart. “Democrats want nothing to do with you; Republicans will at least give you a seat at the table,” he said.
Aside from Trump, Bitcoin is seen as a winner with this development. The crypto community widely believes that a Trump administration will be better for cryptos in general, given Trump’s self-proclaimed status as the nation's first ‘Crypto President.’
Amid the speculation leading up to Kennedy’s announcement, Trump flipped Harris in the 2024 Presidential poll on Polymarket and now leads 50% to 49%.
Bitcoin’s price also spiked above $62,000 after Kennedy’s speech, but it’s difficult to discern how much of that was due to excitement for a potential Trump second term and how much was attributed to Fed Chair Powell’s dovish comments suggesting that the first interest rate cut would come in September.
BTC/USD Chart by TradingView
At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $63,796, an increase of 5.41% on the 24-hour chart.
