RFK Jr. suspends his presidential bid and backs Donald Trump before appearing with him at his rally

PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for the White House and endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, a late-stage shakeup of the race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters.

Hours later, Kennedy joined Trump onstage at an Arizona rally, where the crowd burst into “Bobby!” cheers.

Kennedy said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize impact on support for either major-party candidate.

Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.

“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,” Kennedy said at his event in Phoenix.

However, he made clear that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome. Kennedy took steps to withdraw his candidacy in at least two states late this week, Arizona and Pennsylvania, but election officials in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin said it would be too late for him to take his name off the ballot even if he wants to do so.

Kennedy said his actions followed conversations with Trump over the past few weeks. He cast their alliance as “a unity party," an arrangement that would "allow us to disagree publicly and privately and seriously.” Kennedy suggested Trump offered him a job if he returns to the White House, but neither he nor Trump offered details.

Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, this week entertained the idea that Kennedy could join Trump’s administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The announcement ended days of speculation and landed with heaps of confusion and contradictions from Kennedy's aides and allies, an emblematic cap for a quixotic campaign.

Shortly before his speech in Phoenix, his campaign had said in a Pennsylvania court filing that he would be endorsing Trump for president. However, a spokesperson for Kennedy said the court filing had been made in error and the lawyer who wrote it said he'd correct it. Kennedy took the stage moments later, aired his grievances with the Democratic Party, the news media and political institutions, and extolled Trump. He spoke for nearly 20 minutes before he said explicitly that he was endorsing Trump.

Kennedy later joined Trump onstage at a rally co-hosted by Turning Point Action in Glendale, where Trump’s campaign had teased he would be joined by “a special guest."

Kennedy was greeted by thundering applause as he took the stage to the Foo Fighters and a pyrotechnics display after being introduced by Trump as “a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share.”

“We are both in this to do what’s right for the country," Trump said, later commending Kennedy for having “raised critical issues that have been too long ignored in this country."

With Kennedy standing nearby, Trump invoked his slain uncle and father, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, saying he knows “that they are looking down right now and they are very, very proud.”

He said that, if he wins this fall, he will establish a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts that will release all remaining documents related to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

And he repeated his pledge to establish a panel — “working with Bobby” — to investigate the increase in chronic health conditions and childhood diseases, including autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity and infertility.

A year ago, some would have thought it inconceivable that a member of arguably the most storied family in Democratic politics would work with Trump to keep a Democrat out of the White House. Even in recent months, Kennedy has accused Trump of betraying his followers, while Trump has criticized Kennedy as “the most radical left candidate in the race.”

Five of Kennedy’s family members issued a statement Friday calling his support for Trump “a sad ending to a sad story" and reiterating their support for Harris.

“Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear," read the statement, which his sister Kerry Kennedy posted on X.

Kennedy Jr. acknowledged his decision to endorse Trump had caused tension with his family. He is married to actor Cheryl Hines, who wrote on X that she deeply respects her husband's decision to drop out but did not address the Trump endorsement.

“This decision is agonizing for me because of the difficulties it causes my wife and my children and my friends,” Kennedy said. "But I have the certainty that this is what I’m meant to do. And that certainty gives me internal peace, even in storms.”

In a statement, Harris campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon reached out to Kennedy's supporters who are “tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward" and said that Harris wanted to earn their backing.

At Kennedy's Phoenix event, 38-year-old Casey Westerman said she trusted Kennedy’s judgment and had planned to vote for him, but would support Trump if Kennedy endorsed him.

“My decision would really be based on who he thinks is best suited to run this country,” said Westerman, who wore a “Kennedy 2024” trucker hat and voted for Trump in the last two presidential elections.

Kennedy first entered the 2024 presidential race as a Democrat but left the party last fall to run as an independent. He built an unusually strong base for a third-party bid, fueled in part by anti-establishment voters and vaccine skeptics who have followed his anti-vaccine work since the COVID-19 pandemic. But he has since faced strained campaign finances and mounting legal challenges.

At Trump's event in Las Vegas, Alida Roberts, 49, said Kennedy's endorsement of Trump spoke volumes about the current state of the Democratic Party.

“It says that he doesn’t trust what’s going on, that it’s not the party he grew up in,” Roberts said.

Roberts, who voted twice for Trump, said she was relieved and excited by the endorsement because she'd been “teeter-tottering” between the two candidates.

Recent polls put Kennedy's support in the mid-single digits, and it's unclear if he’d get even that in a general election.

There's some evidence that Kennedy's staying in the race would hurt Trump more than Harris. According to a July AP-NORC poll, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats to have a favorable view of Kennedy. And those with a positive impression of Kennedy were significantly more likely to also have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%).

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Ali Swenson in New York, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., Meg Kinnard in Chicago and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks as he endorses Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump greets Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump shakes hands with Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a campaign rally at the Desert Diamond Arena, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, waves to the crowd as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump talks with reporters at a campaign event at ll Toro E La Capra, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump poses for a photo at a campaign event at ll Toro E La Capra, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. Second from right is restaurant owner Javier Barajas.(AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

People watch on a monitor as Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he is suspending his presidential campaign at a news conference Friday, Aug 23, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., waves to the media outside the Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, N.Y. on Wednesday, Aug., 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

RFK Jr. withdraws from Arizona ballot as questions swirl around a possible alliance with Trump

Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, N.Y. on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, Pool)

RFK Jr. withdraws from Arizona ballot as questions swirl around a possible alliance with Trump

BOSTON (AP) — A study that explores the feasibility of using pigeons to guide missiles and one that looks at the swimming abilities of dead fish were among the winners Thursday of this year’s Ig Nobels, the prize for comical scientific achievement.

Held less than a month before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced, the 34th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine’s website to make people laugh and think. Winners received a transparent box containing historic items related to Murphy’s Law — the theme of the night — and a nearly worthless Zimbabwean $10 trillion bill. Actual Nobel laureates handed the winners their prizes.

“While some politicians were trying to make sensible things sound crazy, scientists discovered some crazy-sounding things that make a lot of sense,” Marc Abrahams, master of ceremonies and editor of the magazine, said in an e-mail interview.

The ceremony started with Kees Moliker, winner of 2003 Ig Noble for biology, giving out safety instructions. His prize was for a study that documented the existence of homosexual necrophilia in mallard ducks.

“This is the duck,” he said, holding up a duck. “This is the dead one.”

After that, someone came on stage wearing a yellow target on their chest and a plastic face mask. Soon, they were inundated with people in the audience throwing paper airplanes at them.

Then, the awards began — several dry presentations which were interrupted by a girl coming on stage and repeatedly yelling “Please stop. I'm bored.” The awards ceremony was also was broken up by an international song competition inspired by Murphy's Law, including one about coleslaw and another about the legal system.

The winners were honored in 10 categories, including for peace and anatomy. Among them were scientists who showed a vine from Chile imitates the shapes of artificial plants nearby and another study that examined whether the hair on people's heads in the Northern Hemisphere swirled in the same direction as someone's hair in the Southern Hemisphere.

Other winners include a group of scientists who showed that fake medicine that causes side effects can be more effective than fake medicine that doesn't cause side effects and one showing that some mammals are cable of breathing through their anus — winners who came on stage wearing a fish-inspired hats.

Julie Skinner Vargas accepted the peace prize on behalf of her late father B.F. Skinner, who wrote the pigeon-missile study. Skinner Vargas is also the head of the B.F. Skinner Foundation.

“I want to thank you for finally acknowledging his most important contribution,” she said. “Thank you for putting the record straight.”

James Liao, a biology professor at the University of Florida, accepted the physics prize for his study demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout.

“I discovered that a live fish moved more than a dead fish but not by much,” Liao said, holding up a fake fish. “A dead trout towed behind a stick also flaps its tail to the beat of the current like a live fish surfing on swirling eddies, recapturing the energy in its environment. A dead fish does live fish things.”

Professor James Liao displays a stuffed fish while accepting a prize for physics for demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A team of researchers perform a demonstration during a performance showing that many mammals are capable of breathing through their anus while accepting the 2024 Ig Nobel prize in physiology at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

People in the audience throw paper airplanes toward the stage during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

FILE - Students walk past the "Great Dome" atop Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Mass, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)