The political conventions are over, and now it’s time for Donald Trump to shift the focus back where it belongs – on him.
One way to do that is to bring Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into the fold, make him part of the team, and take advantage of all that Kennedy support.
As Trump said at a campaign stop in Michigan a week ago, “I like him, and I respect him. He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a very long time.” He added, at another rally, “He’s a great guy, respected by everybody.” Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha….. Oh, he wasn’t kidding??
Asked if he would consider appointing Kennedy to a role in his potential 2025 administration, Trump noted that he “probably would.” There is even a rumor that Trump may dump Vance in favor of Kennedy for his VP.
That tone is just a bit different than the assessment Trump made in the spring of this year: in a four-minute video he called Kennedy “fake,” a “Democrat ‘Plant’” and “Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place” to help the Democratic president. Trump called Kennedy the “dumbest member” of the Kennedy family and railed that Kennedy’s family is “a bunch of lunatics.”
Trump didn’t mention the now-dead brain-worm, the Central Park bear accident, the sexual assault accusations, or Kennedy’s daughter’s assertion that her dad used a chainsaw to cut the head off a dead whale and strapped it to the top of his van for the drive home. None of that is weird.
And how does Kennedy feel about Mr. Trump? This week he described the MAGA movement as “brimming with vitality.”
How did he feel earlier this summer? More than one news source reported that Kennedy called Trump “a terrible human being. The worse [sic] president ever and barely human. He is probably a sociopath.”
Wow, after Kennedy, by his own admission, reached out to the Harris campaign and surprisingly did not get a callback, he choked back his earlier feelings about Trump and made the call to the Trump team. Hey, if you can’t win, you can simply bury old feelings and beliefs in return for potential power.
In fact, Kennedy was a Democrat not that long ago, before turning Independent, and now, apparently Republican.
That makes sense, as Trump has had his own meandering political route. According to Wikipedia, Trump registered as a Republican in 1987; changed his party affiliation to the Independence Party of New York in 1999, to Democrat in 2001, and back to Republican in 2009. In 2011, Trump changed to “no party affiliation” (independent), before returning to the GOP in 2012.
And in a 2004 interview, while he was apparently a Democrat if you can follow that history, Trump told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer: “In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat”, adding that, “It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.”
With most politicians demonstrating little concern for their own hypocrisy, the Trump-Kennedy alliance now seems to make perfect sense. Trump and Kennedy, as well as the voting public, have short memories.
Now, on a personal note — when publishing opinions, readers often share their views, and I welcome that feedback (my email is below). I respond to each comment, whether supportive or critical, if the communication is civil. So, share your feedback at any time.
A few years ago, a friend contacted me after I criticized then-President Trump and exclaimed that I “was no longer a Republican.” NOTE: I have lobbed criticism at both parties in this column, but admittedly, Republicans have gotten more in recent years.
My friend demanded that I “retract” my opinion. After I defined “Opinion Column” and declined his suggestion, I offered to publish his thoughts if he would provide them in writing,
At that time, I admitted that he might be right because my party today bears little resemblance to the party I had aligned with for forty years. It was only later that I realized that I AM STILL a Republican and it was HE who had changed to a party that many no longer recognize.
Several Republican leaders spoke at the Democratic Convention last week, and voiced similar views, but Fox News decided to cut away, rather than to air those speeches. If you get your un-biased news from Fox, I suggest you look up “Republican speeches at DNC,” listen, and make your own assessments.
I never got any written thoughts from my friend, but my promise to publish well-reasoned feedback still goes.
Curt MacRae is a resident of Coldwater, MI, and publishes opinion columns regularly.
Tweets @curtmacrae — comments to rantsbymac@gmail.com
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