Donald Trump has criticized fellow 2024 presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying Republicans should not vote for the independent candidate as he is a "Radical Left Lunatic."
In a post on Truth Social, the former president called Kennedy the "dumbest member" of his family, as the pair continues to clash and compete for votes ahead of November's race.
Trump and President Joe Biden are said to consider Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist who previously ran as a Democrat, a threat to their White House bids over fears he could siphon votes from them. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Biden narrowly ahead of Trump (40 percent to 39 percent) and Kennedy in third place with 8 percent.
Trump's latest attacks on Kennedy also arrived as the independent candidate has begun to appear more frequently on conservative news networks and podcasts, which has prompted concerns from Trump's campaign team.
"So bad that FoxNews puts RFK Jr., considered the dumbest member of the Kennedy Clan, on their fairly conservative platform so much," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He continued: "Competitive networks don't want anything to do with him. He's a Radical Left Lunatic whose crazy Climate Change views make the Democrat's Green New Scam look Conservative.
"He's polling badly, 8 percent at best, but says he does well against Crooked Joe and me, one on one. WRONG, he gets trounced! Junior said I'm the 'best debater' in generations, and I want to debate him, and Crooked, but first he's got to get his bad poll numbers up—a lot! He would be 'easy pickins.'"
"Republicans, don't waste your precious vote on this phony Liberal Activist. With all of that said, he probably hurts Sleepy Crooked Joe more than 'US!'"
Newsweek has contacted Kennedy's office and representatives for Trump for comment via email.
Trump had previously accused Kennedy, the son of former Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, of being a Democratic "plant" who would "essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE" in November, as votes for the independent candidate would only help Biden's campaign.
In response, Kennedy accused Trump of being "unhinged" and challenged him to a live televised debate.
"President Trump's rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate," Kennedy posted on X, formerly Twitter, on April 27.
"President Trump, who has proven himself the most adept debater in modern American political history, should not be panicked to meet me on that stage," he continued.
Elsewhere, Trump's campaign team have questioned why networks such as Fox News and Newsmax and popular podcasters such as Ben Shapiro are now regularly interviewing Kennedy.
Chris LaCivita, Trump's co–campaign manager, told Politico that it is "concerning and beyond logic" that some conservative platforms "continue to give a voice to someone that has called the NRA a terrorist group, who believes in eliminating gas powered engines, believes in a 70 percent tax bracket and generally subscribes to the same school of thought as Karl Marx."
According to FiveThirtyEight's national polling-average tracker for the presidential election, Trump is ahead with 41.6 percent, followed by Biden with 40.8 percent and Kennedy with 10.3 percent.
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Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
