RFK Jr.’s VP Pick Says They Could Drop Out or Support Trump

Naomi LaChance
·3-min read

With his spoiler campaign losing steam, Robert F. Kennedy is looking at dropping out or supporting former President Donald Trump, according to Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan.

Kennedy, who is running as an Independent, is easily the most chaotic candidate in the 2024 presidential race. For example, he said he wouldn’t “take sides on 9/11.” He was accused of both sexual assault and of eating a dog; he denied eating the dog. He said doctors found a parasitic worm in his brain. He also admitted that he left a dead bear cub in Central Park, after taking a photo with his hand in its mouth.

“There’s two options that we’re looking at and one is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Tim] Walz presidency because we draw votes from Trump, or we draw somehow more votes from Trump,” Shanahan said on an Impact Theory podcast released Tuesday.

She said that she and Kennedy could “walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump and you know, we walk away from that and explain to our base why we’re making this decision,” adding: “Not an easy decision.”

“If we’re splitting hairs,” Shanahan said, “I would say that I trust the future of this country more under the leadership of Trump… and the J.D. Vances than I do of the Harrises.”

Shanahan, who joined the Kennedy ticket in March, is a billionaire. She received a large part of the money in a divorce settlement from Google cofounder Sergey Brin; the two split after she reportedly had a sexual encounter with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

So far, Shanahan has donated more than $15 million to Kennedy’s campaign, and she also contributed $4.5 million to finance a pro-Kennedy Super PAC’s TV ad during the Super Bowl. Last month, the Kennedy campaign refunded $925,000 to Shanahan.

Kennedy had apparently reached out to both Harris and Trump about the possibility of working in their administrations, but Shanahan refuted this report: “Definitely not in talks with Harris,” she said, “definitely have never brought up a cabinet position with Harris.” She added: “fake news.” Then, she said: “we have offered to talk to everybody.”

Kennedy told the Washington Post in July, “All I will say to you is I am willing to talk to anybody from either political party who wants to talk about children’s health and how to end the chronic disease epidemic.” Trump had reached out to Kennedy following Trump’s assassination attempt. “I have a lot of respect for President Trump for reaching out to me,” Kennedy said. “Nobody from the DNC, high or low, has ever reached out to me in 18 months.” According to the Post, Kennedy suggested that he take a job in the administration regarding health and medical issues.

Despite her talk of exiting the race, Shanahan still sounded a hopeful note. “Technically, we could win,” she said. “We could absolutely win still.”

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