Washington.- Three hours after former President Donald J. Trump was nearly assassinated on a Saturday afternoon in mid-July, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received a phone call: Would he consider joining forces with Trump? Would he agree to be his running mate?
The caller was Calley Means, a health care businessman who had advised Kennedy on chronic disease policy.
He suggested that it might be time for unity — Trump had barely escaped the same fate that had befallen his father and uncle.
Kennedy, who had been running as an independent for president, said he was not interested in the vice presidency and ended the call.
Shortly afterward, Kennedy called back and agreed to speak with Trump.
Those calls set off frantic calculations and musings within the Kennedy camp: What could be on the table? Would an alliance with Trump give Kennedy more power and address the issues he had outlined during his campaign — chronic disease, censorship, corporate reach into government agencies, the war in Ukraine? Or would it dismantle his coalition and his family?
At the time, Trump was not seriously considering adding Kennedy to the ticket.
But Means’ efforts presented an opportunity to woo Kennedy and prevent him from becoming a vote-draining candidate for Trump.
What followed was a six-week rapprochement of behind-the-scenes discussions, embarrassing missteps, secret meetings and private second-guessing, culminating in Kennedy suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump.
The Trump-Kennedy alliance, one of the strangest in the history of modern politics, brought together two men with extraordinary egos who are unpredictable.
Each candidate, one Republican and one former Democrat, publicly criticized each other during the campaign.
Now, each one made his political calculations to accept each other.
Leaders of the so-called health freedom movement, a small coalition of people opposed to vaccines and public health mandates who looked to Kennedy as their champion, also embraced the merger.
In the end, both men are seeing the political value of their alliance.
The Democratic Party rejected Kennedy and Trump accepted him.
And for Trump, that effort represents a real opportunity for his campaign to consolidate his base and expand his reach.”
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