Trump, RFK Jr. team up in attempt to halt Democratic surge in Arizona

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined Donald Trump in Arizona on Friday to help “end the grip” of what they said were entrenched interests who control the Democratic party and consolidate votes for the former president as his campaign looks to regain momentum in the nation’s battleground states.

Kennedy’s presence added a burst of energy to the full house at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, where Republicans matched the turnout the Democratic ticket drew to the same venue two weeks earlier.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee and former president, retooled his message to “get personal” in attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, after she and other Democrats pummeled him throughout their four-day national convention in Chicago.

In his remarks, Trump repeatedly mispronounced Harris’ first name, officially hung a disparaging nickname on her — “Comrade Kamala Harris” — mocked her convention acceptance speech and said she ducked important issues such as inflation.

As Trump shifted his attacks more fully on a new target, he continued to ruminate about the process that led to President Joe Biden leaving the race while Trump seemed to have a safe polling lead on him.

“They rig their primaries. They force out Joe Biden, they force him out of the party. Joe Biden got 14 million votes and an unconstitutional coup, and they appoint a nominee who never got a single vote,” Trump said.

It was a relatively new complaint in a series of well-worn grievances for Trump.

“They want to arrest their political opponents and silence those who disagree,” he said in an observation that reminded of his felony fraud convictions in New York and pending indictments in other jurisdictions.

“Our opponents slander us as a threat to democracy. ‘Trump is a threat to democracy.’ No, they’re a threat to democracy,” he said.

Trump pledged not to touch Social Security benefits while eliminating taxes on Social Security income. He also renewed his plan to eliminate taxes on tips, an idea that Harris has embraced as well.

Trump vowed to “quickly” end the Russian war in Ukraine before he returns to the White House.

He repeatedly castigated Biden and Harris for a flood of illegal immigrants since Trump left office.

Kennedy acknowledged he and Trump don’t agree on everything, but he shared a desire to change the dynamics of behind-the-scenes power in Washington, in an echo of Trump’s own “drain the swamp” rhetoric.

“He told me he wanted to end the grip of the neocons on U.S. foreign policy,” Kennedy said to cheers. “He said he didn’t want any more $200 billion wars in Ukraine and we could use that money back here in the United States.”

Moments later, Kennedy may have incorrectly implied that Americans are fighting in foreign wars.

“Don’t you want a president who’s going to get us out of the wars and rebuild the middle class in this country?” he rhetorically asked.

U.S. troops are not fighting in Ukraine or in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

It was, in most respects, a conventional rally for Trump that took on new urgency after Harris replaced President Joe Biden last month and has overtaken Trump in some polling in Arizona and other swing states.

The rally completed a two-day swing in Arizona and Nevada that took him to the U.S.-Mexican border in Cochise County and Las Vegas before his 65-minute speech in Glendale.

Trump’s speech was shorter than many of his previous remarks in Arizona, which often topped 90 minutes. He did so after social media critics have taken notice in recent months that enough supporters were leaving during his speeches to leave large sections of his arenas nearly barren while he was speaking.

Before Trump took the stage, Kennedy suspended his independent presidential campaign, blaming the media and what he cast as a corrupt Democratic Party for his shift to backing Trump.

Kennedy said the media suppressed his views while pushing Democratic talking points. He accused Democrats of joining forces with the military-industrial complex to prolong a war in Ukraine that he said Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to avoid. And he said Democrats had allowed the “systematic poisoning” of the nation’s children by pharmaceutical companies that had created rampant obesity.

“The mainstream media was once the guardian of the First Amendment and democratic principles, and it has joined this systemic attack on democracy,” Kennedy said at a news conference in Phoenix.

Kennedy, whom the Trump campaign teased as an unnamed "special guest," received thunderous applause and chants of “Bobby!, Bobby!” when he spoke. The warm reception for Kennedy stood in contrast to Trump notably failing to mention his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, even once during his remarks.

After Trump survived a July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Penn., he said he would create an independent commission on presidential assassination attempts and declassify the remaining secret records of President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 slaying. Trump declassified a tranche of records in the Kennedy assassination during his term.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump, RFK Jr. team up in attempt to halt Democratic surge in Arizona