Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of the accompanying video from professor Peter St. Onge.
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has effectively quit the race and endorsed former President Donald Trump, popping media heads across America.
This is obviously great news for Trump’s odds of winning come November.
But it’s even more significant for what it says about the Democratic Party, which has been the effective ruling party of America—the Lord of the Deep State—since FDR.
Kennedy made his announcement at a Trump rally Friday. He noted how back in his childhood, Democrats were the “party of the Constitution” who championed civil rights, stood against authoritarianism and censorship, fought against imperialist wars, and against corporate power.
He said that party has now transformed into the party of war, censorship, corruption, Big Pharma, Big Tech, big agriculture, and big money.
It’s a party that has abandoned democracy—referring to the undemocratic coronation of Kamala Harris as well as lawfare to kick RFK off the ballot and throw Trump in jail.
RFK noted that given the censorship, the weaponization of federal agencies, and collusion with left-wing media, he had no path to victory and staying in the race would risk handing victory to Democrats “with whom I disagree on the most existential issues: censorship, war, and chronic disease.”
And so he’s effectively dropping out and backing Trump, adding that those original principles of the Democratic Party now lead him back to Trump.
Note that RFK is formally suspending his campaign, not ending it, but that’s normally what people do when they tap out. In RFK’s case, it also means he’ll stay on the ballot in deep-blue states and deep-red states, where he won’t affect the outcome.
But he’ll drop out in battleground states where it will help Trump.
Kennedy had been polling consistently around 5%, which is a big deal, given that five of the last six elections were decided by less than 5%.
Beyond the tactical benefit for Trump is the wider moral point. People like RFK Jr., Jordan Peterson, or even Elon Musk were passionate, lifelong liberals before switching sides.
Musk spelled it out last year, saying he didn’t leave the Democratic Party; it left him—left him on radical social issues, economic issues, and wars.
As for the race itself, five of the last six elections have been decided by under five points. So, RFK could absolutely make the difference in a second Trump term. Indeed, Trump got a boost in the betting markets with RFK’s endorsement, making it a very tight race, even with the cheating. Meaning, it’s all hands on board.
So, what’s next? In theory, democracies self-correct when one party goes off the rails. It pulls back to the center to try and pick up more voters, something academics call the “median voter theorem.”
But in fact, that doesn’t seem to be happening with Dems. As RFK says, they’re instead ignoring the voters and doubling-down on censorship and authoritarianism extending all the way to imprisoning the opposition.
This has happened before, of course, even in democracies. In 1930s Germany, the ruling Social Democrats did not moderate. They, too, doubled down, extending to political executions by regime allies.
We know how that ended, and it’s not good.
We’re in a dark place at the moment, and the most famous Kennedy effectively flipping parties is a mile marker for the history books.
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.
