RFK Jr dismisses Trump as ‘unhinged’ after being called a ‘Democrat plant’

Robert F Kennedy Jr has dismissed Donald Trump as “unhinged” after a social media tirade from the former Republican president accused the independent White House hopeful of being a “Democrat plant” and “wasted protest vote”.

“When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged,” Kennedy wrote Saturday on X in a post that doubled as a debate challenge. “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.”

Both Trump and Democratic incumbent Joe Biden have come to perceive Kennedy as a threat to their prospects in November’s presidential election over fears that he could siphon off enough votes to swing the race. But Friday, it was Trump who vented frustration at the specter of Kennedy, arguing in a screed on his Truth Social platform that the independent was dropped into the field to aid Biden’s chances of re-election and that his choice to select tech lawyer Nicole Shanahan as his running mate was unserious.

“RFK Jr is a Democrat ‘Plant,’” Trump wrote. “A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him.”

Despite his consistently goading Biden about debating, Trump hasn’t done much of it himself. He skipped all debates in the Republican presidential preference primary this year, withdrew from a second debate with Biden before losing the Oval Office to him in 2020, and in 2022 prompted his party’s national committee to withdraw from the body that stages presidential debates.

Nonetheless, Kennedy on Saturday wrote that if Trump did meet him on the stage, he would attack the former president over the war in Ukraine, among other topics.

Trump largely kept quiet about whether or not Congress should support an aid package for Ukraine before lawmakers approved one on Tuesday. It received Biden’s signature on Wednesday.

“He promised to end the Ukraine war,” Kennedy said in part, referring to Trump. “And then [he] colluded … to fund it.”

Recent polling from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ shows Kennedy with 7.7% support, trailing both Biden and Trump, who for the moment are tied.

Trump is managing to make November’s election competitive despite facing more than 80 pending criminal charges for attempting to forcibly overturn his defeat to Biden, improperly retaining classified materials after his presidency and making illicitly covered up hush-money payments to an adult film actor.

The trial of the case centering on the covered up hush-money is scheduled to enter its third week on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Trump is also facing multimillion-dollar civil penalties for practices deemed fraudulent and an allegation that he raped a woman – a claim which a judge has determined to be substantially true.

Kennedy is respectively the son and nephew of former US attorney general Robert Kennedy and John F Kennedy, who were both assassinated in the 1960s. He was once a Democrat like his famed predecessors and had a strong environmental record, though he has drifted to the political right over the years, espousing conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine views that some believe could attract Trump supporters.

On 15 April, Kennedy claimed Trump unsuccessfully asked him to be his vice-presidential candidate in November’s race. Prominent members of the Kennedy political dynasty then resoundingly endorsed Biden’s re-election campaign three days later.