Donald Trump Jr. goes after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Iowa appearance

URBANDALE, Iowa — It was junior-on-junior warfare at former President Donald Trump’s Iowa campaign headquarters Thursday afternoon.

Donald Trump Jr., the son of the 45th president, said Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 candidacy was a ploy by the Democrats when a Trump volunteer asked him about Kennedy’s independent campaign. 

“It legitimately always felt like it was a Democrat plant to hurt the Trump thing,” Trump Jr. told a crowd of about 40 Iowans volunteering for the Trump campaign, adding, “He wouldn’t be there if the Democrats didn’t want him.”

In fact, Democrats dismissed Kennedy’s campaign while he was running in the Democratic primaries, in which he failed to gain traction even though he was boosted by conservative figures and the right’s media ecosystem. Kennedy eventually pivoted and launched an independent campaign, instead. Since then, the Trump campaign and allies have sought to highlight more of Kennedy’s left-leaning policy positions.

“I intend to wrest the reins of power from both parties and give to it the American people,” Kennedy said in Philadelphia on Oct. 9, starting the second rendition of his campaign.

Kennedy’s independent campaign has sparked a swirl of debate about whether his candidacy is more likely to hurt Trump or President Joe Biden, should each secure his party’s nomination. 

“He should be much more of a threat to Joe Biden than to us,” Trump Jr. said Thursday. But he warned that MAGA supporters shouldn’t be fooled into warming up to Kennedy because of his well-documented skepticism toward vaccines. 

“Once you actually look at his voting record, you’re like, no, he’s just a liberal that is anti-vax,” Trump Jr. said, pointing to Kennedy’s stances on reparations, immigration and guns. He added, “Being anti-vax, I don’t think that’s enough.” 

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Trump Jr. said the Trump campaign will have to make an effort to explain Kennedy’s positions to voters. 

After his speech, Trump Jr. spoke to the media and reacted to news that his father had been fined $10,000 for violating a gag order barring him from speaking about the staff of the judge in his New York fraud trial.

“When you say it’s Marxist and hyperbole, there’s no hyperbole about it anymore,” Trump Jr. said. “It’s disgusting.”

Trump Jr. also confidently described his father’s chances in Iowa, starting to call Trump’s lead in Iowa “insurmountable” before catching himself and stopping midway through the word.

Asked by NBC News whether he feared an endorsement by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds for another candidate could derail Trump’s chances in the state, Trump Jr. pointed toward recent polling and said the campaign is, “what’s the word? crushing it.”