Top Democratic strategist and Clinton insider David Axelrod claimed on Sunday that Robert F. Kennedy Sr. would have been “appalled” by his son’s decision to suspend his presidential campaign and endorse President Donald Trump’s Republican bid.

“Robert F. Kennedy was my political hero. He battled fiercely & eloquently against poverty, injustice and for economic fairness. Sadly RFK Jr, who made a rambling exit from the race today, proves that sometimes an apple DOES fall far from the tree…in this case, down a hill and over a cliff,” Axelrod wrote on X.

Robert F. Kennedy Sr. would have been appalled to see his son cut a deal to drop out for he race and endorse Trump,

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 23, 2024

“Robert F. Kennedy Sr. would have been appalled to see his son cut a deal to drop out of the race and endorse Trump,” he added.

Kennedy suspended his campaign at a news conference on Friday in Arizona, where he argued that it was the Democratic Party that had left him, rather than the other way around.

“Sixteen months ago, in April of 2023, I launched my campaign for president of the United States. I began this journey as a Democrat, the party of my father, my uncle, the party which I pledged my own allegiance to long before I was old enough to vote,” Kennedy recalled.
“I attended my first Democratic convention at the age of six in 1960 and back then, the Democrats were the champions of the Constitution, civil rights. The Democrats stood against authoritarianism, against censorship, against colonialism, imperialism, and unjust wars. We were the party of labor, of the working class,” he continued.

RFK Jr. makes the pitch for Trump: "Don't you want a president who is going to protect America's freedoms and who is going to protect us against totalitarianism?"
pic.twitter.com/VMQYGvc8pK

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 24, 2024

While Kennedy said that in those halcyon days, the Democrats had stood for “transparency” and served as a “bulwark against big money interests and corporate power,” he argued that the party had since abandoned its “core values.”

“It had become the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big [agriculture], and big money,” he asserted.

Kennedy went on to officially join forces with Trump at a campaign rally in Arizona. Trump welcomed his endorsement, saying Kennedy had run an “extraordinary campaign.” Kennedy then made a pitch for Trump, asking, “Don’t you want a president who is going to protect America’s freedoms and who is going to protect us against totalitarianism?”

Kennedy’s decision comes after the Democratic Party blocked him from running in the primaries against Biden and harassed his campaign with efforts to remove his name from the presidential ballot in several states.