RFK Jr. challenges Trump to debate after ‘Democrat plant’ accusation

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to former President Trump’s allegations he is a “Democrat plant” and would be a “wasted protest vote,” challenging the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to a debate. 

“When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged,” Kennedy wrote in an X post on Saturday afternoon. “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. President Trump, who has proven himself the most adept debater in modern American political history, should not be panicked to meet me on that stage.” 

RFK Jr. said he will prove Trump “betrayed the hopes of his most sincere followers,” arguing the former president “promised to end the Ukraine war and then colluded with Speaker Johnson and President Biden to fund it.” Kennedy Jr. also said Trump “let Big Pharma and his corrupt bureaucrats run roughshod over him as President,” and “promised to cut the deficit and ran up the biggest debt in history.”

“He promised to run the government like a business and then closed down our businesses. He promised to drain the swamp and then filled his administration with swamp creatures,” RFK Jr. said. “He promised to protect our rights and then torpedoed the Constitution.”

TRUMP ACCUSES RFK JR. OF BEING A ‘DEMOCRAT PLANT’ AND ‘WASTED PROTEST VOTE’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, and Donald Trump are running for president. (Getty Images)

“Instead of lobbing poisonous bombs from the safety of his bunker, let’s hear President Trump defend his record to me mano-a-mano by respectful, congenial debate,” Kennedy concluded.

Trump’s 2020 campaign notably called out Biden’s “bunker” strategy, condemning how the Democrat largely stayed away from the campaign trail and ducked the public eye while running for president. 

Kennedy’s challenge came after Trump blasted the independent presidential candidate on TRUTH Social.

“RFK Jr. is a Democrat ‘Plant,’ a Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place in order to help Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, get Re-Elected,” Trump wrote in a series of posts earlier Saturday. “A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE, that could swing either way, but would only swing against the Democrats if Republicans knew the true story about him.”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. hugs Nicole Shanahan as she becomes his vice presidential running mate in Oakland, California, March 26, 2024.  (Reuters)

RFK JR.’S RUNNING MATE AN ‘UNKNOWN QUANTITY’ WITH ‘DEEP POCKETS’ AS GOP, DEMS FEAR SPOILER CAMPAIGN: EXPERTS

Trump charged that RFK Jr. “is totally Anti-Gun, an Extreme Environmentalist who makes the Green New Scammers look Conservative, a Big Time Taxer and Open Border Advocate, and Anti-Military/Vet.” 

“His Radicalized Family will never allow him to be a Republican, and his Chief ‘Funder’ is the V.P. Candidate that nobody ever heard of, except her ex-husband, who’s been stripped of a big chunk of cash,” Trump continued, taking a swipe at Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan. 

Former President Donald Trump exits Trump Tower in New York City, Monday, April 15, 2024. Jury selection began in the so-called hush money trial in Manhattan Criminal Court. (Probe-Media for Fox News Digital)

Trump said that while living in New York at the same time as Kennedy, he watched the former Democrat convince former Gov. Andrew Cuomo “to make environmental moves that were outright NASTY,” noting that upstate New York “was not allowed to drill or frack as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and others ripped off New York Energy,” causing energy costs in upstate New York and New England to skyrocket. 

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“His Views on Vaccines are FAKE, as is everything else about his Candidacy. Let the Democrats have RFK Jr. They deserve him!” Trump said.