Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to drop out of the presidential race by the end of this week, sources familiar with the decision tell ABC News.
Sources tell ABC News that Kennedy plans to endorse Donald Trump -- but when asked directly by ABC News if he will be endorsing the former president, Kennedy said, "I will not confirm or deny that."
"We are not talking about any of that," he said.
Here's my big-brained blogger take on that: A non-denial is not a denial.
It's not my fault I just wrote that stupid sentence. You're the ones who come here. You know this is me working at peak levels.
Sources cautioned the decision is not yet finalized and could still change, with one source adding that Kennedy's hope is, in part, to finalize things quickly in order to try to blunt momentum from the Democratic National Convention.
One possible scenario being discussed is for Kennedy to appear on stage with Trump at an event in Phoenix on Friday, though the sources cautioned that Kennedy's thinking could always change and sources close to Trump say no plan for Friday is finalized.
For his part, Trump said he would be "honored" to have RFKJr.'s endorsement.
He also points out that the Democrats have rigged the election against RFKJr.
Former President Trump spoke to "FOX & Friends" on Thursday about whether Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. might drop out of the race and endorse him.
"He is a very good person. If he endorsed me, I would be honored by it. I would be very honored by it. He really has his heart in the right place. He is a respected person," Trump said.
"But, overall, I thought the Democrats, he was a Democrat, I don't know what he is right now. But he was a Democrat. They treated him very badly. I think he would have, he goes around saying he would have beaten [President] Biden in the primary. I think there was a good chance," Trump said.
I thought that RFKJr.'s running mate, Nicole Sheridan, would object to this and throw a wrench into the works. She's a far-left San Francisco tech millionaire, after all.
But no, she's on board, and she's spitting fire about the rigged election:
Kennedy's running mate, Nicole Shanahan, recently told Fox News that they were considering dropping out and endorsing Trump. She added that "there's only one party that has obstructed a fair election for us, and unfortunately it was the Democratic Party."
Video of that below.
Kennedy will be speaking in Phoenix tomorrow at 2pm Eastern, or 11 am local time. Trump is speaking in the neighboring suburb of Glendale that evening.
I thought that Trump might join RFKJr. on the stage to accept the endorsement, but that seems dangerous: RFKJr.'s people will be deeply disappointed he's dropping out, and will not be receptive to seeing Trump take their dreams away.
But this report by Colin Rugg is almost certainly correct: Kennedy will speak at his own rally in the morning, and then speak at Trump's rally that evening.
Kennedy's voters may not be very persuadable. After all, most of them understood that RFKJr. could not win and that did not deter them from supporting him. They had the opportunity to support Trump, a man with a much better chance of becoming president. They passed that opportunity over.
However, if Kennedy and Shanahan continue talking about the Democrat's attack on democracy, and making it clear that Kamala Harris is the reason they can't get on more ballots -- maybe some will peel off to support Trump.
Also, many Democrats have "come home" to support Kamala, abandoning RFKJr. Maybe RFKJr. can make them reconsider their decision to vote for the Communist. They won't go to Trump, but maybe RFKJr. can convince them that Democrats are the real threat to democracy.
If Kennedy and Shanahan can get a bigger audience for the messages below, we might have something here.