Mr. Kennedy’s recent alliance with Donald J. Trump represented a sharp reversal
of a long-combative relationship.

By Tim Balk

Aug. 28, 2024, 5:07 a.m. ET

The alliance between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald J. Trump,
which was fortified on Tuesday with Mr. Kennedy’s appointment to Mr. Trump’s
transition team, is a sharp turnabout in a long-combative relationship.

Mr. Kennedy had spent the better part of a decade lobbing attacks at Mr. Trump,
portraying him as a buffoonish, anti-democratic bully who led a feckless
administration.

“In many ways, he’s discredited the American experiment with self-governance,”
Mr. Kennedy said of Mr. Trump in early 2020.

Mr. Kennedy set aside his criticisms when he suspended his long-shot independent
presidential campaign last Friday, saying that he was backing Mr. Trump because
he was “choosing to believe” that “this time” Mr. Trump would bring him into his
administration — something that did not happen for Mr. Kennedy the last time
around, after they met in 2017. Mr. Kennedy, reached for comment, pointed to the
remarks he made Friday.

Mr. Kennedy acknowledged Friday that he and the former president “don’t agree on
everything.” But he said that they had found common ground on certain issues,
and he took a different, far more positive tone in front of a cheering crowd of
Trump supporters in Glendale, Ariz.

“Don’t you want a president who’s going to protect America’s freedoms, and who’s
going to protect us against totalitarianism?” Mr. Kennedy asked on Friday.

Six years earlier, he had accused Mr. Trump of “systematically” supporting
totalitarian governments around the world.

Here’s a look back at 12 times Mr. Kennedy ridiculed Mr. Trump and his policies.

July 2, 2024
“Donald Trump was a terrible president”

In an appearance on the “Breaking Points” podcast after the debate between Mr.
Trump and President Biden, Mr. Kennedy said Mr. Trump had turned the “government
over to corporate pirates” during his presidency.

In calling Mr. Trump a “terrible president,” Mr. Kennedy argued that he had made
some compelling promises but had not followed through on them. “I don’t think
he’s capable of meeting the expectations and fulfilling the promises that he
raises with his rhetoric.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/us/politics/rfk-trump-criticisms.html?searchResultPosition=1

"Don’t you want a president who’s going to protect America’s freedoms, and who’s
going to protect us against totalitarianism?" Yes, I do, and that's why Trump
must be kept out of office at all costs.

Read the rest. More than half the times that Kennedy called Trump "a terrible
president" are from *this year*. Trump *was* a terrible president, and he'd be
even worse in another term.