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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has, as expected for days, suspended his presidential candidacy with an endorsement of Donald Trump and a plan to withdraw his own name from ballots only in swing states, in order to increase Trump’s chances of winning the Electoral College.

In April 2023, Kennedy embarked on one of the most bizarre and problematic campaigns in presidential history by Democratic nomination. Because he received little to no support in that venture, he dropped his candidacy in October to run as a candidate independentIn March of this year, he chose billionaire Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, and she has been the campaign’s top funder ever since, with about $19 million to date. Kennedy had already burned through most of the $20 million given to his super PAC by the far right Trump megadonor Timothy Mellon, who then offered Kennedy another $5 million, bringing the total to $25 million.

Without his party’s support, the 70-year-old Kennedy struggled to gain access to the ballot box in his state, which he needed to compete nationally. Yet he maintained throughout the year that he was in the race and that he offered voters an attractive alternative to the two aging and crippled major-party candidates, Trump and Joe Biden.

Kennedy initially polled in double digits — peaking at over 20 percent — and appeared to be drawing significantly more support from Biden than from Trump, a matter of serious concern to the Democratic Party. There had even been some loose talk — promoted by MAGA operatives including Roger Stone and Mike Flynn, and recently revived by none other than running mate Shanahan — of a Trump/Kennedy “unity” ticket. Steve Bannon had reportedly been encouraging Kennedy’s candidacy for months as a “useful agent of chaos,” a report Kennedy denied but which was bolstered by Mellon’s dual support for both Kennedy’s and Trump’s candidacies.

Kennedy, of course, had a strong family legacy, which automatically appealed to Democrats who had once revered his father, RFK, and his uncles, JFK and Ted, as well as to younger voters for whom the name had a less familiar mystique.

A slowly sinking lead balloon

But as the year progressed and his positions and antics became more well-known, his overall support began to wane, and Democrats found little to admire in his positions or behavior. His fervent embrace of a variety of extremist conspiracy theories, particularly his radical anti-vaccination stance; his anti-Semitic and racist remarks; his anti-immigrant rhetoric; his sweeping statements on abortion; new allegations of sexual abuse, to which he responded that he was “not a choir boy”; his brainworm and dead bear cub stunt; the strong opposition of the Kennedy family; the support of people like Joe Rogan; and his ever-inching, rightward-moving approach all contributed to the erosion of enthusiasm for Kennedy among potential Biden voters, and likely left him with more votes from Trump than Biden in July — a backwards spoiler effect and definitely not what Stone, Bannon and Mellon had in mind.

He was already polling in the single digits and was largely embraced by MAGAs when Biden dropped his candidacy and was replaced by his much younger and more energetic vice president, Kamala Harris. Trump screamed bloody murder, with no legal basis for doing so, as he watched his lead disappear almost overnight and Harris’s momentum increase; Kennedy, for his part, fell below 4 percent — dismal, but enough to win a narrow election.

The panic in Trumpworld was palpable and only intensified as the Democrats conducted a nearly flawless and generally inspiring convention. They entered the election with a recognized lead in both the national and swing state polls, unity, energy and a hugely important momentum.

‘Lunatic’ Meets ‘Sociopath’

Meanwhile, there have been quiet, then louder efforts, led initially by Donald Trump Jr., to appease Kennedy and bring about today’s outcome. It remains unclear exactly what Kennedy was promised by Trump, but influence over health policy in a second Trump administration, perhaps even at the Cabinet level as head of Health and Human Services, has been mentioned by at least one high-level mediator.

The courtship was a bit awkward, given that Kennedy, amid other harsh criticism, had just last month called Trump a “terrible human being” and voiced his opinion that the former president was “probably a sociopath.” Trump, in turn, had called Kennedy a “radical left-wing nutcase,” though in a phone call leaked by Kennedy’s son, Trump convinced his prey with all the deal-making sincerity he could muster that he shared the whole smear of Kennedy’s radical anti-vaxxer agenda.

Perhaps Kennedy was not convinced because it was reported 10 days ago that he had sought a meeting with Harris to discuss a cabinet position. her administration. I’m not sure why he thought she would even consider for a minute such an absurd proposal, which she obviously didn’t. Maybe it was just the due diligence of a bottom-feeder selling itself to the highest bidder — which led to the “heartbreaking decision” that Trump is “our best hope.”

But I think it shed light on the fundamental “qualities” that Kennedy and Trump have in common. They are both typically unscrupulous, arrogant, lying, abusive, deeply troubled narcissists — transactional birds of the same species. Even more striking is that they have both led sloppy lives.

There is a great line in William Faulkner’s novel While I’m dyingspoken by a carpenter: “You can’t get away with a sloppy job.” Not “of” — “by.” Sloppiness follows you everywhere, becomes your life and your approach to every situation in it. Getting away with it, blaming others, taking the easy way out, leaving your mess, your bankruptcy, your bear cub behind. Always. It has characterized almost all of Trump’s life, certainly his current campaign. And it has characterized much of Kennedy’s life, certainly are campaign now suspended.

It is no surprise that these two bunglers have found each other. It could cost our nation dearly, but it doesn’t have to. That remains to be seen, but the possibility alone is damaging.

A fate worse than Camelot?

What has finally been settled is the question of Kennedy’s character. Trump had no legacy to tarnish, but RFK Jr. took his family’s brilliant, if only slightly tarnished, legacy and left it in ruins.

Perhaps most striking is that a scion whose Irish ancestors suffered the sting of anti-immigrant fanaticism and ultimately carved out a place among America’s most welcoming leaders for those who later came to our shores is now throwing his support behind the fountainhead of anti-immigrant bile and fear-mongering that is Donald Trump.

Kennedy’s family is nearly unanimous in calling for an end to his presidential candidacy. They finally got their way, in the ugliest and least intended ways, and they acted swiftly. Whatever the consequences, Kennedy’s act, timed as it was for maximum momentum-shifting impact, is a profound betrayal — of his legacy and, if it proves fruitful, of our democracy.