AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Former President Trump capped off a week of campaign stops with a raucous rally in the Phoenix suburbs of Arizona this afternoon. NPR's Ben Giles is in the arena where it is happening as we speak and joins us now. Hi, Ben.
BEN GILES, BYLINE: Hello.
CHANG: Hi. OK, so Trump's been honing his message against Vice President Harris, often bemoaning that he's no longer running against President Biden. What did people in Arizona hear from Trump today about Harris?
GILES: Well, one thing that's worth noting is Trump is holding this rally in the same arena that the Harris campaign hosted a rally two weeks ago. So there was plenty of dismissive remarks from Trump and other Republicans about crowd sizes and false claims of AI-generated images of Democratic rallies. Trump also spent a lot of time leaning into his new moniker for Harris, Comrade Kamala, while also, as always, mispronouncing her first name. But Trump did start his remarks today by making overtures to independent voters and disaffected Democrats, claiming they're joining his cause like wildfire. To back up that claim, Trump brought out Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who, just hours before this rally, announced in Phoenix that he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump.
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DONALD TRUMP: Tonight, I'm very pleased to welcome a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share - and we've shared them for a long time.
GILES: Trump thanked Kennedy for his kind words after the assassination attempt on Trump's life a month ago. Trump also vowed that, if elected, he would establish a new, independent presidential commission on assassination attempts to study not just the attempt on his life, but also to release all remaining sealed documents pertaining to the assassination of Kennedy's uncle, President John F. Kennedy.
CHANG: Huh. OK, well, what did Kennedy have to say about why he's backing Trump? Because, I mean, it wasn't that long ago that Kennedy tried to run in the Democratic presidential primary, right?
GILES: Right, right. And Kennedy acknowledged that there's plenty on the issues that separates him from Trump. But he said that, in a meeting in Florida a few weeks after that shooting in Butler, Pa., he and the former president focused on, quote, "the issues that bind us." That includes issues important to Kennedy - he said like food safety and ending what he calls the chronic disease epidemic.
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ROBERT F KENNEDY JR: Our children are the unhealthiest, sickest children in the world. Don't you want healthy children?
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KENNEDY: And don't you want the chemicals out of our food?
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: And don't you want the regulatory agencies to be free from corporate corruption?
(CHEERING)
KENNEDY: And that's what President Trump told me that he wanted.
GILES: Trump would - Kennedy would go on to say that Trump would make America healthy again. I should note here that we don't have evidence children in the U.S. are the sickest in the world, and Kennedy has a history of spreading conspiracy theories when it comes to health - particularly vaccines.
CHANG: That's right. Well, what kind of impact do you think Kennedy's endorsement could have on this race in swing states in particular?
GILES: So right now, Kennedy is taking steps to get his name off the ballot in states like Arizona, where the common belief is that an RFK candidacy would pull more votes away from Trump than Harris. It's not a given, though, that his supporters will back Trump, too. Polls do show Trump getting an extra boost of about one point in key swing states from Kennedy backing out.
CHANG: That is NPR's Ben Giles in the suburbs of Phoenix. Thank you so much, Ben.
GILES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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