U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thanked God for President Donald Trump and said he believes late conservative activist Charlie Kirk was “looking down” on the GOP's midterm convention as he reflected on his transition to the Republican Party. Kennedy was one of several speakers to address the Republican National Midterm Convention Thursday.
Kennedy, who ran for president as a Democrat before launching an independent campaign and ultimately suspending his bid to endorse Trump in 2024, spent his speech describing what he sees as the changes in the Democratic Party throughout his lifetime and how he unexpectedly found common ground with Trump.
Noting that his speech occurred on the first anniversary of the murder of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, he addressed the solemn occasion in his remarks, recalling how he came to endorse Trump and eventually appeared on stage with him at a TPUSA rally.
Kennedy declared: “That moment would never have happened without my friend Charlie Kirk.” After remembering Kirk as someone who “believed that people from all different political traditions could find common ground in their love of country” and who realized that “the only way that we were going to rescue our country is if we started talking to each other and having congenial conversations,” Kennedy said, “I like to believe that Charlie is looking down on all of us now and … seeing the seeds that he planted.” “Charlie played a critical and indispensable role in bringing me and President Trump together,” Kennedy asserted.
“I am so grateful to God for giving our country a leader like this.” Kennedy then turned to his reasons for leaving the Democratic Party, lamenting that the Democrats, whom he had supported his whole life, began to depart from their longstanding principles during the