Democrats are rolling out a set of billboards describing former President Trump, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy and Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) as “weird” ahead of a possible endorsement of Trump by Kennedy on Friday.
The billboards will be seen in Arizona near Trump’s rally in Glendale, where his campaign says he’ll be joined by an unnamed “special guest,” and in Phoenix, where Kennedy is holding an event earlier in the day to address “the present historical moment and his path forward.”
The Democratic National Committee is responsible for the billboards.
It’s widely expected the Trump and Kennedy events are linked — that Kennedy is ending his long-shot presidential bid and will join Trump for his rally to endorse the Republican candidate. Trump told Fox News it’s “possible” the two men will meet while both are in the Grand Canyon State.
The two events in Arizona are 10 miles apart.
The billboard also is being displayed near the Trump Tower in Chicago, where the DNC already has spread its message earlier this week during the Democratic National Convention.
The latest billboards feature images of Vance and Kennedy on each side. Between the two is an image of Trump pointing his index finger toward his head, as if making the “cuckoo” hand gesture.
“WEIRD AS HELL,” it reads in large capital letters, with the standard disclaimer that it’s paid for by the DNC and authorized by Harris for President.
Democrats have sought to paint Trump and Vance as “weird” — a taunt that has stuck and been adopted by the former president’s critics to Trump’s apparent annoyance. Kennedy’s campaign has also taken some strange turns, including revelations about a brain worm and a Central Park stunt a decade back that involved a dead bear cub.
In a memo released Friday morning, Democratic leaders dismissed the potential of a Trump-Kennedy alliance. Kennedy’s polling has sagged since his entry as an independent candidate.
“MAGA Republicans elevated RFK Jr.’s sham candidacy as a tool to mislead voters and hurt Democrats, and RFK Jr.’s exit is an admission their gambit failed,” the memo stated. “Here’s what RFK Jr.’s endorsement of Donald Trump would change: nothing.”
The Democrats acknowledged in the memo that Kennedy started the year being “viewed in a generally positive light, largely gifted from his famous last name.”
The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s latest polling analysis has Kennedy averaging a 50 percent unfavorable rating to 37 percent favorable — a reversal from Jan. 7, when he averaged 49.6 percent favorable to 39 percent unfavorable.
Kennedy’s campaign, with a last name famously linked to Democratic politics, presented a shift from how Democrats treated the 2016 race, when third-party candidates like Jill Stein were largely ignored.
Democrats worked to challenge Kennedy’s candidacy and highlight that other Kennedy family members had called their relative’s campaign “dangerous.”
“Like RFK Jr., Donald Trump is at a low point and acting out of desperation,” the Democrats’ memo stated. “Embracing RFK Jr. now – when he has nothing to offer but months of disqualifying revelations – is not a decision a campaign makes when they’re acting from a position of strength.”