Former President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a bandage on his ear after being wounded in an assassination attempt, attends the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Former President Donald Trump compared being shot to being bitten by “the world’s largest mosquito” in a leaked phone conversation with rival Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that also suggests the two men share radical anti-vaxxer views.
“It felt like a a giant … like the world’s largest mosquito,” Trump told RFK Jr. “And it was a bullet.”
The former president praised President Joe Biden for making a courtesy call to check on his well being after Trump cheated death in the weekend assassination attempt.
“(Biden) was very nice actually,” Trump related to RFK Jr. “He said: ‘How did you choose to move to the right?’”
The 100-second video clip of RFK Jr. listening to Trump’s call on speaker phone was posted by RFK Jr.’s son. The independent presidential candidate apologized for leaking the video but did not dispute its authenticity.
The clip was released Tuesday morning as Trump met with RFK Jr. in Milwaukee to ask him to drop out of the race and endorse him.
Along with candidly discussing the shooting, Trump expresses sympathy for RFK Jr.’s extremist anti-vaxxer views, saying he shares his rival’s skepticism about childhood vaccines that doctors credit with saving millions of lives.
“You see the baby, all of a sudden, starting to change radically,” said Trump, who spearheaded development of the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines. “I’ve seen it too many times. You and I talked about that a long time ago.”
Trump suggests RFK Jr. should join forces with him, pulling back the curtain on their common goal of defeating Biden.
“It would be so good for (me) and so good for you,” Trump said, although it is unclear exactly what role Trump was proposing for RFK Jr.
RFK Jr. has insisted that he is running as an alternative to both Trump and Biden. Polls say it’s not clear which major party candidate benefits from his presence in the race.
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