In a Friday interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, former President Donald Trump shared that pharmaceutical executives were not “thrilled” about his collaboration with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy endorsed Trump and suspended his campaign on August 23, ten months after launching his independent run. His decision followed a split with the Democratic Party over issues such as censorship, the Ukraine war, illegal immigration, the lack of primary debates, and primary rules that favored President Joe Biden.
When Rogan asked if anyone had advised Trump against working with Kennedy, Trump mentioned resistance from pharmaceutical company executives.
“I would say that — and you know, I think in many ways they’ve done a good job and in many ways they’ve done a bad job — but I would say that Big Pharma wasn’t thrilled when they heard that,” Trump said, adding, “I’ve actually always gotten along very well with him [Kennedy], I’ve known him a long time.”
Instagram banned Kennedy in February 2021 due to his views on vaccines, and ABC News edited out part of an interview where he discussed COVID-19 vaccines. In an August interview with Fox News host Shannon Bream, Kennedy stated that Trump would “make America healthy again.”
“He’s a different kind of a guy,” Trump said of Kennedy. “He’s very smart, great guy, and he’s very sincere about this. I mean, he really is. He thinks— we spend a fortune on pesticides, on all this stuff, and then you end up— that chart is a terrible chart, the one previous. It’s such a bad chart when you look at where we are compared to other countries that don’t spend ten cents.”
The chart compared life expectancy with health expenditure per capita across various countries, showing that the United States lagged significantly behind other nations despite higher spending on healthcare and services per person.
“I’ve had some people who aren’t exactly thrilled,” Trump said, regarding Kennedy’s involvement with his campaign. “It doesn’t affect me,” Trump said about the criticism.
