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Ironically, one of Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s biggest political liabilities is also arguably his greatest achievement as president: the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccine. A swath of the Republican base remains openly hostile<\/a> to vaccines, which has left Trump exposed to rare criticism<\/a> from his MAGA supporters. According to sources, Trump allies such as Tucker Carlson<\/strong> and Roger Stone<\/strong> were worried enough about the former president\u2019s vulnerability on the vaccine issue that they wanted him to publicly disavow Operation Warp Speed, the public-private program that released a COVID vaccine in less than nine months. But Trump refused because, well, has Trump ever passed up a chance to claim credit for a success? (Carlson and Stone declined to comment.)<\/p>\n As a result, sources say Carlson, Trump\u2019s son Donald Trump Jr.,<\/strong> and others helped engineer an alternative: Robert Kennedy Jr.<\/strong>\u2019s decision to drop out and endorse Trump. Stone told people that Kennedy, whose third-party campaign served as a vehicle for his anti-vaccine views, was peeling off enough voters to tip the election to Kamala Harris.<\/strong> \u201cYou have maybe 3% of voters where opposition to vaccines is their one issue,\u201d says a Republican who participated in the courtship of Kennedy.<\/p>\n But getting Kennedy and Trump to forge an alliance almost didn\u2019t happen. The two New York scions have famously big egos and a history of viciously attacking each other. Trump previously called Kennedy a \u201cphony, radical-left fool,\u201d a \u201cDemocratic \u2018plant,\u2019\u201d and a \u201cliberal lunatic.\u201d Kennedy, meanwhile, wrote a 2018 Newsweek<\/em> op-ed that said Trump\u2019s \u201cpresidency has not just discredited our nation, but the entire American experiment in self government.\u201d<\/p>\n A breakthrough came following the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump\u2019s life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A few hours after the shooting, Carlson put Trump and Kennedy on a text thread together, according to a person briefed on the communications. Kennedy texted Trump that he was ready to drop out and endorse him but wasn\u2019t sure of the timing, the source says. On a phone call the following day, Trump courted Kennedy by endorsing Kennedy\u2019s unproven view that vaccines hurt children. \u201cWhen you feed a baby, Bobby, a vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines and it looks like it\u2019s meant for a horse, not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby,\u201d Trump said, \u201cand then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically. I\u2019ve seen it too many times.\u201d But the relationship hit a setback when Kennedy\u2019s son, Robert Kennedy III,<\/strong> posted a video of the call<\/a> with Trump to social media.<\/p>\n The damage control fell to Florida financier Omeed Malik,<\/strong> a Trump donor and close friend of Don Jr. and Robert Kennedy III. (Malik\u2019s anti-woke private equity firm<\/a>, 1789 Capital, invested in Tucker Carlson\u2019s digital video venture.) Malik arranged an in-person meeting<\/a> between Trump and Kennedy on the opening day of the Republican convention to discuss an endorsement. According to people briefed on the meeting, Kennedy came in with unrealistic expectations that he could be FDA chairman or Health and Human Services Secretary in a Trump administration. \u201cThere were asks,\u201d a source briefed on the talks tells me. (Kennedy denied this.) \u201cThe meeting concluded without a deal,\u201d the source says. The Trump campaign declined to comment.<\/p>\n Talks between Kennedy and Trump went dark. Over the next several weeks, Malik worked behind the scenes to bring Trump and Kennedy back together. According to the source, Kennedy and Trump agreed on four broad policy areas: treating chronic disease, opposing censorship, adopting an isolationist foreign policy, and exposing the deep state. The source said the deal-breaker was that Kennedy needed to be on Trump\u2019s transition team. \u201cThat was nonnegotiable,\u201d the source says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no quid pro quo of any kind,\u201d Kennedy tells Vanity Fair.<\/em><\/p>\n On Tuesday, the Trump campaign announced Kennedy would serve as an honorary co-chair of the transition alongside former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.<\/strong> \u201cThis is going to give Bobby the ability to decide who gets into government,\u201d the source says.<\/p>\n Former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg<\/strong> says Kennedy\u2019s presence on the transition is a signal to anti-vax voters that Trump will be an ally in office. \u201cThis is Trump\u2019s way of winking to Kennedy\u2019s supporters,\u201d Nunberg says.<\/p>\n One open question is what role Kennedy\u2019s vice presidential pick, Nicole Shanahan,<\/strong> might play in Trumpworld. On Tuesday, Shanahan declined to say if she would campaign for Trump. And she disputed that Kennedy dropped out of the race. \u201cWe are technically still running and on the ballot! Just suspended,\u201d she texted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n