Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the case on Sunday for embracing the term “MAGA”— or “Make America Great Again”— just two days after he endorsed former President Trump’s bid for the White House.
Kennedy acknowledged that the phrase — which now often refers to Trump’s staunchest supporters — often raises concerns among those “who think it is a call for a return to an America before civil rights, gay rights, and women’s rights.”
“But I have a more generous interpretation, one that is truer to my experience of Donald Trump as he is today,” Kennedy continued in a post on the social platform X on Sunday.
“’Make America Great Again’ recalls a nation brimming with vitality, with a can-do spirit, with hope and a belief in itself. It was an America that was beginning to confront its darker shadows, could acknowledge the injustice in its past and present, yet at the same time could celebrate its successes,” he continued.
“It was a nation of broad prosperity, the world’s most vibrant middle class, and a idealistic belief (though not consistently applied) in freedom, justice, and democracy. It was a nation that led the world in innovation, productivity, and technology,” he added. “And it was the healthiest country in the world.”
Kennedy said he’s confident that the former president shares this optimistic vision for the country.
“I have talked to many Trump supporters. I have talked with his inner circle. I have talked to the man himself. This is the America they want to restore,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy ended his presidential bid on Friday and opted to endorse the former president.
Kennedy launched his campaign trying to challenge President Biden for the Democratic Party’s nomination, but he then became an independent.
