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“Donald Trump has picked vaccine sceptic and former independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr as his health secretary, as the president-elect continues to build his new administration… If his nomination is ratified by the Senate, he will lead a huge agency overseeing everything from food safety to medical research and welfare programmes.” BBC
Many on both sides are critical of Kennedy’s selection:
“We sat down with RFK Jr. back in May 2023, when he was still challenging President Biden for the Democratic nomination. As we noted then, he’s an independent thinker who sees through a lot of bull, an incisive critic of some of Biden’s worst policies, who saw that ‘the Democratic Party lost its way most acutely in reaction to’ Donald Trump’s first election…
“But the insights we were impressed with had nothing to do with health. When it came to that topic his views were a head-scratching spaghetti of what we can only call warped conspiracy theories, and not just on vaccines… He told us with full conviction that all America’s chronic health problems began in one year in the 1980s when a dozen bad things happened. Convincing to the gullible conspiracy-hungry crowd on Twitter, but not to the rest of us.”
Editorial Board, New York Post
“I read [Kennedy’s book] The Real Anthony Fauci in what may have been a misguided attempt to ‘do my own research.’ It’s hard to summarize the extent of this book’s bizarre claims. Every group imaginable is said to be in on a plot to bring about worldwide totalitarianism and population control: governments, pharmaceutical companies, nonprofits, scientists, and, of course, the CIA…
“This nation has no shortage of public-health and medical experts with thoughts on raw milk or fluoridated water. Some experts will surely agree with aspects of Kennedy’s platform, but they will also bring the credibility, experience, rigor, and honesty he lacks. Let’s not pretend that Kennedy’s views have any value whatsoever.”
Benjamin Mazer, The Atlantic
Other opinions below.
“Kennedy is an unabashed anti-vaccine activist who started a nonprofit to campaign against things like child immunization and water fluoridation. He is a conspiracy theorist who promotes disproven ideas about the effects of pharmaceuticals. His dangerous beliefs include suspicions about inoculation for Covid, flu, chickenpox, mumps, and polio, among others. He is not only against them — he wants vaccines taken off the market so that no one has access to them…
“Trump has also said he would ‘not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.’ Though he claims he is talking only about Covid vaccines, I choose to hedge my bets. Currently every state and Washington, D.C., requires that school children be immunized. Imagine an America where millions of children came to school without being vaccinated against whooping cough, tetanus, or measles. All can be deadly.”
Dan Rather, Substack
Some note, “I would caution the medical and scientific community against knee-jerk reactions. Not every proposal from Trump and Kennedy is a five-alarm fire. Stopping fluoridation does not rise to the same level of concern as, for example, defunding schools that require childhood vaccines. Medical experts — and the American public — need to save their outrage for when it’s really warranted.”
Leana Wen, Washington Post
“Let us not forget that HHS is the largest department in the federal government, with more than one out of every four dollars in the budget flowing through its doors. Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare are all controlled by HHS… It is through HHS that Republican presidents have the ability to influence abortion policy, but RFK Jr. earlier this year defended the right to ‘full-term abortion.’ After backtracking, he still said he supported abortion until viability…
“HHS would also be the agency through which Republicans could try to loosen the government’s regulatory grip on American health care, but in RFK Jr., Trump has named somebody who has envisioned a sort of single-payer system akin to the government-run public option that was rejected during the Obamacare debate for being a step toward socialized medicine.”
Philip Klein, National Review
Some argue, “After the Biden-Harris administration’s forced COVID-19 vaccination, harassment of Amish farmers, and other pro-Big Pharma and anti-organic food stances, Kennedy could bring big and positive changes that will prioritize Americans’ health over Pharma profits and propaganda. While Kennedy does have a pro-big government/leftist track record on some issues, this newest Trump appointment calls for cautious optimism.”
Catherine Salgado, PJ Media
