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“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's pick to lead the top U.S. health agency, came under attack at a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, with Democratic lawmakers accusing him of covering up his anti-vaccine views and embracing conspiracy theories to dissuade use of lifesaving medicines. Kennedy sought to defend his record to the Senate Finance Committee, promising lawmakers that he was not against vaccines, and saying he would address rapidly increasing rates of chronic disease as well as follow Trump's direction on abortion.” Reuters
The left is critical of RFK Jr. and urges the Senate to reject his nomination.
“Kennedy has tried to recast his anti-vaccine extremism as an honest effort to illuminate what he claims is unsettled science (it’s not). He insists he’s not trying to take away anyone’s shots; he’s just asking for the data supporting them… These senators are falling into a tried-and-true trap from vaccine opponents: sow doubt in their safety and efficacy by suggesting vital information is being kept from the public…
“The data on vaccines is out there. Beyond the studies regulators require to market the shots, decades of epidemiological data across hundreds of millions of people (for some, likely billions of people) affirm their value. Suggesting otherwise isn’t a shift toward a more moderate position on vaccines. It’s a sly way of undermining confidence in them.”
Lisa Jarvis, Bloomberg
“His stances, which include unscientific beliefs that AIDS is not caused by HIV and that a large number of vaccines should be stripped from the market, could have major impacts on the agency designed to protect America’s health, especially as bird flu outbreaks dot the country…
“And Kennedy’s vaccine conspiracies aren’t just easily refutable, anti-vax hogwash—they’ve caused legitimate, real-world harm. Preceding a deadly measles outbreak on the Pacific islands of Samoa in 2019, Kennedy’s anti-vax nonprofit Children’s Health Defense spread rampant misinformation about the efficacy of vaccines, sending the nation’s vaccination rate plummeting from the 60–70 percent range to just 31 percent…
“That year, the country reported 5,707 cases of measles—an illness that was declared eliminated by the U.S. in 2000 thanks to advancements in modern medicine (read: vaccines)—as well as 83 measles-related deaths, the majority of which were children under the age of five.”
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, New Republic
“Kennedy incorrectly claimed that ‘most people who are on Medicaid are not happy’ because ‘the premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high.’ But, by and large, Medicaid patients don’t have premiums or copays. Medicare patients do. A person who is that unfamiliar with the basic components of healthcare coverage in this country is not capable of Making America Healthy Again.”
Jessica Karl, Bloomberg
“Kennedy had no suggestions for how to reform the programs outside vague ideas about ‘telemedicine and AI’ and seemed to believe that people on Medicaid pay both premiums and deductibles — not the case for almost anyone using the program. Needless to say, if confirmed, he would oversee both programs, which are used by over 100 million Americans, along with the entire public-health infrastructure of the United States.”
Ben Jacobs, New York Magazine
The right is divided.
The right is divided.
“With the exceptions of former President Joe Biden’s dead-man-walking debate performance and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, no event swung the 2024 presidential election to our current president more decidedly than his endorsement by [RFK Jr.]…
“The health food moms and disgruntled dads Kennedy brought into the GOP fold are not going to take kindly to the bait and switch if oh-so-principled senators replace their reason for voting Republican with a run-of-the-mill establishment lackey…
“RFK Jr. is a symbol. For some, he represents a new way to think about health and the food supply. For others, he is a check on power, or the guy with nothing controlling him. To still others, he may remain a climate activist. All of that is as may be. What we know is that the voters who put this Republican majority in power, at least those who were not already on board, want Kennedy. And [there’s] no reason to fear that he’s going to cause a smallpox outbreak, ban penicillin, or outlaw the polio vaccine.”
David Marcus, Fox News
Others argue, “It was odd watching Senate Republicans trying their best to put an unhinged leftist like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into a position of power. Perhaps the only thing odder was watching Democrats doing their best to stop them. But nowadays, our principles hinge on the whims of one man… [Absent Trump’s support] Republicans probably would have wondered if Kennedy still believes that the National Rifle Association is a ‘terrorist organization’…
“Someone might have asked if Kennedy, a lifelong fan of censorship, still subscribes to the idea that gas and oil executives are ‘traitors’ who should be tried in global courts and ‘jailed for all eternity.’ When some finally queried Kennedy on abortion, he replied, ‘I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy.’ It’s quite the happenstance that Kennedy, who supported unlimited abortions only last year, reversed his 50-year position just in time to worm his way into the government.”
David Harsanyi, Washington Examiner
“While there are many sound reasons to doubt RFK Jr.’s appropriateness for this position — or any position of authority — the simplest reason to vote no is that HHS has too much power over too many decisions of importance to pro-life causes to entrust it to an unreconstructed long-time advocate of legal abortion…
“Republicans, conservatives, and pro-lifers alike have always welcomed converts. But apart from a few gestures towards conciliation on the latest-term abortions, Kennedy shows no sign of rethinking his attitudes… [RFK Jr.] was selected for this role as a political reward. But pro-lifers are a key part of Trump’s coalition, too, and should act like it. Trump can do better.”
The Editors, National Review
