Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks throughout a marketing campaign rally for Donald Trump at Macomb Neighborhood Faculty in Warren, Mich., on Nov. 1. Trump has now tapped Kennedy for his administration.
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President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a former impartial presidential candidate who has a historical past of spreading conspiracy theories, together with about vaccines — to supervise the Division of Well being and Human Providers.
“For too lengthy, Individuals have been crushed by the economic meals complicated and drug corporations who’ve engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation in relation to Public Well being,” Trump mentioned in an announcement on Reality Social. “The Security and Well being of all Individuals is a very powerful function of any Administration, and HHS will play an enormous function in serving to be certain that all people might be protected against dangerous chemical compounds, pollution, pesticides, pharmaceutical merchandise, and meals components which have contributed to the overwhelming Well being Disaster on this Nation. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Companies to the traditions of Gold Customary Scientific Analysis, and beacons of Transparency, to finish the Power Illness epidemic, and to Make America Nice and Wholesome Once more!”
The announcement on Thursday got here as no shock. For weeks, Trump had made clear that Kennedy would have a task in his administration.
“He’ll assist make America wholesome once more,” Trump mentioned of Kennedy throughout celebratory election evening remarks. “He is an ideal man and he actually means it. He needs to do some issues and we will let him go do it.”
In an interview with NPR earlier than the selection was introduced, Kennedy mentioned, “President Trump has given me three directions: He needs the corruption and the conflicts out of the regulatory companies. He needs to return the companies to the gold customary empirically based mostly, evidence-based science and medication that they have been as soon as well-known for. And he needs to finish the persistent illness epidemic with measurable impacts on a diminishment of persistent illness inside two years.”
If confirmed by the Senate, the function would give Kennedy the prospect to actualize a imaginative and prescient of public well being that’s typically at odds with mainstream well being and science.
Kennedy’s baseless claims have included that Wi-Fi causes most cancers and “leaky mind”; that college shootings are attributable to antidepressants; that chemical compounds in water can result in kids turning into transgender; and that AIDS might not be attributable to HIV. He is additionally lengthy mentioned that vaccines trigger autism and fail to guard individuals from ailments.
Within the NPR interview, Kennedy mentioned, “[O]f course, we’re not going to take vaccines away from anyone. We’re going to guarantee that Individuals have good data proper now. The science on vaccine security notably has big deficits, and we’re going to ensure these scientific research are performed and that folks could make knowledgeable selections about their vaccinations and their kids’s vaccinations.”
Even earlier than Trump’s announcement, Kennedy mentioned he would advise the incoming administration to take away fluoride from all public water — although placing small quantities of fluoride within the water provide has confirmed to have prevented cavities and improved dental well being. He additionally proposed changing 600 workers on the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
Kennedy first challenged President Biden within the 2024 Democratic major earlier than mounting a long-shot impartial presidential bid. He suspended that marketing campaign in August and backed Trump.
Kennedy is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, the late U.S. lawyer common, New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate, and is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy. He had spent the sooner a part of his profession as an environmental lawyer finest recognized for cleansing up the Hudson River and spearheading a world effort to guard waterways.
Kennedy joins a rising crop of nominees named by the president-elect whose {qualifications} have been questioned and who might face troublesome paths to affirmation, even in a 53-seat Republican-controlled Senate. It is a record that features former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz for lawyer common and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of nationwide intelligence.
In contrast to Gaetz and Gabbard, nonetheless, Kennedy enjoys enthusiastic ranges of help from a few of Trump’s most loyal senators, together with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. Johnson instructed reporters Wednesday that Kennedy had been in talks with Trump to guide the well being company since across the time he dropped his personal impartial presidential bid and endorsed Trump.
“When he known as me up asking, for instance, his possibilities of affirmation, first phrases out of my mouth: ‘Bobby, that is the reply to my prayers,’ and I sincerely consider that,” Johnson mentioned. “I feel Bobby Kennedy can do extra working with President Trump to advance America’s well being than anyone, actually, in historical past. This could possibly be utterly game-changing.”
Senate Democrats have been fast to criticize the Kennedy choice — at the same time as they lack the votes to dam his affirmation with out GOP defections.
“Mr. Kennedy’s outlandish views on fundamental scientific details are disturbing and may fear all mother and father who count on colleges and different public areas to be protected for his or her kids,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., mentioned in an announcement. “When Mr. Kennedy comes earlier than the Finance Committee, it is going to be very clear what Individuals stand to lose below Trump and Republicans in Congress.”
