Donald Trump will once again become president of the United States, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is along for the ride. During Trump’s victory speech late last night, the president-elect thanked RFK Jr. and reiterated his promise that the former third-party candidate and brain-worm host would be given the chance to reshape the country’s public health to his liking—which could go as far as calling for certain vaccines to be pulled from the market.
Though there are still many votes to be counted and congressional races to be decided, Trump is now set to become the second person ever to become U.S. president for two non-consecutive terms (the first being Grover Cleveland). And Trump has already made it known that RFK Jr. will get a shot at sowing his particular brand of chaos across the government.
After thanking a long list of people, including vice president-elect JD Vance, Elon Musk, and for some reason current U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, Trump briefly mentioned RFK, stating: “[RFK] came out. And he’s going to help make America healthy again. And now he’s a great guy and he really means it. He wants to do some things, and we’re gonna let him go to it.”
In the months and weeks since Kennedy dropped out of the race and lent his support to the Trump campaign, it’s become clear that he and his frequently false assertions about vaccines and other aspects of public health in the U.S. have had a welcome listener in Trump. Most recently, just prior to the election, Trump endorsed the idea of wholly eliminating water fluoridation in the country, and he left open the possibility of banning certain vaccines—both ideas that have been floated by RFK.
Last week, for instance, in a CNN interview with Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick, Lutnick stated that Kennedy would be allowed to review vaccine data and that he could then push for the removal of some vaccines from the market if he so chose. RFK and his supporters have routinely attacked the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, often by using misleading or outright inaccurate talking points. And both he and Trump have continued to support a disproven link between vaccination and autism.
RFK stated last week that Trump promised him sweeping control over the country’s public health agencies, including the CDC, FDA, and USDA. But it is still an open question as to what that would actually mean in Trump’s second term. Kennedy could face strong opposition from lawmakers if Trump attempted to appoint him to a cabinet position (depending on the final composition of the Senate, though, it might not be an issue). But even if Kennedy weren’t given an official position within the federal government, he could informally influence the selection of new officials within these agencies or the forging of Trump-era policies and regulatory changes.
RFK and his support of the anti-vaccination movement has already harmed people, most notably when he helped fuel lowering vaccination rates in the island nation of Samoa just before the country was hit by a massive epidemic of measles that killed at least 83 people, mostly children under five. Now that he’s been given carte blanche to at least try to tear down vital aspects of public health in the U.S. like vaccination, dark days could certainly loom ahead.
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Publish date : 2024-11-06 07:11:00
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