Yesterday, President-elect Trump announced what we all knew was coming when he accepted Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s endorsement, that he was nominating him to run the Department of Health & Human Services.
Buckle up! And maybe look into growing your own food.
Another W for my alma mater’s most powerful alum 🙃:
Of all his areas of heterodoxy, his beliefs and track record on vaccines and diseases are generating the most concern:
Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit anti-vax outfit he led until becoming a presidential candidate, had helped spread misinformation that contributed to the decline in measles vaccination that preceded the lethal eruption. And during his trip to Samoa, Kennedy had publicly supported leading vaccination opponents there, lending credibility to anti-vaxxers who were succeeding in increasing vaccine hesitation among Samoans. –Mother Jones
He’s also got awesome view on HIV/AIDS:
RFK Jr. is also a major critic of the pharmaceutical industry, but despite the initial reaction in the stock market, it’s unclear how things will play out at the FDA.
Another priority of his, as laid out in this video from September, is addressing industrial food production and sugary foods.
Given his anti-establishment views, the praise and condemnation he’s getting from some of our most annoying figures largely pencils out.
One person who I think virtually nobody expected to come out in support of RFK Jr. was Colorado Governor Jared Polis, current darling of Democrats who point to Colorado – one of the few states in the country to not shift to the right – as a model for the future of blue state governance.
I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint @RobertKennedyJr to @HHSGov. He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA. I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates) but what I’m most optimistic about is taking on big pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health. Before you mock him or disagree, I want to share with you some quotes that if he follows through show why I’m excited:
“Level the playing field for Americans internationally on drug costs…cap drug prices so that companies can’t charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay.” YES! Colorado currently has an application just SITTING at FDA for us to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada and we just need their approval.
“In some categories, there are entire departments, like the nutrition department at the FDA that are – that have to go, that are not doing their job, they’re not protecting our kids,” YES! The entire nutrition regime is dominated by big corporate ag rather than human health and they do more harm than good
“We’ve got to get off of pesticide-intensive agriculture.” YES! We have tried unsuccessfully to better protect people and pollinators from harmful pesticides here in Colorado and we need all the help we can get to take on big chemical companies and improve human health and the environment! For our pollinators and our people!
He will face strong special interest opposition on these, but I look forward to partnering with him to truly make America healthy again and I hope that we can finally make progress on these important issues.
On the other hand…
What’s most mind-boggling about all this is that just three months ago, he claimed that RFK Jr. would “[bring] back Measles and [bring] back Polio.” So, uh, which one is it?
Though his supporters hoped he would delete and claim he was hacked, he explained his thinking in a follow-up tweet:
Re my thoughts on @RobertKennedyJr, Science must remain THE cornerstone of our nation’s health policy and the science-backed decision to get vaccinated improves public health and safety. But if as a country we follow the science we would also be far more concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health, ag policy on nutrition, and the lack of access to prescription drugs due to drug high prices. This is why I am for a major shake-up in institutions like the FDA that have been barriers to lowering drug costs and promoting healthy food choices. Lest there by any doubt, I am vaccinated as is my family. I will hold any HHS Secretary to the same high standard of protecting and improving public health.
I interviewed Governor @jaredpolis a few days before the RFK pick and I think this bit of our conversation helps explain his strikingly positive reaction to the idea of RFK Jr. leading HHS:
“I was sad to see RFK leaving our coalition because his voters in Colorado are a big part of my coalition. I mean, I had to threaten to veto vaccine mandates and we were able to avoid them. We have been trying to legalize raw milk in our state for several years and we’re continuing to try because it leans into empowering people to make their own choices.”
“I certainly believe in vaccinations. I get vaccinated myself. I did that publicly last week for the flu and Covid. But if you can’t convince people with the data, then they have the personal freedom not to. ‘Our bodies, our choice’ applies not just to fetuses, but also to decisions around health care — whether it’s getting vaccinated or what foods you consume.”
Speaking as somebody who lives across the bridge from Marin County (to be fair, they’ve turned things around!), I can tell you: new age hippie demographic will get you every time.
In his slight defense, I suppose, it’s not all that many years ago that President Obama himself was considering RFK Jr. for EPA!
I’m trying to remain level-headed about everything in this newsletter here but this entire episode has been a grade A bummer.
Continued in Part 2.
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