Donald Trump still has almost two months to begin his presidential term but, true to his showmanship, he reveals the names of his team as if they were Real Madrid recruits. And among the galactics, there is a Kennedy. Of course, the black sheep: he believes vaccines cause autism, he is an AIDS denier and he continues to skeletons in the closet.
Robert F. Kennedy Yet he was a staunch Democrat until a little over a year ago. In October 2023, he got off the wagon to run, at the beginning of this year, as an independent candidate for president of the United States. In August, he resigned and began supporting Trump. This rewarded him with leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which manages a budget of more than $3 billion.
“I’m going to let him go crazy about health. I’m going to let him go crazy about food. I’ll let him go crazy on the drugs” Donald Trump said at a recent rally in New York.
Kennedy, son of the U.S. attorney general assassinated in 1968 and nephew of the former president assassinated in 1963, is an outspoken activist against vaccines, masks and other public health measures like fluoridation of drinking water.
“I look forward to working with more than 80,000 HHS employees to free agencies from the suffocating cloud of corporate control so they can continue their mission of returning Americans to the healthiest population on the planet,” he declared in X after the announcement.
“Together, we will end corruption, end the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of evidence-based gold standard science. I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all data so they can make informed decisions for themselves and their families.
In previous statements, he has been more clear: he advocates the dismissal of “entire departments” of the American food and drug agency, the FDA, which he has in his sights and which he accuses of corruption .
In addition, she will be responsible for the Medicare and Medicaid (American public health) programs, the regulation of health devices and food, among others.
However, his position must be validated in the Senate, which could be complicated by his past: he was arrested for possession of marijuana and heroin, a former nanny of the family accused him of sexual assault and admitted to threw a dead bear. . in Central Park (New York) to cover a friend, among other things.
Kennedy was known for his fight as an environmental activist. A lawyer for various NGOs and professor of environmental law at Pace University (New York), he has advocated for decades to impose and extend environmental protection, from the Hudson Basin to the land indigenous tribes.
But for some time now, his interests have turned to health. He is president of Children’s Health Defense, a lobby that has campaigned against vaccines, the fluoridation of drinking water and the 5G communications network.
Among other things, he is a promoter of the hoax that vaccines cause autism in children, he even wrote a book about it, despite the fact that the article which gave rise to this theory was retracted for years and his author’s license was revoked. .to practice medicine for openly manipulating data.
He also reported that the deaths of two babies in Samoa in 2018 were due to mercury in the MMR vaccine, while it was due to the mistaken administration of a muscle relaxant.
His anti-vaccine activism led several members of his family (two brothers and a niece) to write an open letter in the magazine. Policy in 2019, repudiating him for causing distrust in science through the spread of hoaxes.
Obviously, he attacked coronavirus vaccines, and after the pandemic, his conspiracy activism has only grown. He even claimed that Covid attacks whites and blacks more, and that Jews and Latinos are more protected.
The battle for fluoride
Kennedy also questioned the relationship between HIV and AIDS, supporting theories that deny that HIV is the cause, despite scientific evidence confirming it.
Their latest battle is the removal of fluoridation of drinking water, a measure that became widespread in this North American country in the 1960s and has improved the oral health of several generations.
Interviewed on Joe Rogan’s podcast, one of the most listened to in the United States, Trump said that eliminating water fluoridation “sounds good to him.”
Paraphrasing the MAGA (Make America Great Again) motto of Trump supporters, he created the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) platform to implement his agenda in the next administration.
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the food industrial complex and pharmaceutical companies that have engaged in deception, misinformation and public health misinformation,” Donald Trump said in announcing the nomination of Kennedy.
“The safety and health of all Americans is the most important role of any administration, and HHS will play an important role in this. help ensure everyone is protected from harmful chemicals, contaminants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in this country. “Kennedy will restore these agencies to their traditions of cutting-edge scientific research and beacons of transparency, to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America great and healthy again.”
