The Junk Science of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

In the fading days of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,’s independent campaign for President, he found himself on the phone with Donald Trump, a man he once privately described as “a terrible human being.” Trump had nearly been killed by an assassin’s bullet at a Pennsylvania rally, an act that hit close to home for Kennedy

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In the fading days of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,’s independent campaign for President, he found himself on the phone with Donald Trump, a man he once privately described as “a terrible human being.” Trump had nearly been killed by an assassin’s bullet at a Pennsylvania rally, an act that hit close to home for Kennedy, whose father was assassinated on the Presidential campaign trail. Hours after the shooting, Kennedy went on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, saying that Trump’s “courage” that day was “inspirational.” Soon, he and Trump were chatting about their vaccine skepticism. In a video of the call that Kennedy’s son posted online, Trump can be heard telling Kennedy, “I would love you to do stuff, and I think it would be so good for you, and so big for you, and we’re going to win.” Not long after, I spoke with Kennedy’s campaign manager, his daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, who told me that, if Kennedy were to drop out of the race and endorse Trump, the idea of Kennedy becoming Secretary of Health and Human Services in Trump’s Administration would be “an incredibly interesting one.”

At the time, the suggestion seemed almost risible. For the past two decades, Kennedy has positioned himself as an American royal turned health crusader, fighting government and corporate powers that, he believes, have routinely lied to the American public about vaccines, food, and water safety. “This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country,” Kennedy said in 2src15 about vaccines’ supposed ill effects on children. He has suggested that chemicals in tap water could alter children’s gender and sexual identities, and said that COVID was “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people” and that “the people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.” Even after Kennedy backed Trump, he didn’t seem particularly well positioned. In October, Howard Lutnick, Trump’s transition team co-chair, said on CNN that Kennedy’s “not getting a job for H.H.S.” Two weeks later, Trump nominated Kennedy to head the department.

On Wednesday, Kennedy will appear at a Senate hearing that will determine whether he is confirmed. The moment is seismic, both in the arc of Kennedy’s personal story—he has long believed in his destiny for greater things—and in American life. For the first time, a skeptic of science could sit at the head of one of the nation’s critical posts, responsible for safeguarding public health.

The Department of Health and Human Services has an enormous budget, projected to be $1.8 trillion in 2src25, and includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. It also oversees the administration of Medicare and Medicaid, and is, through the National Institutes of Health, which has a budget of more than forty-seven billion dollars, one of the largest funders of medical and behavioral research in the world. The department’s remit is sprawling—it helps resettle refugees, houses detained undocumented minors, and administers funds to impoverished families with children—all with the goal of enhancing the “health and well-being of all Americans.”

Many of the H.H.S.’s priorities are oriented around preventing infectious disease through research and public-health outreach. Kennedy is particularly skeptical of these programs; in 2src23, he told a crowd that, if elected President, he would tell N.I.H. scientists, “We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.” Kennedy’s underlying suspicion of mainstream medical researchers stems from his decades of vaccine skepticism. In 2srcsrc5, he wrote an article co-published by Rolling Stone and Salon in which he misrepresented the transcript of a meeting of doctors in order to support his thesis that they were conspiring with the pharmaceutical industry to push unsafe vaccines. (The article was later retracted by Salon and removed from both publications’ Web sites.) A decade ago, he began working with what was then a small anti-vaccine group, now called Children’s Health Defense, which Kennedy helped turn into a misinformation juggernaut. According to reporting by the New York Times, during the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, in 2src21, Kennedy officially petitioned the F.D.A. to rescind its authorization, an episode that raises questions about how Kennedy might act in the event of a pandemic on his watch. The scenario is far from hypothetical; there has been recent alarm in the scientific community about the potential spread of bird flu to humans.

Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism might not only hamper the country’s defenses against a new pandemic but could also allow the recirculation of diseases once believed to be under control. The Times reported that one of Kennedy’s close advisers, Aaron Siri, filed a petition to the F.D.A. in 2src22 asking that approval for the polio vaccine be revoked. (In response, Kennedy’s spokesperson said in a statement, “The polio vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied.”) As the H.H.S. Secretary, Kennedy would have the authority to appoint members to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which helps the C.D.C. issue recommendations to states and insurers about which vaccines to cover. Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of H.H.S. under Barack Obama, has said that this is where Kennedy could wield great power. “He could make very strong recommendations to states that they grant far more exemptions to parents, so, greatly increase the number of children who could qualify to go to school without vaccines,” she said on a recent podcast. “He could encourage states to just make [vaccines] optional.”

Kennedy would also make serious changes to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, the so-called vaccine court, which is under the jurisdiction of the H.H.S. The vaccine court was created in the nineteen-eighties, after lawsuits against vaccine makers threatened to cause shortages of the drugs and reduce vaccination rates; its intent was to cap compensation claims and limit the liability of drugmakers. But the H.H.S. Secretary has the power to remove vaccines from the vaccine court’s purview. If Kennedy did so, it could lead to drastic price hikes for key vaccines as pharmaceuticals looked to cover their potential risks. In some instances, Kennedy’s past advocacy work could create potential conflicts of interest. As Reuters reported earlier this month, Kennedy is a lawyer for California lawsuits against the makers of Gardasil, the H.P.V. vaccination; the plaintiffs are alleging that the drug was fraudulently marketed, a strategy that seems aimed at avoiding vaccine court.

Under Kennedy, the H.H.S. would likely be more oriented toward fighting chronic disease, which, on the campaign trail, he called an “existential” threat to the country. Many of Kennedy’s assertions on the issue are backed up by data: forty-two per cent of American adults have obesity, an estimated 11.6 per cent have diabetes, and heart disease is the country’s leading cause of death. In particular, Kennedy has railed against ultra-processed food and the complicity of the American regulatory system in allowing harmful substances into our diets. “There are entire departments, like the nutrition department at the F.D.A. . . . that have to go, that are not doing their job,” Kennedy said recently. Earlier this month, the F.D.A. outlawed red dye No. 3 in food, which had been linked to cancer in lab rats; Kennedy has been a proponent of a total ban on synthetic food dyes.

Like many prominent figures in the wellness movement, however, Kennedy has also advocated for dubious solutions to the chronic-disease crisis. He is a proponent of using beef tallow over seed oils such as corn and canola. Last October, in a post on X that depicted his father, Robert F. Kennedy, eating a hamburger, Kennedy wrote that “seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic.” Most experts say that seed oils are not a serious health risk. Kennedy has also said that he wants to end the F.D.A.’s “aggressive suppression” of, among other things, raw milk—which can carry pathogens, including bird flu—and the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, two discredited supposed treatments for COVID-19.

Kennedy’s enthusiasm for dietary health has earned him some plaudits from Democrats. Senator Bernie Sanders told CBS in December that “what he’s saying about the food industry is exactly correct. I think you have a food industry concerned about their profits, could care less about the health of the American people. I think they have to be taken on.” Colorado Governor Jared Polis sent a congratulatory tweet after Kennedy was nominated, saying that Kennedy would “help make America healthy again by shaking up H.H.S. and F.D.A.” But Kennedy has suggested that his project to reverse the obesity and chronic-disease epidemic would have to be undertaken at the expense of other research. In the wake of Trump’s election, for example, Kennedy said that Trump should fire and replace six hundred N.I.H. employees immediately upon taking office.

Kennedy’s confirmation remains an uncertainty. He has raised suspicions among some Republican senators with his past support for reproductive rights; others remain concerned about his stances on vaccines. In December, Senator Mitch McConnell, a childhood survivor of polio, issued a public statement in support of the polio vaccine. “Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed—they’re dangerous,” he said. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician, said on Fox News that Kennedy was “wrong” about vaccines. But Kennedy has been meeting with senators of both parties. Senator John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania, recently appeared on “The View,” where he declined to share how he might vote on Kennedy’s nomination. “We, just like all of you, are going to watch the hearings and see how things go,” he said.

It’s likely to be an eventful process. Kennedy has a long history of drug abuse, infidelity, and the questionable disposal of animal carcasses. On Tuesday, Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, submitted a searing statement to senators pleading that they deny her cousin the Cabinet post: “He lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience. His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed. These facts alone should be disqualifying. But he has personal qualities related to this job which, for me, pose even greater concerns.” With a reference to Kennedy’s longtime passion for falconry, Caroline added, “I’ve known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together. It’s no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because Bobby himself is a predator. . . .  I watched his younger brothers and cousins follow him down the path of drug addiction. His basement, his garage, and his dorm room were always the center of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.” ♦

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