American Politics

Season 2 Trump’s Picks: Vaccine-Sceptic RFK Jr as Health Secretary

By Blair
November 4, 2024

RFK Jr.- the New Secretary of Health

Donald Trump picked vaccine skeptic and former independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr as his Health secretary, as the new president-elect continues to build his new administration.

Kennedy, who was commonly known by his initials RFK Jr., has a long history of spreading health information that scientists deem as false. If his nomination is somehow ratified by the Senate, he will then lead an immense agency overseeing everything, from food safety all the way to medical research and welfare programs.

The executive director of the American Public Health Association declared that the organization would “definitely oppose” Kennedy’s nomination.

After the most recent interview with BBC Newsday, Georges C Benjamin vehemently denounced Kennedy’s qualifications for this role. “He’s not competent by training, management skills, temperament, or trust to get this job. He’s the wrong guy for it.” as Benjamin stated.

“He’s nothing but a person without a proper health background, who already caused damage to health in the country.” He also pointed to Kennedy’s previous comments, who continuously questioned the safety and efficacy of vaccines, as well as what might happen if there were another pandemic during his tenure.

Benjamin then proceeded to state that they will continuously advocate as loudly and as often as possible to make sure that people are aware of how much of a risk he is to the public and to the public’s health.

Kennedy’s nomination came after a series of announcements following Trump’s election. The soon-to-be president of the U.S. declared his intentions to nominate North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as his interior secretary.

Trump also said that he would formally announce the selection of Burgum, a former businessman who ran against the president-elect for the Republican presidential nomination on Friday.

RFK Kennedy — Photo by lev radin from Shutterstock

Initially, he teased the move during a speech to supporters at Mar-a-Lago, which was the first one after the big election night, stating we would appoint Burgum to a “very big position” before seemingly deciding to dispense with the suspense. Other nominations announced on Thursday also include:

Former Georgia Congressman Doug Collins as secretary of veterans’ affairs;
Todd Blanche, Trump’s defense lawyer in his “hush money” criminal trial, to serve as deputy attorney general;
Dean John Sauer, representing Trump in a US Supreme Court case earlier in 2024, as solicitor general. He will be charged with supervising and conducting government litigation in the Supreme Court;
Jay Clayton, former chairperson of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as US attorney for the Southern District of New York, one of the most influential federal trial courts.

Trump also said in a statement that he was more than “thrilled” to announce Kennedy’s nomination. Speculation has increased lately that Trump planned to hand his former rival a very important healthcare role.

He also told supporters at his election night victory party that Kennedy was only focused on “making America healthy again.” Then, Trump added that Americans have been crushed for way too long by the industrial food complex and drug companies who continuously engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.

“Mr Kennedy will finally restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, as well as to make America Great and Healthy again!”

The nominee hails, as you probably have figured already, from one of the most famous families in Democratic politics as the son of US Attorney General Robert F Kennedy and nephew of President John F Kennedy, both assassinated in the 1960s.

Now, he’s 70 years old, and he initially decided to candidate for presidency as an independent, after initially launching a Democratic primary bid.

He ultimately decided to suspend his own campaign, endorsing Trump. He is well-known for his criticism of childhood vaccines, claiming in an interview last year that he deeply believes that autism comes from vaccines.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America’s national public health agency, which is also one of the main bodies the US health secretary oversees, stated that “many studies have looked at whether there’s a link between vaccines and ASD (autism spectrum disorder). Up until now, studies have shown that vaccines aren’t associated with ASD.

Kennedy, an ex-heroin addict for 14 years in his youth, also talked about wanting to help tackle America’s substance abuse crisis. “We are now witnessing an epidemic of addiction and alcoholism,” he told the Daily Mail last year, “as well as loneliness, despair, dissociation, and alienation.”

During his campaign for the White House, tales of Kennedy’s personal life climbed up in the news more than any other major policy proposal.

Mellon RFK JR — Photo by Juli Hansen from Shutterstock

His admission that he suffered from a brain worm, and a completely separate story about his dumping of a dead bear in New York’s Central Park caught the headlines for days.

Democrats were quite rapid in condemning the pick, with Senator Patty Murray calling the choice nothing less than “catastrophic”, and labeling Kennedy a “fringe conspiracy theorist.” Republican Senator Susan Collins also stated that she had found some of Kennedy’s “statements to be quite alarming”, but she also said that he would grant him a fair hearing during confirmation proceedings.

Trump has been selecting the people who would represent his team since winning. The Republican Party is projected to win the House of Representatives, which means that the Republicans will run the White House and all of Congress.

Marco Rubio has been recently nominated for secretary of state and former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. However, his decision to nominate controversial Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz raised many eyebrows on Capitol Hill.

Gaetz has been an outspoken follower of Trump, and he was also the subject of an ongoing ethics investigation in the House of Representatives, following allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and misuse of campaign funds.

Senator Dick Durbin, the sitting chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked for the findings of the report into the allegations to be published.

Gaetz is also quite a divisive figure within his party, especially after he forced out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Senate Republican, stated that Gaetz wasn’t a “serious nomination for the attorney general.”

In the meantime, Trump offered brand new details on the role Elon Musk will play in his own administration, in his first public address since his election night victory speech.

The President-elect also said that Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency would take a series of reports in the coming weeks, to effectively streamline the US government.

So far, this is what we know about Trump’s cabinet (the list of nominees is yet to be confirmed by the Senate):