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RFK2 2

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SEE MAHA RFK2 3 10 25

180 GLYPHO BAYER

SEE BANNON

XIAN? BROOKE ROLLINS

EST 11 24

BAK?

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THIS IS TWO

SEE VAXX 5

merri ok

50k$ to RAGA ?!

ANTI-SEM PENDING askenaazi and autism

attacks fauci (paul offit rotovirus), bill gates

SEE SCIENCE SUPPRESSION SCIENCE JOURNALS

msg rally?

see bollinger wackos

see measles samoa PLANDEMIC superbowl alt show band

yikes doh aha kid killer

say what you will, he could turn a phrase:

Inhofe doesn’t mention Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s comment earlier that week referring to him as “Big Oil’s top call girl.”

bak 4 24

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MMA

Laura Loomer calls Secretary Kennedy and his staff "liberals and Democrats" who "refuse to fire all the holdovers" at HHS | Media Matters for America

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Joe Rogan gave RFK Jr. a platform to defend the administration’s embrace of glyphosate, but some other MAHA personalities aren’t letting it go so easily

MAHA-friendly Rogan previously emphasized the harms of glyphosate in the herbicide Roundup. A new interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saw Rogan take a far more passive approach.

Special ProgramsClimate & Energy

Written by Ilana Berger

Published 03/16/26

In a February 27 interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., podcaster Joe Rogan did not press the secretary on President Donald Trump’s recent executive order boosting the domestic production of the Roundup ingredient glyphosate, nor did he mention that the move, as well as other significant actions, angered MAHA influencers.

The White House’s executive order, which was announced on February 18, calls glyphosate a “cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy.” Using the Defense Production Act, Trump is prioritizing production of glyphosate “over performance of any other contracts or orders” because he argues it is “central to American economic and national security."

For years, Kennedy was a strong opponent of glyphosate, much like the social media figures he was able to add to his coalition during his presidential campaign by promising to “Make America Healthy Again.” Prior to his appointment in the Trump administration, he was part of a legal team that won a lawsuit against Monsanto after “arguing that its Roundup weedkiller contributed to his client’s cancer."

Before this episode, Rogan had also spoken extensively about the harms of glyphosate. He has also praised the MAHA movement and platformed its leaders, and he’s been described as a “walking incubator for supplements" much like other MAHA figures who benefit tremendously from the $1.5 trillion global wellness market.

The executive order — and Kennedy’s support of it — has revealed some fractures in the MAHA-Trump alliance.

In a recent episode of Ask Dr. Drew, conservative host Drew Pinsky interviewed Hands Off My Food! author Dr. Sina McCullough, who has been featured in the MAHA Report newsletter. McCullough said that while she applauds Kennedy’s work, she’s worried that “the corruption, the loopholes that will always be there, the backdoor deals — that's government."

Pinksy echoed her frustration, saying, “The back room deals immediately causes me to wonder, how did we get red food dye back, why is red food dye back? Why is glyphosate back? What happened there? What’s going on?"

Zen Honeycutt, who founded the advocacy group Moms Across America, later told Pinsky that Trump is “sending a message to our legislators that he wants to prioritize glyphosate accessibility in America. … He wants to sort of protect glyphosate and its availability to the farmers, and this is extremely concerning to us.” In the interview, Honeycutt called the executive order “a betrayal."

Meanwhile, on MAHA Media Hub, MAHA Action President Tony Lyons said the Trump administration's support of Bayer in the Roundup lawsuit is a “mistake.”

While these figures are speaking out, Rogan stopped short of demanding accountability.

On his podcast, Rogan gave Kennedy an enormous platform to defend the executive order as a supposedly necessary response to “national security vulnerability” and claim that “we have addicted our farmers to these pesticides” who don't like using it.

:{Video

Citation

From the February 27, 2026, episode of The Joe Rogan Experience

Toward the end of the episode, Rogan asked Kennedy, “What was the recent ruling on glyphosate?"

Kennedy said that it was “not something I was particularly happy with — let me put it that way mildly" and highlighted his work getting “an $11 billion settlement with Monsanto." But he went on to defend the executive order, saying, “I also understand the president's point of view. The president didn't create this system. He's dealing with a problem that was created long before over the past 60 years."

Kennedy also argued that glyphosate is key to national security, because “if you got rid of it or if somebody else cut off our supply, it would destroy the American food system.”

The question came after Rogan claimed earlier in the podcast that he was “watching liberals, the people that are always worried about food ingredients, just dismissing all of this talk about preservatives and glyphosate.”

Some groups that are typically viewed as left-leaning on key issues and receive funding from progressive donors and foundations, such as the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Working Group, and Food & Water Watch, have long been critical of the herbicide. Their advocacy against glyphosate largely predates the MAHA movement.

In the interview, Kennedy also attempted to smooth over the different stances his Make America Healthy Again movement and the agriculture industry take on Roundup. He said that “we’ve got to transition off of glyphosate" and that “the farmers hate it."

“We all understand that this is a huge problem," Kennedy added, before highlighting a “billion-dollar commitment” made by Trump to support farming.

In reality, according to a statement from Modern Ag Alliance, numerous major farming groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Soybean Association, and the National Corn Growers Association have thanked Trump for the executive order.

The whole conversation stood in stark contrast to a 2023 interview Rogan did with Kennedy prior to his role in the Trump administration, when he himself was running for president. The podcaster asked about glyphosate, and Kennedy discussed the “many, many diseases that are linked to glyphosate exposure” and even suggested that glyphosate exposure may be “one of the reasons we had the highest death rate during COVID." He said that such “chronic disease … is bankrupting us."

:{Video

Citation

From the June 15, 2023, edition of The Joe Rogan Experience

Fast-forward to 2026, and Kennedy is deferring to Trump’s argument about Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018. During the interview, Kennedy said that we do ultimately need to “transition” away from such chemicals but noted that Trump has said “we can't allow the company to go bankrupt."

At no point during the February 2026 interview did Rogan bring up Kennedy’s past campaign promise to put additional limitations on the pre-harvest use of glyphosate.

Rogan also did not mention the response to the executive order, which, as MAHA influencer Vani Hari put it, sparked “a level of anger and frustration like I’ve never seen before.” Hari, who is also known as The Food Babe, and the group Moms Across America have praised Rogan for discussing MAHA-related issues in the past.

This wasn’t the administration’s first slight against MAHA. In January, the Supreme Court agreed toreview a case that could result in limits on Bayer’s liability for failing to warn consumers about Roundup’s cancer risks on labels, and Trump’s Department of Justice filed a brief in support of Bayer.

Recent reporting has also revealed that “less than two weeks ahead of a request" from the Supreme Court for the Trump administration’s Department of Justice to weigh in on whether the court should hear Bayer’s case, Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin met with Bayer’s CEO “to discuss ‘litigation’ issues — including ‘supreme court action’ over its glyphosate weed killer."

Influencer Kelly Ryerson, also known as Glyphosate Girl, highlighted the reporting on her Instagram page. “Many concerning discussion topics, but perhaps the most concerning is that Bayer planned to thank the EPA for their help updating the glyphosate web page (wonder how) and for working with MAHA," she wrote.

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MMA

On War Room, RFK Jr. ally claims “there’s no doubt that vaccines cause autism”

Written by Helena Hind

Published 11/20/25

An ally of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed, “There's no doubt that vaccines cause autism,” on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast following news that the CDC had quietly updated its website with several statements that cast doubt on vaccine safety, including an assertion that “studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”

The person who formerly led the agency’s center responsible for respiratory viruses and immunizations called out “the weaponization of the CDC voice by validating false claims"; indeed, numerous studies spanning decades of research have repeatedly debunked the supposed links between autism and vaccines.

Mary Holland is the CEO of Children’s Health Defense, theanti-vaccine nonprofit founded by Kennedy, and reportedly worked closely with Kennedy while he was head of CHD. Since Kennedy joined the Trump administration, Holland has consistently praised his autism and vaccine-related actions at HHS. Holland joined Bannon on Thursday to celebrate the CDC’s overnight reversal on vaccines and claim that “about eighty percent of the cases of autism are likely from vaccines.”

Video file

Video

From the November 20, 2025, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Mary Holland, it's air pollution. Easily refuted, ma'am. Your thoughts.

MARY HOLLAND (GUEST): This is such a — you know, it's a great, great clip of sort of what the mainstream is going to try to do. So, literally, for thirty years, literally hundreds of thousands of parents around the world have been reporting that their children drastically regress developmentally immediately after vaccines. And for, you know, thirty years, parents have been gaslit because of pressure from pharma and the government, because they've been pushing these shots and they're very lucrative. And, so, it is so wonderful that we now see the start of HHS and CDC telling the truth.

And, so, they haven't said, Steve, vaccines cause autism. They obviously think they need to have more science behind that to be able to say that. But what they are saying is that there's no science behind the claim 'vaccines do not cause autism' that the CDC's been making for decades and that they are now doing rigorous investigation of what are the causes of autism and that there are plausible biological mechanisms by which vaccines might be causing autism.

Between you and me, there's no doubt that vaccines cause autism, and we believe some of the recent studies show that about eighty percent of the cases of autism are likely from vaccines. That's not accepted yet, but that's what most of the recent study that we think is really valuable is showing.

Former CDC leaders have condemned the agency’s revisions, per The Washington Post:

The revisions show that the “CDC cannot currently be trusted as a scientific voice,” said Demetre Daskalakis, who formerly led the agency’s center responsible for respiratory viruses and immunizations. He was one of three senior leaders who resigned in August because of what they said was the politicization of science at the agency. “The weaponization of the CDC voice by validating false claims on official websites confirms what we have been saying,” he said.

…

“My question is how language that misrepresents decades of research ended up on a CDC website,” said Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer who also resigned in August. “Public health communication must be accurate, evidence-based and free from political distortion. Anything less erodes trust and puts lives at risk.”

And numerous studies spanning decades of research have repeatedly examined and subsequently debunked the supposed links between autism and vaccines. As Matthew Herper wrote for STAT: “Scientists have responded to each of these arguments with many separate studies that both examined the mechanisms by which vaccines could allegedly cause autism and the broader question of whether children were more likely to develop autism if they had received vaccines. Again and again, the answer has been that they don’t.”

A statement from the Autism Science Foundation reaffirmed the evidence:

The science is clear that vaccines do not cause autism. No environmental factor has been better studied as a potential cause of autism than vaccines. This includes vaccine ingredients as well as the body’s response to vaccines. All this research has determined that there is no link between autism and vaccines. This is consistent across multiple studies, repeated in different countries around the world, with different individuals, at different ages including infancy, and using different model systems.

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11 25

MAHA Slams “Corporate Capture” While Trump Strips Regulations

between frenzied claims about Tylenol and disparaging remarks about autism, the voices of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement empowered by President Donald Trump have directed criticism at the country’s massive food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries — still-too-rare targets for the leaders of either political party in the U.S.

When the White House unveiled its comprehensive report on how to “Make Our Children Healthy Again” in May, it slammed “corporate capture” of regulatory bodies and argued that companies responsible for making children less healthy wield undue influence in Washington. A subsequent strategy report, released last month, called to “protect public health from corporate influence.”

“It was one of the first times I saw the federal government actually call out corporate capture and how chemical companies influence regulation,” said Darya Minovi, a senior analyst for the Center for Science and Democracy.

But the Trump administration’s political marriage of unbridled crony capitalism and fringe health conspiracism is not without its contradictions.

While the “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, movement preaches a healthy utopia for the nation’s children free of real and imagined toxins, public health experts say the Trump administration has pursued an aggressive deregulation campaign that has opened the floodgates for toxic chemicals in our food, water, and air — while also defunding vital medical research and spreading dangerous medical misinformation.

“There’s a lot of rhetoric about problems that they’re solving,” Minovi said. “But when I’m looking at the actual actions that the administration is taking, largely, these actions are not making any kids or families healthier.”

A glaring tension between the MAHA movement’s purported goals and the Trump administration’s aggressive deregulatory strategy is the issue of environmental toxins, particularly PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, found in many household items.

These chemicals, which can disrupt liver, kidney, and thyroid functioning, are especially harmful to children.

[

Related

Trump EPA’s Next Move: Making It Harder to Sue for Getting Cancer from Roundup

https://theintercept.com/2025/03/21/trump-epa-monsanto-roundup-bayer-cancer-chemicals/)

The strategy report, drafted by the Make America Healthy commission led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., laid out a series of recommendations to “end chronic childhood disease,” which included studying the cumulative effect of chemicals in the environment. But in May, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it was rolling back restrictions on the acceptable levels of these forever chemicals within drinking water, which were put in place during the Biden administration. And in the spring, the agency ended a grant to research children’s exposure to chemicals from soil and dust, accordingto the KFF Health News.

“When it comes to actually taking action, we’re not really seeing policies that are getting ahead of corporate capture and holding the chemical industry responsible,” Minovi said.

Over the coming months, the EPA has announced it will take 31 separate deregulatory actions, including loosening restrictions on power plants that emit air pollution and eliminating safeguards put in place during the Biden administration for petrochemical accidents.

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Alongside pursuing a deregulatory strategy that experts predict will introduce more chemicals into the air, water, and food supply, the administration has also moved aggressively to cut research, including on childhood diseases.

For example,in August, the Trump administration announced it was cutting federal funding to a network researching pediatric brain cancer.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai denied cutting cancer research funding, saying HHS canceled grants supporting “DEI and other ideological pet projects,” and that the money was reallocated.

“President Trump made a pledge to Make America Healthy Again by restoring accountability, transparency, and Gold Standard Science in public health decision-making,” wrote Desai. “The President and White House maintain complete confidence in Secretary Kennedy and the rest of the HHS team to deliver on this pledge.”

The Department of Health and Human Services and the EPA did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment.

Food assistance and educational programs have also come under fire during the Trump administration. Earlier this year, Republicans enacted the most significant cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programin history. The program provided food assistance to roughly 1 in every 5 children in the United States, as well as nutrition education.

“A lot of this movement is designed to benefit privileged people who have the resources to access certain healthier foods or a community with clean air,” said Minovi, as opposed to “everyday people who might actually depend on public policies to ensure they have healthy food, clean air, clean water in their community.”

“A lot of this movement is designed to benefit privileged people who have the resources to access certain healthier foods or a community with clean air.”

The recommendations emerging from HHS and the MAHA movement about vaccines and autism are particularly troubling, said Jill Rosenthal, director of public health policy at the Center for American Progress. “It’s a matter of promoting a personal agenda that RFK has rather than following decades of good science,” she said.

Riddled throughout the MAHA strategy and separate report are concerns over vaccines and the vaccine schedule, which is used to determine the timing for childhood vaccinations.

Both RFK Jr. and Trump have peddled pseudoscientific conclusions connecting autism to vaccination, suggesting that the vaccine schedule needs to change. During the press conference last week, Trump advised against vaccinating children for Hepatitis B until they’re 12 years old, which runs at odds with medical guidelines.

“They’re making it more difficult for children to get routine childhood vaccinations. We know that vaccination has saved millions of lives, and so any efforts that make it harder for children to access vaccines are really, really jeopardizing kids’ health,” said Rosenthal. “Instead of following the science and believing what evidence we already have, we’re just creating a lot of distrust and making it harder for people to keep their kids healthy.”

The recent recommendations that pregnant women avoid Tylenol also carry risk for pregnant people and their future children.

“In the near term, I think that pregnant patients are going to be worried enough that they seek alternate forms of medication to treat their pain,” said Dr. Mariana Montes, a former pediatrician and obstetric anesthesiologist. “That’s extremely concerning, because there is nothing that’s been proven safe for pregnancy except for acetaminophen.”

Ibuprofen, the active ingredient in Advil, has been known to lower amniotic fluid — the liquid in utero that surrounds and protects the fetus — and can have negative effects on kidney and heart development, said Montes.

“Patients might choose to take ibuprofen without knowing the effects, and then unknowingly actually harm a healthy pregnancy because they’re so worried about taking Tylenol,” she said.

[

Related

RFK Jr. Talks About Public Health, but He’s Joining an Administration That’ll Make Us Sicker Than Ever

https://theintercept.com/2024/11/14/rfk-jr-health-human-services-water-air-project-2025/)

Left with fewer options they believe are safe, Rosenthal warns that pregnant people might forgo medication altogether, even when they have a fever. “If women avoid taking Tylenol, for instance, when they have a fever, it can increase the risk of birth defects,” she said. “So by scaring women away from taking needed medication, it can actually impact their health and the health of their developing babies.”

The stigma these types of pronouncements cause for people with autism is also a serious concern.

“It’s necessary to point out the ableist language in this whole autism debacle,” said Minovi. “Of course, it’s a condition that needs to be understood and studied, and obviously impacts families significantly, but the way in which the administration, particularly RFK, talks about it is dismissive and negative about people’s lived experiences.”

Republicans, who once denounced former First Lady Michelle Obama for attempting to make school lunches moderately healthier, now inhabit a coalition whose purported goals would have instantly launched “nanny state” accusations just a few years prior.

But the MAHA movement has been so successful despite its inherent contradictions, Rosenthal said, because there’s a “kernel of truth” to what it’s preaching.

“For instance, ultra-processed food is not the first choice for how we want to take care of our bodies,” Rosenthal said, “but at the same time, is that the best way to use limited resources and protect or promote child health? Not when we have kids who don’t have enough to eat, right?”

Minovi said it’s understandable that people are drawn to this movement — which only heightens culpability for people like RFK Jr. and Trump.

“These are families that are just trying to do right by their kids, and the concerns that folks are raising are valid,” said Minovi. “The behavior of the leaders in this movement is nothing short of predatory.”

ref 2 11 15 25

Kennedy Jr. made health policy the cornerstone of his failed presidential campaign, critiquing America’s health care and public health systems with bold, often controversial proposals.

From vaccine “safety” to food and environmental health, Kennedy’s platform challenged the status quo, calling for sweeping reforms to improve transparency, accountability, and personal freedom in medical decision-making.

He’s raised concerns about the chronic disease epidemic that many are fighting in silence and has been a vocal critic of the industrial food system, pointing to the objective dangers it poses to public health.

He’s coined the slogan #MAHA — Make America Healthy Again — a phrase that has gained more traction in the health-conscious corners of the country than the original MAGA. You can often find it boldly displayed in juice bars, wellness shops, and fitness centers, where it has become emblematic of a movement that purports to prioritize health over the politics of the moment.

And honestly, I get it.

I’m hyperfocused on health. After a grueling battle with long Covid following my infection in 2022 and the many, many years I’ve spent uncovering the grave realities of water contamination, air pollution, and disease outbreaks as a reporter and filmmaker, I’ve fully embraced the mantle of an overprotective, fiercely vigilant mom.

Kennedy aligned himself with an administration committed to weakening the protections that have the most direct impacts on our health.

For the most part, my kid eats whole, organic foods, his water filtered to pristine purity eight times over. His clothing is 100 percent organic cotton, and when there’s pollution or we enter crowded spaces indoors, he wears an N95 mask. By our society’s standards, I might seem extreme. But to me, it’s not madness — it’s what happens when you live in a country that’s dangerously out of step with reality.

So, to Kennedy’s supporters, I understand your fervor. But here’s where I’m lost.

Kennedy has aligned himself with an administration — and been announced as Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services as a reward — that is committed to weakening the very protections that have the most direct, proven impacts on our health, particularly the health of our children.

He has paradoxically placed his support behind a president committed to dismantling the regulatory frameworks that ensure clean air, safe water, toxic-free work environments, and uncontaminated food. These are not just abstract concepts — they are the very protections that shield us and our children from the invisible, insidious dangers that lurk in our environment everyday.

By aligning himself with leaders associated with Project 2025’s radical overhaul of environmental regulations, he is effectively endorsing a future in which corporate interests are prioritized over the health of all Americans, especially children.

Clean Air and Water

Project 2025, an ambitious policy agenda crafted by conservative think tanks for the next Republican president, aims to diminish the Environmental Protection Agency’s role in regulating the environment. At the core of this initiative is the plan to remove the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act, the foundation of the nation’s air quality standards. If enacted, this would severely weaken federal oversight of pollution, undermining decades of progress in protecting public health and the environment.

Without the Clean Air Act’s regulatory framework, fossil fuel companies — along with other industrial sectors — would face far fewer restrictions on emissions, particularly those related to particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and carbon emissions. They would operate with less oversight and fewer penalties for pollution, allowing them to prioritize cost-saving measures over environmental protection.

The consequences would be disastrous for everyone who breathes. Air pollution is linked directly to respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

Their assault doesn’t end with our air.

Project 2025 also threatens the Clean Water Act, which regulates pollutants in our waterways and drinking water. The Clean Water Act has been instrumental in ensuring that public health is protected from harmful contaminants like lead, arsenic, bacteria, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and substances like PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and dioxins, which are known carcinogens.

Without the law’s protections, municipalities and industries would be emboldened to delay or avoid the necessary actions to replace lead pipes, fix aging infrastructure, or prevent contamination of public water systems.

As a reporter who spent two years in Flint, Michigan, I witnessed firsthand the devastating impact water contamination has on a community. It’s an ongoing public health crisis of epic proportions. Even a decade later, the community grapples with new life-threatening health complications.

Weakening the Clean Water Act would not only exacerbate existing water crises, but also cripple our ability to address emerging and persistent threats like PFAS — chemicals that have already contaminated drinking water systems nationwide, exposing millions of Americans to serious health risks, including liver damage, thyroid issues, infertility, and cancer. Without federal oversight, PFAS and similar pollutants would spread unchecked.

The consequences would be severe for everyone who drinks water.

And without regulations, there’s no objective measure to define what levels of pollution or contamination are dangerous, leaving individuals to navigate complex and often conflicting information on their own.

This creates particular challenges for the 35 percent of Americans who rent, as they are at the mercy of landlords when it comes to addressing issues like lead in water or radon in the air. If a landlord dismisses these hazards as subjective opinions, tenants have little recourse without enforceable legal standards, leaving families vulnerable to significant health risks caused by negligence or greed.

The fight for health begins with the most fundamental right: clean air and water.

The fight for health begins with the most fundamental right: clean air and water. Without them, all else falls away.

Yet, in a striking irony, the very man championing the cause of public health, which inspired so many to support him and consequently Trump, seems poised to support policies that dismantle the protections vital to preserving that health. So I call on the latest Kennedy to gain power in Washington to address the stark contradictions between the values he claims to champion — our society’s health and well-being — and the policy framework laid out in Project 2025, which threatens to undermine those very ideals.

Kennedy speaks of prioritizing the health of the American people, but Project 2025’s proposals promote deregulation and weaken critical environmental protections, putting our air, water, food, and future at risk.

Now that his chosen candidate empowered him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, it’s time for Kennedy to confront this glaring dissonance head-on and make clear where his true priorities lie.

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ref 1

trump-epa-monsanto-roundup-bayer-cancer-chemicals

Every spring, summer, and fall, Jimmy Draeger would walk the length of his 11-acre property with a hand sprayer and a tub of Roundup. He’d mist around the flower beds, the patio, the fence line, diluting the concentrated herbicide with water as the label directed.

Nestled deep in the woods of the Missouri Ozarks, Draeger was used to seeing an explosion of weeds and shrubs in the warm months at the home he’s shared with his wife, Brenda, for more than 30 years. He didn’t think much of using Roundup to keep them at bay.

Then he was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin lymphoma. According to a lawsuit filed by the Draegers in 2022, Jimmy had a chemotherapy port installed in his chest, developed neuropathy in his hands and feet, and lost control of his bowels, coordination, and sexual function. He became clinically depressed, vision-impaired, and unable to bathe without Brenda’s help.

[

Related

The Playbook for Poisoning the Earth

https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/bees-insecticides-pesticides-neonicotinoids-bayer-monsanto-syngenta/)

Monsanto, the agrochemical company behind Roundup, was to blame for Jimmy’s lymphoma, the Draegers contended. In November 2023, a jury agreed. Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, was ordered to pay the Draegers and two other plaintiffs a combined $1.56 billion in damages. (A judge later cut the payout for punitive damages, reducing the total awards to $611 million.)

The Draegers’ case is one of more than 160,000 Roundup lawsuits filed against Monsanto or Bayer since 2015, when the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate, a key ingredient in Roundup, as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Most of the lawsuits hinged on failure-to-warn claims: the allegation that Monsanto, and later Bayer, failed to adequately notify customers of glyphosate’s potential cancer risk. Bayer has paid roughly $11 billion to settle these claims while denying any wrongdoing.

Now, the Environmental Protection Agency is considering a Bayer-backed rule that could significantly curtail the lawsuits.

Enter the EPA

Unlike the WHO, the EPA — which, headed by Trump appointee Lee Zeldin, has already announced massive regulatory rollbacks — does not consider glyphosate to be a likely human carcinogen.

“EPA’s cancer classification is consistent with most other international expert panels and regulatory authorities,” EPA Associate Administrator for Public Affairs Molly Vaseliou said in a statement to The Intercept. “EPA does not agree with IARC’s conclusion that glyphosate is ‘probably carcinogenic to humans.’”

Last August, 11 industry-friendly red states, led by Nebraska and Iowa, submitted a 436-page petition asking the agency to amend its labeling rules under the Federal Insecticide, Rodenticide, and Fungicide Act, or FIFRA. The proposed rule change would explicitly prohibit states from labeling pesticides and herbicides with warnings about cancer, birth defects, and reproductive harm if those notices contradict the EPA’s risk assessment.

The states made clear that their ultimate goal is to thwart future lawsuits against pesticide manufacturers. Their petition argued that recent court rulings have created a “gap in FIFRA’s regulatory framework” that the proposed rule change would plug.

“It’s telling of the lengths that pesticide manufacturers will go to make sure that nothing interferes with their profit margins.”

In January, in a move initiated by the Biden administration, the EPA took a first step of accepting public comment on the rule-making petition, with a deadline of March 24 — though this step is exploratory and does not mean a new rule will be issued. Still, the EPA’s decision could have disastrous consequences if Donald Trump’s second administration is as friendly to the chemical industryas it was in his first.

“It’s telling of the lengths that pesticide manufacturers will go to make sure that nothing interferes with their profit margins,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “There’s a reality that the industry itself generates much of the data, and they say it’s safe, and then EPA approves that determination.”

“If we’re not limited to the industry-created data set,” he said, “they see it as a larger threat to their ability to control the universe of science and data that go into the pesticide regulatory review process.”

Warning Labels

The EPA petition follows in the path of other efforts at both the state and federal level to shield Bayer from civil liability.

Last year, state legislatures in Florida, Idaho, Iowa, and Missouri introduced bills that would make pesticide manufacturers immune to failure-to-warn lawsuits if their product labels match EPA assessments. And House Republicans introduced similar language in the discussion draft of the 2024 Farm Bill.

Though all the bills failed, allies of the chemical industry are expected to redouble their efforts this year. Advocates expect at least 21 states to introduce pesticide immunity legislation in 2025. The Florida Senate already has.

Bayer itself bankrolled the push, spending nearly $8.5 million to lobby the federal government in 2024, including to advocate for the “uniformity of pesticide labeling” under FIFRA.

FIFRA already prohibits the sale of “misbranded” pesticides, which includes requiring state health warnings to conform with EPA-approved labels.

“We are very pleased to see the EPA and several state Attorneys General take this step to reinforce that any state labeling requirements inconsistent with EPA’s own findings and conclusions regarding human health, such as a pesticide’s likelihood to cause cancer, constitute misbranding,” Bayer said in a statement to The Intercept. “It reinforces the urgent need for a solution to this issue created by the litigation industry.”

The raft of litigation over Roundup, however, has not always ended badly for Bayer. Federal appeals courts disagree on whether the FIFRA misbranding statute trumps state laws that may require manufacturers to go farther in adequately warning consumers about their products.

The 9th and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled in plaintiffs’ favor in recent years, finding that failure-to-warn claims against Bayer in state courts are consistent with FIFRA’s intent; the 3rd Circuit, meanwhile, found the opposite. The split could set the stage for a Supreme Court battle.

The EPA rule change proposed in the states’ petition aims to remedy the circuit split by explicitly classifying labels as “misbranded” if they include health warnings that exceed the EPA’s risk assessment.

The agency’s position on glyphosate has been mired in controversy for decades. In 1991, the EPA mysteriously changed its classification from “suggestive evidence” of glyphosate’s carcinogenic potential to “no evidence.”

Related

Emails Show Monsanto Orchestrated GOP Effort to Intimidate Cancer Researchers

https://theintercept.com/2019/08/23/monsanto-republicans-cancer-research/)

Since then, documents released in Roundup litigation have shown Monsanto cozying up to EPA regulators, ghostwriting scientific papers on glyphosate’s safety, and actively working to discredit journalists and WHO.

In 2015 — the same year the international body’s cancer bureau classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen — The Intercept reported that the EPA had overwhelmingly used Monsanto’s own research to conclude that glyphosate was not an endocrine disruptor.

In 2016, an internal EPA analysis noted an association between glyphosate exposure and an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in four epidemiological studies, The Intercept reported. The EPA analysis was never made public. Instead, the agency drew from industry-backed studies in 2016 to conclude that glyphosate was “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”

“The industry itself generates and pays for much of this data, so that is very different of course than peer-reviewed, hypothesis-based, independent science,” said Hartl, of the Center for Biological Diversity. “That creates an inherent tension and conflict of interest.”

“EPA’s long-standing practice is to seek input from a variety of stakeholders and use the best available science,” said Vaseliou, the EPA public affairs official. “EPA evaluates information from all kinds of sources — pesticide companies, other governments, academia, and the published scientific literature.”

[

Related

How Pesticide Companies Corrupted the EPA and Poisoned America

https://theintercept.com/2021/06/30/epa-pesticides-exposure-opp/)

In 2020, during the periodic pesticide review process mandated by FIFRA, the EPA issued an interim decision to reregister glyphosate with a risk assessment that did not identify “any human health risks of concern.” But in June 2022, in a separate case from the FIFRA ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the EPA’s assessment, noting the decision had been made without following the agency’s own cancer guidelines, and ordered the EPA to reevaluate its findings.

The new analysis is still forthcoming.

“In accordance with the court’s decision related to human health, EPA is currently updating its evaluation of the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate to better explain its findings and include the current relevant scientific information,” said Vaseliou. “EPA’s underlying scientific findings regarding glyphosate, including its finding that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans, remain the same.”

Trump’s MAHA Promise

How the EPA decides to proceed with the glyphosate petition will in many ways be a canary in the coal mine for this administration’s approach to chemical regulation.

While Trump’s first term was marked by severe deference to industry, his recent rhetoric has promoted Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, agenda.

In a February executive order, the president pledged to eliminate “undue industry influence” and “establish a framework for transparency and ethics review in industry-funded projects” — the same reforms that advocates have long said would strengthen the EPA’s glyphosate review.

Kennedy is a longtime critic of the pesticide industry; in an OctoberYouTube video, he railed against the country’s agriculture policy for “tilting the playing field in favor of more chemicals, more herbicides, more insecticides” and promised to “ban the worst agricultural chemicals that are already prohibited in other countries.” As a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading nonprofit environmental law group, he took Monsanto to task, helping secure a multimillion-dollar settlement in a Roundup cancer lawsuit in 2018.

There are indications, of course, that the MAHA promise is a smokescreen.

In 2017, Trump’s EPA rejected a proposed ban on chlorpyrifos, a pesticide linked to increased cancer risk. He appointed former American Chemistry Council executive Nancy Beck to oversee toxic chemical regulation. Beck is once again slated to take a senior EPA position; Lynn Dekleva, another ACC lobbyist who fought the EPA’s efforts to regulate formaldehyde, will now run the agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

Vaseliou said, “Your questions regarding Dr. Beck and Dr. Dekleva are insulting and unfounded. This is yet another question based on false accusations that left propaganda also known as media take as gospel. President Trump made a fantastic choice in selecting Dr. Beck and Dr. Dekleva to work at EPA.”

On March 12, Zeldin, Trump’s EPA chief, announced the agency would begin rolling back 31 environmental regulations — “the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen,” he said — including rules aimed at preventing disasters at hazardous chemical facilities and restricting the industrial pollution of mercury.

“It strikes me that there’s a very significant tension between what the president has promised relating to the overuse of pesticides in this country versus the other elements of his own administration that reflexively do what industry wants no matter what,” said Hartl. “He’s going to have to decide who he’s going to let down: whether it’s his own supporters that believe in his MAHA agenda or his industry benefactors.”

---

The event made room for MAHA, the Make America Healthy Again movement led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services. Descovich interviewed Dr. Joseph Ladapo, the Florida surgeon general who is working to eliminate all vaccine mandates for the state’s schoolchildren.

an 10 25

Major U.S. food and beverage companies are orchestrating a campaign to pit President Donald Trump’s MAGA base against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. The effort aims to derail initiatives that seek to limit soda and ultra-processed food consumption,*the Guardian*reported Sunday.

The strategy involves a network of Republican-aligned operatives and influencers to influence state-level legislation aimed at reducing soda consumption and restricting ultra-processed foods in public programs.

The American Beverage Association (ABA) and the Consumer Brands Association, representing giants like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé, are leading the charge, per the report.

These trade groups have identified MAHA-backed policies, such as banning petroleum-based food dyes in schools and restricting SNAP benefits for sugary drinks, as significant threats to their profits. They have mobilized a mix of lobbyists, conservative media, and paid influencers to oppose these measures.

The report noted that in Arizona, lobbyist Michael Gardner contacted lawmakers to argue against a SNAP restriction bill, citing a poll suggesting Trump voters opposed such measures.

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AN 10 25

White House shuts down MAHA doc's 'idiotic' cure for Trump's 'dementia' and 'cankles'

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RFK2 50K$

republican AG Pay-to-Play Group Raises $4.9 Million in Second Quarter}:

By David Armiak

|

July 19th, 2022

Campaign Finance, Democracy, Elections, Featured Investigations, Koch, News, RAGA

*Editor’s Note: On July 20, 2022, RAGA’s deputy executive director Johnny Koremenos notified CMD that the $300 contribution from Philanthropy Roundtable highlighted in this story was refunded.

The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) raised $4.9 million in the second quarter of this year, according to a report filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Friday. RAGA‘s haul is $300,000 less than in the second quarter of 2018 and slightly exceeds the $4.8 million the group raised during the first quarter of 2022.

RAGA spun its fundraising figures by giving Fox Business an exclusive, claiming that it “broke another fundraising record.” But the $6.3 million figure it gave for the quarter was “across all entities,” and since 2022 IRS filings for RAGA’s sister organizations the Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF) and the Center for Law and Policy (CLP) will not be publicly available until November 2023 at the earliest, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) cannot verify the claim.

RAGA accepts unlimited contributions from corporations, individuals, and special interest groups such as Koch Industries, Altria, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, primarily to fund the campaigns of Republican candidates for attorneys general. Together with its affiliates RLDF and CLP, it runs a cash-for-influence operation that coordinates the official actions of Republican state attorneys general and sells its corporate funders access to those AGs and their staff.

RAGA’s largest contribution in the second quarter, $200,000, went to Brenna Bird, the Republican candidate for attorney general in Iowa, who faces an uphill battle to unseat the longest-serving state AG in the country, Tom Miller (D).

In a surprising move, RAGA gave $15,200 to Georgia AG Chris Carr’s reelection campaign. Although Carr is a Republican, he resigned as RAGA’s national chair in 2021 over the selection of Peter Bisbee to replace Adam Piper as RAGA’s executive director, citing “a significant difference of opinion… as to the direction this organization should take going forward” and “vastly opposite views of the significance of the events of January 6.”

Bisbee formerly led RLDF and, in the days prior to the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, he was responsible for sending out robocalls encouraging supporters to “march to the Capitol and call on Congress to stop the steal.” His selection also led to an exodus of longtime RAGA staff members, CMD reported.

Raul Labrador, the Republican candidate for attorney general in Idaho, was the only other individual to receive RAGA funding in the second quarter, accepting $5,000 for his campaign, the report discloses.

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AN 10 25

During a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted that “children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it’s highly likely because they’re given Tylenol.”

President Donald Trump added: “There’s a tremendous amount of proof or evidence. I would say as a non‑doctor, but I’ve studied this a long time.”

A clip from the meeting spread rapidly on social media, with many users reacting to their remarks with disbelief, ridicule and alarm.

Medical authorities have sharply criticized the administration for overstepping scientific validity, warning that simplified claims may mislead patients and cause confusion.

Earlier, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a statement challenging the secretary's claim and said there is no clear evidence that prudent use of acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) during pregnancy causes autism.

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RFK Jr.'s Thursday remarks were criticized by some as "antisemitic."

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) wrote on the social platform X: "This is an antisemitic remark. I call on all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to clearly denounce it."

Matt Bennett, EVP for Public Affairs at Third Way,wrote: "'Circumcision causes autism because of Tylenol' is the weirdest MadLib in the history of presidential cabinet meetings."

Journalist Carla Marinucci wrote: "Did @RobertKennedyJr just suggest 'children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism' presumably because of Tylenol? Again, throwing out wild unsupported theories — irresponsible."

Political organizer Melissa Byrne wrote on X: "Some direct anti-semitism in the Cabinet Room."

Writer Noah Rothman reacted to the news and wrote: "What a sentence."

Author Eric Michael Garcia, who wrote the book We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation,reacted to the remarks and saidin a post on X: "DO I NEED TO WRITE ANOTHER PAPERBACK EDITION OF MY BOOK?"

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yt 2 2 confl of interest aoc oversight? moscowitz?

The RFK and Casey Means connection

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mma

TikTok Shop is selling supplements made by Plandemic filmmaker

For $29 on TikTok, you can buy a supplement to “bulletproof your immune system” and “surround it with piranhas” from a company that pushes medical misinformation

Written by Abbie Richards

Research contributions from Alex Kaplan

:{:{Published 09/25/25}:

On TikTok Shop, users can now purchase a supplement that will purportedly “bulletproof your immune system.” The product was “founded” by a group that includes Mikki Willis, who has falsely claimed that measles is a “bioweapon” and said he has been “working with” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Willis is also known for creating the viral film Plandemic, which pushed conspiracy theories about COVID-19.

TikTok Shop’s policies prohibit the sale of “medicinal supplements,” including “unlicensed medicines, herbal or homeopathic products, and those making health claims.” But that isn’t stopping the creators of Fierce Immunity from selling their supplement on the platform and suggesting that people who take it “don’t get sick.”

Fierce Immunity is a supplement claiming to “supercharge your immune system”

Fierce Immunity is billed as “a synergistic blend of bioactive compounds, precision-engineered to supercharge your immune system” and “a powerful blend of Vitamin D, Zinc Ascorbate, Quercetin, Hesperidin, and L-Arginine designed to fortify your immune system, reduce inflammation, and support rapid recovery.”

The supplement was created by a group that includes medical misinformers, and it was reportedly formulated with an “AI technology,” known as Swarm Intelligence. Fierce Immunity is also the first item listed in parent company Rebel Lion’s “Measles Protocol.” As part of the protocol, Rebel Lion claims Fierce Immunity works as “both prevention and response in times of viral threat.”

Health care experts have said that while some people can benefit from a vitamin D supplement, most people do not need vitamin D supplements because they get sufficient vitamin D from their diet and lifestyle. And while zinc plays a role in immune health, supplements are usually necessary only for people with zinc deficiency. In fact, some experts say excessive zinc levels can actually be “dangerous to your health.”

In small print, Fierce Immunity's website admits, “Fierce Immunity is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. … You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication.”

Rebel Lion is selling and promoting Fierce Immunity on TikTok

Rebel Lion is selling Fierce Immunity on TikTok Shop, even though the platform prohibits the sale of “unlicensed medicines, herbal or homeopathic products, and those making health claims.” In fact, the company is selling the product on the platform at half of its usual price of $58 a bottle.

On its TikTok account, Rebel Lion has posted videos of people making some bold claims about Fierce Immunity, such as saying it will “bulletproof your immune system” and “lock it down, supercharge it, and surround it with piranhas,” “It shields my immunity. I don’t get sick,” and “Two years ago I began taking Fierce Immunity … and in that two years, I haven’t been sick, not even a sniffle.” In another video, a man is repeatedly hitting a tire in a gym with a voiceover saying, “After six weeks of constant gut issues, I tried Fierce Immunity and in just two days, my discomfort vanished.”

In Rebel Lion webinars on YouTube, the commentary about Fierce Immunity gets even wilder. In a webinar dedicated to the “Real Story Behind the Measles Outbreak,” Rebel Lion co-founder Chris Roy said that “nobody that I know that’s taking Fierce Immunity is getting sick.” Roy also claimed that his friend’s sister “had breast cancer — stage four — and started taking Fierce Immunity and within about a month they said her tumors are shrinking.”

Fierce Immunity is being sold by a company led by medical misinformers

According to Rebel Lion's website, Fierce Immunity was “founded by Mikki Willis, Chris Roy, and JP Sears.” Willis and Sears both have histories of spreading medical misinformation.

Willis is the creator of the viral film Plandemic, which Wired reported was a “widely debunked pseudo-documentary” that “suggested Covid-19 was released to profit those in positions of authority and that vaccines were ineffectual.” During Rebel Lion's “The Real Story Behind the Measles Outbreak” webinar, he falsely claimed that measles is a “bioweapon” that has “been manipulated and targeted towards a community that is a threat because of their natural way of living.” In February, Willis also claimed that he had “been working with RFK Jr.” and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard “for over a decade.”

Willis is still sowing doubt and mistrust around the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. During the Rebel Lion webinar, Willis encouraged viewers to share an upcoming video with their friends and family who still trust vaccines and linked his father’s heart issues to vaccines:

MIKKI WILLIS: I was getting calls from these people that were severely injured. They were the first ones to line up for the COVID-19 vaccines. And they were manipulated and coerced into doing that for whatever reason. We’ve been following them on their journey of healing for the past four years. They went from perfectly healthy to confined to a wheelchair, having to have breathing apparatuses just so they can breathe, to having seizures every 30 minutes, some of them severely injured from being perfectly healthy.

And so we’ve witnessed that firsthand. And that movie, when it comes out, share it like crazy because I have been saying, that’s the movie that ends the debate. If you have family members, friends, whoever it is that are still in denial just because maybe they got vaccinated and they’re OK, which, thank God, so many people are. My father and mother-in-law both, I don’t know, two or three vaccines — they’re fine. My father, three vaccines, three heart attacks — I just put him in hospice care.

In the description of the “ Real Story Behind the Measles Outbreak” webinar, Rebel Lion describes the video as an “urgent discussion … unpacking the latest measles outbreak in Texas and exposing what mainstream media refuses to report,” including questions like “Is this a mutated bioweapon?” and “Are vaccinated individuals more vulnerable?”

Journalists have described Sears as a “conservative, anti-vaccine comic” and “the clown prince of wellness.” In his comedy sketches, Sears has implied that vaccines cause autism, that COVID-19 boosters are intended to depopulate the world, and that mRNA vaccines are ineffective.

Roy, who owns the “Rebel Lion” trademark, doesn’t seem to have a significant history as a public persona online. Instead, he seems to bring the marketing expertise to the Rebel Lion project.

In May, Rebel Lion released a film that featured Dr. Ben Edwards and Dr. Richard Bartlett, who have downplayed the threat of measles, and Pierre Kory, whose certification was revoked by the American Board of Internal Medicine for his promotion of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.

Edwards reportedly treated measles patients in Texas, including children, with cod liver oil while reportedly having an active measles infection himself.

Bartlett has suggested that the measles vaccine could cause measles and that reporting on the rise in measles is a “misinformation, disinformation campaign to character-assassinate RFK and the Make America Healthy Again movement.” During the “Real Story Behind the Measles Outbreak” webinar, Willis asked Bartlett: “Should we stop all measles vaccines and let children get natural immunity?” Bartlett didn’t seem to answer the answer directly, but he said: “Parents deserve to know all the information. … We’re supposed to as doctors give informed consent. As far as vaccines, it’s again an individual decision. Traditional vaccines made with a live virus or a live weakened virus make sense to me. But there’s a risk. They’re live measles viruses. Live measles viruses cause measles.” He added that “every risk of measles can happen with the MR vaccine. And you’re not gonna hear that on CNN.”

During the May film, Kory argued that “measles is essentially just a rash. It was one of the most common childhood illnesses. It’s not lethal by any stretch of the imagination. Over 90% of kids with measles will suffer no complications. And the few that do, those complications are easily treatable.”

The Centers for Disease Control has been clear: Measles “isn't just a little rash.” In fact, the CDC says that 1 in 5 people who get measles will be hospitalized, and 1 in 20 children with measles will get pneumonia, which is “the most common cause of death from measles in young children.” A 2024 study also estimated that measles vaccines averted over 60 million deaths between 2000 and 2023.

Medical misinformers often sow doubt around vaccines and then profit from anxious consumers

Fierce Immunity offers something of a window into a larger industry in which grifters profit off fear and medical misinformation, seeding distrust in lifesaving vaccines while simultaneously selling bogus solutions.

Immediately after stoking fear about COVID-19 vaccines in the Rebel Lion webinar, Willis said, “This is why we created Fierce Immunity.” Roy added that when measles started breaking out, “that was the beginning of the conversation — was we were getting so many people asking us what they should do, what they should take, how should they build their immune system. Because we know … it all starts with the immune system.”

This sort of approach is also seen elsewhere in the medical misinformation space. For instance, a 2024 study from the University of Washington documented how wellness influencers leveraged anti-vaccine messaging for profit, using it to sell products including heavy metal detox sprays and supplements, homeschooling resources, and “off-grid” supplies. And during the pandemic, right-wing media figures and anti-vaccine activists peddled ivermectin as a miracle drug, even though it is ineffective at treating COVID-19.

Rebel Lion’s “Measles Protocol” also includes Budesonide, which the American Academy of Pediatrics has said is “not a recommended nor effective treatment for measles,” and an “antimicrobial oral rinse that reduces viral and bacterial load in the mouth.”

//

TikTok Shop is selling black market Ozempic, performance enhancement drugs, and cosmetic filler

10/22/24 2:04 PM EDT

  1. ### TikTok Shop is selling black market vapes to children … again

06/27/25 10:02 AM EDT

  1. ### Unregulated GLP-1 patches are exploding on TikTok Shop

09/09/25

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looked bad in senate again ~ susan m cdc fired after 2x days

mma

How right-wing media sow distrust and confusion around vaccines and science

As Florida ends school vaccine requirements and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership comes under fire, the right has repackaged anti-science talking points as well-meaning skepticism

Written by Gideon Taaffe, Isabella Sherk, Jack Wheatley & Jack Winstanley

Published 09/18/25

Amid the rise of the so-called “Make America Healthy Again” movement, right-wing media figures have employed a variety of tactics that sow doubt and confusion around vaccine efficacy and science more broadly. These efforts to capitalize on existing distrust of public health institutions and pharmaceutical companies have gained renewed momentum following Florida’s elimination of vaccine requirements for schools and comments made by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a contentious Senate hearing.

MAHA acolytes have challenged well-studied topics by “just asking questions,” described vaccination requirements as impediments to freedom and parental choice, and exploited post-pandemic mistrust of public health infrastructure and pharmaceutical companies.

The MAHA movement is fueling mistrust in medicine amid a CDC leadership shake-up and Florida's elimination of vaccine requirements

//

09/09/25 10:09 AM EDT

08/11/25 9:56 AM EDT

07/09/25

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rfk2 said eliz warren took 885K pharma $

called chARLATAN

mma

  1. ### Bannon claims Fox wasn't airing RFK Jr hearing because “they're taking big pharma money”

09/04/25 12:13 PM EDT

  1. ### Benny Johnson says he will “stiffen the backbone of anybody” who comes out against Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

09/04/25

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mma

Fox News completely ignored Senate hearing with ousted CDC director Susan Monarez

09/17/25

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MMA

September 14, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Savage Nation with Michael Savage

MICHAEL SAVAGE (HOST): The Kennedy is doing a fairly good job, but he doesn't have the — to run the Department of Human — what is he running? This — he never should have been given that job. Never. It was a huge mistake on the part of Donald Trump. Kennedy is way over his head. He's not a scientist. He has no training in science. And you're just doing push ups doesn't make you a health expert, by the way. Just because you have great muscles at 47 or 55 doesn't mean that you know everything about science that is required to be known to run HHS, which is a huge and huge. You know, when it came — when Trump came along, to get political for a second — and he appointed Kennedy to HHS, and Kennedy said that we're going to fire everybody in the building, I went on the air and I said to you, that's the biggest mistake he could ever make.

...

Not all scientists are political operatives. There are some really great scientists in the NIH. You can't throw them all out just because you don't like the politics of some of the people who ran HHS, like those involved in the National Institute of Health, like Fauci. You can't say all scientists are propagandists and they should all be fired. He made a huge error because he didn't have the scope necessary to run the HHS. It was way beyond his abilities, his knowledge. He had no knowledge. He has no degree in science. How can he run HHS? How can the man run HHS if he's never done basic science, never done one experiment? Did he ever work in a laboratory or even knows what laboratory science is? No. So you say everyone in laboratory science is a Doctor Frankenstein. Fire them all. Stupid. This is the problem with revolutionaries and revolutions. You know, you shoot everybody in a fascist dictatorship who opposes you. And in a non-fascist dictatorship, but a dictatorship of the mind, you fire everybody who you think is your enemy. Huge mistake.

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mma

Greg Gutfeld once denounced Donald Trump’s “antiscience point of view” on vaccines and autism

The Fox host is now a strong supporter of antivax crusader and HHS secretary RFK Jr.

Written by Matt Gertz

Research contributions from Isabella Corrao

Published 09/09/25

When a Republican presidential candidate pushed the falsehood that childhood vaccines cause autism at a 2015 debate, Fox News host Greg Gutfeld denounced that candidate for adopting a “hysterical antiscience point of view.” He warned that the false narrative was “stupid,” “destructive,” “deadly,” and “dangerous,” and described its proponents as “bozos” who risked the lives of children.

That candidate was Donald J. Trump.

A decade later, President Trump has installed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the anti-vax crusader who has long blamed increasing cases of autism on childhood vaccinations — at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services, which Kennedy is using to undermine public confidence in and access to vaccines.

And Gutfeld, rather than vigorously standing up for the importance of vaccination against the “antiscience point of view,” has embraced Kennedy as “open-minded” and honest, and is running cover for the secretary against his purportedly “unglued” critics.

The collapse of Gutfeld’s moral clarity demonstrates how the right stopped worrying about the potential deaths of children and brought vaccine deniers into the fold during the COVID-19 pandemic — and how fealty to Trump has become the MAGA movement’s sole defining principle.

Gutfeld in 2015: Trump linking childhood vaccines to autism “is destructive and it's ignorant because it’s not science”

Republican presidential candidates argued over the fabricated link between vaccines and autism after CNN moderator Jake Tapper raised Trump’s past comments about it during the party’s September 16, 2015, presidential primary debate.

Trump defended his prior remarks, calling for “smaller doses” of vaccines “over a longer period of time,” citing the case of “a beautiful child [who] went to have the vaccine” and then, “a week later, got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.” Fellow candidates Rand Paul and Ben Carson, both medical doctors, responded by defending vaccines, with Carson noting, “We have extremely well-documented proof that there’s no autism associated with vaccination.”

Gutfeld picked this portion of the debate to discuss the following day on Fox’s panel show The Five, calling it “a moment that I didn’t like.” After airing portions of comments from Trump, Paul, and Carson, the Fox host warned about potential disaster if the GOP adopted such lies.

Video file

Video Player

Citation

From the September 17, 2015, edition of Fox News' The Five

“This is a really bad thing to happen to the Republican Party, an anti — hysterical anti-science point of view about vaccines,” Gutfeld said. “And using the anecdote with a child is destructive and it’s ignorant because it’s not science.”

“It’s a false causal argument to say because vaccines and autism symptoms appear at the same time, ergo, the vaccines cause autism,” he continued. “That’s the same as saying, you know when you have ice cream and you get sunburns in the summertime, therefore ice cream causes sunburns. It’s stupid and it’s bad for Republicans.”

“And not only that, it’s deadly and it’s dangerous,” Gutfeld added. “We’re seeing outbreaks of measles all around the world. We’re seeing it in Australia, we’re seeing it in Africa where people are actually dying. Meanwhile, we’re having outbreaks in Disneyland.”

“Why is this happening? Because people are listening to bozos who are questioning the validity of what is really a wall,” he concluded, referencing Trump’s call to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. “Science built a wall against disease and it’s called vaccines.”

Gutfeld didn’t stop there — he went on to criticize Paul and Carson for not being explicit enough in their criticism of Trump and defence of vaccines.

“It was terrible,” Gutfeld said of their remarks. “They’re doctors. And I’m glad Ben Carson, feebly, came up and said something, but they are doctors and they have a responsibility to defend the profession because there are doctors like them everyday who have to confront this argument.”

“Whenever they go in there and have worried mothers or elderly people who don’t want vaccines, they are the ones in the frontlines,” he added. “And those doctors are on TV and they should have come out, they should have been forthright about it.”

“You know, hats off, that’s just so strong and so right, I’m so glad you said that,” liberal co-host Juan Williams replied.

Gutfeld in 2025: “Open-minded” RFK Jr. is defending “his vaccine policies” from “unglued” Democrats who “gave us Rachel Levine”

As Gutfeld warned, Trump’s 2015 vaccine comments were a harbinger of the GOP moving toward a “hysterical anti-science point of view about vaccines.” But it was his network that played an instrumental role in that shift, first helping supercharge anti-vaccine sentiment within the party, then propelling Kennedy into Republican prominence and then Trump’s cabinet.

And Gutfeld, who once righteously ranted against both anti-vax Republicans and those who fail to offer a sufficiently vehement response to their lies, has taken up the side of the liars. He has long since made peace with Trump’s domination of GOP politics and rebooted himself as a MAGA diehard, adopting a tone far more deferential to the “bozos” he once decried.

In late January, following Kennedy’s confirmation hearing, Gutfeld could have tried to hold the line and urge Republican Senators to vote against someone who espouses a view he had described as “dangerous” and “deadly.” He did not, instead presenting the nominee as a “glorious mixed bag” whom the senators should support.

Video

Citation

From the January 29, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Five

“On one hand, he's passionate, he's persuasive, he's open-minded, he's not woke, he's interested in the world around him, not himself,” Gutfeld explained to his co-hosts in The Five. “On the other hand, he has stuff on vaccines and autism that seems more reliant on his gut instinct than science, the correlation, the rise of childhood autism or autism and the use of vaccines, it's not cause and effect, it's a correlation.”

“If I were in the Senate — and who's to say I'm not? — I would vote for him,” he concluded. “All Republicans should say yes.”

Republican senators, even those who had questioned Kennedy’s vaccine views, ultimately agreed with Gutfeld and confirmed Kennedy to lead HHS. Every Democratic senator and a single Republican — Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who survived childhood polio — voted against him.

Since ascending to the top position in the U.S. health bureaucracy, Kennedy has proved correct the critics who warned that he would use that power to carry out his political project of sabotaging the nation’s vaccination regime. Kennedy has slashed funding that went to vaccinate vulnerable children and terminated grants that supported research into next-generation mRNA vaccines. Amid a pediatric measles outbreak in the American Southwest, he went out of his way to talk down the need for children to be vaccinated against the disease.

But perhaps most concerning of all, Kennedy has replaced the members of a vaccine advisory board with his own picks — some of whom were notorious vaccine critics — who plan to review the childhood vaccination schedule. According to former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susana Monarez, she was asked to resign and then pushed out when she refused to preapprove that board’s recommendations; her removal last month triggered an exodus of top CDC scientists.

When Kennedy appeared before the Senate Finance Committee last Thursday, he drew rebukes not only from its Democratic members but also from three Republicans who sit on the committee and voted for his confirmation. Notably, Sen. Bill Cassidy, a gastroenterologist, said that under Kennedy’s leadership, “we’re denying people vaccine,” while Sen. John Barrasso, an orthopedic surgeon, said he had “grown deeply concerned” with the secretary’s oversight of vaccination efforts.

But Gutfeld, introducing a segment on the hearing later that day, simply disappeared all the critiques from Republicans.

Video

Citation

From the September 4, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Five

“RFK Jr. defending his vaccine policies against Democrats on Capitol Hill, furious over his ousting of the CDC director,” he said. “Junior says it's time for new blood at the health agency after they failed Americans during COVID.”

He alleged that “the Dems came unglued” at the hearing, and later mocked them on the grounds that “they don’t look like they’re in excellent health.”

Gutfeld had previously denounced Paul and Carson for not being strenuous enough in their criticism of Trump’s vaccine claims, arguing that as doctors, “they have a responsibility to defend the profession because there are doctors like them everyday who have to confront this argument.” But he never got around to addressing the Kennedy criticisms made by Republican senators who are also medical doctors — though he did argue that, in his opinion, babies don’t need the hepatitis B vaccine the CDC recommends they receive at birth.

Gutfeld returned to the subject of Kennedy’s hearing the following day, this time offering a firm defense of the HHS secretary.

Video

Citation

From the September 5, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Five

“I can disagree with RFK on a lot of things and I have and I've written about it actually,” Gutfeld said, without outlining the subjects on which they disagree. “But I will never call him a liar. And I have seen him debate people who actually seriously disagree with him. And he does something that Democrats don't do: He listens.”

Gutfeld then recited a litany of examples he suggested show that it is Kennedy’s critics who are untruthful, claiming they are “disqualified from this discussion” because they purportedly “lied about” former President Joe Biden’s health; his son Hunter Biden’s laptop; the existence of man-made climate change; and “10% for the big guy.”

“I honestly cannot be told that my side is anti-science when you gave us Rachel Levine,” Gutfeld concluded.

That’s Gutfeld in a nutshell. A decade ago, he warned that Republicans would become “antiscience” if they adopted a Trumpian stance against vaccines. Now that has come to pass — but he won’t accept it because trans people exist.

//

  1. ### Fox helps Kennedy Jr. spin the CDC purge

08/28/25 12:31 PM EDT

  1. ### Fox News championed anti-vaxxer RFK Jr. Now he’s killing research into next-generation vaccines.

08/11/25 9:56 AM EDT

  1. ### RFK Jr., measles, and the dangerous legacy of Fox News’ COVID-19 coverage

03/12/25

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NO LNX}:

:{:{Expert warns of 'absolute madness' — thanks to 'worst dregs of society' in the GOP}:

:{John Stoehr September 09, 2025 |

If the Republicans cared about the public’s wellbeing, they wouldn’t have confirmed Robert F Kennedy Jr as head of the US Department of Health and Human Services. He had no business there, but that didn’t matter. Their top concern has been the wellbeing of Donald Trump.

Kennedy is now giving the Republicans a headache with insane talk of vaccines causing autism and how he had no choice but to fire the CDC director because, he said, she told him she was not trustworthy. But that headache isn’t borne of caring about people. It’s borne of concern that people might figure out the Republicans don’t care about them.

The secretary was under pressure before he fell to pieces last week during testimony before a Senate committee. More than a thousand former HHS workers had signed a petition calling on him to resign. The pressure only increased afterward. Kennedy’s sister and her son, who is a former congressman from Massachusetts, added their voices.

Here’s the New York Daily News’ reporting on it: “‘Robert Kennedy Jr. is a threat to the health and well-being of every American,’ Joe Kennedy wrote on X the day after the hearing. As a purveyor of misinformation and sower of confusion, RFK is not adequately ‘protecting the public health of our country and its people,’ the secretary’s nephew said. “At yesterday’s hearing, he chose to do the opposite: to dismiss science, mislead the public, sideline experts and sow confusion.’

The Daily News report added: “The essential values of ‘moral clarity, scientific expertise, and leadership rooted in fact’ required of anyone taking on current challenges to public health in the US are simply ‘not present in the Secretary’s office,’ Joe Kennedy said. ‘He must resign.’”

But even if he resigned today, the fact remains that the Republicans who confirmed him still don’t care about public health. In addition to taking away Medicaid benefits from millions of people over the next decade, there’s the immediate emergency facing anyone who buys their health insurance through state exchanges (aka “Obamacare”).

If the congressional Republicans do nothing, and no one expects them to do anything, there are about 20 million enrollees in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces who will see their monthly premiums jump by an average of 75 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

And that’s if they’re lucky.

Charles Gaba, a health policy expert and founder of ACAsignups.net, told me in an interview last week (see below) that some people who are currently getting expanded federal subsidies could see their monthly premiums jump by “100 percent, 200 percent, 300 percent or more.”

Charles explained “there are two main reasons for this: congressional Republicans allowing the improved tax credits which have been in place since 2021 to expire, and the Trump administration changing the underlying ACA tax credit formula to make it even less generous yet.”

The Obamacare crisis won’t happen gradually over ten years, like the Medicaid crisis will. It will happen over the next four months if congressional Republicans do not act by the end of this month.

The congressional Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to ramp up the pressure on their Republican colleagues by getting insurance providers to inform enrollees in September what’s going to happen.

In a letter, Democratic senators, including minority leader Chuck Schumer, told insurers “individuals and families need clear, direct information from their health plans as soon as possible about their rising premiums and cost-sharing requirements, and worsening coverage.” They said the info should be sent "as early and directly as possible … Under these dire circumstances, annual premium notices set to be released in October will not come soon enough."

Axios said some Republicans are open to extensions “but they're also worried about the projected $335 billion cost over 10 years.”

That, my friend, is the tell.

The Republicans took one trillion dollars away from Medicaid and food stamps to cut taxes for rich people who will never notice their taxes were cut. Before that, the Republicans confirmed a conspiracy theorist, crank and weirdo as secretary of health and human services.

Do you think they’re really concerned about the public’s concern?

“There's still a small chance of Congress extending the tax credits this month, but it's unlikely,” Charles Gaba told me, “and even if they do, I expect them to either weaken them, include a poison pill provision so they can blame a failure to extend them on Democrats, or both.”

Lots of people still don't know they are going to be facing an enormous spike in their premiums. How bad is it going to be?

Very, very bad.

As you know, I've spent the past several months shouting from the rooftops that tens of millions of Americans (around 23 million, give or take) enrolled in individual market health insurance policies are facing massive net premium increases starting January 1, 2026.

The increases will range widely depending on a variety of factors, of course, including where they live, what their household income is, how old they are and what policy they're currently enrolled in.

Overall, I estimate gross premium hikes (for those not currently receiving subsidies) will average around 23 percent, while the healthcare policy analysts at KFF estimate that net increases – that is, what the enrollees actually pay after federal tax credits are applied – will increase by an average of 75 percent nationally.

There's about 1.8 million unsubsidized enrollees on-exchange and 1-2 million off-exchange, who will be hit with the 23 percent average.

Meanwhile, there's around 21 million currently subsidized enrollees who will face the 75 percent average … and again, in many cases it will be much more than that: 100 percent, 200 percent, 300 percent or more for the same policy they're currently enrolled in.

There are two main reasons for this: congressional Republicans allowing the improved tax credits, which have been in place since 2021, to expire, and the Trump administration changing the underlying ACA tax credit formula to make it even less generous yet.

There's still a small chance of the Congress extending the tax credits this month, but it's unlikely, and even if they do, I expect them to either weaken them, include a poison pill provision so they can blame a failure to extend them on Democrats, or both.

Again, this will be happening well before the midterms, starting Jan. 1, 2026 – less than four months from now. And yes, my own family is among those facing this, as are you, as I understand it.

Kennedy testified last week. If you were a Senate Democrat, what would you have asked him about exploding insurance premiums?

To resign.

Seriously.

I thought about another long-winded answer, but there's no longer any point in arguing or debating his justifications for what he's done.

He's a eugenicist without the slightest clue about protecting the public from legitimate health crises and who, in fact, has caused and is causing more of them to happen daily. He needs to resign. Now.

He's going to try phasing out the covid vaccine. I don't know what better evidence there is that it worked than the fact that we're still alive. Yet here we are, giving this man the benefit of the doubt.

Absolutely. During the depths of the covid pandemic, conspiracy theorists were making all sorts of absurd claims that they were being "magnetized," that Bill Gates was using the vaccine to implant microchips into our bloodstreams (which is not only insane but ironic, given that Elon Musk is literally installing microchips into people's brains now via Neurolink), that it was supposedly causing Parkinson's-like shaking, etc, etc. All of this was complete garbage.

The boldest claim I heard was that everyone who took the covid vaccine would shortly be dead, and in the months and years that followed, any time a public figure passed away from any cause (old age, hit by a car, whatever), somehow that "proved" their claim, which is absurd. Over 270 million Americans have received at least one covid vaccine. Yet the vast majority of us are doing fine four years later.

It's absolute lunacy, doubly so when you consider that Operation Warp Speed – the public-private partnership by the first Trump administration to accelerate the development of the mRNA covid-19 vaccines – was a massive, legitimate success, which the Trump administration can sincerely claim bragging rights for. Yet somehow, his own base has decided that the very product of that success is some sort of liberal/Democratic conspiracy. Absolute madness.

The press corps can't be let off the hook. I can't count how many times I have read the phrase "vaccine skeptic," as if Kennedy is considerate and thoughtful, rather than liars and scammers. I don't know how to get truth-tellers to privilege facts over lies. Do you?

One of the reasons I've gained whatever respect I have for my healthcare data wonkery over the past decade-plus is that I do my best to use reliable sources. I cite those sources and when I make a mistake (which does happen from time to time), I do my best to own up to it, correct it and explain how I got it wrong.

While there are exceptions, a large portion of the press corps has allowed themselves to become bothsides stenographers who mindlessly repeat whatever drivel comes out of the mouths of Trump, Kennedy, Mehmet Oz and other charlatans in this administration. In many cases they're continuing to do this even as the Trump administration defunds, bullies and extorts their own organizations.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to get them to change their behavior; all I can control is my own, including doing the best I can to get my own data analysis and reporting right.

The erosion of science (vaccines), the erosion of health care (Obamacare), the erosion of the safety net (Medicaid). It's like the Republicans don't care about public health at all unless it affects them personally, and perhaps not even then (in the case of mass shootings). If people die, they die. Thoughts and prayers. Yet they enjoy a reputation for caring about people. How did this happen?

I don't think it was any one thing; racism and misogyny have played a major role, of course, along with decades of attacks on public education and on education in general. Regardless of what got the ball rolling, though, that it gained momentum makes perfect sense to me.

When the Republican Party started to become a slave to its most extreme elements, it started scaring away its genuinely sane, decent members, which, in turn, made those who remain more extreme and awful on average, which scares off more moderates, turning those who remain more extreme yet, and so on.

If this was the only part of the equation, it would be a recipe for the death of the party. However, the other factor is that as it's scaring off more and more moderate voices, it's also attracting more extreme members who had previously been shunned by both major parties.

Once Donald Trump came along, the floodgates were opened – he welcomed in and praised the most awful, racist, bat---- members of society. So here we are – with a Republican Party that seems to consist of almost nothing but the worst dregs of society.

NOW READ: How capitulating to Trump could your boss into legal trouble

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MMA

The hosts of Fox News’ Fox & Friends tried to help Robert F. Kennedy Jr. clean up the mess caused by the purge of top leaders from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, downplaying the agency’s crisis while serving up softball questions to the Department of Health and Human Services secretary in a Thursday morning interview.

The White House said Wednesday night that it had fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, just a month after her confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The Washington Post reported that Kennedy, who was a notorious antivaccine activist before his appointment at HHS, had demanded Monarez’s resignation after she declined to say that she would “support rescinding certain approvals for coronavirus vaccines.” At least three senior CDC officials announced their resignations following her dismissal, including the agency’s chief medical officer and its top scientists overseeing vaccines and emerging infectious diseases.

Fox bears significant responsibility for Kennedy’s ongoing dismantling of U.S. health agencies and their work. The network’s stars helped mainstream antivaccine sentiment within the GOP, elevated Kennedy during his 2024 presidential campaign as part of a strategy to return President Donald Trump to the White House, and greased the skids for Kennedy’s ascension to the pinnacle of the U.S. health bureaucracy. They even assured their viewers, in the words of Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt, that Kennedy was “not going to take away vaccines.”

But rather than treating Kennedy’s CDC purge as an off-ramp, Fox responded by doubling down on its support.

Plenty of reporters surely wanted to speak to Kennedy after he pushed out the CDC director then watched other agency leaders leave. But it was the co-hosts of Fox & Friendsthat got the opportunity, and it’s obvious why — they were willing to treat the exodus as a minor story. Indeed, Brian Kilmeade’s promo focused on an entirely different topic.

“RFK Jr. is taking on the chronic disease epidemic and how he wants to change medical schools to make America healthy again,” Kilmeade said. “The HHS secretary will deal with that — and all his staff changes — coming your way.”

That was also the tenor of the interview.

Video

Citation

From the August 28, 2025, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

Kennedy fielded nearly four minutes of questions about Wednesday’s mass shooting at a Minnesota Catholic school before guest host Emily Compagno finally raised the issue of Monarez’s ouster.

But Compagno did not mention the reason for Monarez’s dismissal or the number of CDC officials who had subsequently resigned, instead asking: “The CDC director was fired after refusing to resign, as her lawyers accuse you, sir, of putting millions of lives at risk, as the CDC vaccine chief slammed in a resignation post. What are your thoughts on that?”

Kennedy responded that “it would be inappropriate for me to comment on a personnel issue” before pivoting to critique the CDC’s praise of vaccines and its need for “strong leadership” that “will be able to execute on President Trump's broad ambitions.”

Kilmeade then read from a statement criticizing Kennedy from Monarez’s lawyers and noted two of the other CDC resignations before adding, “Is this something that’s caught you by surprise? What’s your reaction to people that are getting a little worried?”

Kennedy responded: “I think that no, it has not caught us by surprise. Again, I cannot comment on personnel issues, but the agency is in trouble, and we need to fix it, and we are fixing it, and it may be that some people should not be working there anymore.”

And with that, discussion of the CDC losing four top leaders overnight was concluded, as Compagno asked Kennedy an open-ended question that allowed him to segue to “our newest initiative to try to get the medical schools to start teaching nutrition.”

After a few minutes of discussion on that topic, the interview closed with an ominous sign for the future, as the HHS secretary previewed his promised September report on the purported causes of autism.

“We are now developing sufficient evidence to ask for regulatory action on some of those, or at least recommendations,” Kennedy said.

It seems likely that Kennedy will attempt to carry out the anti-vax project to which he’s already dedicated years of his life, using false claims that vaccines cause autism to try to alter the childhood vaccine schedule that reduces pediatric deaths and hospitalizations from infectious diseases.

:{After last night, there are fewer senior leaders at CDC to stand up to Kennedy and his conspiracy theories. And after this morning, we can expect Fox to be in his corner.:{}:

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THEHILL

Trump taps RFK Jr. deputy as interim CDC director

:{by Joseph Choi and Brett Samuels - 08/28/25

The Trump administration has picked Deputy Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Jim O’Neill to serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a day after the administration fired current Director Susan Monarez, officials told The Hill.

Monarez is contesting her firing, though the White House has confirmed her ouster following a statement on Wednesday from HHS.

O’Neill is a Silicon Valley investor and former CEO of the Thiel Foundation, funded by Trump donor Peter Thiel. He previously served as principal associate deputy secretary at HHS during the George W. Bush administration.

He was sworn in as deputy secretary in June.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would announce a replacement for Monarez “very soon.”

WATCH: Remembering Hurricane Katrina's Devastation 20 Years Later | TRENDING

The tumult in leadership has sparked panic and outrage among public health groups and Democrats in Congress.

Following Monarez’s ouster, four top CDC leaders submitted their resignations on Wednesday.

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), leaders of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, have vowed to conduct oversight into the matter.

In a 2014 speech, O’Neill called for pushing against the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) mission to consider the efficacy of drugs in its decision to approve them, saying the agency should only consider safety.

“We should reform FDA so that it’s approving drugs after their sponsors have demonstrated safety and let people start using them at their own risk, but not much risk of safety,” O’Neill said at the time.

Tags Bernie Sanders Bil

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AN 8 25

zephr.thedailybeast.com

https://zephr.thedailybeast.com › rfk-jr-scores-maha-win-as-trump-taps-his-deputy-for-top-cdc-role

RFK Jr. Scores MAHA Win as Trump Taps His Deputy for Top CDC Role

O'Neill served in senior roles at the Health Department under the George W. Bush administration before becoming managing director of the hedge fund Clarium Capital. During his time in Silicon Valley, he was CEO of the Thiel Foundation and co-founded the Thiel Fellowship, a grant

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RWW

08/28/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

“It’s really bad now but things can always get worse,” a source tells Rolling Stone after news of CDC Director Susan Monarez facing pressure to revoke approvals for coronavirus vaccines.

The Trump administration's Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights told a right-wing host that the tragic shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school on Wednesday was caused by gender-affirming care.

The president’s tacky aesthetic is a window into his quest to become the single most enduring symbol of America.

The high court will decide this fall whether to accept the case.

Two family members have been released, but 20-year-old Allison Bustillo-Chinchilla has been held at Georgia’s infamous Stewart Detention Center since February.

SENT FISHING PIX AFTER CDC SHOT UP

MMA MSNBC

NO LNX

Aug. 10, 2025, 3:00 AM PDT

By Matt Gertz, senior fellow for Media Matters for America

Fox News hosts elevated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to help return President Donald Trump to the White House. They then greased the skids for Kennedy’s confirmation as secretary of health and human services. But as he works to demolish American health care research, they are nowhere to be found.

Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic who once described Covid-19 shots as “the deadliest vaccine ever made,” announced on Tuesday that he is terminating nearly $500 million in federal contracts supporting the development of next-generation vaccines and other treatments based on mRNA technology. “After reviewing the science and consulting top experts at NIH and FDA, HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses,” he said in a video posted online.

Before the pandemic, Kennedy was not a natural fit for the Fox audience.

But Kennedy’s announcement drew harsh criticism from infectious disease experts and other scientists. They warned that the cuts could stall treatments for everything from respiratory illnesses to cancer, leave the nation more exposed to pandemics, undermine public trust in vaccines and threaten U.S. global leadership in medical advances.

While Kennedy’s announcement was widely discussed on MSNBC and CNN, as well as by national broadcast, print and digital outlets, Fox News has almost entirely ignored it. A single 30-second news brief on its “Special Report” program represents the entirety of the Trumpist propaganda network’s coverage through Thursday, according to a Media Matters review.

Fox News may not want to claim credit for Kennedy as he stifles crucial medical research, but it certainly deserves it. You can’t explain the evolution from Trump’s first administration, which fast-tracked the development of mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 through Operation Warp Speed, to the second term’s anti-vax, “Make America Healthy Again” schtick without talking about the network’s role in turning the GOP base against vaccines and toward conspiracy theorists like Kennedy.

'Misinformed' or 'speaking in the wrong terms': Doctor rebukes RFK Jr. over cutting mRNA research

05:03

When pharmaceutical companies began rolling out the vaccines produced under the Trump administration in late 2020 and early 2021, Fox News’ stars could have used the unique influence they have over their viewers to encourage them to get their Covid-19 shots. But Trump had lost his re-election bid, and the network that had worked so hard to keep him in office instead pandered to anti-vaxxers by turning against the vaccination campaign helmed by his successor, President Joe Biden.

Led by its then-prime-time star Tucker Carlson, the network incessantly promoted misleading and false claims about safe, effective vaccines with the potential to save their viewers’ lives — day after day, month after month, year after year. The network uplifted conspiracy theories, gave airtime to conspiracy theorists and culture war vaccine opponents, demagogued against efforts to get more people to receive these lifesaving shots, and propped up ineffective cures as potential substitutes. Fox News continued to broadcast these segments even as more Republican parts of the country, with lower vaccination rates, suffered higher Covid-19 death tolls, as The New York Times’ David Leonhardt detailed.

All of the fawning attention on Kennedy from the right had the impact one would expect.

Before the pandemic, Kennedy, the scion of a Democratic dynasty who once called for a boycott of Fox News host Sean Hannity and described him as a fascist, was not a natural fit for the Fox audience. But with the Covid-19 vaccine campaign underway, his decades of work undermining vaccines and his attacks on the new mRNA vaccines in particular suddenly made him attractive to the right.

When he began his presidential campaign in March 2023 — with Carlson’s show as his launchpad — MAGA media stalwarts saw an opportunity. They treated Kennedy’s bid, first in the Democratic primary and then as an independent candidate, as a potent spoiler candidacy to boost Trump’s return to power. Kennedy became a constant presence on the programs of pro-Trump commentators. Fox provided him with more airtime than many would-be Republican standard-bearers received.

All of the fawning attention on Kennedy from the right — alongside mainstream news coverage of his bizarre history, such as his claim that a parasite in his brain had triggered memory loss — had the impact one would expect: Kennedy became more popular with Republicans than Democrats. As polls increasingly showed that he was pulling support from Trump, though, MAGA media figures like Hannity abruptly turned on Kennedy. After Carlson reportedly helped to facilitate Kennedy’s decision to drop out and endorse the once-and-future president, Fox hosts resumed showering the anti-vax champion with praise.

‘Explosive’ conservative non-doctor turbocharging RFK Jr’s healthcare coup

05:52

As Election Day approached, talk turned to what reward Kennedy could expect in return. Paul Dans, the former head of Project 2025, floated Kennedy’s name for HHS secretary — and that’s precisely the position Trump nominated him for.

Not everyone on the right was willing to accept Kennedy’s ascent. The editorial boards of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and New York Post denounced the decision and called for Senate Republicans to vote down his nomination.

Murdoch’s print voices lost out to his cable news shouters.

But Fox News hosts were elated. As Kennedy’s nomination moved through the Senate, they touted him as a “reformer” and “true health care crusader” who had “the skills, knowledge, and experience” needed for the job.” When Kennedy said he wasn’t going to take away anyone’s vaccines, Fox said he wasn’t going to take away anyone’s vaccines.

Murdoch’s print voices lost out to his cable news shouters — the Senate confirmed Kennedy on a near-party-line vote, with Sen. Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, the sole Republican vote against him.

More from MSNBC Daily

Must reads from Today's list

RFK Jr. is truly terrible at his job

Jake Scott

And lo and behold, once confirmed, Kennedy continued the anti-vax project to which he had dedicated years of his life. He yanked $2 billion in funding to vaccinate children whose families may not be able to afford immunizations. He downplayed the importance of vaccination for quelling a measles outbreak even as measles cases hit record highs. He replaced the members of a vaccine advisory board with his own picks — some of whom were notorious vaccine critics — who plan to review the childhood vaccination schedule and scrutinize its components. And now he’s terminated federal funding that could have fueled a new wave of cures.

Under Kennedy’s leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services itself has become a grave threat to public health. That is the regrettable but inevitable consequence of Fox News’ cynical exploitation of its viewers. The network’s hosts should take a bow — they earned it.

Matt Gertz is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive research center that monitors the U.S. media. His work focuses on the relationship between Fox News and the Republican Party, media ethics and news coverage of politics and elections.

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AN 7 25

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest attack on public health is drawing fierce backlash from medical and scientific experts after he canceled or altered nearly two dozen mRNA-related contracts—the very technology that enabled the rapid development of COVID shots credited with saving millions of lives since late 2020.

Among those projects affected are ones “creating an H5N1 bird flu vaccine and developing respiratory virus therapeutics,” The Washington Post reported. About $500 million in contracts are affected. The Post referred to Secretary Kennedy as “the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group who once falsely called coronavirus shots the ‘deadliest vaccine ever made.'”

“The cancellations dismayed scientists who believe mRNA shots offer the best protection for Americans in a pandemic,” reported The New York Times.

READ MORE: Trump Melts Down Over Elizabeth Warren’s Accusations

“Kennedy’s decision to terminate the projects is the latest in a string of decisions that have put the longtime vaccine critic’s doubts about shots into full effect at the nation’s health department,” the Associated Press reported. “Kennedy has pulled back recommendations around the COVID-19 shots, fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, and refused to offer a vigorous endorsement of vaccinations as a measles outbreak worsened.”

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“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” Secretary Kennedy said in a statement. “We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.”

Experts strongly disagree, and the Washington Post reported that large-scale studies have shown that mRNA vaccines are “safe and effective.”

“Completely horrifying,” commented Timothy Caulfield, a Professor of Law at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health and a Research Director at the Health Law Institute. He appeared to call the HHS Secretary an “Anti-science monster.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business,” Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations told the AP.

Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine is a former CDC Medical Officer.

READ MORE: Transportation Secretary Warns US Is Behind in ‘Race to the Moon’

Responding to video of RFK Jr.’s remarks, Dr. Klausner wrote that the HHS Secretary “is increasingly positioning himself as the most corrupt and ill-informed Secretary of Health in US history. His legacy will be one of foolish decisions that destroyed medicine and public health.”

Dr. Simon Maechling, who has a PhD in organic chemistry, remarked that the mRNA contracts were cut not because the vaccines “failed” or were “unsafe,” but “because of ideology.”

“Twenty-two projects – gone overnight. These weren’t fringe efforts. They included next-gen vaccines for COVID-19, influenza, RSV, and even H5N1 bird flu,” he wrote. “Pulling support for them isn’t a safety move – it’s an anti-vaccine statement dressed in bureaucratic language.”

“RFK Jr. isn’t making America safer,” Maechling added. “He’s dismantling the infrastructure we’ll need for the next crisis – in the name of belief over biology. It’s not principled. It’s reckless.”

Dr. Catharine Young, a senior fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, noted, “mRNA technology didn’t appear overnight. it is the result of DECADES of research – now driving some of the most promising advances in cancer, HIV, and rare disease. It is precise, fast, and adaptable – and yes – revolutionary. And it is now very much being dismantled.”

Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious diseases specialist and clinical associate professor at Stanford blasted RFK Jr.’s claimed reason for cutting the contracts as “naive,” and wrote that it “reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of vaccinology. It conflates the unrealistic goal of blocking all infections with the real, achievable goal: reducing serious illness and death.”

Infectious Diseases doctor and clinician scientist Dr. Neil Stone also slammed Kennedy:

“RFK Jr’s attack on mRNA vaccines is not based on science. As a life long anti vaxxer he disproportionately listens to those who expouse anti vaccine views And he believes them. It’s outrageous.”

Dr. Michael White, an Associate Professor of Genetics at Washington University in the St. Louis School of Medicine declared it a “Completely insane decision to walk away from one of the most promising medical technologies, allowing the US to get smoked in this area of biotech by other countries with more foresight.”

“A bad day for science, and huge blow to our national security,” declared immunologist and virologist Rick White. “This decision will have dangerous repercussions.”

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maha? BUT HE AND ZELDIN AT EPA HAVE FIRED SCIENTISTS?

health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. raised his concerns about widely used herbicides containing glyphosate and atrazine, linking them to chronic disease, in a Thursday report by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission.

Why It Matters

The report highlights two commonly used weed killers—glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, and atrazine, another widely used herbicide for weed control.

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans." But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has reviewed and reevaluated its status, said in 2020, "glyphosate is unlikely to be a human carcinogen." There are conflicting opinions about the toxicity of pesticides and their potential health risks, as well as their impact on the food system and environment. Herbicides are classified as a type of pesticide.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which pledged to produce a report within the president's first few months back in office. The assessment, released Thursday, aims to lay the groundwork for understanding what Kennedy calls the "magnitude of crisis" in American children's declining health and the factors driving it.

As the nation's top health official, Kennedy has repeatedly raised concerns about chemicals in food and the environment and their connection to chronic disease. The report's first section focuses on the rise of ultra-processed foods, while the second addresses the "cumulative load of chemicals in our environment."

What To Know

The 69-page assessment took issue with common herbicides, saying that children are exposed to them through food, water, dust, lawn treatment and household sprays.

"The cumulative effect of multiple chemical exposures and impact on children over time is not fully understood," the report says, adding that data and research on the "complex mixtures of chemicals" children encounter have yet to be fully explored.

Kennedy has long opposed pesticides, having helped win a 2018 lawsuit filed against Monsanto, the original producer of Roundup.

Pesticides are widely used in farming across the U.S. In April, a group of 79 Republicans, including some Senators like Chuck Grassley of Iowa, wrote a letter to Kennedy, saying that "regular testing by DFA and USDA finds that more than 99% of all pesticide residues meet extremely conservative limits established by EPA."

As of 2017, the United States Geological Survey reported, "about 1 billion pounds of conventional pesticides are used each year" throughout the country.

Read more Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Is the FDA Doing Enough About Food Additives?

The MAHA Commission's assessment received expected blowback from agricultural and farming associations, which largely rely on pesticides for their livelihood.

What People Are Saying

The National Corn Growers Association said in a statement:"The Make America Healthy Again Report is filled with fear-based rather than science-based information about pesticides. We are deeply troubled that claims of this magnitude are being made without any scientific basis or regard for a long history of EPA expert evaluations of these products."

American Soybean Association said in a statement: "The American Soybean Association strongly rebukes the May 22 Make America Healthy Again Commission report for being brazenly unscientific and damaging to consumer confidence in America's safe, reliable food system. Should the administration act on the report—which was drafted entirely behind closed doors—it will harm U.S. farmers, increase food costs for consumers, and worsen health outcomes for all Americans. ASA calls on President Trump, who has long been a friend of farmers, to step in and correct the Commission's deeply misguided report."

Dr. Michelle Perro, pediatrician, author and activist for children's health, told The New Lede: "While I support and applaud the MAHA focus on chronic diseases affecting our children, it is disheartening that it took us decades to get here. The environmental toxic impacts on our children's well-being has been known for decades, but not acted upon until now."

The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives said in a Thursday statement:"We have serious concerns over the assessment's allegations about pesticides. The report includes statements that do not reflect the wealth of evidence developed over decades by federal agencies such as the EPA and USDA on the safety of crop inputs and food production methods. These institutions have consistently reaffirmed the safety and efficacy of the systems that help feed our country and the world."

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said in a statement:"It is deeply troubling for the White House to endorse a report that sows seeds of doubt and fear about our food system and farming practices, then attempts to celebrate farmers and the critical role they play in producing the safest food supply in the world.

Farmers are identified as 'critical partners,' yet were excluded from development of the report, despite many requests for a seat at the table. The report also expresses a desire to ensure farmers continue to thrive, but undermining confidence in our food system directly contradicts that noble goal. The report spotlights outlier studies and presents unproven theories that feed a false narrative and only then does it acknowledge a mountain of evidence about the safety of our food system." zippy

What Happens Next

The report pledges to support "gold-standard scientific research" as part of its effort to address chronic disease. The assessment marks the first step toward developing the commission's strategy, which is due 180 days after Trump's February executive order establishing the panel.

===

ggl 7 25

[MSNBC News

RFK Jr. is reshaping vaccine policy. Stuart Burns is helping him do it.

Stuart Burns, a senior advisor at Health and Human Services, appears to be leading a network of aligned staff advancing RFK Jr.'s...

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2 days ago](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/analysis/robert-f-kennedy-jr-vaccines-stuart-burns-hhs-rcna220029)

brandy z

“Who is Stuart Burns?” a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention texted me from the organization’s all-hands meeting in June, attaching a photo of a man seated in front of his name card.

The 60-year-old conservative with a stout build and a boyish haircut was mostly unknown to the doctors, epidemiologists and officials who had gathered to ask questions about what many have described as the gutting of their agency and the threat many believe its new leaders pose to public health.

One former CDC staffer who interacted with Burns all those years ago described it as something like a “religious crusade.”

When asked about the researchers and doctors reportedly aligned with the anti-vaccine movement who had replaced the qualified experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a federal vaccine advisory committee, deputy director of public affairs Nina Witkofsky opened the floor to Burns, who was seated at a long table with other agency leaders.

“I’ll catch the football on that one,” said Burns, who had been recently appointed as senior adviser to the CDC director (a position that is still sitting vacant). “We’ve been working really hard over the past few days — over the weekend in particular — to bring on the new ACIP members,” he said with a smile.

Burns said he had been on calls with agency staff, working nights and weekends ahead of the July ACIP meeting, to ensure the replacements were in place — new panelists who, critics later said,would bring anti-vaccine views and conflicts of interest to a group once respected for its scientific rigor and independence. “We’re making good progress,” Burns said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by MSNBC. He added that several agenda items would be delayed while the new panel got up to speed.

Though not everyone in the room recognized him, Burns had been named in an April memo from Matt Buzzelli, the CDC’s newly politically appointed chief of staff, announcing interim leadership changes after mass terminations and resignations. But among the CDC’s longest-serving employees, especially those in offices related to vaccines, Burns was a known entity. He had been a staffer for congressional Republicans since the early ’90s — best known as a key operator for the anti-vaccine movement.

Kennedy and vaccines loom over Senate confirmation hearing for CDC director

08:06

Originally from Georgia, Burns spent the last three decades in Florida, Texas and Washington, D.C., with his longest tenure, from 1995 to 2008, as legislative director and deputy chief of staff to former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had wanted Weldon as CDC director, but that nomination was pulled over his anti-vaccine views. But because an adviser position doesn’t require Senate confirmation, Kennedy got Weldon’s number two.

Burns is not a doctor or a scientist. An HHS spokesperson declined to be quoted on the record but defended Burns’ management of vaccine projects for the agency. The spokesperson said that Burns had worked on health policy as a legislative aide for congressional Republicans. Burns did not respond to MSNBC’s requests for comment.

:{:{Weldon’s office was central to the early-2000s push to link vaccines to autism, and Burns was a key operator within the effort, acting as a liaison among activists and researchers. His work as deputy chief of staff in the early 2000s, chronicled inbooks and news reports from the time, was also described to MSNBC by long-serving CDC employees and three former legislative staffers who served alongside Burns. He was interviewed several times for a sympathetic history of the period’s anti-vaccine activism, “Evidence of Harm.”}:

Burns facilitated dozens of meetings between anti-vaccine activists and government officials, and arranged access to CDC data for Mark and David Geier, father-son researchers who falsely linked autism to vaccines and served as experts in legal cases alleging vaccine injuries. He coordinated press and lobbying strategies with activists, pushed medical journals to publish anti-vaccine research that had been rejected, and asked anti-vaccine activists to advise on government-funded research. He also publicly discounted studies that debunked purported links between vaccines and autism, and was repeatedly described in books, news articles and autism forums as a tireless behind-the-scenes organizer.}:

One source with knowledge of calls between Weldon’s office, CDC staffers and anti-vaccine researchers described Burns as “explosive.” Burns, they said, organized meetings, brought anti-vaccine researchers like the Geiers onto calls without warning, and repeatedly demanded access to databases containing private patient information. They recalled Burns at times screaming and threatening agency funding, as Weldon sat on the House Appropriations Committee at the time.

Burns has stayed out of the public eye, as reflected in the absence of publicly available photographs. He does appear in a 2013 video from America’s Future Foundation in which he talks about his career:

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It’s not clear what has motivated his passion over vaccines, but one former CDC staffer who interacted with Burns all those years ago described it as something like a “religious crusade.”

Burns is one of dozens of new political appointees across HHS agencies, some with minimal public health experience and others with clear ties to the anti-vaccine movement that Kennedy helped build.

In the last six months, Kennedy has dismantled and partly remade the country’s largest federal agency, overseeing the firings of thousands of employees and shuttering programs related to issues including mental health, senior care, cancer, and HIV and AIDS. The CDC has been without a director since March, when Trump withdrew Kennedy’s pick, Weldon, and nominated Susan Monarez. Leadership roles have been left vacant or filled with political appointees who lack public health experience. Kennedy has also placed anti-vaccine allies in roles that are reshaping vaccine policy — some subtly, others more overtly — both domestically and abroad. And it is Burns who appears to be leading this network of ideologically aligned staff embedded across HHS agencies.

According to meeting recordings, internal communications reviewed by MSNBC and three sources familiar with the situation, Burns has become a central figure in subverting vaccine policy under Kennedy. It’s unclear from his job title of “senior adviser” what Burns is officially tasked with, but officials with knowledge said Burns’ duties were, in part, specifically targeting vaccines.

RFK Jr.’s CDC plans study on long-debunked link between vaccines and autism

07:31

In addition to organizing the destruction and rebirth of the ACIP panel, Burns personally ordered the removal of a webpage that hosted a scientific review on the safety of thimerosal, an ingredient falsely linked to autism by anti-vaccine activists. (The ACIP panel ultimately recommended removing the preservative from influenza vaccines.) The decision to remove the report from the website, made after communication with Kennedy’s office, broke from standard practice, which allows such panels to act independently of the agency. An HHS spokesperson defended the removal to MSNBC, saying the report had been posted without permission, but did not address Burns’ involvement.

Kennedy’s sweeping plans for vaccines include the re-examination of settled vaccine safety studies, particularly around autism. Kennedy has said that this fall he will announce preliminary findings from a reanalysis of health data — findings that critics, including those inside CDC, say are preordained and are likely to reignite disproven claims around autism and vaccines.

Kennedy’s overhaul of vaccine policy is also coming amid a growing number of public health emergencies. Measles outbreaks tore through the country this year, hospitalizing hundreds and killing two unvaccinated children. The country’s elimination status is under threat while vaccine hesitancy grows: a recent study found that only 40% of pregnant Americans and parents of young children said they plan to follow the recommended vaccine schedule.

Meanwhile, Burns appears to be benefitting from a power vacuum. Two Trump loyalists — Heather Flick Melanson, Kennedy’s chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, a senior policy adviser — were fired this week. Key positions, including CDC director and several division heads, remain unfilled. Nearly a third of top HHS leadership positions currently sit vacant, according to the agency’s website. With few career leaders in place, political appointees have been operating with unusual authority. Burns has wielded his new power to realize an old dream.

“He’s a senior adviser to the director, but there is no director,” said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly about the agency. “And all that he does, all day long, is work in this covert vaccine space.”

Dr. Paul Offit, the inventor of a rotavirus vaccine and a longtime critic of Kennedy and the anti-vaccine movement, suggested that Kennedy’s actions are like the dinosaur in “Jurassic Park,” testing the fence before it breaks through.

“Activists have been shouting from the sidelines for decades,” Offit said. “Now they are making policy.”

[

CIDRAP

Viewpoint: CDC's upcoming vaccine advisory meeting set up to sow distrust in vaccines

This week's meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is likely to mark its end—for now—as a vaccine advisory body...

.

1 month ago](https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/vaccine-integrity-project/viewpoint-cdcs-upcoming-vaccine-advisory-meeting-set-sow-distrust)

[

The Washington Post

White House abruptly pulls Dave Weldon’s CDC nomination before hearing

Dave Weldon is likely to be questioned about measles infections, a plan to study a debunked link between vaccines and a](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/03/13/trump-cdc-weldon-hearing/)

march

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RWW

07/09/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Trump officials say there’s no deeper Epstein conspiracy they can reveal. The right has reacted with fury.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has yet to encounter a national tragedy that she won't spread conspiracies about.

"It's not just incompetence. This is DEI working to undermine meritocratic institutions, and more people likely died than otherwise would have because of DEI."

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) insists he helped get $1 billion for hospitals in his state hit by Trump’s tax bill. Except his governor and state legislature did that.

A July 8 letter asks HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to allow its use only up to seven weeks of pregnancy and in-person, among other changes. The majority of U.S. abortions involve mifepristone.

Vance Boelter, who allegedly shot Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband, Mark Hortman, on June 14, 2025, studied at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. The group is a Bible school linked to the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR.

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an kkf 7 25

...

So far, they’ve been disappointed. While Kennedy gives the public the impression that vaccines are harmful, he hasn’t talked about ways to make them safer. And he’s made the problem worse by cutting programs and dismissing scientists who are most knowledgeable of the problems, according to numerous vaccine experts.

“The reduction in emphasis on the unbiased ascertainment of vaccine safety signals, and redirection toward certain specific issues like autism in vaccines, which we know is not true — that is what’s dangerous,” Marks said.

In March, the Trump administration abruptly canceled a contract with researchers just as they began a massive covid vaccine study aimed at discovering the genetic traits that make certain people vulnerable to vaccine-triggered myocarditis. That condition struck about 1 in 13,000 teenage boys and young men who received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine in 2020 and 2021.

Then, on June 9, Kennedy sacked the entire 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, which during the pandemic impaneled a group of experts that reviewed safety data from nearly 700 million covid vaccinations.

The new ACIP contains members who have said most vaccines are dangerous and improperly tested. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who chairs the Senate committee with oversight of HHS, said on X on June 23 that the ACIP meeting scheduled for June 25-26 should be delayed until ACIP is staffed with less biased, more knowledgeable members.

HHS officials have suggested that Kennedy intends to throw out the whole vaccine safety system and start over. In a statement to KFF Health News, spokesperson Emily Hilliard accused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of “suppressing information about vaccine injuries” and said the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, and the Vaccine Safety Datalink, monitoring systems in place since the early 1990s, were “designed to fail” and “templates of regulatory malpractice.”

She said HHS was “building surveillance systems that will accurately measure vaccine risks as well as benefits.” Asked for details, Hilliard did not respond. The HHS budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 makes no mention of vaccine safety programs.

The current U.S. vaccine safety system began with passage of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which aimed at stabilizing the vaccine supply by stopping lawsuits against drug companies. At the time they were getting out of the vaccine business, finding it less risky and more profitable to produce drugs for chronic diseases. The act set up the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and VAERS.

CDC vaccine safety officer Robert Chen built on VAERS to create the Vaccine Safety Datalink, which looks for evidence of vaccine harms in electronic health records. In 2001, the CDC set up the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment project, through which a network of eight U.S. centers study rare vaccine reactions.

But the vaccine safety system’s budget has been stuck at around $20 million most years. That hasn’t been enough to study rare but recurring vaccine injuries in a serious way.

...

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no lnx

'The cognitive dissonance is frightening': Inside the manipulation of Trump's supporters

John Stoehr June 29, 2025

As I was editing the following interview with Charles Gaba, founder of ACAsignups.com, I was reminded of something Will Stancil told me during my chat with him. Will said, “I think people are used to living in a relatively stable era and have come to believe that stability is normal."

Will was talking about the dominant interpretation of political history among liberals. For most of us, the battles of the past settled the biggest arguments, and from those settlements arose a period of relative peace and stability that nearly all of us take for granted.

Will said: “Liberals have trained themselves to see the world through this very particular end-of-history lens, where the ‘stuff that matters’ is inevitably wonky policy questions, the day-to-day of taxes and government, who gets subsidies, what healthcare policy looks like.

“But it’s ridiculous. History isn’t over, the future will contain events as dramatic and horrible as the events of the past, and this stuff is just what it looks like: an assault on the foundations of our government, with all the terrifying and weighty implications that it seems to have.”

Complicating this is the concept of American exceptionalism, which is to say, the idea that America is the exception to the rule of the world. In most of the nations in global history, might has made right. The law was never applied equally, or universally. It has usually been just another tool of political elites to maintain their preferred status quo.

But liberals don’t want to believe that about America, even when they acknowledge that the country often falls short of its stated ideals. We tell ourselves that whatever tyranny we face is a temporary setback to the inevitability of America's soul being revealed once and for all.

Because of this faith, most liberals, but not only liberals, can’t imagine a future in which the government is trying to hurt them. We say that that only happens in times like the early 20th century, in places like Soviet Russia or Maoist China. There are no gulags here, we say. The government can’t possibly seek to inflict mass suffering and death.

We have to change this mindset. America is just like any other country. It’s not that special. We can love it, flaws and all, even when it’s not the exception to the rule of the world. The battles of the past century have not settled the biggest arguments. Social instability arising from insane public policies will almost certainly become the new norm. And the government can, as it seems to be doing now, try to kill the sickest 5 percent of the population to create conditions for controlling the rest.

In the dark disturbing interview with healthcare policy expert Charles Gaba that follows, the specter of social Darwinism lurks in the background. The unstated belief behind every policy decided by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is “the survival of the fittest,” in which the strong should rule and the weak should die.

“Everything [Kennedy], the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are doing seems to be intended to ensure that sick people simply die off, which presumably would make those who survive healthier on average, thus achieving his ‘MAHA’ goal,” Charles said.

Robert F Kennedy Jr wants to change the way children are given vaccines. First, is there a problem with the status quo? What are they looking for that we don't know about, if anything?

To the best of my knowledge there aren't any issues with the status quo beyond some states being far too lenient on vaccination requirements (religious objections, etc). My view is that the sole exceptions should be people who have legitimate medical conditions, which make them unable to take a particular vaccine.

The argument seems to be that children are being over-vaccinated as a way of padding drug companies pockets with unnecessary vaccinations. The claim seems to be that children are extremely unlikely to die from or to be seriously harmed by covid, for instance, and therefore, it's unnecessary to vaccinate them – except that even if true, they can still be carriers who infect higher-risk adults, and so on.

It seems like this is what happens when conspiracy theory finds traction in public health policy. Is that right and why?

Absolutely. The most recent anti-vax movement (sparked by [British fraudster] Andrew Wakefield and popularized by celebrities like Jenny McCarthy) started out as more of a left-leaning thing via "granola mom" types (I believe Marin County, California, is considered the "birthplace" of that resurgence) in the late 1990ss and early 2000s.

I think – and again, I'm not an expert on this – it began gaining major traction among Republicans during the 2016 GOP primary when Donald Trump told a vague anti-vax story about a supposedly non-autistic child who "became" autistic after getting vaccinated.

And of course this thinking went into overdrive among MAGA Republicans during the covid pandemic, even though it was the administration of their own lord & savior, Donald Trump that helped develop the very mRNA vaccines they were protesting against.

Since then it's gotten so far out of control that Republican lawmakers in several deep-red states – including Iowa, Montana and Idaho – have actually introduced legislation that would ban mRNA vaccines!

The cognitive dissonance is frightening.

So conspiracy theories are being used to rationalize political outcomes? If so, one of the outcomes is death. Getting rid of people is a rightwing goal, historically. We can say that reasonably, no?

Vaccine specialist and science communicator Edward Nirenberg put it best this morning: "If I were HHS secretary and my goal were to kill as many children as possible, it would be difficult to distinguish the actions I would take from those that Kennedy has taken."

In this particular instance he was referring to yesterday's announcement that RFK Jr is withdrawing US funding from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), but he could be talking about any number of other policy changes RFK Jr has made already.

I don't know if it's a "rightwing" goal generally, but it sure as hell seems to be the goal of the Trump administration and MAGA Republicans.

When RFK Jr rolled out his "Make America Healthy Again" campaign, the assumption was that he intended to make existing Americans healthy. Instead, everything he, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans are doing seems to be intended to ensure that sick people simply die off, which presumably would make those who survive healthier on average, thus achieving his "MAHA" goal.

Call it Operation Nietzsche, I suppose.

I've written several explainers about the goals of the Affordable Care Act and how health insurance risk pools work, which involve this concept: Generally speaking, around 5 percent of a given large population tends to eat up around 50 percent of all medical spending.

Kennedy’s and the administration’s "logic," therefore, seems to be that if you simply killed off the sickest 5 percent of the population, healthcare costs for the remaining 95 percent would be cut in half.

This is obviously immoral and appalling, but it also seems to be the driving force behind many of their decisions.

It sounds like social Darwinism has been restored in popularity. I mean, even MAGAs, who will themselves be killed by such policies, will nevertheless support them if they also kill people who are "undeserving." It's like a suicide cult that few can see.

This is a trend that folks like Jonathan Metzl (one of his books is literally titled Dying of Whiteness) have been talking about for years, and which I analyzed extensively during the covid pandemic.

I found a direct and steep correlation between Trump support and covid death rates as well as a direct inverse correlation between Trump support and vaccination rates at the county level.

Lyndon Johnson famously put it best:

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”

Another goal of rightwing politics is social control. Kennedy came close to saying that when he said this week his goal is everyone wearing "wearables" in four years. How is this even debatable?

The irony goes through the roof. One of the biggest and most absurd conspiracy theories among the MAGA anti-vax crowd regarding covid vaccines was that they supposedly included tiny "microchips" that would "magnetize" you, and allow Bill Gates to track your every move etc. (Of course, the fact that everyone carrying smartphones around these days pretty much allows various companies to do exactly that already was apparently lost on them).

Yet many of the same crowd gush over Elon Musk's companies, including Neuralink, which literally implants microchips into the human brain, and Tesla, which can literally track the location of their cars (so can most other carmakers to some extent these days).

And now you have RFK Jr pushing for "everyone" to wear small devices on their bodies that allow private companies and/or potentially the federal government to track not only your every move but your most private medical and health data via biometrics, etc.

Meanwhile, Republicans in some states like Virginia have introduced bills to track women’s menstrual cycles, something which Vice President JD Vance was a proponent of as recently as 2023.

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an 6 25

The Daily Beast reports an Iranian-linked hacking group is threatening to sell emails it stole from President Donald Trump’s inner campaign circle.

The hackers, who use the pseudonym “Robert,” told Reuters they had about 100 gigabytes of emails downloaded from the accounts of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, longtime Trump ally and political consultant Roger Stone, and Stormy Daniels, the adult film star Trump paid to keep quiet about an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election.

Marci McCarthy, director of public affairs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), acknowledged on X that a “hostile” foreign adversary was threatening to “illegally exploit purportedly stolen and unverified material in an effort to distract, discredit, and divide.”

READ MORE: George Conway reveals the 'one remedy' left to stop Trump's 'lawlessness and illegality'

Reuters authenticated some emails obtained by the hacking group in the final months of the 2024 campaign, which included settlement negotiations between Trump and Daniels and details of a financial arrangement between Trump and attorneys representing former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now Trump’s health secretary.

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“This so-called cyber ‘attack’ is nothing more than digital propaganda, and the targets are no coincidence,” said McCarthy on X. “This is a calculated smear campaign meant to damage President Trump and discredit honorable public servants who serve our country with distinction.”

McCarthy added that “these criminals will be found and they will be brought to justice. Let this be a warning to others: there will be no refuge, tolerance, or leniency for these actions.”

Prosecuting ransomware crimes outside of U.S. jurisdiction is notoriously difficult and usually requires the resident government to join U.S. agents in building cases and arrests. Recent U.S. bombings in Iran have likely strained relations between the two nations, and the Justice Department alleged in last September that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were behind the Robert hacking group.

READ MORE:Republican target the ugliest 'giant sucking sound' you've ever heard in your life

FBI Director Kash Patel threatened “anyone associated with any kind of breach of national security” with investigation and prosecution “to the fullest extent of the law.”

Read the full Daily Beast report at this link.

===

bb 6 25

Dispelling RFK, Jr.'s disinformation, crowd-sourced database includes hundreds of randomized controlled trials of vaccinesJennifer Sandlin

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MMA

  1. ### Laura Loomer on HHS Secretary RFK Jr.: “The only reason why Kennedy left the Democrat Party, as he said, and joined the Republican Party is because he extorted Donald Trump”

06/20/25 3:20 PM EDT

  1. ### Trump ally Laura Loomer on Theo Von: “I don't know how you go from snorting coke to waking up one day and then being an expert” on the Middle East

06/20/25

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an 6 25

no lnx

The most dangerous man in government right now isn't Trump

John Stoehr June 17, 2025

I don’t mean to be that guy, but someone has to. Someone has to say things are not getting better, no matter how low Donald Trump’s polling numbers go, no matter how stupid his birthday parade was, no matter how many people (4-6 million) protested against him last weekend.

We want things to get better, because we want to believe America is better than this. But America really isn’t better than this. The last election proved it. The next election won’t change it. If we do not face the truth about the people, I don’t see how we can make things right.

The denial is so deep that leaders of the Democratic Party still can’t bring themselves to blame the president, even when he’s directly responsible for inspiring an assassin to murder one of their own.

But the denial goes deeper. As liberals cheer the fact that Trump’s job approval is sliding downward, even on issues that favor him, such as immigration, the president acts like there’s no such thing as polling, and like there’s no such thing as a public that he’s obliged to serve.

Instead, he comes out and says he will use federal law to punish his enemies and reward his friends, pulling back immigration enforcement in red states while ramping it up in blue ones. As anti-Trump conservative Joe Walsh said this morning, the “ugly plan” is to “incite violence in blue cities and blue states only, and then put the military on the streets in those blue cities and blue states only. Everything he does is meant to divide us. He is the absolute worst of us.”

Kevin Kruse called the chaos and violence intentional, yet from the way liberals and Democrats respond to it, you’d think there’s no harm being done that cannot be undone by the next election, namely when the Democrats take back the House next year. After all, just look at Trump’s polling, we are told by MSNBC pundits, as if any of this chaos and violence has anything to do with normal democratic politics.

If anything, the fear, ignorance and superstition that led to Trump’s second takeover of the US government is getting worse. It’s going viral. Robert F Kennedy Jr dissolved the CDC vaccine advisory committee and is now stocking it with kooks and loons. He’s turning Health and Human Services into the world's biggest disinfo organ and lots of people are going to die as a result no matter who’s elected next time.

Kennedy is probably the most dangerous man in the government right now, but don’t take my word for it. Take it from Gabrielle A. Perry, an epidemiologist, writer and philanthropist who’s been sounding the alarm on how really bad things are really going to get. She told me that anyone who thinks Trump is losing is “as delusional as his supporters are, especially when it comes to the scientific impact of this. Anyone who is truly familiar with cults understand what is happening. You can defeat a man but it is much harder to defeat an idea.”

The government is becoming the biggest disinfo machine, with Health and Human Services ordering bogus studies on the impact of vaccines on autism. What does this look like from your view?

For all the faults of our government – past, present and future – I never thought I would be alive to see the day where we as a country willfully allowed the proliferation of anti-science ideology to infiltrate real-world policy. We've always been inundated with pseudoscience. We see it in the wellness industry and the proliferation of tonics, supplements, diets and cure-alls for every ailment under the sun, from acne to cancer. People have every right to pursue their health in their own way. But to see the banning of research, the banning of scientifically backed public health measures, the criminalization of public health, the banning of mifepristone (which is used for procedures well beyond abortion) – it's to the point that now, in my work as an epidemiologist, we are having meetings to discuss ways to penetrate this cult of personality that is leading to the deaths of people, especially children, from diseases we once eliminated.

Which is proving to be an arduous task for my colleagues, as field epidemiology, case management and clinicians are seeing the rise of antagonistic feelings toward the medical and public health sphere. People seem to believe that medicine will make up for the dismantling of our public health sphere. We saw that during covid as well, with many begging for the covid vaccine (a preventative measure) after already contracting the disease and suffering adverse health ailments. Seeing the dismantling of American public health is terrifying, because we in the field know that the medicinal field cannot make up for what is to come, which is a massive strain on our healthcare infrastructure.

Tell me more about that, about what's to come. What do you see coming? How bad is healthcare in America going to get?

Despite the general public's apathy towards the dismantling of our healthcare system, even in light of covid, the lack of vaccine uptake, the lack of availability of healthcare providers – especially as there is now a 750 percent increase in doctors moving to Canada to flee the tyranny upon their field – and the dismantling of Medicaid (which is the backbone of our healthcare infrastructure), people will become sicker and sicker. This is not hard to imagine, as we are already living it. Twenty-five years ago, measles was eliminated in the United States. Now it is decimating west Texas.

And if allowed to continue on this path, especially since it causes immune amnesia, we will continue to see elevated levels of sickness and death in children. The thing people don't understand is that for every bed in a hospital given to a person suffering from an acute, preventable illness, that removes a bed for the cancer patient, the grandmother suffering from a heart attack, the kid with the dog bite, the brother needing an open operating room for surgery.

There are not only a finite number of beds, but those beds are about to shrink in number once Medicaid is cut off at the knees. Hospitals are nonprofits. Their funds come from grants from the federal government in the form of Medicaid. Those same cuts are also going to exacerbate the current physician and nurse shortage we are having nationwide, since Medicaid is the primary funder of residency programs in the nation. Combine a lack of healthcare professionals, an overloaded healthcare system, and rampant pseudoscientific beliefs, it creates a perfect storm for the collapse of this system

There are many liberals who argue that Trump is actually losing -- in the courts, in the polls, even on Wall Street. From what you're telling me, though, I gather that fear and superstition are spreading like a virus, and that talk of Trump losing is premature, to say the least.

It's delusional. They are as delusional as his supporters are, especially when it comes to the scientific impact of this. Anyone who is truly familiar with cults understands what is happening. You can defeat a man but it is much harder to defeat an idea. The president appeals to the baser instincts of a society that has already long been bred to be individualistic. And hyper-individualism is malleable. It is able to see anything happen to someone else and simply be grateful that it is not (yet) you. This man will die one day. But his ideologies will live on, because there has been no meaningful pushback. Even with the courts. If there had been, he would not even be president.

The beautiful thing about the constitution is that it is a living breathing document, but it is as useful as toilet paper in the face of tyranny. The new administration is using that document to rain down tyranny on American citizens, which should make people question the validity of the system we have and the way it operates. But that would require what many don't have: imagination. Believing beyond your current circumstances is how my ancestors and many more built the current world we live in, one they knew they would likely never see. We have long enjoyed the fruits of so many others' labor. And to get past this moment in history, it will take more than just one more vote and a general apathy. It will take imagination.

The regime appears to be setting us up for another pandemic. That's what seems like, given Kennedy's orders on the covid vaccine and most recently, a potential bird flu vaccine. How do you see it?

Well, first, the covid pandemic never ended. And second, the new administration is setting the American people up for many things. In times of panic and political instability, chaos allows tyranny to grow even more powerful. This has been studied. The Nazis used the fear and trepidation in the wake of the Spanish flu to rise to power by sowing fear, anti-immigrant sentiments, and more societally.

And when it comes to science, four years is a lifetime.

To not have true eyes on the mutations happening, to have an administration being willing to lie to the American people, to have a public willing to set the world on fire as long as the people they have been taught to hate suffer more? Give measles four years to proliferate wildly with no meaningful Epidemic Intelligence Service or public health pushback, we'll never outrun it.

NOW READ: Navy veteran fed up with the sad truth about American politics

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Two unvaccinated babies die of whooping cough in KY as disease rise is predicted to continue

29 STATES?

praises 2 hero docs, one had active case of m while treating mennonite kids; autism cure by sept

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tfg on casey callie doge bro lannister vibe

surg resident quit

1st surg gen 86’d morn of conf bc not alab but carrib

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it’s an age for con men, says Intelligencer columnist Sarah Jones.

Quackery is at least as old as the United States, but today’s quacks “have learned to manipulate regulatory loopholes to sell fake cures to the masses,” she says.

Jones points out that a Joe Rogan podcast fan may hear commercials for “Alpha Brain,” created by a “Rogan friend” who got sued last year for deceptive advertising.

READ MORE: Why are you negotiating trade deals?' GOP senator shuts down Trump Cabinet secretary

Jones said snake oil salesmen now proliferate in U.S. government.

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“Before Mike Huckabee became our ambassador to Israel, he advertised Relaxium, an herbal supplement whose makers falsely pledged it would help a restless nation sleep,” Jones writes. “Other supplement-makers see a champion in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who not only opposes vaccines but has said the Food and Drug Administration should free the nation from the ‘aggressive suppression’ of dubious vitamins and herbal substances.”

She noted Kennedy even hired David Geier to conduct federal studies into “the debunked link between autism and vaccines, though authorities once punished Geier for experimenting on autistic children in a basement laboratory.”

But Kennedy “and his ilk” aren’t limiting themselves to the mere pseudoscience promotion. They’re undermining scientific research at the same time, Jones said.

READ MORE:'Never trust you again': Outrage as Trump eliminates 373 grants designed to help fight crime

“Funding cuts and layoffs are weakening major institutions like the National Institutes of Health and the FDA, which were established to monitor our food supply and medicines for safety. The administration has canceled research grants to universities, slowing the pace of innovation. Scientists searching for cures and treatments for Alzheimer’s, various cancers, and genetic diseases say their work is in jeopardy,” she said.

And this is delivering results, she added. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found 86 percent of Americans felt confident in the work of the country’s scientists. That figure declined during the pandemic, and remains lower than its pre-COVID levels. Behind those numbers are hucksters who prospered during the pandemic “thanks in part to Donald Trump himself.”

At the height of a pandemic, Jones said Trump told people to inject disinfectant to fight the virus. Grifters hawked horse dewormer ivermectin and an anti-malarial drug called hydroxychloroquine, which killed at least one Trump supporter after the president touted it at a press conference.

READ MORE:'Who is running the show?': Trump's sudden disappearance from public view sparks questions

And while parents and some doctors are attempting to treat measles with cod-liver oil, in spite of the evidence against it, Jones said Trump nominated Kennedy ally Casey Means to be surgeon general, though Means promotes a byzantine supplement regime that he claims can reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The New York Timesreports one Illinois couple spent $25,000 treating Alzheimer’s the Bredesen way before figuring out it doesn’t work.

Jones said Trump’s pseudoscience may outlast him if lawmakers refuse to take on what she calls “a predator’s market” of exploitation.

“Without robust public institutions and a health-care system that prioritizes care over profit, mistrust will fester. Americans will lead sicker and shorter lives, and the next pandemic may be even deadlier than COVID,” Jones said.

Parents will blow money on quack treatments “or sacrifice their children to scam artists,” she said.

READ MORE:I no longer trust her': Susan Collins accused of 'just antagonizing' both sides of the aisle

“Fighting Trump means fighting MAHA and, with it, the quack and the huckster. Rebuilding the federal government and closing regulatory loopholes will cost nostrum-makers some cash, but it’s the only way to make America healthy at last,” she said.

Read the full Intelligencer report at this link.

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MMA

Sean Hannity has a lot to say about the “stupid flu shot” all of a sudden

Sean Hannity used to tell his audience about getting the flu shot every year and how much it helped him. Now, he’s calling it a “stupid flu shot.”

Written by Helena Hind

Research contributions from Alicia Sadowski & Isabella Corrao

Published 05/29/25

Citation

Fox News, 9/16/2020

After years of assuring his audience that he regularly gets his yearly flu vaccination, Sean Hannity has suddenly changed his tune, casting doubt on the efficacy of the “stupid flu shot” during the May 28 edition of his radio show.

The MAGA propagandist’s comments come as harmful anti-vaccine policy takes root in the Trump administration, with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bucking the normal scientific review process and removing the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC’s recommended immunizations for children and those who are pregnant.

During the May 28 edition of The Sean Hannity Show, guest Dr. Brian Tyson claimed that COVID-19 booster vaccines are “negative effective, just like last year's flu shot.” Hannity jumped in: “Well, people don't understand that. Every year, they will start producing a flu virus. They're guessing what flu is likely to hit. They don't know for sure”

The Fox News host continued: “My understanding is they're wrong 75% of the time, and people, you know, annually go get the stupid flu shot anyway.”

Sean Hannity attacks COVID vaccines and the “stupid flu shot”

May 28, 2025

Audio file

Audio

Citation

From the May 28, 2025, edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): And even the creator, who I know you're familiar with, Dr. Robert Malone, was very outspoken, and he came on this program often. And he said that mRNA technology has not been perfected. He did support emergency authorization vaccinations for people over 65 that had preexisting conditions and comorbidities because they were the ones that were more likely to be -- their lives would be put in jeopardy by the virus. He absolutely was crystal clear. It was not designed for healthy people that were younger, meaning below the age of 65, and it's absolutely not designed for children.

Now, he's the one that created the technology that allowed for the creation of this, and he's saying this. And then he gets excoriated like you got excoriated for trying alternative treatment, which, by the way, studies, since that time have proven that you were right about things like hydroxychloroquine taken early, mitigating circumstances.

How many studies now have come out confirming that? How many studies have come out showing that masks really didn't help? How many studies came out, you know, showing that your protocols actually worked? How many patients' lives did you save, and how many patients did you lose in the process?

DR. BRIAN TYSON (GUEST): Yeah. I mean, it's -- so you're 100% correct. If you go to the website c19.org, you'll be able to pull up all the different treatments and all of the studies that are listed underneath those. There's over 400 studies on hydroxychloroquine, there's over 300 studies on ivermectin.

What we found was early treatment is the key. It's not about vaccines at this point because these vaccines are not effective. Actually, they're negative effective, just like last year's flu shot. Last year's flu shot had a negative efficacy of 26%, meaning those who got the flu shot were more likely to get the flu. It's the same thing with these COVID vaccine boosters.

HANNITY: Well, people don't understand that. Every year, they will start producing a flu virus. They're guessing what flu is likely to hit. They don't know for sure. And my understanding is that they're wrong 75% of the time, and people, you know, annually go get the stupid flu shot anyway.

TYSON: Yeah. But they made $6 billion off of it last year. And that's the problem. When you continuously approve vaccines without data and without research -- this is where you know the MAHA movement is -- hopefully it's going to make some ground -- you can't continue to produce vaccines without seeing the results. And you have to start holding the pharmaceutical companies accountable.

Once upon a time, Hannity was among those who chose to “go get the stupid flu shot” every year. In April 2020, the Fox host told his radio listeners it was “my choice” to “get a flu shot every year.” Months later, he said his choice to get his annual shot is “what freedom’s all about."

That November, in an attempt to assure his listeners that the COVID-19 vaccine was safe, he said he has “taken the flu shot for many, many years with no side effects at all whatsoever… it’s helped me."

Hannity also proclaimed his dedication to regular flu immunization to his Fox News audience: “I choose to get the flu shot every year and some of my friends think I’m nuts."

Video

Citation

From the September 16, 2020, edition of Fox News' Hannity

Hannity’s sudden reversal on the “stupid flu shot” is hardly surprising, considering his yearslong assault on the COVID-19 vaccine, his network’s dedication to pushing anti-vaccine narratives, and the Trump administration’s adoption of vaccine skepticism as policy.

Meanwhile, the American Medical Association recommends on its website that “everyone aged six months or older should receive an annual flu shot.” The AMA has more on the flu vaccine and the COVID vaccine here. On its YouTube page, the AMA also its for the flu and COVID vaccine in 2024.

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On May 7, President Donald Trump nominated 37-year-old Casey Means — an ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and supporter of his Make American Health Again (MAHA) movement — for U.S. surgeon general. Means is known for her new age-like views and shares some of his more controversial opinions, including being a promoter of raw milk.

Neither Means nor RFK Jr. are known for having a longtime association with far-right evangelical Christian fundamentalism. Kennedy was a Democrat until 2023, and Means' father Grady Means was an assistant to the late Nelson Rockefeller — who epitomized the moderate northeastern Rockefeller wing of the GOP during his years as governor or New York State and later, vice president under President Gerald Ford.

But Salon's Amanda Marcotte, in an article published on May 19, explains why RFK Jr. and Casey Means have become useful to the evangelical Christian Right agenda.

READ MORE:'I made a mistake': Here's what moved the bar for one former Trump supporter

"At first blush," Marcotte explains, "Casey Means seems like the last person Christian conservatives would want as the surgeon general. Donald Trump's new pick for the nation's top doctor, though she does not have a medical license, favors the occult-speak popular in the 'wellness' influencer world where she makes her money. As Kiera Butler and Anna Merlan at Mother Jones documented, Means veers 'in a more new age direction' in her 'medical' writing."

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But Casey Means, Marcotte emphasizes, "is aligned with" the Christian Right "against an enemy they hate far more than Satan: feminists."

"Along with her shrines-and-moons talk, Means also wrote that she had shed 'my identity as a feminist,' giving up on wanting 'equality in a relationship' to instead embrace 'a completely different and greater power: the divine feminine," Marcotte observes. "It's woo-woo, but ultimately no different than the message promoted by conservative Christians: that a woman's role is as a man's helpmeet, not his equal."

Means and RFK Jr., according to Marcotte, have become unlikely but useful allies of the Christian Right and Trump's MAGA movement. And the Salon journalist points out that the Christian Right has been "getting witchier" in recent years because of "the rise of charismatic Christianity."

READ MORE:'OK, seriously. Come on!': MSNBC panel laughs off Trump accusation against ex-FBI director

"Casey and her brother, Calley Means, are tight with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy, which is why she got the surgeon general nod and her brother got a position as a 'special government employee' assisting Kennedy," Marcotte observes. "Kennedy has exploited the false perception that he's a liberal Democrat to bamboozle some people into thinking far-right health policies, such as slashing Medicaid, are 'moderate' positions. Like the Means siblings, he's also using his appeal to people outside the Religious Right as a way to launder Christian Right views."

Marcotte continues, "Last week, Kennedy ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to 'review' the legality of Mifepristone, a drug used to abort pregnancies. He said this was necessary due to 'new data,' which is actually a non-reviewed 'study' by a Christian Right organization falsely claiming abortion pills are dangerous — a 'study' that was immediately debunked by experts. Kennedy has a long history of embracing fake science while ignoring real science, but this is his first foray into doing it to cape for a cause that's primarily, if not exclusively, associated with the Religious Right."

READ MORE:Critics worry new Trump proposal would make it easier for him to exercise retribution

*Amanda Marcotte's full article for Salon is available at this link.

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NO LNX TWT HEATED

The nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., took a swim with his family in a poop-contaminated stream this weekend.

The New York Times reports:

Rock Creek, which flows through much of Northwest Washington, is used to drain excess sewage and storm water during rainfall. The creek has widespread “fecal” contamination and high levels of bacteria, including E. coli, and the city has banned swimming in all of its waterways for more than 50 years because of the widespread contamination of Rock Creek and other nearby rivers.

Kennedy has not responded to requests for comment to explain why he did this. Many have speculated that it’s because Kennedy does not believe in germ theory, the foundational scientific principle that germs—like bacteria, viruses, and parasites—cause disease.

On Bluesy, epidemiologist Dr. Elizabeth Jacobs writes: “RFK Jr. doesn’t believe in germ theory, so him hopping into a sewage-filled creek reminds me of Immanuel Pfeiffer. He’s the anti-vaxxer who in 1902 went right ahead and took his unvaccinated self to a smallpox ward and lo and behold became very ill with smallpox.”

But that doesn’t ring entirely true, because Kennedy has always said he believes contaminated water causes disease. In his 2021 book, The Real Anthony Fauci, he wrote that he believes in miasma theory, which “emphasizes preventing disease by fortifying the immune system through nutrition and by reducing exposures to environmental toxins and stresses." He’s said he believes in “fortifying the immune system through healthy living, clean water, and good nutrition."

In fact, protecting clean water was once integral to Kennedy’s public identity. In 1999, he was named a ‘Hero of the Planet’ by Time for his work cleaning up the Hudson River with the Riverkeeper Association. Kennedy was also a founder of the Waterkeeper Alliance, “where he took on pollution from coal mines, coal-fired power plants and factory farms,” reports Inside Climate News. Kennedy has called Waterkeeper “my life’s work,” and said it “will always be my proudest achievement.”

But today, Kennedy is the top health official in an administration decimating America’s clean water protections. Trump has said his goal is to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 65 percent, which environmental groups say would be “devastating” for clean water. Already, Trump’s EPA has started the process of significantly reducing the types of waterways that are protected under the Clean Water Act, in order to allow landowners, farmers, ranchers, and home builders to dump livestock waste, construction runoff, and industrial effluent into small streams and wetlands.

Waterkeeper, Kennedy’s old organization, has called this move a “disaster” for clean water in this United States. It points out that polluting small streams and wetlands “also contaminates downstream waters, decimating fisheries and recreational waters, jeopardizing businesses and agricultural production, and increasing local water treatment plant costs.”

That’s why Waterkeeper has become an outspoken opponent of Trump’s anti-clean water agenda. Since taking office, Trump has withdrawn regulations limiting “forever chemicals” in waterways; paused enforcement against coal companies whose waste is leaching into groundwater; and cancelled a program to protect Alabamans from raw sewage, among many other things. “Collectively, these actions alone threaten to reverse more than a decade of progress to reduce highly toxic pollutants from the environment,” Waterkeeper said.

But while Kennedy’s old environmental group is sounding the alarm about the health risks of polluted water, Kennedy—the nation’s top health official—is posting pictures of himself swimming in it. The reason is clear: He’s trying to convince himself and others that he remains a legitimate environmentalist. Worse, he’s trying to provide green cover for Trump, who he insists is bonafide nature-lover. It’s more than environmental theater; it’s environmental propaganda.

Kennedy’s form of environmentalism is the equivalent of toasting all-natural marshmallows over a tire fire. It might make for a good photo, but it’s actually poison. True environmentalism requires protecting natural resources, listening to scientists, and prioritizing public health over polluter profits. Kennedy used to understand that. Now, he’s full of crap.

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PHOENIX — As an Arizona bill to block people from using government aid to buy soda headed to the governor’s desk in April, the nation’s top health official joined Arizona lawmakers in the state Capitol to celebrate its passage.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said to applause that the legislation was just the start and that he wanted to prevent federal funding from paying for other unhealthy foods.

“We’re not going to do that overnight,” Kennedy said. “We’re going to do that in the next four years.”

Those words of caution proved prescient when Arizona’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, vetoed the bill a week later. Nevertheless, state legislation to restrict what low-income people can buy using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits is gaining momentum, boosted by Kennedy’s touting it as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” platform. At least 14 states have considered bills this year with similar SNAP restrictions on specific unhealthy foods such as candy, with Idaho and Utah passing such legislation as of mid-April.

Healthy food itself isn’t largely a partisan issue, and those who study nutrition tend to agree that reducing the amount of sugary food people eat is a good idea to avoid health consequences such as heart disease. But the question over the government’s role in deciding who can buy what has become political.

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The organization largely behind SNAP restriction legislation is the Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative policy think tank out of Florida, and its affiliated lobbying arm, which has used the name Opportunity Solutions Project.

FGA has worked for more than a decade to reshape the nation’s public assistance programs. That includes SNAP, which federal data shows helps an average of 42 million people afford food each month. It also advocates for ways to cut Medicaid, the federal-state program that connects 71 million people to subsidized health care, including efforts in Idaho and Montana this year.

FGA’s proposals often seek to limit who taps into that aid and the help they receive. Those backing the group’s mission say the goal is to save tax dollars and help people lift themselves out of poverty. Critics argue that FGA’s proposals are a backdoor way to cut off aid to people who need it and that making healthy food and health care more affordable is a better fix.

Now, FGA sees more room for change under the Trump administration and the Kennedy-led health department, calling 2025 a “window of opportunity for major reform,” according to its latest annual report.

A Vision for Limiting Government Benefits

Tarren Bragdon, a former Maine legislator, founded FGA in 2011 to promote policies to “free millions from government dependency and open the doors for them to chase their own American Dream,” he said in a statement on FGA’s website. The main foundation started out as a staff of three with about $60,000 in the bank. As of 2023, it had a budget of more than $15 million and a team of roughly 64, according to the latest available tax documents, and that’s not counting the lobbying arm.

The foundation got early funding from a grant from the State Policy Network, which has long backed right-leaning think tanks with ties to conservative activists including brothers Charles and David Koch.

FGA declined several interview requests for this article.

In recent years, the nonprofit helped draft a 2017 Mississippi law, the Jackson Free Press found, which intensified eligibility checks for public aid that made it more difficult for some applicants to qualify. It successfully pushed a 2023 effort in Idaho to impose work requirements for food benefits that health care advocates said led some recipients to lose access.

The same year, the group helped pass SNAP restrictions affecting eligibility in Iowa. Since those restrictions have taken effect, the Food Bank of Iowa has seen a record number of people show up at its pantries amid rising grocery prices and a scaling back of covid pandemic-era federal support, said Annette Hacker, a vice president at the nonprofit.

Part of the group’s strategy is to pass legislation state by state, with the idea that the crush of new laws will increase pressure on the federal government. For example, states can’t limit what food is purchased through SNAP without federal approval through a waiver process. And in the past, some of FGA’s efforts have stalled because states never got that approval.

Kennedy’s agenda now echoes some of FGA’s key messages, and he has said states can expect approval of their waivers. Meanwhile, congressional leaders are eyeing nationwide Medicaid cuts and work requirements, which FGA considers among its major issues. The foundation also has a connection working inside the administration: Its former policy director, Sam Adolphsen, was tapped to advise President Donald Trump on domestic matters.

“We’re excited to fight from Topeka to Washington, D.C., as opposed to Washington, D.C., to Topeka,” Roy Lenardson, FGA’s state government affairs director, told Kansas lawmakers in February when testifying in support of SNAP legislation there.

Shaping State Policies

In the states, FGA has become known as a conservative “thought leader,” said Brian Colby, vice president of public policy for Missouri Budget Project, a progressive nonprofit that provides analysis of state policy issues.

“Conservatives used to try to chop away at the federal budget,” Colby said. “These guys are doing it at the state level.”

In its 14 years, FGA has created a playbook to shape state policy discussions around public benefits behind the scenes. In Montana, retired Republican legislator Cary Smith, who worked with FGA, said not all of the think tank’s ideas split along party lines.

“They offer a buffet of options,” he said. “Their agenda is making government accountable; it’s in the name.”

He said besides drafting legislation, FGA provides talking points and data to help policymakers support their arguments. “They would go in and would say, ‘This is what Medicaid fraud is costing us,’” Smith said. “That would be the number you’d want to use in your bill.”In January, FGA released a memo for states to “stop taxpayer-funded junk food.” In February, Stateline reported that Wyoming Republican state Rep. Jacob Wasserburger said the group asked him to sponsor a SNAP restriction bill. The state sponsor of similar legislation in Missouri has repeated at least one of FGA’s talking points, as reported by the Missouri Independent. In Arizona, Republican Rep. Leo Biasiucci, who sponsored the SNAP legislation there, told KFF Health News FGA was behind that bill as well.

Opponents of such bills argue the proposals are not as simple as they sound. Amid debate on a SNAP bill in Montana, Kiera Condon, with the Montana Food Bank Network, testified the legislation would force grocery store workers to sort through what counts as soda or candy, “which could result in retailers not participating in SNAP at all.”

State lawmakers tabled the Montana bill in April.

Montana legislators also easily passed a bill to extend the state’s Medicaid expansion program even after FGA began publishing a series of papers that asserted the program was “breaking” Montana’s budget. FGA had presented data saying most Montanans on the program don’t work, which state data refutes.

Ed Bolen, who leads food aid strategies at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank, said FGA has a pattern of proposing technical changes to existing laws and “unworkable work requirements” that cause people to lose benefits.

After working with policymakers in Kansas for a decade, FGA helped pass legislation that limited how long people can access cash assistance, added work requirements to SNAP, and banned the state from spending federal or state funds to promote public aid. Many of those changes came through 2015 legislation known as the “HOPE Act” drafted by FGA, The Washington Post reported.

Analysis from Kansas Appleseed, an advocacy organization for low-income Kansans, found the SNAP caseload sharply declined after the bill was enacted because of the new hurdles, dropping from 140,000 households in January 2014 to 90,000 as of January 2020.

“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” said Karen Siebert, an adviser for Harvesters, a community food bank network in Kansas and Missouri. “Some of these FGA proposals are such complex policies, it’s hard to argue against and to explain the ripple effects.”

In 2024, the foundation produced more than two dozen videos featuring state politicians from across the nation touting the organization’s goals and dozens of research papers arguing public benefits are wrecking state budgets. FGA also has its own polling team to produce data out of the states it’s working to influence.

The organization released a list of 14 states it labeled as “redder and better” places to exert more influence. That included Idaho, where the group has four registered lobbyists in the state Capitol.

In 2023, FGA helped present and successfully lobby for legislation there to require people receiving food aid to work at least 80 hours a month. The organization called the resulting law “landmark welfare reform” years in the making.

And this year, Idaho lawmakers passed more requirements for people enrolled in Medicaid who can work. FGA staffers worked with one of the co-sponsors of the legislation on a similar bill last year that failed, then again this year. A compromise bill passed with FGA’s backing, marking another victory for the foundation.

David Lehman, a lobbyist for the Idaho Association of Community Providers, which represents health organizations that have opposed FGA bills, said Idaho illustrates how FGA works with sympathetic lawmakers in conservative states to gain more ground.

“They’re pushing an already rolling rock downhill,” he said.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom

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Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump, with the help of billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has sought to vastly reduce the number of government workers through mass firings, drawing concern, criticism and several legal challenges.

According to a report from Reuters, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body created through an executive order, has prompted the firing, severance and early retirement of more than 260,000 government employees. However, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston has issued a temporary restraining order, blocking efforts to restructure the federal government.

In March, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his own DOGE-related cuts, aiming to terminate 20,000 full time employees and reorganize the department’s 28 divisions to 15. The department has also closed its regional offices in Boston, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle, halving its total regional facilities.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

However, a coalition of 20 attorneys general, including Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, have taken legal action against Kennedy and several department officials, arguing these cuts would functionally dismantle the DHHS.

If the court doesn’t provide immediate relief, and the case is allowed to play out, Nessel warned that these cuts could cause “immeasurable harm” to the nation and its health system.

“You’re essentially leaving the agency, as a whole, completely dysfunctional by eliminating so many departments or regions, you know entire offices just wiped off the map and, of course, getting rid of some people with some incredible expertise,” Nessel told the Michigan Advance

The DHHS is eliminating roughly 3,500 employees at the Food and Drug Administration, 2,400 at the Centers for Disease Control, 1,200 at the National Institutes of Health and 300 at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

It will also work to consolidate the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health under the new Administration for a Healthy America.

Public health and infectious diseases know no borders, Nessel said, warning that the decision to shutter regional health programs, close CDC labs and close all 10 of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services’ regional offices jeopardizes public health in every community.

“Also it’s just a flagrant violation of the law. Disregards the separation of powers, and it places this new burden now, of course, on the states, because there are certain things that you rely upon the federal government to do, especially in terms of coordinating efforts between the states,” Nessel said.

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“Let’s say you have an outbreak of a new variant in bird flu that could impact the entire country. Maybe that happens in Vermont. Is Vermont supposed to coordinate that response with Michigan? You know, it’s the CDC that does that. How are we supposed to make up for that?” Nessel questioned.

While the state has its own lab testing capabilities, the federal government and its labs act as a conduit for sharing data with the states and across the nation, as well as monitoring other countries.

“They fill this incredibly important role in terms of preventing the next global pandemic and mitigating it here in Michigan. And it’s a burden that, frankly, the state simply can’t sustain. It’s the reason why we have a federal government,” Nessel said.

Additionally, it’s the federal government’s job to ensure its laws are enforced, Nessel said, and Congress delegates money to ensure those laws are complied with. Deciding to withhold those funds and cut staffing without regard for which workers are essential, and shutting down offices without regard for whether the department can continue to comply with federal law not only violates the law and the Constitution in a myriad of ways, Nessel contends, but it compromises the safety and health of people in Michigan.

While Kennedy said the intent of the cuts was to address waste and inefficiency within the department, Nessel said the argument doesn’t hold water due to the way the DHHS approached its firings.

“It’s not as if it took any significant period of time to evaluate, you know, is this really a necessary function of the government, and do we really need this to fulfill the mission of this agency? There were no determinations of any kind made like that” Nessel said, pointing to comments Kennedy made to the media where he admitted 20% of cuts at the agency were a mistake, and would need to be reinstated.

[VID] He he had forgone a line-by-line review of each employee’s jobs because “it takes too long, and you lose political momentum.”

Among those cuts were doctors and the administrator of the World Trade Center Health program, which certify illnesses in first responders and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks as part of the requirements of the Zadroga Act, with the New York Daily News reporting nearly all 16 employees cut from the program had been rehired as of May 7, including the program’s director, James Howard.

“If you were more careful and cautious before you fired them in the first place, maybe we wouldn’t have this issue,” Nessel said.

The case filed by the attorneys general points to several other examples of offices impacted by the cuts, including the Food and Drug Administration missing a vaccine application deadline and canceling a critical test for the bird flu virus, suspending the testing program for a year.

The case also points to Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views and history of promoting misinformation about vaccination.

According to the filing, some FDA employees were told to go home following the March 27 downsizing announcement and prepare for the possibility that they would not be back. If they received a termination email, they would lose access to the building.

“Beginning in the early morning of April 1, 2025, HHS employees in all offices, administrations, agencies and sub-agencies began to receive termination notices. Some employees had not seen their early morning termination email before leaving for the office, and were surprised when they arrived at work to find their access cards had been deactivated,” the case reads.

“Many notices contained errors. For example, some listed incorrect information about workers’ recent performance ratings. At FDA, the listed point of contact for the Equal Employment Opportunity office had departed a month earlier,” it says.

While this case doesn’t directly address that lack of support and protection for employees, several unions and groups of federal employees have taken legal action on these concerns.

“It’s embarrassing and disturbing to see any workers treated like this, but especially, you know, ones that have worked so hard to protect the American people,” Nessel said.

She also pointed to the ways these firings would impact the economy, calling them “penny wise but pound foolish.”

In the announcement, Kennedy promised to lower costs for taxpayers, with the 10,000 person layoff expected to cut down on $1.8 billion a year. However, Nessel said these costs would crop up in other ways.

“What has a bigger impact on the economy than people’s health, you know? If people are too sick to be able to work, that’s a problem,” Nessel said, noting that widespread infectious disease can have a devastating impact on the economy.

“It’s not just that we’re not really saving money. We’re going to lose an unknown amount of money, an untold amount of money, if people who could otherwise have been healthy are not healthy,” Nessel said.

While Michigan is still assembling its state-specific declarations, these firings will also impact the state’s efforts on issues like mental health and create issues in how they distribute resources within their budgets, Nessel said.

“If we’re trying to prioritize and say, ‘Well, how much money are we going to spend on substance abuse, or how much money are we going to spend on mental health treatment?’ It’s kind of important to know how much of it you’re going to get from the federal government. And because this is done in such a chaotic manner, it’s really hard to know,” Nessel said.

In addition to their case on the mass firings, Nessel and 23 other attorneys general filed suit against Kennedy and the DHHS for terminating almost $11 billion in critical public health grants across the country.

That includes $379.3 million in grant funding awarded and owed to the State of Michigan for certain mental health and substance abuse grants and grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meant to support infectious disease control and vaccinations for children and vulnerable adults, among other programs.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.

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on rogaN SAID 50M KIA SPANISH FLU WAS VACCINE NOT INVENTED TILL 1940’S

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AN 525

A malaria-like disease is moving into Delaware, Maryland and Virginia

an 5 25}:

The Trump administration’s unprecedented $500 million grant for a broadly protective flu shot has confounded vaccine and pandemic preparedness experts, who said the project was in early stages, relied on old technology, and was just one of more than 200 such efforts.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shifted the money from a pandemic preparedness fund to a vaccine development program led by two scientists whom the administration recently named to senior positions at the National Institutes of Health.

While some experts were pleased that Kennedy had supported any vaccine project, they said the May 1 announcement contravened sound scientific policy, appeared arbitrary, and raised the kinds of questions about conflicts of interest that have dogged many of President Donald Trump’s actions.

Focusing vast resources on a single vaccine candidate “is a little like going to the Kentucky Derby and putting all your money on one horse,” said William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University professor and past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “In science we normally put money on a number of different horses because we can’t be entirely sure who’s going to win.”

Others were mystified by the decision, since the candidate vaccine uses technology that was largely abandoned in the 1970s and eschews techniques developed in recent decades through funding from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department.

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“This is not a next-generation vaccine,” said Rick Bright, who led HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, in the first Trump administration. “It’s so last-generation, or first-generation, it’s mind-blowing.”

The vaccine is being developed at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases by Jeffery Taubenberger, whom Trump named as acting chief of the institute in late April, and his colleague Matthew Memoli, a critic of U.S. covid-19 policy whom Trump picked to lead the NIH until April 1, when Jay Bhattacharya took office. Bhattacharya named Memoli his principal deputy.

Taubenberger gained fame as an Armed Forces Institute of Pathology scientist in 1997 when his lab sequenced the genome of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus, using tissue samples from U.S. troops who died in that plague. He joined the NIH in 2006.

In a May 1 news release, HHS called the Taubenberger-Memoli vaccine initiative “Generation Gold Standard,” saying it represented “a decisive shift toward transparency, effectiveness, and comprehensive preparedness.” Bhattacharya said it represented a “paradigm shift.”

But the NIH vaccine-makers’ goal of creating a shot that protects against multiple or all strains of influenza — currently vaccines must be given each year to account for shifts in the virus — is not new.

Then-NIAID Director Anthony Fauci launched a network of academic researchers in pursuit of a broadly protective flu vaccine in 2019. In addition to that NIH-led consortium, more than 200 flu vaccines are under development in the U.S. and other countries.

Many use newer technologies, and some are at more advanced stages of human testing than the Taubenberger vaccine, whose approach appears basically the same as the one used in flu vaccines starting in 1944, Bright said.

In the news release, HHS described the vaccine as “in advanced trials” and said it would induce “robust” responses and “long-lasting protection.” But Taubenberger and his colleagues haven’t published a complete human study of the vaccine yet. A study showing the vaccine protected mice from the flu appeared in 2022.

For Operation Warp Speed, which led to the creation of the covid vaccine during Trump’s first term, government scientists reviewed detailed plans and data from academic and commercial laboratories vying for federal money, said Greg Poland, a flu expert and president of the Atria Health Academy of Science and Medicine. “If that’s happening here, it’s opaque to me,” he said.

When asked what data beyond its press release supported the decision, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon pointed to the agency’s one-page statement. Asked whether the decision would curtail funding for the Fauci-created consortium or other universal vaccine approaches, Nixon did not specifically respond. “Generation Gold Standard is the most promising,” he said in an email.

Taubenberger did not respond to a request for comment. Nixon and NIH spokesperson Amanda Fine did not respond to requests for an interview with Taubenberger or Memoli.

The HHS statement stressed that by developing the vaccine in-house, the government “ensures radical transparency, public accountability, and freedom from commercial conflicts of interest.” While any vaccine would eventually have to be made commercially, NIH involvement through more stages of development could give the government greater influence on any vaccine’s eventual price, Schaffner said.

If the mRNA-based covid shots produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech represented the cutting edge of vaccine technology, applying ultra-sophisticated approaches never before seen in an inoculation, the approach by Taubenberger and Memoli represents a blast from the past.

Their vaccine is made by inactivating influenza viruses with a carcinogenic chemical called beta-propiolactone. Scientists have used the chemical to neutralize viruses since at least the 1950s. This whole-virus inactivation method, mostly using other chemicals, was the standard way to make flu vaccines into the 1970s, when it was modified, partly because whole-virus vaccines caused high fevers or even seizures in children.

The limited published data from the Taubenberger vaccine, from an initial safety trial involving 45 patients, showed no major side effects. The scientists are testing the vaccine as a regular shot and as an intranasal spray with the idea of stopping the virus in the respiratory tract before it causes a broad infection.

“The notion of a universal influenza A pandemic vaccine is a good one,” said Poland, who called Taubenberger an excellent scientist. But he added: “I’m not so sure about the platform, and the dollar amount is a puzzler. This vaccine’s in very early development.”

Paul Friedrichs, a retired Air Force general who led the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy in President Joe Biden’s White House, said that “giving $500 million upfront with very little data to support it is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“The technology for developing vaccines has tremendously evolved over many decades,” Friedrichs said. “Why would we go back to an approach historically associated with greater or more frequent adverse events?”

The government appeared to be transferring the money for the Taubenberger vaccine development from an existing $1.3 billion vaccine fund at Project NextGen, a mostly covid-focused program at BARDA, Friedrichs said. Most of that money was earmarked to support advanced research on covid and other viral vaccines, including those protecting against emerging diseases.

It is “very concerning that we’re de-emphasizing covid, which we may live to regret,” Poland said. “It assumes we won’t have a covid variant that escapes the current moderately high levels of covid immunity.”

Nixon said Project NextGen, for which some funds were earmarked for mRNA research, is under review. Kennedy is critical of mRNA vaccines, once claiming, falsely, that they are the deadliest vaccines in history.

Ted Ross, director of global vaccine development at the Cleveland Clinic, said he was “happy to see them investing in respiratory vaccines, including a universal flu vaccine, with all the programs they’ve been cutting.”

“But I don’t think this is the only approach,” Ross said. “Other universal flu vaccines are in progress, and their success and failure are not known yet.”

His team, part of the NIAID-funded flu vaccine consortium, is using artificial intelligence and computer modeling to design vaccines that produce the broadest immunity to influenza, including seasonal and pandemic strains.

As interim director, Memoli oversaw the start of the administration’s massive cuts at the NIH, with the elimination of some 800 agency grants worth over $2 billion. More than 1,200 NIH employees have been fired, and many researchers, including Ross, are in limbo.

His lab is close to testing a candidate vaccine on people, Ross said, while waiting to find out about its NIH funding. “I’m not sure whether my contract is on the chopping block,” he said.

*KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

---

...Meanwhile, Trump’s sons launched a digital currency company, World Liberty Financial, in 2024, and took an ownership stake in a bitcoin mining venture called American Bitcoin last month. Trump’s own media company announced plans earlier this year to potentially buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

At least eight top officials in the executive branch disclosed crypto holdings in their financial disclosures, although some agreed to divest the assets. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, HHS Secretary Kennedy and Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz each reported owning more than $500,000 in crypto assets.

An HHS spokesperson told CNN that “Secretary Kennedy continues to adhere to all ethical and legal requirements.”

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AN 4 25

...

Targeting Medical Journals

On Apr. 14, Martin sent a list of questions to the editor of Chest magazine, a medical journal published by the American College of Chest Physicians. The letter accused the journal and others like it of “being partisans in various scientific debates” and asked a series of contentious questions, such as “How do you clearly articulate when you have certain viewpoints that are influenced by your ongoing relations with supporters, funders, advertisers, and others?” and “How do you handle allegations that authors of works in your journals may have misled readers?”

Two other medical journal publishers received similar letters, The New York Times reported. The letters have raised grave concerns about curbing free speech and government intimidation of scientific publications.

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no lnx nyt

Edward Martin wears a gray suit and blue tie as he speaks at a desk with a microphone at the Capitol.

Edward Martin Jr., a Republican activist serving as interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., sent letters to science and medical journals, accusing them of bias.Credit...Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Associated Press

Teddy RosenbluthRebecca Robbins

By Teddy Rosenbluth and Rebecca Robbins

April 18, 2025

A federal prosecutor has sent letters to at least three medical journals accusing them of political bias and asking a series of probing questions suggesting that the journals mislead readers, suppress opposing viewpoints and are inappropriately swayed by their funders.

The letters were signed by Edward Martin Jr., a Republican activist serving as interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. He has been criticized for using his office to target opponents of President Trump.

Some scientists and doctors said they viewed the letters as a threat from the Trump administration that could have a chilling effect on what journals publish. The health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has said he wants to prosecute medical journals, accusing them of lying to the public and colluding with pharmaceutical companies.

One of the letters was sent to the journal Chest, published by the American College of Chest Physicians. The New York Times obtained a copy of the letter.

The Times confirmed that at least two other publishers had received nearly identically worded letters, but those publishers would not speak publicly because they feared retribution from the Trump administration.

In the letter to Chest, dated Monday, Mr. Martin wrote, “It has been brought to my attention that more and more journals and publications like CHEST Journal are conceding that they are partisans in various scientific debates.”

He demanded that the journal’s publishers answer a series of questions by May 2. Do they accept submissions from “competing viewpoints?” What do they do if the authors they published “may have misled their readers?” Are they transparent about influence from “supporters, funders, advertisers and others?”

And he specifically singled out the National Institutes of Health, which funds some of the research the journals publish, asking about the agency’s role “in the development of submitted articles.”

The prosecutor’s inquiry amounts to “blatant political intimidation of our medical journals,” Dr. Adam Gaffney, a pulmonologist and researcher in Massachusetts whose articles have been published in Chest, wrote on X.

It was not clear how many journals had been targeted. Several prominent medical and science publishers said they had not received letters. Others declined requests for comment. News of the letters was earlier reported by MedPage Today, a medical news website.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington also declined to comment. Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department, declined to comment on whether Mr. Kennedy had any involvement.

Laura DiMasi, a spokeswoman for the American College of Chest Physicians, confirmed that the organization had received the letter but declined an interview request.

Most of what medical journals publish is highly technical, aimed at an audience of specialists. But they and the organizations that publish them have increasingly come under attack. Right-leaning sites like Breitbart have derided them as “woke medical journals.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, has been attacking the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which publishes a journal and runs a variety of reproductive health programs. It has received federal funding for an effort to promote maternal health. The alliance recently urged the Trump administration to cut funding and investigate the group, saying it was pushing liberal ideas about diversity and gender.

Several journals or their publishers have publicly opposed Mr. Trump.

In January, the American Public Health Association, which publishes a journal, was among several groups that sued the Trump administration over a memo freezing federal funding. That policy that has now been rescinded, though the administration has since halted other funds.

In March, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists called mass layoffs at H.H.S. an “attack on public health.”

In 2020, The New England Journal of Medicine published an editorial condemning Mr. Trump’s response to the pandemic — the first time the journal had taken a position in an election in its 208-year history. The journal Nature endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr. for president in the 2020 election and spoke out against a second Trump term during the 2024 election.

Medical journals are afforded the same First Amendment protections as any other news media outlet.

Kent Anderson, a consultant for scientific publishers who has written about conservative attacks on medical journals, said that Mr. Martin’s inquiry could have a chilling effect among publishers.

“This is a fishing expedition from a U.S. attorney, and that makes people nervous,” Mr. Anderson said. “It may make them think twice about an editorial about treating women who have a spontaneous abortion or about transgender teens dealing with a health issue, because it may make them think that somebody is going to knock on the door.”

Mr. Kennedy had been nursing grievances about scientific journals for years. Medical and science publishers have long rejected article submissions that purport to show a link between vaccines and autism. (Dozens of studies have failed to establish such a link.)

He said in a podcast interview last year that he would seek to prosecute medical journals under the federal anti-corruption statute.

“I’m going to litigate against you under the racketeering laws, under the general tort laws,” he said. “I’m going to find a way to sue you unless you come up with a plan right now to show how you’re going to start publishing real science and stop retracting the real science and publishing the fake pharmaceutical science by these phony industry mercenaries.”

As examples, he pointed to two prominent journals, The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet, and the scientific publishing giant, Elsevier.

Other top health officials in the Trump administration have also criticized the big scientific publishers. In a book published last year, Dr. Martin A. Makary, the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, accused journal editorial boards of “gate-keeping” and publishing only information that supports a “groupthink narrative.”

Before becoming director of the N.I.H., Dr. Jay Bhattacharya publicly chastised the editor in chief of a prominent journal, Science, claiming he had “publicly denigrated scientists” who opposed Covid-era lockdowns. Dr. Bhattacharya was widely denounced by mainstream scientists during the pandemic for proposing that the virus should allowed to spread naturally through the population.

Dr. Bhattacharya also co-founded a new journal pitched as an alternative to traditional scientific publishing. It has published contrarian views on Covid.

Christina Jewett contributed reporting.

Teddy Rosenbluth is a health reporter and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.

Rebecca Robbins is a reporter covering the pharmaceutical industry. She has been reporting on health and medicine since 2015.

See more on: U.S. Politics, 2024 Elections: News, Polls and Analysis, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services Department, Donald Trump

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notus

By Margaret Manto

March 1, 2025

A political advocacy group closely tied to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has enlisted one of the earliest promoters of the QAnon movement to help “Make America Healthy Again.”

Tracy “Beanz” Diaz is a podcaster, YouTuber and writer and was one of the first people to discuss QAnon on social media, posting her first video on the topic only six days after “Q” posted on 4chan for the first time in 2017. Now, Diaz says she will be serving as editor-in-chief for MAHA Action, the 501(c)(4) affiliated with Kennedy’s super PAC, MAHA Alliance.

MAHA Alliance was formed after Kennedy ended his own bid for the presidency and joined Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. Its leadership includes former Kennedy campaign staffers, including campaign communications director Del Bigtree and Brigid Rasmussen, the chief of staff.

While the Super PAC’s mission statement was originally to inspire Kennedy followers to vote for Trump, MAHA Action is now recruiting to help “reverse the chronic disease epidemic and restore America’s position as a global leader in public health outcomes.” With its close ties to the Health and Human Services secretary, the organization says it is seeking to transform public health.

“MAHA Action is rapidly scaling in 2025 to drive national health policy changes at scale,” a job application for a MAHA Action internship states.

In a February episode of her podcast, Diaz explained that Bigtree, a close friend of Kennedy’s who now serves as the MAHA Alliance CEO, had personally asked her to work with the PAC.

“MAHA, as an organization, has a very big responsibility to make sure there is accurate, truthful, and well-presented information going out to the people about their health and how to be healthy again,” said Diaz.

While Kennedy attempted to walk back his former anti-vaccine stance before two Senate committees, MAHA Action has retained several associates with deep roots in conspiratorial beliefs. Chief Digital Officer Audra Gold has expressed skepticism about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. CEO Bigtree is the founder of the anti-vaccine group Informed Consent Action Network. That group’s chief operating officer, Catharine Layton, is concurrently serving as MAHA Action’s executive director, according to LinkedIn.

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It’s not immediately clear what Diaz’s new role will entail, and Diaz said on her podcast that she said yes to Bigtree’s request before she knew exactly what her role would be. She did not respond to NOTUS’ requests for comment.

A website launched by MAHA Action appears to be linking to news articles from other publications about Kennedy.

Diaz is also a writer and editor-in-chief for the website UncoverDC, where one February post about vaccine injuries written by another author begins, “Whether someone was coerced into receiving the COVID-19 shots at threat of their job or whether they trusted ‘the science’ and believed that the shots were safe and effective, the result is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, out there injured, bedridden, suffering, and unable to work.”

While the COVID-19 vaccines can come with side effects, significant adverse effects are very rare, according to the CDC.

Diaz’s UncoverDC biography states that she worked on Rand Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign and the 2016 Trump campaign. Diaz has also contributed to Bigtree’s publication The Highwire, which has promoted unfounded claims about the risks of vaccines.

But her greatest contribution to the political sphere may have been suggesting that early followers of the QAnon movement move from obscure message boards to the more accessible Reddit, which she claims to have done in a 2018 blog post. That move helped QAnon break into the online mainstream and spread to other social media platforms like Facebook.

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There, QAnon became a bona fide social phenomenon, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers who believe in a wide range of unproven theories about Trump waging a secret war against a “Deep State” cabal controlling the world. The QAnon movement was also a major promoter of vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic, of claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, and had a presence at the January 6 insurrection. Politicians who have supported QAnon ideas have risen to power across the country, including U.S. congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and newly confirmed FBI director Kash Patel.

Diaz continued to promote QAnon on her social media after helping the movement gain its initial foothold. She racked up thousands of followers on X and hundreds of thousands of views on her Youtube videos, according to a 2018 NBC investigation (nearly all the videos on Diaz’s YouTube channel have been removed, and she was temporarily banned from X before being reinstated after Elon Musk bought the platform). During the pandemic, Diaz pushed vaccine skepticism and advocated for the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19. In 2021, she was even elected to a local Republican Party leadership role in South Carolina, though she quit in 2022 after disagreements with state GOP leaders.

So for Diaz, her new role with MAHA Action may be a coming home of sorts.

“The childhood vaccine schedule is something I have been railing against since 2006,” she said in a recent podcast episode.

Margaret Manto}_is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.

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ggl 4 25

[### RFK Jr.'s presidential campaign is driven by conspiracy ...

NPR

https://www.npr.org › 2023/07/13 › rfk-jr-kennedy-co...](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/13/1187272781/rfk-jr-kennedy-conspiracy-theories-social-media-presidential-campaign)

Jul 13, 2023 — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the latest member of the Kennedy dynasty to run for president, regularly shares a dizzying range of falsehoods and conspiracy theories.

[### RFK Jr.-Tied 'MAHA' Group Has Hired One of QAnon's Earliest ...

notus.org

https://www.notus.org › health-science › rfk-jr-tied-ma...](https://www.notus.org/health-science/rfk-jr-tied-maha-group-qanon-influencer-hire)

Mar 1, 2025 — MAHA Action, which says it wants to influence national public health policy, has hired Tracy “Beanz” Diaz, a QAnon supporter and vaccine ...

[### QAnon Fears R.F.K., Jr., Will Take Votes Away from J.F.K., Jr.

The New Yorker

https://www.newyorker.com › humor › borowitz-report](https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/qanon-fears-rfk-jr-will-take-votes-away-from-jfk-jr)

Oct 10, 2023 — Andy Borowitz jokes about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,'s Independent Presidential candidacy.

[### On campaign trail, RFK Jr. pushes 'bonkers' theory about CIA's ...

ABC News

https://abcnews.go.com › story](https://abcnews.go.com/US/campaign-trail-rfk-jr-pushes-bonkers-theory-cias/story?id=111274658)

Jun 20, 2024 — Conspiracy theories pushed by Robert Kennedy Jr. claiming that major U.S. media outlets are controlled by the CIA are "classic techniques of ...

[### Is Nicole Shanahan Flirting With QAnon and Christian ...

Rolling Stone

https://www.rollingstone.com › politics › politics-news](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-demonic-1235046740/)

Jun 26, 2024 — Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate, is pushing the idea that the government is rife with "demonic" influence.

[### User Clip: RFK Jr on Conspiracy Theories

C-SPAN

https://www.c-span.org › clip › washington-journal › us...](https://www.c-span.org/clip/washington-journal/user-clip-rfk-jr-on-conspiracy-theories/5086747)

Sep 13, 2023 — RFK Jr responds to a CSPAN caller who says he is a conspiracy theorist. This clip, title, and description were not created by C-SPAN.

[### RFK Jr.'s Adviser Leaves Campaign, Citing 'Hateful and ...

The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com › U.S. › Politics](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/us/politics/rfk-jr-2024-election-adviser.html)

May 23, 2024 — Angela Stanton King, a former Trump supporter who joined the campaign in December, was a high-profile figure in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s ...

[### QAnon and the Return of JFK Jr.

Center for Media Engagement

https://mediaengagement.org › research › qanon-and-the...](https://mediaengagement.org/research/qanon-and-the-return-of-jfk-jr/)

Oct 30, 2024 — Kennedy Jr., was to address the crowd and announce that 45th President of the United States, recently defeated incumbent Donald Trump, would be ...

[### Donald Trump's embrace of RFK Jr. exposes the ...

Yahoo

https://www.yahoo.com › news › donald-trumps-embra...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trumps-embrace-rfk-jr-100005035.html)

Aug 28, 2024 — Is Donald Trump wishing he could replace Sen. JD Vance of Ohio with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his running mate?

[### Episode 242: RFK Jr. feat Conspirituality Podcast

IMDb

https://www.imdb.com › title](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28668218/)

We explore the strange heir, political candidate, conspiracy theorist, anti-vaxxer, and swole boy known as Robert F. Kennedy Junior with our friends.

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rww

04/18/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Evangelical leaders are relishing the new atmosphere at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — and greater access to the president.

On The Stew Peters Show, Holocaust denier and Nazi sympathizer Stew Peters dedicated yet another segment to the killing of Austin Metcalf. In it, Peters claimed that America has a “Black problem,” and called for a “national conversation about the problem that we have with Blacks.”

"I can tell you on behalf of all of my colleagues at Heritage, we're extraordinarily proud of our work, and I will also tell you, Mark, we're already starting Project 2029 because we are not tired of winning."

Confronted with evidence that the president’s support is falling, Trump’s allies have some options. They’ve chosen the worst one.

From the outset of his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump signaled that a central focus of his presidency would be targeting and exacting retribution against his critics.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in full damage-control mode after causing outrage with his comments about autism during his first official press briefing as health secretary.

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'Absolute nonesense': World-renowned expert slams Trump admin as measles cases soar

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AN 4 25

While Republicans throughout the United States are intensifying efforts to regulate soda, lawmakers in Texas, Arkansas, West Virginia, Idaho, Nebraska, Michigan, Arizona, and South Carolina have reportedly declined to support a ban on the drink. However, they are aligned with businessman Michael Bloomberg's other initiatives: banning the purchase of soda with food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

An article in the Atlantic by Nicholas Florko published on Tuesday noted that these states are taking cues from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has expressed strong opposition to allowing low-income Americans on SNAP to use government funds to buy soda.

"The soda wars have long broken along partisan lines. New York City’s ban was struck down in court before it could go into effect, but even more modest attempts to regulate soda have been concentrated in deeply blue cities such as Berkeley and San Francisco. Liberals drink soda too, of course, though the drink’s biggest defenders are on the right. President Donald Trump loves Diet Coke so much that in both of his terms, he’s had a button installed in the Oval Office to summon a refill; on the campaign trail, now–Vice President J. D. Vance claimed that Democrats see Diet Mountain Dew, his drink of choice, as 'racist,'" the article reads.

ALSO READ: 'You own this': Top GOP senator who backed RFK Jr. now under attack after HHS mass firings

"The federal government’s own research has shown that Americans who receive food stamps have worse diets than nonparticipants with similar incomes, and soda is surely part of that problem. These proposed bans should be even more palatable because they wouldn’t be permanent; they are pilot programs to try out the idea."

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Overall, Democrats largely continue to stand against soda bans, the article notes. In both Idaho and Arizona, no Democratic legislators in the state Senates supported the proposed measures in their states. To effectively address soda consumption in the U.S., initiatives like these will need to be included in the solution, the author said.

He further pointed out that the Republican Party’s "about-face on soda" is more stark in West Virginia.

"In July, the state removed its soda tax. And now, less than a year later, it is pushing forward with a SNAP soda ban as part of an effort to decrease consumption of 'ultra-processed crap that barely qualifies as food,' Republican Governor Patrick Morrisey said late last month," the article notes.

ALSO READ:A deadly mosquito-borne illness is rising in the US as Trump cuts health funding

Many seasoned advocates against soda express skepticism about Republicans' motives. Marion Nestle, a professor emeritus at NYU and the author of Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (And Winning), has supported bans on soda within the SNAP program. She told the Atlantic that she views the current Republican initiatives as a disguise for their true aim, which is to reduce SNAP funding. Nestle added that while soda is detrimental to health, restricting food stamps also poses risks and that research indicates that the program greatly alleviates food insecurity and lowers healthcare expenses.

Supporters of the soda ban emphasize that the official name of the food-stamp program is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, highlighting that a two-liter bottle of Pepsi does not contribute to nutritional assistance. However, public health and anti-hunger advocates contend that any food is better than having no food at all.

ALSO READ:He had short-term health insurance — but his colonoscopy bill was still $7,000

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Historian and presidential biographer Jon Meacham says the United States is not a stable and safe environment for scientists and builders anymore, because they can no longer pursue ideas that "may not find favor with" the Republican Party.

He referred to the Trump administration's recent steps to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which will lead to a decline in crucial scientific research, as a "self-inflicted wound" during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday.

"I think that's one of the particular tragedies," he said, adding that several things are "unfolding at the moment, but it's a self-inflicted wound and one that may or may not be generational."

ALSO READ:'Unconstitutional usurpation of power': Small businesses sue Trump over 'devastating' tariffs

Meacham, who serves as the Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral, said that former Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served between the 1940s and 1960s, could not "stand each other," but were still able to agree to invest government resources in research.

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"We might not see instant returns on a dollar, but that's what research is," Meacham said, referring to the views held by leaders during the Cold War period.

He added that many supporters of President Donald Trump don't want to "undo" the America that was "built by the institutions, the impulses, the investments."

"I don't think they really voted for that. They voted for this man. And whatever this man does, they're willing to follow," he said.

ALSO READ:The 'war on vaccines has started': Scientists blast 'ridiculous' Trump admin request

The cancellations of NIH-funded scientific projects “tears the long-standing fabric of the government’s contract to pursue medical research that seeks to better the healthspan and lifespan for all Americans”, Francis Collins, a geneticist who led the NIH, based in Bethesda, Maryland, for 12 years, told scientific journal Nature last week.

On Monday, the Trump administration said it would suspend $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contract funding for Harvard University after the institution indicated it would not comply with the administration's policy requests. Earlier that day, Harvard announced its decision to decline the administration's demands for policy modifications.

ALSO READ:'Bloodbath': Shock as Trump fires thousands at HHS amid outbreaks

Watch the video below or at this link.

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President Donald Trump’s firings at the Department of Health and Human Services included the entire office that sets federal poverty guidelines, which determine whether tens of millions of Americans are eligible for health programs such as Medicaid, food assistance, child care, and other services, former staff said.

The small team, with technical data expertise, worked out of HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, or ASPE. Their dismissal mirrored others across HHS, which came without warning and left officials puzzled as to why they were “RIF’ed” — as in “reduction in force,” the bureaucratic language used to describe the firings.

“I suspect they RIF’ed offices that had the word ‘data’ or ‘statistics’ in them,” said one of the laid-off employees, a social scientist whom KFF Health News agreed not to name because the person feared further recrimination. “It was random, as far as we can tell.”

Among those fired was Kendall Swenson, who had led development of the poverty guidelines for many years and was considered the repository of knowledge on the issue, according to the social scientist and two academics who have worked with the HHS team.

The sacking of the office could lead to cuts in assistance to low-income families next year unless the Trump administration restores the positions or moves its duties elsewhere, said Robin Ghertner, the fired director of the Division of Data and Technical Analysis, which had overseen the guidelines.

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The poverty guidelines are “needed by many people and programs,” said Timothy Smeeding, a professor emeritus of economics at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin. “If you’re thinking of someone you fired who should be rehired, Swenson would be a no-brainer,” he added.

Under a 1981 appropriations bill, HHS is required annually to take Census Bureau poverty-line figures, adjust them for inflation, and create guidelines that agencies and states use to determine who is eligible for various types of help.

There’s a special sauce for creating the guidelines that includes adjustments and calculations, Ghertner said. Swenson and three other staff members would independently prepare the numbers and quality-check them together before they were issued each January.

Everyone in Ghertner’s office was told last week, without warning, that they were being put on administrative leave until June 1, when their employment would officially end, he said.

“There’s literally no one in the government who knows how to calculate the guidelines,” he said. “And because we’re all locked out of our computers, we can’t teach anyone how to calculate them.”

ASPE had about 140 staff members and now has about 40, according to a former staffer. The HHS shake-up merged the office with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, whose staff has shrunk from 275 to about 80, according to a former AHRQ official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

HHS has said it laid off about 10,000 employees and that, combined with other moves, including a program to encourage early retirements, its workforce has been reduced by about 20,000. But the agency has not detailed where it made the cuts or identified specific employees it fired.

“These workers were told they couldn’t come into their offices so there’s no transfer of knowledge,” said Wendell Primus, who worked at ASPE during the Bill Clinton administration. “They had no time to train anyone, transfer data, etc.”

HHS defended the firings. The department merged AHRQ and ASPE “as part of Secretary Kennedy’s vision to streamline HHS to better serve Americans,” spokesperson Emily Hilliard said. “Critical programs within ASPE will continue in this new office” and “HHS will continue to comply with statutory requirements,” she said in a written response to KFF Health News.

After this article published, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon called KFF Health News to say others at HHS could do the work of the RIF’ed data analysis team, which had nine members. “The idea that this will come to a halt is totally incorrect,” he said. “Eighty million people will not be affected.”

Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has so far declined to testify about the staff reductions before congressional committees that oversee much of his agency. On April 9, a delegation of 10 Democratic members of Congress waited fruitlessly for a meeting in the agency’s lobby.

The group was led by House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), who told reporters afterward that Kennedy must appear before the committee “and tell us what his plan is for keeping America healthy and for stopping these devastating cuts.”

Matt VanHyfte, a spokesperson for the Republican committee leadership, said HHS officials would meet with bipartisan committee staff on April 11 to discuss the firings and other policy issues.

ASPE serves as a think tank for the HHS secretary, said Primus, who later was Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s senior health policy adviser for 18 years. In addition to the poverty guidelines, the office maps out how much Medicaid money goes to each state and reviews all regulations developed by HHS agencies.

“These HHS staffing cuts — 20,000 — obviously they are completely nuts,” Primus said. “These were not decisions made by Kennedy or staff at HHS. They are being made at the White House. There’s no rhyme or reasons to what they’re doing.”

HHS leaders may be unaware of their legal duty to issue the poverty guidelines, Ghertner said. If each state and federal government agency instead sets guidelines on its own, it could create inequities and lead to lawsuits, he said.

And sticking with the 2025 standard next year could put benefits for hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk, Ghertner said. The current poverty level is $15,650 for a single person and $32,150 for a family of four.

“If you make $30,000 and have three kids, say, and next year you make $31,000 but prices have gone up 7%, suddenly your $31,000 doesn’t buy you the same,” he said, “but if the guidelines haven’t increased, you might be no longer eligible for Medicaid.”

The 2025 poverty level for a family of five is $37,650.

As of October, about 79 million people were enrolled in Medicaid or the related Children’s Health Insurance Program, both of which are means-tested and thus depend on the poverty guidelines to determine eligibility.

Eligibility for premium subsidies for insurance plans sold in Affordable Care Act marketplaces is also tied to the official poverty level.

One in eight Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, and 40% of newborns and their mothers receive food through the Women, Infants, and Children program, both of which also use the federal poverty level to determine eligibility.

Former employees in the office said they were not disloyal to the president. They knew their jobs required them to follow the administration’s objectives. “We were trying to support the MAHA agenda,” the social scientist said, referring to Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” rubric. “Even if it didn’t align with our personal worldviews, we wanted to be useful.”

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While Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Gen-Z-aged software programmers are firing federal employees (includingveterans), a computer code appears to have been responsible for the laying off of 30 medical-related employees, including more than 10 laboratory leaders, at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). NINDS’ office of Human Resources scrambled to quickly re-hire the wrongly fired staff this week after a coding error mislabeled employees with incorrect position codes.

“NIH leadership has informed us that the individuals below should be contacted ASAP and told immediately return to work,” the HR email stated. Among reinstated employees are three senior scientists and staff in the Office of Research Training and Career Development, as well as people in the Office of the Scientific Director and facilities. One of the employees also included Richard Youle, who claimed a 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences after showing how clearing out damaged organelles discourages Parkinson’s disease.

“I am infuriated at the inefficiency of the time wasted by staff running around having to respond to these events, heartbroken for the emotional cost for hardworking, dedicated civil servants and scientific trainees just starting their careers,” an anonymous NINDS employee told The Transmitter.

READ MORE:'Spit in this judge's face': Former US attorney predicts Trump DHS will lose big in court

These 30 individuals are just a few of about 10,000 federal workers hit with reduction-in-force notices after Department of Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy announced an administrative overhaul. This includes more than 1,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) probationary employees receiving termination notices in February. The agency later walked back some of those dismissals as well.

Kennedy’s blanket purge is impacting many government facets connected to public health. CBS News recently reported that at least two-thirds of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) staff expected to be removed as part of Kennedy’s “restructuring” effort, despite Congress being the creating authority in the 1970s. The expulsions ended "health hazard evaluation" probes within the agency while other health-related layoffs are threatening life-saving studies and services, say critics.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) slammed Kennedy today over layoffs that included employees who’d worked with survivors and first responders to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack. Schumer said Kennedy had broken his commitment “to strengthen the health programs in a meeting with senators” prior to his confirmation as Health and Human Services secretary.

Republican politicians who advocated support for blanket lay-offs and the administration behind them are finding strong opposition at public meetings and events. After a wave of argument and hostility, some GOP members are even declining public engagements. President Donald Trump himself may be toying with the possibility of pulling Elon Musk’s controversial DOGE project.

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MEASLES OUTBREAK

MMA March 21, 2025, edition of The Charlie Kirk Show, streamed on Rumble

CHARLIE KIRK (HOST): I think — and let me let me interrupt you because we're running out of time here, and that's a great question. I live in an amazing medical freedom state here in Arizona, so I take this stuff for granted.

I want to try to work with Bobby Kennedy and President Trump to use some sort of federal money to say that you cannot force these extra vaccines on kids, especially those in religious environments. It's a serious issue, and I know producer Andrew's dealing with this right now in the free state of California. And anything beyond the 1980 schedule. And that is with — so I mean, you're talking about a — they're mandating the COVID shot now for six months old. And this is outrageous stuff, and so I think there has to be a role for the federal government. And my other piece of advice, David, we gotta go to a break, is try to work through the courts. There has to be some decision somewhere. It used to be ten vaccines. Now it's 72 shots for our babies. Something's not right, and our kids are sicker than ever.

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Employees at the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, received internal guidance last week to flag manuscripts, presentations or other communications for scrutiny if they addressed “controversial, high profile, or sensitive” topics. Among the 23 hot-button issues, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica: vaccines, fluoride, peanut allergies, autism.

While it’s not uncommon for the cancer institute to outline a couple of administration priorities, the scope and scale of the list is unprecedented and highly unusual, said six employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. All materials must be reviewed by an institute “clearance team,” according to the records, and could be examined by officials at the NIH or its umbrella agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Staffers and experts worried that the directive would delay or halt the publication of research. “This is micromanagement at the highest level,” said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

The list touches on the personal priorities of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has repeatedly promoted medical conspiracy theories and false claims. He has advanced the idea that rising rates of autism are linked to vaccines, a claim that has been debunked by hundreds of scientific studies. He has also suggested that aluminum in vaccines is responsible for childhood allergies (his son reportedly is severely allergic to peanuts). And he has claimed that water fluoridation — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called “one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century” — is an “industrial waste.”

In confirmation hearings in January, Kennedy said that he was not “anti-vaccine,” and that as secretary, he would not discourage people from getting immunized for measles or polio, but he dodged questions about the link between autism and vaccines.

Another term on the list, “cancer moonshot,” refers to a programlaunched by President Barack Obama in 2016. It was a priority of the Biden administration, which intended for the program to cut the nation’s cancer death rate by at least half and prevent more than 4 million deaths.

The list is “an unusual mix of words that are tied to activities that this administration has been at war with — like equity, but also words that they purport to be in favor of doing something about, like ultraprocessed food,” Tracey Woodruff, director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California, San Francisco, said in an email.

The guidance states that staffers “do not need to share content describing the routine conduct of science if it will not get major media attention, is not controversial or sensitive, and does not touch on an administration priority.”

A longtime senior employee at the institute said that the directive was circulated by the institute’s communications team, and the content was not discussed at the leadership level. It is not clear in which exact office the directive originated. The NCI, NIH and HHS did not respond to ProPublica’s emailed questions. (The existence of the list was first revealed in social media posts on Friday.)

Health and research experts told ProPublica they feared the chilling effect of the new guidance. Not only might it lead to a lengthier and more complex clearance process, it may also cause researchers to censor their work out of fear or deference to the administration’s priorities.

“This is real interference in the scientific process,” said Linda Birnbaum, a former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences who served as a federal scientist for four decades. The list, she said, “just seems like Big Brother intimidation.”

During the first two months of Donald Trump’s second presidency, his administration has slashed funding for research institutions and stalled the NIH’s grant application process.

Kennedy has suggested that hundreds of NIH staffers should be fired and said that the institute should deprioritize infectious diseases like COVID-19 and shift its focus to chronic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity.

Obesity is on the NCI’s new list, as are infectious diseases including COVID-19, bird flu and measles.

The “focus on bird flu and covid is concerning,” Woodruff wrote, because “not being transparent with the public about infectious diseases will not stop them or make them go away and could make them worse.”

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autism BS AGAIN 3 25

rfk2 cod liver oil vit A no full endorse of vax 97% effective; fort texas state and cty rx preTty good hotez dr but

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Marjorie Taylor Greene supports infecting kids at measles 'parties' as outbreaks turn deadly

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over the weekend, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. roiled the anti-vaccine community when he appeared to endorse the vaccination that prevents measles amid an ongoing outbreak in West Texas that has killed one child and sickened 159 people. But Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group that he helmed for a decade, hasn’t fallen in line with their former leader. Instead, an online fundraiser has appeared to collect donations that it says will be “used to defray the cost of essential vitamins, supplements, and medicines necessary to treat children enduring complications from the measles virus and other illnesses.”

The details of the plan, however, are murky. The fundraising site doesn’t specify exactly which treatments will be bought with the funds collected, how they will be administered, or by whom, and Children’s Health Defense didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Mother Jones.

The timing of the fundraiser matters. Over the last few days, following his apparent endorsement of the MMR vaccine, Kennedy has advocated for measles treatments for which there is limited medical evidence. In a Tuesday Fox News interview, he referred to “very, very good results” from treating measles with steroids, antibiotics, and cod liver oil—but he didn’t point to any specific research. Cod liver oil contains Vitamin A, which is often used in much higher concentrations to prevent complications from the disease, including blindness, but there is no credible evidence that cod liver oil itself can treat or prevent measles.

The fundraiser’s website lists its creator as Brian Hooker, a biologist and the chief scientific officer of Children’s Health Defense. It says the funds will go to Tina Siemens, a local historian of the community of Seminole, Texas. Over the last week, Siemens, a member of the local Mennonite church, has been outspoken about what she sees as the media’s unfair portrayal of her Mennonite community, some of whom choose not to vaccinate their children because of their religious beliefs.

“The media is portraying the unvaccinated as uneducated,” Siemens told Children’s Health Defense’s publication Defender on Tuesday. She said the unvaccinated families she knows “did more reading than those who say, ‘My doctor says [to get the shot], and I’m going to listen to my doctor.’”

“It’s not like, ‘Oh we’re so anxious, this is an outbreak, we got to really be scared,’ Siemens told the Washington Post earlier this week. “You work through it and you learn from your hardships and you get stronger because of it.”

Following Kennedy’s remarks about Vitamin A, some members of the anti-vaccine community have begun to tout unproven measles remedies. One such influencer is Stella Immanuel, the Texas doctor whose viral 2020 video falsely claimed that the antimalarial medication hydroxychloroquine was a Covid cure. Immanuel, who has also insisted that female reproductive problems were caused by having sex with demons, is currently selling elderberry and zinc supplements she says can “strengthen your immunity against measles.” One “bundle” she recommends, called CoviLyte, costs $170 and has been sold in her online store since the pandemic.

The Weston A. Price Foundation, a group that advocates for diets based around animal fats and has promoted raw milk, posted on X this week to its 43,000 followers, that measles “is not the disease it is portrayed as, nor has it ever been eradicated with a vaccine as we’ve often been told. What we refer to as measles characterizes symptoms that can be treated with vitamin A-rich foods.” Those claims have absolutely no basis in scientific fact.

Siemens didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Mother Jones. At the time of publication, the fundraiser had collected just shy of $5,000 in donations.

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Former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under President Donald Trump, is taking aim at carbonated soft drinks. As part of his Make American Healthy Again Campaign, RFK Jr. is pushing for soft drinks to be excluded from food aid programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

But according to Wall Street Journal reporters Kristina Peterson, Josh Dawsey and Laura Cooper, he is facing some obstacles — from beverage companies to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials who believe the proposal would be difficult to implement.

Moreover, Trump is, they note, a major consumer of Diet Coke.

READ MORE:'Putin is on the inside now': Trump team doesn't consider Russia a cybersecurity threat

In an article published on March 3, the WSJ journalists explain, "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calls it 'poison.' President Trump has multiple cans of it every day. Welcome to the 2025 soda wars. At both state and federal levels, the Kennedy-led Make America Healthy Again movement is backing efforts to prevent people from spending food-aid benefits on sugary, carbonated beverages. Now, they are gaining momentum with an administration led by a man who enjoys soda so much that he had a red button installed on his desk for a valet to bring him a Diet Coke."

Peterson, Dawsey and Cooper note that in the past, "liberal-leaning states" like New York and Minnesota tried to "strip soda from state food-aid programs" but encountered resistance from the USDA — which maintained that doing so would be difficult and complicated.

In 2025, however, right-wing Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is on board with that proposal.

Sanders told WSJ, "Nobody is anti-Diet Coke. Nobody is anti-soft drink. I like a soft drink, too. It's whether or not the government should be paying for it."

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Last fall, before being named the senior U.S. health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the Trump administration would liberate Americans from the FDA’s “aggressive suppression” of vitamins, dietary supplements, and other substances — ending the federal agency’s “war on public health,” as he put it.

In fact, the FDA can’t even require that supplements be effective before they are sold. When Congress, at the agency’s urging, last considered legislation to require makers of vitamins, herbal remedies, and other pills and potions to show proof of their safety and worth before marketing the products, it got more negative mail, phone calls, and telegrams than at any time since the Vietnam War, by some accounts. The backlash resulted in a 1994 law that enabled the dietary supplement industry to put its products on the market without testing and to tout unproven benefits, as long as the touting doesn’t include claims to treat or cure a disease. Annual industry revenues have grown from $4 billion to $70 billion since.

With Kennedy now in the driver’s seat, the industry will likely expect more: It aims to make bolder health claims for its products and even get the government, private insurers, and flexible spending accounts to pay for supplements, essentially putting them on an equal footing with FDA-approved pharmaceuticals.

On Feb. 13, the day Kennedy was sworn in as secretary of Health and Human Services, President Donald Trump issued a “Make America Healthy Again” agenda targeting alleged corruption in health regulatory agencies and instructing them to “ensure the availability of expanded treatment options and the flexibility for health insurance coverage to provide benefits that support beneficial lifestyle changes and disease prevention.”

Kennedy has said exercise, dietary supplements, and nutrition, rather than pharmaceutical products, are key to good health. Supplement makers want consumers to be able to use programs like health savings accounts, Medicare, and even benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to pay for such items as vitamins, fish oil, protein powders, and probiotics.

“Essentially they’re seeking a government subsidy,” said Pieter Cohen, a Harvard University physician who studies supplements.

As the Senate Finance Committee questioned Kennedy during his Jan. 29 confirmation hearing, supporters in the Alliance for Natural Health lunched on quinoa salad in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center and crowed that the moment had finally arrived for their health freedom movement, which has combined libertarian capitalism and mistrust of the medical establishment to champion unregulated compounds since the 19th century.

“The greatest opportunity of our lifetimes is before us,” said Jonathan Emord, the group’s general counsel, who has brought many successful lawsuits against the FDA’s restrictions on unproven health claims. “RFK has dedicated his whole life to opposing the undue influence” of the pharmaceutical industry and “assuring that our interests triumph,” Emord said.

In speeches and in a pamphlet called “The MAHA Mandate,” Emord and alliance founder Robert Verkerk said Kennedy would free companies to make greater claims for their products’ alleged benefits. Emord said his group was preparing to sue the FDA to prevent it from restricting non-pharmaceutical production of substances like biopeptides — complex molecules related to drugs like Ozempic.

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon did not respond to a request for comment on the agency’s plans vis-à-vis dietary supplements.

While the basic law governing the FDA establishes that a substance alleged to have treatment or curative effects is by definition a “drug,” and therefore comes under the agency’s requirements for high standards of scientific evidence, the new administration could reallocate money away from enforcement, said Mitch Zeller, former head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.

As a Senate aide early in his career, Zeller investigated a tainted L-tryptophan supplement that killed at least 30 people and sickened thousands in the U.S. in 1989. The scandal led the FDA to seek heavier regulation of supplements, but a powerful backlash resulted in the relatively weak supplements law of 1994.

Even that law’s enforcement could be undercut with a stroke of the pen that would keep FDA inspectors out of the field, Zeller said.

Sweeping changes couldn’t come too soon for Nathan Jones, founder and CEO of Xlear, a company that makes products containing xylitol, an artificial sweetener. The Federal Trade Commission sued Xlear in 2021 for making what it called false claims that its nasal spray could prevent and treat covid.

Jones points to a handful of studies evaluating whether xylitol prevents cavities and infections, saying the FDA would require overly expensive studies to get xylitol approved as a drug. Meanwhile, he said, dentists have been bought out by “Big Toothpaste.”

One can hardly find any products “without fluoride for oral health,” he said. “Crest and Colgate don’t want it to happen,” he said.

Kennedy’s desire to rid water supplies of fluoride because of its alleged impact on children’s IQ is welcome news, he said, and not only because it could highlight the value of his products. Jones stresses, as do many health freedom advocates, that clean air and water and unadulterated food do more to prevent and cure disease than vaccines and drugs. For example, he and other advocates claim, wrongly, that the United States eliminated the crippling disease polio through better sanitation, not vaccination.

The Alliance for Natural Health hopes that in lieu of strict FDA standards, Kennedy will enable companies to make expanded marketing claims based on evidence from non-FDA sources, Verkerk said, such as the National Institutes of Health’s nutritional information site, which describes the pros and cons of different supplements.

Kennedy has also called for relaxing the strictures on psychedelic drugs, which interest some veterans as potential remedies for such conditions as post-traumatic stress disorder. VETS, a San Diego-based organization, has paid for 1,000 veterans to get treatment with the powerful hallucinogen ibogaine at clinics in Mexico and other countries, said the group’s co-founder Amber Capone.

She got involved after her husband, a retired Navy SEAL, pulled out of a suicidal spiral after spending a week at an ibogaine clinic near Tijuana, Mexico, in 2017. She wants NIH, the Defense Department, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to fund research on the illegal substance — which can cause cardiac complications and is listed as a Schedule I drug, on par with heroin and LSD — so it can be made legally available when appropriate.

Coincidentally, the push for less onerous standards on supplements and psychedelics would come while Kennedy is demanding “gold-standard science” to review preservatives and other food additives that he has said could play a role in the country’s high rate of chronic diseases.

“Put aside the fact that there’s precious little evidence to support” that idea, said Stuart Pape, a former FDA food center attorney. “There’s been no indication they want the same rigor for supplements and nutraceuticals.”

Although most of these products don’t have major safety concerns, “we have no idea which products work, so in the best case people are throwing away a ton of money,” Zeller said. “The worst-case scenario is they are relying on unproven products to treat underlying conditions, and time is going by when they could have been using more effective FDA-authorized products for diseases.”

Supplement makers aren’t entirely unified. Groups such as the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and the Council for Responsible Nutrition have advocated for the FDA to crack down on products that are unsafe or falsely represented. The Alliance for Natural Health and the Natural Products Association, meanwhile, largely want the government to get out of the way.

“The time has come to embrace a radical shift — from reactive disease management to proactive health cultivation, from top-down public health diktats to personalized, individual-centric care,” Emord and Verkerk state in their “MAHA Mandate.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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MMA

February 19, 2025, edition of CNN's CNN Newsroom

PAMELA BROWN (CNN ANCHOR): And just be clear, these are two separate issues. There's vaccines, which are proven safe and effective, and we're going to talk more about that. But then there's the issue of chronic disease caused by, you know, the food that we're consuming, processed food and all of that, which, as you both agree on, that needs to be dealt with, that needs to be a priority, of course. Which is why in many ways, RFK Jr. has gained so much popularity among many Americans on that issue.

But I want to go to you, Calley, to respond. And also, you know, with this measles threat, isn't now a time to promote vaccines? Which, again, the CDC says safe, effective, that two doses are 90% effective against measles. Is it now a time to promote that, especially among children who are being impacted by measles in places like Texas and in these six states who are unvaccinated, according to health officials?

CALLEY MEANS (CO-FOUNDER, TRUEMED): Pamela, with respect, why aren't you asking me about the fact that 50% of teens have obesity? Why aren't there? There are.

BROWN: I have other questions for you. But we're talking about this.

[CROSSTALK]

MEANS: Day after day, Pamela. It's breathless coverage of five measles cases. Why aren't we asking why 16% of COVID deaths worldwide were Americans when we we're only 4% of the world population? Because the CDC said our immune system — no, it is related, Pamela, and let me say why. Because the entire coverage of Bobby Kennedy is around measles. The Democrats said the word measles 25 times in the first hearing and said the words obesity, diabetes, and chronic disease zero time. The HHS priority document under President Biden said the word equity 25 times, said the word vaccines countless times, did not say the word obesity or diabetes.

There is a problem right now because this is not zero — this is zero sum. We are focused on a very small subset that's important. We need good infectious disease management. Bobby Kennedy — Dr. Offit is not correct. Bobby Kennedy has said one thing about vaccines and one thing only: that they should be studied like any other product. Dr. Offit on the ACIP committee has recommended vaccines that have ended up being recalled for causing mass issues to kids. Bobby Kennedy has written multiple books not about being anti-vax, but about having good science, and Dr. Offit is calling him anti-vaccine for literally just saying we need studies. Bobby Kennedy is not concerned with measles. He wants good policies with measles. He wants to attack the 92% of deaths in United States, which is chronic conditions.

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aaron siri liar polio and 13 86d foia bs

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KIM STRASSEL

WSJ ~ RFK2 ?! 12 24

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— “Mass Murderer in Waiting”: Reporter accuses LA Times’ billionaire owner of editing his anti-RFK op-ed to support Kennedy. Eric Reinhart wrote an article for the LA Times about Bob Kennedy’s appearance before the Senate, but is now saying that the paper’s editors — presumably at the behest of the paper’s rightwing billionaire owner — rewrote his article and changed the headline to make it seem like he was endorsing Kennedy when in fact it was the opposite.

“I am the author of this OpEd,” Reinhart wrote on X, “which was given a misleading title and from which key lines were cut—lines that made very clear that RFK Jr is dangerously ignorant, has absolutely no business near HHS, and is effectively a mass murderer in waiting.” What’s the old joke about the Golden Rule? “He who has the gold makes the rules,” as I recall. Certainly seems to be the case here, truth be damned…

===

One Fox contributor called out RFK Jr.’s “lifetime spreading misinformation.” Fox's evening lineup then gushed over him.

Written by Isabella Corrao

Research contributions from John Whitehouse

Published 01/30/25 mma

On the first day of anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearings for secretary of Health and Human Services — where the nominee showed he doesn't understand how Medicaid works — most Fox News figures spent the evening fawning over Kennedy, despite his history of misinformation.

Meanwhile, other Rupert Murdoch-owned outlets are sounding the alarm about Kennedy's lack of qualifications, with one Wall Street Journal editorial board member appearing on Fox to emphasize that Kennedy “has spent a lifetime spreading misinformation.”

Fox News contributor Jason Riley: Kennedy “has spent a lifetime spreading misinformation"

On Special Report, Wall Street Journal columnist and Fox News contributor Jason Riley noted that Kennedy “has spent a lifetime spreading misinformation and enriching himself and trial lawyers by spreading this misinformation. I don’t think he’s the right person for the job.”

Video

From the January 29, 2025, edition of Fox News'Special Report with Bret Baier

The Wall Street Journal editorial page also called out Kennedy’s “clear conflict of interest” in making money on lawsuits against drug companies while head of HHS as flat-out “disqualifying”:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday to root out corruption between industry and government. Yet the man who wants to be the nation’s Secretary of Health and Human Services refused to rule out personally making money from lawsuits against drug makers. This ought to be disqualifying.

...

Mr. Kennedy’s disclosures show that he has received more than $2.5 million from law firms that have sued drug and vaccine makers. He also has a financial stake in a pending lawsuit against human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine maker Merck. Mr. Kennedy’s trial-lawyer ties and financial interests in litigation against drug makers pose a clear conflict of interest.

Indeed, Murdoch outlets like The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post have been some of the loudest critics of Kennedy's nomination, drawing criticism from the likes of Steve Bannon.

Nearly 100 million low-income Americans rely on Medicaid for their health care coverage, but it is one of many programs on the chopping block as Republicans prepare a massive bill aimed at cutting taxes for the rich. During his hearing, Kennedy showed ignorance of how Medicaid works. Perhaps the most devastating line of questioning came from a Republican senator:

> Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., repeatedly pressed Kennedy about proposed changes to the program and for his thoughts about Medicaid reform.

“Republicans, again, are looking at ways to potentially reform Medicaid to help pay for President Trump’s priorities,” Cassidy said. “What thoughts do you have regarding Medicaid reform?”

“Most people who are on Medicaid are not happy,” Kennedy responded. “The premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high, the networks are narrow.”

A 2023 poll from KFF, a nonprofit group that researches health policy issues, found that a majority of Americans have “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable” views of the program. He made similar comments about the Affordable Care Act.

People on Medicaid generally aren’t charged premiums or deductibles at all.

Kennedy also reportedly made false or misleading claims about vaccines, chronic disease in children, and even his own previous remarks — such as when he was caught on video in 2023 pushing the deranged conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was “targeted” to “attack Caucasians and Black people” and exclude Jewish and Chinese people.

Kennedy has a troubling history of pushing false claims about public health and safety. He long has argued that “autism comes from vaccines,” despite many peer-reviewed studies concluding there is no link.

In 2019, then the chairman of the anti-vaccine nonprofit Children Health’s Defense, Kennedy traveled to the country Samoa and seemingly took advantage of two babies’ deaths resulting from improperly administered measles vaccines to emphasize the supposed dangers of vaccines and discourage vaccination efforts. Eighty-three people died from measles and thousands were sickened in the outbreak that subsequently swept Samoa.

Despite Kennedy's record of pushing misinformation and his questionable performance in the hearing — and despite the record of criticism of Kennedy from Murdoch outlets — Fox News’ biggest hosts unabashedly celebrated his nomination after the first hearing:

mma 1 25

January 29, 2025, edition of Newsmax's *Greg Kelly Reports

GREG KELLY (HOST): I'm a conspiracy theorist, and I hope you are too. Yes, it was made official today. They finally just, for everybody — when they say you're a conspiracy theorist, that means you're a critical thinker. That means you're independent. That means you don't necessarily go with the fake news preferred narrative. You see things for yourself. You are not afraid to take data and come to your own conclusion. This is a free country. It ought to remain so. So this was an interesting moment during RFK's confirmation hearing today. A lot of interesting moments, actually, but I really like what Thom Tillis, the Republican of North Carolina, did here with RFK.

...

KELLY: Exactly. If you're onto something, if you are asking uncomfortable questions of powerful interests, it's one of the first tricks they'll try — conspiracy theorists. It won't work anymore. It's kind of like when they started calling everything racist, right? At first. People will do anything to not be seen of that way, and they realize the true racists were the ones calling everybody racists. So conspiracy theorist doesn't work anymore. And if they do call you that, wear it with pride.

===

===

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The many controversial people appointed to the Trump administration, from Elon Musk to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have at least one thing in common: They dislike and distrust experts.

While anti-intellectualism and populism are nothing new in American life, there has hardly been an administration as seemingly committed to these worldviews.

Take President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Kennedy, a well-known vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, whose Senate confirmation hearing is Jan. 29, 2025, epitomizes the new American political ethos of populism and anti-intellectualism, or the idea that people hold negative feelings toward not just scientific research but those who produce it.

Anti-intellectual attacks on the scientific community have been increasing, and have become more partisan, in recent years.

For instance, Trump denigrated scientific experts on the campaign trail and in his first term in office. He called climate science a “hoax” and public health officials in his administration “idiots.”

Skepticism, false assertions

This rhetoric filtered into public discussion, as seen in viral social media posts mocking and attacking scientists like Dr. Anthony Fauci, or anti-mask protesters confronting health officials at public meetings and elsewhere.

Trump and Kennedy have cast doubt on vaccine safety and the medical scientific establishment. As far back as the Republican primary debates in 2016, Trump falsely asserted that childhood vaccines cause autism, in defiance of scientific consensus on the issue.

Kennedy’s long-term vaccine skepticism has also been well documented, though he himself denies it. More recently, he has been presenting himself as “pro-vaccine safety,” as one Republican senator put it, on the eve of Kennedy’s confirmation hearing.

Kennedy has mirrored Trump’s anti-intellectual rhetoric by referring to government health agency culture as “corrupt” and the agencies themselves as “sock puppets.”

If confirmed, Kennedy has vowed to turn this anti-intellectual rhetoric into action. He wants to replace over 600 employees in the National Institutes of Health with his own hires. He has also suggested cutting entire departments.

During one interview, Kennedy said, “In some categories, there are entire departments, like the nutrition department at the FDA, that are – that have to go.”

Populism across political spectrum

In lockstep with this anti-intellectual movement is a version of populism that people like RFK Jr. and Trump both espouse.

Populism is a worldview that pits average citizens against “the elites.” Who the elites are varies depending on the context, but in the contemporary political climate in the U.S., establishment politicians, scientists and organizations like pharmaceutical companies or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are frequently portrayed as such.

For instance, right-wing populists often portray government health agencies as colluding with multinational pharmaceutical companies to impose excessive regulations, mandate medical interventions and restrict personal freedoms.

Left-wing populists expose how Big Pharma manipulates the health care system, using their immense wealth and political influence to put profits over people, deliberately keeping lifesaving medications overpriced and out of reach – all of which has been said by politicians like Bernie Sanders.

The goal of a populist is to portray these elites as the enemy of the people and to root out the perceived “corruption” of the elites.

This worldview doesn’t just appeal to the far right. Historically in the United States, populism has been more of a force on the political left. To this day, it is present on the left through Sanders and similar politicians who rail against wealth inequality and the interests of the “millionaire class.”

In short, the Trump administration’s populist and anti-intellectual worldview does not map cleanly onto the liberal-conservative ideological divide in the U.S. That is why Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat and nephew of a Democratic president, might become a Cabinet member for a Republican president.

The cross-ideological appeal of populism and anti-intellectualism also partly explains why praise for Trump’s selection of Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services came from all corners of society. Republican senators Ron Johnson and Josh Hawley lauded the move, as did basketball star Rudy Gobert and Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis.

Even former President Barack Obama once considered Kennedy for a Cabinet post in 2008.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is greeted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on stage during a campaign event on Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Anger at elites

Why, then, is disdain for scientific experts appealing to so many Americans?

Much of the public supports this worldview because of perceived ineffectiveness and moral wrongs made by the elites. Factors such as the opioid crisis encouraged by predatory pharmaceutical companies, public confusion and dissatisfaction with changing health guidance in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the frequently prohibitive cost of health care and medicine have given some Americans reason to question their trust in science and medicine.

Populists have embraced popular and science-backed policies that align with an anti-elite stance. Kennedy, for example, supports decreasing the amount of ultra-processed foods in public school lunches and reducing toxic chemicals in the food supply and natural environment. These stances are backed by scientific evidence about how to improve public health. At the same time, they point to the harmful actions of a perceived corrupt elite – the profit-driven food industry.

It is, of course, reasonable to want to hold accountable both public officials for their policy decisions and scientists and pharmaceutical companies who engage in unethical behavior. Scientists should by no means be immune from scrutiny.

Examining, for example, what public health experts got wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic would be tremendously helpful from the standpoint of preparing for future public health crises, but also from the standpoint of rebuilding public trust in science, experts and institutions.

However, the Trump administration does not appear to be interested in pursuing good faith assessments. And Trump’s victory means he gets to implement his vision and appoint people he wants to carry it out. But words have consequences, and we have seen the impact of anti-vaccine rhetoric during the COVID-19 pandemic, where “red” counties and states had significantly lower vaccine intent and uptake compared with the “blue” counterparts.

Therefore, despite sounding appealing, Kennedy’s signature slogan, “Make America Healthy Again,” could – in discouraging policies and behaviors that have been proven effective against diseases and their crippling or deadly outcomes – bring about a true public health crisis.

Dominik Stecuła, Assistant Professor of Communication and Political Science, The Ohio State University; Kristin Lunz Trujillo, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of South Carolina, and Matt Motta, Assistant Professor of Political Science, *Boston University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

===

Charlie Kirk: “For any Republican senator out there, if you vote against Bobby Kennedy, there will be primaries”

01/29/25 3:34 PM EST

  1. ### Benny Johnson: “Senators must confirm RFK or face the absolute whirlwind of some very, very powerful forces of MAHA and MAGA that will absolutely torch them”

01/29/25

===

WOMAN HE ATTACKED AGREE TO TESTIFY

caroline video ~

whitehouse warren confirm ~

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mma

Right-wing media are split on RFK Jr.’s nomination to lead HHS

Written by Gideon Taaffe & Chloe Simon

Published 01/28/25

As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faces a Senate vote to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, right-wing media are split on whether to support his nomination.

Some claim the nominee — who has a long history of undermining scientific research and promoting health misinformation — is a “bipartisan” solution for “Making America Healthy Again,” while others have highlighted his past extremism, Democratic affiliations, and pro-abortion beliefs. Some right-wing media have also covered for Kennedy’s extremism in the past, largely ignoring his vaccination views.

Kennedy has a history of pushing harmful policies and embracing extremism — and right-wing media have played cover for him

* After Kennedy dropped out of the race and subsequently endorsed now-President Donald Trump, Fox News whitewashed his extremism and promoted him to lead HHS.The network barely covered his stance on the COVID-19 vaccine and praised him for trying to “make our children healthy again.” Media Matters, [8/27/24, 8/29/24]

* Fox’s Laura Ingraham dismissed concerns that Kennedy would ignore public health experts, saying, “The left is upset because, most of all, Trump is doing what he promised to do — fix large parts of our government, frankly all of it.”Siegel, her guest, once again praised Kennedy for trying to reverse obesity. Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [1/27/25]

//

Fox vouched for RFK Jr.’s health views. Now that bill may come due.

11/04/24

  1. ### Anti-vaccine media figures say they are advising RFK Jr. and the Trump transition team about public health policy

11/21/24

  1. ### Fox News has embraced Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump while ignoring his dangerous views on vaccines

08/29/24

  1. ### Steve Bannon attacks “the Murdoch enterprise” for being “off the chain in coming after” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

01/29/25 1:06 PM EST

  1. ### Steve Bannon: We need everyone “at the ramparts” for RFK Jr. confirmation hearing

01/29/2

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xo ~ nih 100k ducks killed bird flu

duck 1 25

NPR

https://www.npr.org › 2024 › 11 › 12 › nx-s1-5183014 › trump-election-2024-nih-rfk

Trump may overhaul the NIH, with input from RFK, Republican lawmakers : NPR

Nov 12, 2024Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal critic of mainstream medicine, has President-elect Donald Trump's ear. Over the weekend, Kennedy said he'd like to immediately replace 600 NIH employees.

Author:Rob Stein

ProPublica

https://www.propublica.org › article › nih-niaid-trump-kennedy-bhattacharya-vaccines-research

Trump Could Drastically Reshape NIH. Here's What's at Stake. — ProPublica

Jan 15, 2025More recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, has said he wants to fire and replace 600 of the agency's ...

News for nih rfk

Trump Issues Gag Order for CDC, FDA; Stalled Hearing for RFK Jr.; Sex After Cancer

MedPage Today

2d

Trump taps COVID-censored Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya to lead…

New York Post

59d

NIH director, after Trump nominates RFK Jr. for HHS secretary, says discouraging v…

Fox News

66d

RFK Jr.'s Extremist Views on CDC; Hysterectomy Misconceptions; Blo…

MedPage Today

51d

RFK Jr. says he's helping Trump pick leaders of FDA, NIH, CDC

The Hill

Was this helpful?

Science | AAAS

https://www.science.org › content › article › trump-won-nih-major-shake

Trump won. Is NIH in for a major shake-up? | Science | AAAS

Nov 6, 2024Republicans had NIH in their sights even before the election, with proposals to restructure it and restrict some areas of research. Trump's embrace of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, has also unsettled researchers. Trump has said he will let Kennedy "go wild on" health, medicines, and food policy.

MSN

https://www.msn.com › en-us › health › other › rfk-jr-suggests-replacing-hundreds-of-federal-health-employees › ar-AA1tUkGM

RFK Jr. Suggests Replacing Hundreds of Federal Health Employees - MSN

NIH employees work in research settings, clinics and in the field worldwide. ... RFK Jr. is an outspoken opponent of Big Pharma and Big Food and has at various times attributed the source of ...

Science | AAAS

https://www.science.org › content › article › researchers-state-panic-after-robert-f-kennedy-jr-says-trump-will-hand-him-health

Researchers 'in a state of panic' after Robert F. Kennedy Jr ... - AAAS

Oct 30, 2024Concerns about what a second Donald Trump (R) presidency could mean for public health and biomedical research ratcheted up this week after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told supporters Trump has promised to give him "control" over agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Vox

https://www.vox.com › health › 385541 › rfk-jr-trump-hhs-vaccines-fluoride

RFK Jr. to lead HHS under Trump. Here's how he could reshape ... - Vox

Nov 15, 2024Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks alongside former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Georgia in October 2024. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post. Part Of. ... NIH, FDA, and CDC — and ...

Nature

https://www.nature.com › articles › d41586-024-03736-0

Major biomedical funder NIH poised for massive reform under ... - Nature

Nov 15, 2024Robert F. Kennedy Jr, whom Trump has chosen to run the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — the NIH's parent agency — said in 2023 that he would seek an eight-year pause for ...

STAT

https://www.statnews.com › 2024 › 12 › 27 › trump-rfk-nih-medical-research-funding

How Trump and RFK Jr. could change health funding priorities - STAT

Dec 27, 2024Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is a vocal critic of vaccines and mainstream medicine who has vowed to replace 600 employees at the NIH.

Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com › science › 2024 › 10 › rfk-jr-claims-trump-promised-to-put-him-in-charge-of-nih-cdc-and-more

RFK Jr. claims Trump promised to put him in charge of NIH, CDC, and more

Oct 31, 2024RFK Jr. is saying he's been promised power over major health agencies, and Trump officials believe his nonsense. ... CDC, FDA, NIH and a few others. And also the USDA, which is, you know, key to ...

Scientific American

https://www.scientificamerican.com › article › what-rfk-jr-s-health-cabinet-position-under-trump-might-look-like

What Might Happen to Public Health under RFK, Jr.

Nov 14, 2024Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a campaign rally for president-elect Donald Trump at Macomb Community College on November 01, 2024 in Warren, Michigan. ... Republicans want to trim the NIH's ...

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01/16/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

Georgia State Senator Colton Moore (R) was arrested at the State Capitol on Thursday while attempting to attend the governor’s State of the State address.

Hegseth is not only a proponent of Christian Nationalism, as it is commonly understood as the fusion of government with conservative Christian values, but an advocate for a revolutionary theocratic vision for the overthrow of the Constitution of the United States.

It’s hard to find strong enough adjectives to describe the unmitigated disaster the senate hearing on the nomination of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense was. Even the few Republicans who had expressed previous concerns about his nomination handled him with kid gloves.

Antisemitic white nationalist Elijah Schaffer appeared on The Baptist Bias — a Rumble show hosted by Christian extremists Jonathan Shelley and Benjamin “Ben the Baptist” Naim. During the show, Schaffer declared that women who have abortions “should be put to death,” and joked about bombing Planned Parenthood facilities.

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set out in late 2021 to hawk a conspiracy theory-drenched book attacking Anthony Fauci for his work to limit the spread of infectious diseases, he ran into a problem. Mainstream TV networks weren’t interested, due to Kennedy’s penchant for spreading falsehoods about childhood vaccinations, Covid, and other topics.

Tulsi Gabbard’s spiritual “guru” called gay people “perverts” and spewed homophobic slurs when she was involved in his tiny group, an audio recording obtained by the Daily Beast reveals.

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) invoked God and religion to harshly question Martin O’Malley, the former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration and a former Governor of Maryland, about his personal views on abortion and his Catholic faith.

The infamous paramilitary group has a new honcho, and designs to influence cops, politicians, and the Boy Scouts.

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AN 1 25

Former Vice President Mike Pence may no longer be President-elect Donald Trump's right-hand man, but he's not quite done with politics yet.

That's according to a Wednesday article in Politico, which reported that Pence's organization, Advancing American Freedom (AAF), is waging a campaign aimed at Republican senators urging them to reject one of Trump's high-profile Cabinet picks. AAF is setting its sights on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his previous positions in favor of abortion.

AAF wrote in a statement that Kennedy is "pro-abortion," which the group argues is "completely out of step with the strong, pro-life record of the first Trump Administration."

READ MORE:'Karen Pence is all of us': Internet cheers former VP's wife for refusing to acknowledge Trump

"While RFK Jr. has made certain overtures to pro-life leaders that he would be mindful of their concerns at HHS, there is little reason for confidence at this time," AAF's letter continued.

AAF's letter advocating against Kennedy's confirmation comes on the heels of a remark Pence made in December, when he lamented that RFK Jr. was "the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history." And so far, the president-elect's team has remained relatively quiet regarding RFK Jr.'s past comments in favor of abortion.

When Kennedy was fielding his own presidential bid as an independent, he had conflicting positions on abortion. At first, he backed a 15-week ban on the procedure, but then did a one-eighty and said all pregnant individuals should have the right to an abortion, even if it's full-term." He's since walked that statement back saying that he only supports abortion restrictions late into a pregnancy.

As Politico reported, HHS has significant sway over abortion in the United States as it provides funding for women's health nonprofit Planned Parenthood. HHS also has jurisdiction over abortion drug Mifepristone, which has been used for medication abortions with FDA approval for decades. The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 has called for the enforcement of the Comstock Act of 1873 as a means of restricting access to abortion drugs like Mifepristone.

READ MORE:Trump team dodging Republicans' concerns about RFK on key issue: report

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MMA

Sean Hannity boasts he had dinner with drug company executives, RFK Jr., and other Trump staffers

12/17/24

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AN 12 24

Robert F. Kennedy Jr's daughter-in-law and ex-undercover Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, was top of Donald Trump's list to become the agency's next director — until Monday.

The Washington Post's John Hudson reported via X that Donald Trump dropped his "consideration of RFK Jr.'s daughter-in-law for No. 2 job at CIA following campaign by Sen. Tom Cotton who lobbied Susie Wiles and others to oppose her."

Hudson noted that while "Cotton, one of the most hawkish senators, opposed her over counterterrorism issues," the ex-Trump pick has a "different" story.

READ MORE:Trump being sent signals it's 'going to be ugly' if some nominees don't drop out: NBC

The national security reporter posted a screenshot from his own Post report, which reads:

*'A person close to Cotton said the senator's concerns pertained to comments Fox Kennedy made years ago to Al Jazeera noting the importance of understanding America's adversaries. 'The only real way to disarm your enemy is to listen to them,' Fox Kennedy told the news network. Cotton likened such remarks as sympathizing with terrorists, this person said.

*Fox Kennedy has told others that the process of establishing commonalities with adversaries is a foundation of CIA's field tradecraft training, and that those efforts to recruit enemies as information sources are not sympathizing but at the core of basic spy craft, according to a person familiar with her private conversations.

Although Fox Kennedy — who's married to RFK Jr.'s son, Bobby Kennedy III — will no longer be considered for the deputy director position, "Trump has told others that he wanted a national security position for Fox Kennedy and that the CIA post was not the only option, said people familiar with the matter who suspect she is likely to be tapped for a position at the White House National Security Council or within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."

READ MORE:'Unqualified': Former CIA director slams Trump Cabinet nominee

*The Washington Post's full report is available here (subscription required).

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related

an 12 24

In today's politically polarized United States, food choices are among the many things that can become part of identity politics. Healthy eating is viewed with suspicion in some MAGA circles.

But in an article published on December 13, NOTUS reporters Evan McMorris-Santoro and Ben T.N. Mause describe a trend of "granola conservatives" or "granola Republicans" who, they say, are growing in numbers.

"One of the toughest tension points in the incoming GOP trifecta could be the Republican identity crisis when it comes to food," the journalists explain. "A growing number of Republicans who, for decades, have been staunch allies of the corporations who create and market what we eat are starting to feel like it's up to them to regulate what those corporations sell."

READ MORE:**'The next recession starts here': Trump team weighs abolishing bank regulators**

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) told NOTUS, "It’s not a fad. It’s a growing trend. People are taking their own health into their own hands. They're learning more about nutrition, educating themselves. And so, my wife and my two daughters and their families, they are very into it."

McMorris-Santoro and Mause cite Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) as a Republican who has "introduced bills to ban certain food dyes and high-fructose corn syrup in food."

The reporters note, "She's about as conservative as they come, but she sounds like a Prius owner in line at Whole Foods when it comes to warnings about food regulations."

NOTUS asked S**en. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) if the "granola conservative movement" is "growing," and he responded, "It’s hard to give a short answer to that. but yes."

===

OnThe Story with Martha MacCallum, author Michael Shellenberger claimed that Kennedy will not “ban vaccines or discourage vaccines,” adding that he will be “very constrained” and is “proposing some pretty reasonable measures.” Shellenberger: “I think he obviously made that commitment that he wasn't going to ban vaccines, he wasn’t going to discourage vaccines. I think if he gets through his nomination, I think he is going to be very constrained with what he can do, but he's basically proposing some pretty reasonable measures to have better regulation of all drugs including vaccines.” Fox News, *The Story with Martha MacCallum*, [11/15/24]...

AN 12 24

Nobel Prize winners call on Senate to reject RFK Jr. nomination: report

===

mma

Fox guests and medical contributors encouraged Trump's worst COVID impulses. Now they're running the show.

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 11/26/24 mma

Then-President Donald Trump repeatedly favored the Fox News hosts and guests he saw on his television screen over federal health policy experts as he managed the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and it had calamitous consequences. He's going even further as he prepares for his second term, picking familiar faces from the right-wing propaganda network to run the government health bureaucracy.

Trump, a Fox obsessive, staffed his first administration with at least 20 former Fox personalities, and he continues to rely on that method as he stocks his second one. But the network’s dominance among Trump’s announced picks to carry out his second-term health policy is nonetheless striking.

Anti-vaccine activist and Fox hero Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He will potentially oversee former Fox contributor Dr. Marty Makary at the Food and Drug Administration, Fox medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat as U.S. surgeon general, and frequent Fox guests Dr. Jay Bhattacharya at the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Mehmet Oz at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (Bhattacharya has not been formally announced but is reportedly the top pick for the position.)

These picks, to an extent, show Trump aligning his health policy hires with his own Fox-molded views.

As president during the pandemic, he clashed with his official advisers when they contradicted what he was hearing from Fox personalities. The result was often chaos in decision-making, implementation, and public messaging.

Makary, Bhattacharya, Oz, and Nesheiwat received regular Fox airtime because on issues like the use of untested drugs such as hydroxychloroquine or nonpharmaceutical interventions like office and school closures, they tended to hew close to the Fox line — which also became the Trump line. If another pandemic hits, it is possible that they will be able to mitigate Trump’s worst impulses; they have real medical credentials, and Trump is likely to have greater confidence in them due to their shared past views.

But while Trump’s promotion of COVID-19 vaccines through Operation Warp Speed was an unalloyed triumph in his first term, Kennedy is a crank who was openly hostile to the drugs. And other members of the second-term team regularly went on Fox to warn about the purported health impacts of the vaccines and criticize mandates to ensure their use. That does not bode well for the prospect of a successful response should another pandemic hit during the next four years.

RFK Jr. at HHS is a Fox-fueled disaster for health policy

Fox hosts and other right-wing media figures like Tucker Carlson spent 18 months irresponsibly championing Kennedy as part of a strategy to return Trump to the White House. The network regularly promoted him as a Democratic candidate, then showered him with praise and vouched for his health views after Carlson ensured that he endorsed Trump.

The result is that Kennedy — who has pushed debunked claims about childhood vaccination causing autism, questioned the well-established science over whether HIV actually causes AIDS, and promoted kooky conspiracy theories about 5G cellular towers and chemtrails — is Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy was among the biggest U.S. sources of anti-vaccine misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic, terming the COVID-19 vaccine “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” Other noted anti-vaccine figures and fringe crackpots claim to be advising him on the transition.

He also suggested that the pandemic may have been “planned,” that public health efforts taken in response constituted “a pharmaceutical-driven, biosecurity agenda that will enslave the entire human race and plunge us into a dystopian nightmare,” and that the virus itself had been “ethnically targeted” to afflict “Caucasians and Black people” while sparing “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."

Several other Trump picks for top health posts were heavily featured during the Fox’s coronavirus coverage.

Oz, the television personality and grifter Trump selected to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, became a Fox regular in 2020. He made scores of network appearances at the start of the pandemic, particularly championing hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug that right-wing media figures promoted as a treatment for or preventative to COVID.

Oz’s commentary attracted the attention of Trump, who reportedly urged aides to consult with the TV doctor about the outbreak. Oz subsequently ran for the U.S. Senate with the support of Fox star and Trump adviser Sean Hannity, but he came up short in the 2022 midterms.

Makary, Nesheiwat, and Bhattacharya also seemingly became Fox regulars because of their willingness to contradict COVID-19 guidance from federal public health agencies on its airwaves.

FDA selection Makary — who argued in a February 2021 Wall Street Journal op-ed that the U.S. would reach “herd Immunity by April” — used his Fox platform in the months leading up to the emergence of the deadly delta variant to criticize public health officials for warning of new strains of the virus. He also criticized vaccine mandates, particularly for children, citing the vaccine’s purported health risks.

Reported NIH pick Bhattacharya — a signatory of the 2020 Great Barrington Declaration, which called for building up herd immunity through “natural infection” — likewise used his time in Fox’s spotlight to criticize vaccine mandates. He agreed with Fox host Laura Ingraham during an August 2021 segment that the FDA approved COVID-19 vaccines “too fast,” saying, “The FDA approval does not change the fact that we don't have long-term safety data with the vaccine."

And Nesheiwat, the Fox medical contributor Trump selected as surgeon general, promoted the use of supplemental zinc as a COVID-19 treatment and repeatedly highlighted the purported health risks of vaccination for children and young men.

Their commentary was part of a massive and effective effort by Fox to undermine the COVID-19 vaccination program. Now, if confirmed, they will be running major federal health bureaucracies.

Trump regularly leaned on Fox’s programming and personalities for advice, and the network shaped both his worldview and his administration’s actions. No event demonstrated the extent of the network’s influence more than his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump didn’t treat COVID’s initial spread as an emergency because Fox was telling him that the media and Democrats were deliberately exaggerating the danger it posed.

He propped up hydroxychloroquine because the network told him it could be a miracle cure, refused to wear masks or socially distance because its hosts said those interventions didn’t work, and then urged the swift reopening of the economy they demanded.

He cut off support to the World Health Organization because one of Fox's stars suggested it and selected a White House adviser from the network’s green room to implement a “herd immunity” strategy.

The result was mass death.

The saving grace of the Trump pandemic response was Operation Warp Speed, an innovative program that sped the development of safe, effective vaccines against the virus. But Trump was out of office by the time the vaccines were deployed, and Fox responded with a yearslong campaign against the drugs. Fox regulars like Makary, Nesheiwat, and Bhattacharya pitched in by criticizing the safety of the vaccines or mandates for their use.

The four doctors Trump picked from Fox’s airwaves do have real medical credentials, and their selections have received some praise from public health experts.

Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist, said Nesheiwat is “a good appointment,” describing her as “very smart, thoughtful, interested in learning.”

Dr. Ashish Jha, who served in President Joe Biden’s White House, called the appointments of Makary, Oz, and Bhattacharya “pretty reasonable,” adding: “I have plenty of policy disagreements with them. They are smart and experienced. We will need them to do well.”

Indeed, they may take office as H5N1 bird flu spreads in American livestock and from livestock to people. If that virus makes the jump to human-to-human transmission, the U.S. health bureaucracy will be forced to grapple with another deadly pandemic.

Focusing specifically on Bhattacharya, Slow Boring’s Matt Yglesias offered the best-case scenario for how Trump’s health appointees could impact a pandemic response:

Bhattacharya’s criticisms of nonpharmaceutical intervetions during 2020 went further than I would have, and I don’t agree with him per se. That said, he is well-credentialed and smart and also aligned with Trump on the substantive question.

Four years ago, Trump had a lot of people in place who he didn’t have confidence in and didn’t listen to, and then he had a lot of unqualified people articulating his views.

Bhattacharya can do what an executive branch official is supposed to do and channel Trump-style views in a professional way.

What’s more, precisely because his anti-NPI credentials are unimpeachable, if a much deadlier virus comes around that shifts Trump’s sense of the cost-benefit balance, he would be the right person to deliver that message.

But as he further notes, “the most effective weapon against Covid was pharmaceutical interventions” — and in Kennedy, Trump has selected “an anti-vaccine crank” as Bhattacharya’s boss.

That means things could get bad fast.

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mma

11 24

As President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team announce selections for various government positions, multiple anti-vaccine figures with a history of spreading conspiracy theories about vaccines and COVID-19 have claimed to be consulting or attempting to consult with Trump’s team — including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — about public health policy.

On November 14, Trump announced that he would nominate Kennedy for HHS secretary, implying that Kennedy would stop what Trump called “deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.” Kennedy, a former presidential candidate, is a known anti-vaccine activist who has spread a range of conspiracy theories — including conspiracy theories about 5G towers, Ukrainian biolabs, chemtrails, and supposed microchips in vaccines — and has associated with QAnon figures.

Since Trump’s announcement that he would nominate Kennedy for HHS, anti-vaccine media figures known for spreading conspiracy theories have claimed to be consulting with the Trump team regarding HHS and public health policy:

Anti-vaccine figures were also seemingly involved with the transition team ahead of the 2024 presidential election. While Kennedy worked with Trump’s transition team ahead of the election, Charlene Bollinger — a fringe commentator and anti-vaccine activist whose social media account has spread antisemitism and QAnon conspiracy theories in addition to targeting vaccines — told One America News that she was “working with a number of people” in the transition team “to put together something beautiful so that Bobby Kennedy can roll out his vision and we get to be a part of this.” A few days after the election, Malone also told CBS News that “he had spoken with many of the aides from some of the ‘at least four different HHS transition teams’ under Trump … in recent weeks about the future of the department.”

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ymail 11 24

*Also in this edition: A Q&A with authoritarian scholar Jason Stanley about Trump’s victory and what it means. Scroll below the RFK Jr. piece to check it out.

By Noah Berlatsky

Donald Trump, in his vacuous orange wisdom, has nominated vaccine denier, crank, and champion of disease Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Inevitably, some in the mainstream media and Democratic Party have rushed to placate Trump and ease the way for this assault on public health. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said he approved of a coming “major shake-up in institutions like the FDA” under a Kennedy HHS. Sen. Cory Booker posted a video on X expressing RFK Jr.-coded concerns about the food system that Politico interpreted as signaling an openness to his nomination. The New York Times did its usual patented both sides thing and ran an article under the headline, “What RFK Jr. Gets Right — And Wrong — About Nutrition.” The Washington Post used RFK’s bonkers fluoride conspiracy theories as a launching pad to argue against the value of water fluoridation.

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Republicans love RFK Jr. because his conspiracy theories are theirs|Noah Berlatsky

https://substack.com/profile/2185926-noah-berlatsky)||July 21, 2023||Read full story||---|](https://substack.com/redirect/9f946aa9-9038-49bf-8538-6cc26a0f6dee?j=eyJ1IjoiN3ltancifQ.i0HJl3aVWG8sHp566T-pebMssFGKcgvxVOFLuZyEDpw)|

We shouldn’t be surprised by people complying in advance and rushing to debase themselves to assuage Trump and his movement. But we should also be very clear: anyone who suggests that RFK Jr. running HHS is anything but a monumental, catastrophic disaster is a liar, a fool, or quite possibly both.

Many of Trump’s nominations are horrific; many of his policies are terrifying. Kennedy is something special even with that baseline though. He has articulated a vision that will, if enacted, lead to the deaths of untold numbers of people, many of whom have not even been born. It is difficult to overstate the long-term danger he poses to the country and world.

Vaccines are really good, actually

It really should go without saying by now, but despite what RFK Jr. claims, vaccines are in fact one of the most transformative medical advances in human history.

The smallpox vaccine eradicated a 3,000 year old disease that killed 300 million people just in the two decades between 1900 and 1920. Before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, 400 to 500 Americans died of the disease every year, and some 48,000 a year were hospitalized. In the early 1900s, polio paralyzed hundreds of thousands of people a year; a devastating 1952 outbreak in the US killed 3,000.

And then of course there’s covid. Researchers believe that in the first year after covid vaccines were introduced, they prevented 19.8 million deaths globally. They could have prevented even more with better vaccine coverage.

It’s no exaggeration to say that vaccines have saved billions of lives and even more people from devastating disabilities and long-term illness. These vast gains have been enabled by government programs to ensure coverage and increase vaccination rates. No vaccine is 100 percent effective, but when vaccine rates are high, deadly diseases can’t get a foothold in communities. When vaccine rates fall, diseases that were largely thought to be eradicated can surge back.

This is what happened just five years ago in American Samoa. After two nurses mixed measles vaccine with the wrong liquid, two infants died, sparking a widespread panic. Vaccines were suspended. The result was a massive 2019 epidemic, in which, of Samoa’s 200,000 people, more than 5,700 were infected. A total of 83 people died, including many infants.

A leading figure who encouraged Samoans to stop vaccinating? Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He met with anti-vax groups in Samoa months before the deadly outbreak. After measles infected and killed people across the island, he wrote a irresponsible and dangerous op-ed in which he falsely characterized the outbreak as “mild.”

The obscenity of “Make America Healthy Again”

Most people are aware that measles and polio outbreaks are bad and recognize that vaccines have been a huge boon. That’s why vaccine deniers like Kennedy insist they are not vaccine deniers. Instead, he shuffles and equivocates.

“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information,” Kennedy said in a recent interview. (Watch below.)

This sounds reasonable, right? After all, who can argue with choice?

The problem is that, again, vaccines are only effective when vaccination rates are high. Deniers like Kennedy work hard to break apart the consensus for uptake by (a) insisting vaccination should be an individual choice rather than a civic duty, and then by (b) lying about the dangers of vaccination.

Kennedy and his Children’s Health Defense organization have for years pushed completely debunked lies claiming that vaccines cause autism in children. Kennedy has also lied by claiming that a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal, which used to be used in some vaccines, causes adverse health effects. Kennedy insists the negative effects of vaccines have never been studied or fully revealed — which, again, is simply untrue. Vaccines are considered safe because studies have repeatedly found them to be very safe, not because officials are keeping the truth from the public.

As head of HHS, Kennedy would be in a unique position to spread vaccine misinformation and downplay the dangers of refusing vaccination, as he did with the Samoa outbreak. He could block the CDC from making vaccine recommendations, undermining school vaccine mandates that help keep vaccine rates up and prevent deadly outbreaks. He could slow vaccine production, creating shortages. He could prevent the approval of new vaccines — an especially dangerous prospect considering the ongoing threat of covid and the need for better protection. (Some 650 people a week are still dying of covid globally.)

Not just vaccines

Kennedy can kill huge numbers of people, nationally and even globally, by undermining trust in vaccines. But he’s interested in promoting other public health disasters as well.

RFK Jr. wants to roll back regulations on raw milk — even though increased consumption of raw milk this year led to a salmonella outbreak which caused 171 people to fall ill. Kennedy also wants to remove fluoride from drinking water, claiming (falsely, of course) that it causes serious health problems. Water fluoridation has reduced tooth decay by some 25 percent in adults and children.

Kennedy is also dangerous because he often links his nonsense conspiracy theories and lies to open bigotry. He’s claimed that vaccine-caused autism (again, not a real thing) is comparable to the Holocaust — a comment that is insulting to people with autism, to Jews, and not least to neurodivergent Jews (like, for example, me).

How a right-coded media environment boosts Trump||---||||Stephen Robinson||·||---|---|---|||Nov 14||---|---|---||||[|Read full story||---|]

Even worse, arguably, during the height of the covid pandemic, Kennedy told a private gathering that “covid-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

The implication of this completely false and unsupported claim is that Chinese people and/or Jews created the virus. It’s a conspiracy theory designed to promote anti-Asian and antisemitic violence and harassment. Imagine if the chief health officer in the United States began pushing this sort of ugly nonsense during a health emergency. Or just look at what happened during the pandemic when comments by Trump officials like Mike Pompeo and Trump himself helped to spark a wave of anti-Asian hate crimes.

You do not under any circumstances have to hand it to him

People like Polis have been arguing that Kennedy could lead a helpful change in FDA policies towards food additives or could challenge Big Pharma. But this is like arguing that Trump may do good because he will take on the deep state and curb the power of the FBI or CIA.

It’s true that many government institutions are inefficient or unjust or do ugly and bad things. But fascists, grifters, fools, and bigots will not make things better. Quite the opposite.

Kennedy has devoted his life to destroying public health. He’s obsessed with a confused, quasi-fascist idea of purity, which leads him to attack medical interventions like fluoride, pasteurization, and vaccines, as well as perceived outsiders like Asians and Jewish people. That makes him a good fit for Trump and Trumpism. It also makes him a massive danger to the US and to the world.

There are no upsides to a Kennedy-led HHS. He’s a disreputable person (to put it mildly) who wants to cause great harm in the name of multiple delusions. Those who care about public health, and who do not want children to die in large numbers for no reason, should oppose his nomination unequivocally.

Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public so feel free to share it.

11/15/2024rww

by

Kyle Mantyla

What Hegseth does have are connections to the TheoBros, a group of mostly millennial, ultra-conservative men, many of whom proudly call themselves Christian nationalists. Among the tenets of their branch of Protestant Christianity—known as Reformed or Reconstructionist—is the idea that the United States should be subject to biblical law.

Pete Hegseth, the co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend whom Donald Trump intends to nominate for Secretary of Defense, made several appearances on a YouTube show called Reformation Red Pill. The show’s host, Joshua Haymes, is a Christian nationalist who believes surrogacy should be banned, and abortion and gender-affirming care should be punishable by death.

While Democrats have long embraced some of the reforms RFK Jr. endorses when it comes to regulating aspects of the agricultural industry, like factory farming and pesticides, his other outlandish, crank science beliefs have Democrats and Republicans concerned about how he would run the federal public health department.

Huckabee's anti-Palestinian rhetoric has made him a leading figure among Christian Zionists in America.

Just days after Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters canceled his request for bids to purchase 55,000 bibles for public school classrooms—perhaps because his plan to spend $3 million in taxpayer money on bibles Donald Trump endorsed and has a financial stake in appeared to be backfiring—he’s gone ahead and found a different way to suck up to the next president.

A potentially bombshell report into allegations that Matt Gaetz used drugs and had sex with a 17-year-old should never be published, Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday–hours after he partied with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

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rupert Murdoch's conservative New York Post took a swipe at President-elect Donald Trump's pick for the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday night, joking that Mar-a-Lago must be seeing an outbreak of brain-eating worms.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that in 2010, a worm got into his brain, “ate a portion of it and then died.” At the time, he said he was suffering from cognitive difficulties. Doctors found it was a parasitic infection: A pork tapeworm larva.

The New York Post on Thursday night ripped Trump's selection for HHS secretary, noting that the "overriding rule of medicine" is "First, do no harm" — and that appointing Kennedy to the role "breaks this rule."

The Post pointed to their sit-down interview last year in which he espoused a "head-scratching spaghetti of what we can only call warped conspiracy theories, and not just on vaccines."

ALSO READ:Why Trump voters should be held accountable for their choice

"'Neocons' are responsible for America’s policy ills. 'Pesticides, cellphones, ultrasound' could be driving an upswing in Tourette syndrome and peanut allergies," the Post recalled he said, adding: "He told us with full conviction that all America’s chronic health problems began in one year in the 1980s when a dozen bad things happened."

While social media users might be "gullible" and "hungry" for conspiracy theories, the Post came away thinking "he's nuts on a lot of fronts." People could be harmed or die, the publication warned. Furthermore, it warned Kennedy could send the industry into a disastrous "tailspin."

"We fear the worm that he claims ate some of his brain some years ago is contagious and there’s been an outbreak at Mar-a-Lago," the Post concluded.

Kennedy has called vaccines into question, broadly questioning their safety and efficacy, including claiming, "There's no vaccine that is safe and effective" — and promoting the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism.

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President-elect Donald Trump has announced that conspiracy theorist and anti-

AN 11 24

vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be his nominee to helm the Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS).

Kennedy — who ran as an independent in the 2024 presidential election before dropping out and endorsing Trump — was one of Trump's most visible surrogates in the final months of the campaign cycle, and Trump promised repeatedly to put him in a high-ranking role in his Cabinet overseeing public health. Scientists, health experts and journalists are all warning that putting Kennedy in charge of all U.S. health agencies will be harmful in myriad ways.

"RFK Jr. is one of the most dangerous, misguided, and hypocritical figures in the global 'wellness" movement,'" journalist Mike Rothschild wrote in a post to the social media platform Bluesky. "He has said that "there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective." He has no idea how science or chemistry work. This is a disaster waiting to happen."

READ MORE:**(Opinion) If Trump puts RFK Jr. in charge of health, get ready for a distorted reality where global health suffers**

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich observed that RFK Jr. — the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy — is likely to undermine his uncle's legacy, as he signed the Vaccination Assistance Act in 1962. And University of Michigan health professor Pam Herd warned that RFK Jr.'s documented opposition to childhood vaccines will create a significant risk to public health, and that future generations of children could be at risk of contracting diseases they would otherwise be protected from due to vaccin

"The one part of the pandemic that Trump handled well was fast tracking the vaccine development," Herd wrote. "We now have someone in charge who's likely to generate new outbreaks (e.g. measles) and controls all the agencies (NIH, CDC, FDA) that are needed to address old and new outbreaks."

If he is confirmed, RFK Jr. would oversee agencies in charge of researching and developing new medicines and cures to disease. Northwestern University law professor Paul Gowder opined that there would be "a lot of deaths" if RFK Jr. was able to enact his agenda at HHS. Pulaski Institution CEO Alan Elrod lamented that all of that research may be at risk if Trump is successful in elevating RFK Jr.

"Truly remarkable what we are potentially set to squander as a nation," he wrote on Bluesky. "RFK will gut and degrade the most sophisticated public health research bodies in the world."

READ MORE:**Experts worry RFK Jr's role in a Trump administration will 'erode' the 'nation's health'**

Author Faine Greenwood — a researcher at the Signal Program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative — wasn't as convinced that RFK Jr. would be effective in dismantling public health institutions. Greenwood noted that the pharmaceutical industry has been "bathing in vast seas of money thanks to the MRNA revolution, and I do not see them letting Captain Brain Worms light that all on fire without a face-eating fight."

RFK Jr.'s nomination is jus the latest in a tumultuous week of announcements from the President-elect as he names his choices for his second term Cabinet. Dartmouth College political scientist Brendan Nyhan commented on the flurry of controversial nominations, like former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for Attorney General, Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) for Director of National Intelligence.

"Just so we're clear on where we are: The President: an authoritarian who attempted a coup. A Secretary of Defense who defends war crimes. [An] Attorney General credibly accused of sex crimes A Director of National Intelligence who defends Putin and Assad. An HHS director who opposes vaccines," Nyhan wrote.

READ MORE:**Veteran journalist blames Harris’ failure on 'corporate puppets' who 'stand for nothing'**

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yikes

President-elect Donald Trump has announced that conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be his nominee to helm the Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS).

Kennedy — who ran as an independent in the 2024 presidential election before dropping out and endorsing Trump — was one of Trump's most visible surrogates in the final months of the campaign cycle, and Trump promised repeatedly to put him in a high-ranking role in his Cabinet overseeing public health. Scientists, health experts and journalists are all warning that putting Kennedy in charge of all U.S. health agencies will be harmful in myriad ways.

"RFK Jr. is one of the most dangerous, misguided, and hypocritical figures in the global 'wellness" movement,'" journalist Mike Rothschild wrote in a post to the social media platform Bluesky. "He has said that "there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective." He has no idea how science or chemistry work. This is a disaster waiting to happen."

READ MORE:[(Opinion) If Trump puts RFK Jr. in charge of health, get ready for a distorted reality where global health suffers

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich observed that RFK Jr. — the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy — is likely to undermine his uncle's legacy, as he signed the Vaccination Assistance Act in 1962. And University of Michigan health professor Pam Herd warned that RFK Jr.'s documented opposition to childhood vaccines will create a significant risk to public health, and that future generations of children could be at risk of contracting diseases they would otherwise be protected from due to vaccines.

"The one part of the pandemic that Trump handled well was fast tracking the vaccine development," Herd wrote. "We now have someone in charge who's likely to generate new outbreaks (e.g. measles) and controls all the agencies (NIH, CDC, FDA) that are needed to address old and new outbreaks."

If he is confirmed, RFK Jr. would oversee agencies in charge of researching and developing new medicines and cures to disease. Northwestern University law professor Paul Gowder opined that there would be "a lot of deaths" if RFK Jr. was able to enact his agenda at HHS. Pulaski Institution CEO Alan Elrod lamented that all of that research may be at risk if Trump is successful in elevating RFK Jr.

"Truly remarkable what we are potentially set to squander as a nation," he wrote on Bluesky. "RFK will gut and degrade the most sophisticated public health research bodies in the world."

READ MORE:**Experts worry RFK Jr's role in a Trump administration will 'erode' the 'nation's health'**

Author Faine Greenwood — a researcher at the Signal Program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative — wasn't as convinced that RFK Jr. would be effective in dismantling public health institutions. Greenwood noted that the pharmaceutical industry has been "bathing in vast seas of money thanks to the MRNA revolution, and I do not see them letting Captain Brain Worms light that all on fire without a face-eating fight."

RFK Jr.'s nomination is just the latest in a tumultuous week of announcements from the President-elect as he names his choices for his second term Cabinet. Dartmouth College political scientist Brendan Nyhan commented on the flurry of controversial nominations, like former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for Attorney General, Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) for Director of National Intelligence.

"Just so we're clear on where we are: The President: an authoritarian who attempted a coup. A Secretary of Defense who defends war crimes. [An] Attorney General credibly accused of sex crimes A Director of National Intelligence who defends Putin and Assad. An HHS director who opposes vaccines," Nyhan wrote.

READ MORE:**Veteran journalist blames Harris’ failure on 'corporate puppets' who 'stand for nothing'**

an 11 24

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mma

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “I’m very excited about being part of [a potential Trump] administration and really restoring America’s greatness.”

11/05/24

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11/4 trump will put rfk2 in charge of food, women health, fluoride

'Dire implications': Trump’s possible vaccine ban could spark US, global health crisis

David Badash an 11 24

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mma 11 24

Anti-vaccine commentator and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who former President Donald Trump said will have a “big role in healthcare” if Trump wins, recently appeared in an ad for CatholicVote urging people to support the Republican nominee. RFK Jr. was helping a group that works to oppose IVF, which it has labeled “evil” and “immoral.”

CatholicVote is a conservative organization that is supporting Trump. The organization’s president has appeared in right-wing media outlets, including], andSteve Bannon’s program. The group also posts media content that attacks Democrats 3 VID LINKS ORIG] andIVF. vids 3 ]

It released an October 24 video featuring Kennedy, who stated that “President Trump has promised to take bold action on our economy, on the border, and on restoring children’s health” and said, “I hope you’ll join me in supporting Donald Trump.”

In addition to supporting Trump, CatholicVote also works to end IVF. It has a supposed explainer page on its website that criticizes IVF as unethical. It writes:

At first glance, IVF seems innocuous – simply a procedure to help parents conceive a child. However, the morality and ethics of the procedure begin before the embryos are created.

To help stimulate egg production, women have to take various steps to increase the fertility of their eggs and facilitate ovulation. During retrieval, eggs are removed from the ovaries with a suctioning device or needle that harvests more than one egg at a time, with no guarantee that any of the eggs will be healthy or able to be used to create embryos.

For men, the process is different. Sperm can be collected at any time and even frozen for use at a later date and is often collected through unorthodox means.

The page adds: “During fertilization and implantation, embryos that are considered to be unviable are either ‘discarded,’ used for scientific research, or frozen indefinitely. These standard practices violate the dignity of the human person, whose life begins at conception.”

The group then urges readers to reconsider IVF.

CatholicVote also shares numerous anti-IVF materials on its website, including “Catholic Woman Who Struggled With Infertility for Years: IVF Is Not the Answer” and “Lila Rose Praises Decision of Alabama Judge to Affirm Life at Fertilization.”

In one piece, CatholicVote attacked former first lady Michelle Obama for promoting and using IVF. One section of the piece was titled “Suffering leads to evil means to create God’s children.” The piece added: “IVF is an immoral process which treats humans like chattel and often ends in their deaths. It is therefore important that pro-life advocates be ready to articulately and compassionately stand against Obama’s contribution to the anti-life problem which IVF represents.”

As a candidate, Kennedy made contradictory remarks about abortion. And while saying he is not against IVF, he claimed that there are more important factors to consider regarding “the alarming decline in fertility” and that “this issue is so much bigger than IVF.” He also picked running mate Nicole Shanahan, who called IVF “one of the biggest lies that’s being told about women’s health today.”

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PUBLIC NOTice RUPAR

Lisa Needham

During a get out the vote call Monday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. disclosed that “President Trump has promised me control of the public health agencies,” including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Kennedy also said Trump plans to put him in charge of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)....

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