Donald Trump has picked RFK Jr as his Health and Human Services Secretary.

 

RFK Jr. and Donald Trump shake hands at a rally. Fox News/Getty. 

Donald Trump has picked RFK Jr. as his Health and Human Services Secretary. Fox News. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started the race for President as a candidate for the Democrats, but then went Independent. He then gave Trump a critical endorsement which may have helped Trump win. Kennedy campaigned on "Making America Healthy Again" and railed against the links between pharmaceutical companies and the government, and despaired about the health of Americans. Kennedy is expected to clean house at the FDA and CDC and said they weren't doing their jobs due to all the chemicals in US foods. Kennedy also suggested ending advertisements for drug companies, which are common in the United States but unheard of in other countries. This was not the first time RFK Jr. was considered for a cabinet position, Barack Obama had considered him for the head of the EPA. 

My Comment:

RFK Jr. did a lot to help Trump win the election in 2024 so it is no surprise that he got nominated for this post. RFK Jr. shuttled his supporters to Trump after his endorsement and he was polling around 5% of the electorate. Trump probably would have still won without RFK Jr., but he would not have captured the popular vote and probably would have done worse down ballot. 

Is RFK likely to be confirmed? It doesn't matter. Trump is going to get his cabinet in via recess appointments, and there isn't really anything anyone can do about it. The powers that be are furious with this pick, even more so than they were with Matt Gaetz, which they tried to discredit today, but I don't think they will really be able to stop him. But there is a decent chance he would pass anyways, the Republicans seem a lot more likely to play ball with Trump's picks this time around. 

I've absolutely have disagreements with RFK Jr., most notably on vaccines. RFK Jr. is a vaccine skeptic and though he probably has a point about the Covid vaccines, I have never been swayed by the argument that other vaccines are bad. With that being said, I don't expect him to ban vaccines or anything, but he may allow vaccine makers to be sued for damages, which is something that probably should change regardless. 

I do agree that something is very wrong with the health of Americans. We are not a healthy people and obesity is out of control. Nothing the previous administrations did has fixed this and the problem is even worse. Is RFK Jr. right about what is causing the problem? Seed oils and chemicals in our food? It's very possible but we won't find out unless we try something different and that is what RFK Jr. is going to do. 

Some of what he wants seems like common sense. Getting rid of pharma companies advertisements is reason enough to be happy with this. It never made sense that they should be advertising to the people directly when it should be between the doctor and the patient. It helps that these advertisements are beyond intolerable...

As for the rest of Trump's picks, I have been pleased. The only concern I have is that there are a lot coming from congress and those picks will have to be replaced in special elections. Those seats are mostly safe Republican seats, but I am concerned that the Democrats will be sending millions of dollars to try and flip them. And Gaetz immediately resigning cuts the lead even closer...