Donald Trump will nominate vaccine skeptic and conspiracy-spreader Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead America’s largest public health body, the Department of Health and Human Services.
The president-elect wrote on Twitter on Thursday afternoon: “I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.”
It was not something that came as a surprise, as Trump’s own press secretary Karoline Leavitt had referred to RFK Jr as qualified and mentioned him as someone who would likely be nominated to join the incoming administration in a Fox News interview the same day.
Of course, the head of Donald Trump’s White House transition team Howard Lutnick — the man supposedly leading the staff search for the incoming president — had assured CNN as recently as October 30 that RFK Jr would specifically not be nominated to lead HHS. But Thursday’s news is in line with reporting from The Independent and other outlets, pointing to one reality: the breakneck pace at which these decisions are being made by Trump himself, in some cases while his top staff are not part of the conversation.
It also had somewhat of a muted reaction on Capitol Hill, though that was only likely due to the stream of controversial Cabinet nominees which Trump has named in the past several days. Wednesday came with the news that one-time sex-trafficking probe target Matt Gaetz would be chosen to lead the department that once investigated him, a move that shocked even Trump’s own loyal Republican allies in Congress.
The former presidential candidate is likely to face unified resistance from Democrats in the Senate and may well pick up more than a handful of GOP defections as well. Kennedy’s stances on vaccines, including the Covid jabs produced by various pharmaceutical companies under the first Trump administration, have terrified public health experts who worry that, as secretary, Kennedy could endanger funding for development and distribution of vaccines that save the lives of millions of people and have contributed to the eradication of deadly diseases in the US.
He did pick up one surprise defender: the Democratic governor of Colorado, though the governor’s points about vaccine mandates are not shared by any of his colleagues in the Democratic Senate caucus who will vote on Kennedy’s fate.
“I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint @RobertKennedyJr to @HHSGov. He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA,” wrote Jared Polis in a Twitter post.
His campaign for the presidency ended after a drawn-out fight for ballot access and reports that he was actively soliciting the Trump campaign and possibly the campaign of Kamala Harris, too, for a Cabinet position dealing with public health in exchange for an endorsement. Kennedy eventually endorsed Trump at a rally in August after those negotiations reportedly took place behind closed doors.
Trump seemingly embraced that skepticism in his announcement.
“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country,” he wrote.
How many defections Kennedy will pick up is the real question; Republicans are due to head into January with a majority of several votes, meaning that Kennedy would need to lose more than just the GOP’s erstwhile centrists, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Other Republicans have signalled that they are open to Kennedy’s nomination, in some cases complaining that Democratic nominees supposedly were not held to the same standards in the press.
“I don’t have any preconceived notions about it. I think we just ought to be open to doing our job,” John Cornyn, who narrowly lost the battle for majority leader on Wednesday, told Politico.
