RFK Jr could lead US healthcare and food safety during a second Trump term
According to reports on Saturday, Robert F Kennedy Jr. could take some control over American health and food safety in a second Trump administration, alarming Democrats who believe the former environmental lawyer and independent presidential candidate could be given the authority to act on his vaccine-skeptical views.
According to the Washington PostKennedy has met with Trump transition officials to help set an agenda for a new administration and could adopt a broad “health czar” position that would not require Senate confirmation.
Kennedy, who ended his bid for the White House and endorsed Trump, and his advisers have also drawn up 30-, 60- and 90-day plans for a second Trump term, the newspaper reported, citing a source “confident” was with the planning process.
Kamala Harris denounced the idea, saying Friday that Kennedy is “exactly the last person in America who should be setting health care policy for American families and children.”
The Democratic candidate further described Kennedy as “someone who has routinely promoted junk science and crazy conspiracy theories.”
Last week, Kennedy warned in a message on X that the FDA’s “war on public health is about to end. This includes the aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that promotes human health and cannot be patented by Pharma.”
He added: “If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1 Save your information and 2 Pack your bags.”
Ted Kennedy Jr., RFK Jr.’s cousin and a health care attorney, said he was “deeply concerned” by Trump’s choice.
“We cannot put anyone in charge of health care who does not understand how doctors and scientists develop best practices and keep us safe, and who has no medical background and knowledge of how health care is organized, delivered and paid for.” he said to Stat.
But Trump seems determined. He told right-wing figure Tucker Carlson last week that Kennedy was “going to work on women’s health and women’s health.”
“He really wants to get into the pesticides and the, you know, all these different things. I said, he can do it,” Trump said. “He can do anything he wants. He wants to look at the vaccines. He wants – everything. I love it. I love it.”
“He’s a great guy. I’ve known him for a long time. And all he wants to do – it’s very simple – he wants to make people healthy.” Trump told NBC News on Friday. Campaign officials previously told the newspaper that Kennedy could do that spearhead an “Operation Warp Speed for childhood chronic diseases,” a reference to the Trump administration’s $20 billion Covid vaccine development program.
But the discussion about a possible role for Kennedy in a new Trump administration has also raised the topic of the response to the 2020-2021 Covid-19 pandemic, which has been largely absent from the campaign trail.
JD Vance, Trump’s vice presidential pick, expressed his skepticism about the Covid vaccine during a conversation with podcaster Joe Rogan released on Thursday.
“I had the vaccine, and you know, I didn’t get a boost or anything, but the moment I really started turning red from the whole vaccination thing was by far the sickest I’ve been in the last 15 years was when I got the vaccine took,” the Ohio senator told Rogan.
Kennedy, who has also expressed doubts about Covid vaccines, told a rally last week that Trump had promised him “control” over public health agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of the Trump transition team, confirmed to CNN this week that he spent two and a half hours with Kennedy “and that was the most special thing.”
“I said, ‘So, tell me. How will it go?’ And he said, ‘Why don’t you just listen to me explain things,'” Lutnick said. He did not deny that Kennedy was right when he said he would lead public health agencies in a Trump administration.
“I think it’s pretty cool to give him the data. Let’s see what he comes up with,” Lutnick added.
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said there had been “no formal decisions” on potential appointments to the Trump administration. But she added that the former president “has said he will work with passionate voices like RFK Jr to make America healthy again by providing families with safe food and ending the chronic disease epidemic ravaging our children “, referring to type 2 diabetes.