It’s Bobby: Trump Taps Kennedy to Lead US Health Policy
WASHINGTON — Sixty-four years ago this month, President-elect John F. Kennedy found himself with a dilemma on his hands.
In the midst of his presidential transition, he found himself trapped between potential charges of nepotism and his father’s insistence that Robert F. Kennedy, the president-elect’s brother, be appointed attorney general.
After mulling the situation for a couple of days, he’s said to have told Ted Sorenson, his speech writer and closest advisor, that he would simply stick his head out the door of his Georgetown home in the middle of the night and whisper, “It’s Bobby.”
On Thursday afternoon, President-elect Donald Trump showed no such reluctance in the face of controversy to announce he’s asked the former attorney general’s son and namesake, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services.
“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,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.
“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 continued, adding that Kennedy “will restore these agencies to the traditions of gold standard scientific research, and … end the chronic disease epidemic.”
Kennedy’s position on vaccines and a host of other health-related issues have alarmed public health experts, consumers and advocacy groups.
Immediately after Trump announced his pick, it was slammed by Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive think tank based in Washington, who described the nominee as “a clear and present danger to the nation’s health.”
“He shouldn’t be allowed in the building at the Department of Health and Human Services, let alone be placed in charge of the nation’s public health agency,” Weissman said.
“Donald Trump’s bungling of public health policy during the COVID pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives. By appointing Kennedy as his secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another, policy-driven public health catastrophe,” he added.
Lisa Gilbert, Weissman’s co-president at Public Citizen, summed up the fears of many others as she dismissed Kennedy as a “science-denying, morally bankrupt conspiracy theorist.”
Kennedy, an environmental law attorney, has no medical or public health degree.
He is a graduate of Harvard University and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
He began his career as an assistant district attorney in New York City. In the mid-1980s, he joined two nonprofits focused on environmental protection: Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
During his tenure with those organizations, Kennedy won key legal battles against large corporate polluters, setting many environmental law standards.
He later became an adjunct professor of environmental law at Pace University School of Law, and soon founded its Environmental Litigation Clinic, and held the positions of supervising attorney and co-director there until 2017.
He also founded the nonprofit environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance in 1999, serving as the president of its board until 2020.
The controversies surrounding Kennedy’s views began in about 2005, when he started speaking out against vaccines and started being accused of spreading misinformation including the scientifically disproven claim of a causal link between vaccines and autism.
His provocative railing against vaccines extended to and through the COVID-19 pandemic, when he again was widely accused of spreading misinformation.
Kennedy, of course, ran for president in 2024, first as a Democratic primary challenger to President Joe Biden, and later as an independent candidate.
He ended that bid on Aug. 23, 2024, and immediately endorsed Trump, saying he intended to remain on the ballot in some non-swing states.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
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