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LAST UPDATE | 14 Nov 2024
US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has nominated anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
HHS is a massive cabinet agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programmes Medicare and Medicaid.
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration.
Trump had pledged to give Kennedy a “big role” in healthcare in his administration, saying he would let him “go wild”.
He and Trump have since become good friends, with Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.
During his presidential victory speech, Trump said Kennedy will “make America healthy again”.
In a statement today, Trump said he was “thrilled” to make the announcement.
“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,” said Trump.
“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 added.
Trump also remarked that Kennedy will “end the Chronic Disease epidemic” and “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
If approved by the Senate, which Trump’s Republican Party controls, Kennedy will take over a mammoth institution with a budget of close to $2 trillion.
Dr Catherine Conlon, a doctor and former director of human health and nutrition at Safefood (the all-Ireland public body responsible for raising awareness related to food safety), last week told The Journal that Kennedy’s “anti-science ethos undermines the trust in public health”.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Kennedy, like Trump, promoted ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as alternatives to official vaccines – despite numerous studies saying these treatments didn’t work.
He also claimed that Covid-19 vaccines killed more people than they saved – again, something which was disproven.
Meanwhile, Kennedy is also burdened by a string of colorful and even bizarre stories about his personal life.
These include his statement that a worm once entered his “brain and ate a portion of it and then died.”
An admission this year that he was behind the long unsolved mystery of a dead bear dumped in New York’s Central Park a decade ago raised eyebrows, as did subsequent revelations that the married politician was in a sexting relationship with a well-known journalist.
Trump has yet to select treasury and commerce chiefs to enact tax and trade policy. He has also not revealed his pick for education – a department he wants to abolish.
Trump’s first recruitments – including secretary of state for Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a traditional conservative on foreign policy – drew praise.
But then Trump dismayed Democrats and even some in the ultra-loyal Republican Party as he appeared to put preference for personal loyalty above expertise or suitability.
A major shock was naming Matt Gaetz – a flamethrower on the Republican far right in Congress who was drawn into a years-long criminal probe into sex trafficking – as future attorney general.
Gaetz denies wrongdoing and has never faced charges but was still being investigated by the House Ethics Committee.
That decision followed Trump’s nomination of former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard – who met Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad and echoes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talking points – to take charge of the nation’s most sensitive secrets as director of national intelligence.
Trump recruited Pete Hegseth – a combat veteran who has no experience running large organizations but is a host on Trump’s favorite Fox News network – as defence secretary.
Trump and his aides have vowed that much of his second term will be about clearing the deck of federal officials who acted as a restraining influence on his populist, right-wing agenda during his first term.
Gaetz’s appointment would hand Trump, whose election likely means being freed from a string of serious criminal investigations, the advantage of a fierce partisan at the top of the Justice Department.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to go after a variety of political opponents.
Although Republicans expect to have a three-seat majority in the incoming Senate, Gaetz is widely disliked and will struggle to win confirmation.
The naming of Gabbard has also sparked uproar, given her statements favorable to US adversary Russia, including her suggestion that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine was the result of “legitimate security concerns.”
-With additional reporting from © AFP 2024
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