Exactly eight years ago this week, as Donald Trump prepared for his first inauguration, the president-elect sat down for a private meeting with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Almost immediately, the conversation sparked concerns that the Republican might tap the anti-vaccine activist to oversee some kind of commission on the issue.
Trump’s operation, however, wasted no time in knocking down that speculation, and in the months and years that followed, the highly controversial environmental lawyer did not take on any role in the Trump administration.
Eight years later, as the Republican prepares to return to the White House, the president-elect isn’t just embracing the fringe figure with radical beliefs, he’s chosen Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
There’s no shortage of questions surrounding RFK Jr.’s prospective nomination, but the one at the top of the list for his reality-based critics is straightforward: How can they convince senators to oppose his confirmation?
The New York Times reported on a new national coalition of health professionals and scientists who are mobilizing to derail Kennedy’s upcoming nomination, starting with a public letter this week that warns that Kennedy’s “unfounded, fringe beliefs could significantly undermine public health practices across the country and around the world.”
The coalition, calling itself ‘Defend Public Health,’ includes faculty members from some of the U.S.’s leading academic institutions, including public health schools at Yale and Harvard. Its leaders said they had gathered 700 signatures on the public letter and had generated 3,500 individual letters urging senators to reject Mr. Kennedy, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Mr. Kennedy is unqualified to lead the nation’s health department with a budget of over $1.6 trillion and over 80,000 employees,” the public letter states. “He has little to no relevant administrative, policy or health experience or expertise that would prepare him to oversee the work of critical public health agencies.”
If this sounds at all familiar, it’s because this is not the only such effort of its kind. NBC News reported last week on the Committee to Protect Health Care, a physicians advocacy group, which has launched a parallel mobilization campaign.
“The health and well-being of 336 million Americans depend on leadership at HHS that prioritizes science, evidence-based medicine, and strengthening the integrity of our public health system,” the organization’s public letter read. “RFK Jr. is not only unqualified to lead this essential agency — he is actively dangerous.”
The document added, “This appointment is a slap in the face to every health care professional who has spent their lives working to protect patients from preventable illness and death.”
The joint statement was signed by more than 15,000 physicians, all of whom oppose Kennedy’s confirmation.
In case this weren’t quite enough, it was just last month when more than 75 Nobel laureates signed a joint statement opposing Kennedy’s nomination. The New York Times reported that the effort was “the first time in recent memory that Nobel laureates have banded together against a Cabinet choice.”
As regular readers know, even if the Senate Democratic minority is united in its opposition to RFK Jr. (and it might not be), Democrats couldn’t derail this prospective nomination on their own. That said, some of Kennedy’s opponents have indicated that they’re hoping that a handful of on-the-fence Senate Republicans will hear from so many physicians, medical professionals, hospital administrators and public health officials in their own states that it might put his confirmation in doubt.
That might be wishful thinking, but given Kennedy’s record as a health menace and GOP senators’ apparent eagerness to act as rubber stamps for Trump’s nominees, reality-based observers don’t feel they have a lot of other choices.
