Democratic senators brought the fire to a Wednesday confirmation hearing that will help determine whether or not notorious anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will become Donald Trump’s secretary of health and human services.
New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan wiped the floor with Kennedy during his appearance before the Senate Finance Committee. She started by drilling him on all of his crazy vaccine claims before skewering his brazen flip-flop on reproductive rights.
"So, Mr. Kennedy, I'm confused. You have clearly stated in the past that bodily autonomy is one of your core values,” Hassan said. “The question is, do you stand for that value or not? When was it that you decided to sell out the values you've had your whole life in order to be given power by President Trump?"
While Kennedy tried his hardest to sidestep the question, Hassan was not having any of it.
"So what you're telling us, just to be clear, because my time is limited, is that regardless of what you believe, regardless of what values you have, if President Trump tells you to do something, you're going to do it," she summarized.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he and Kennedy seemed to agree about the corruption of our health care system, but then backed Kennedy into a corner when he asked the faux health crusader a simple question: Is health care a human right?
“In the way that free speech is a human right?” Kennedy responded, before attempting to squirm out of it. Sanders finished Kennedy off by calling out the anti-vaccine baby onesies his so-called health advocacy group is hawking online.
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota held Kennedy’s feet to the fire about the many times he has misinformed the public about a supposed link between antidepressants and school shootings.
Numerous studies have debunked the misinformation on mental health that RFK Jr. and the GOP have relied on in order to stall and undermine attempts at gun safety legislation. Of course, there is evidence that school shootings lead to more young people requiring antidepressant treatments after they have survived the terror.
Elizabeth Warren’s ability to walk Kennedy right into exposing himself as yet another Trumpy grifter was a master class in itself. The senator from Massachusetts got into it with the nominee when he tried to wriggle out of committing not to profit off of his position if he is confirmed as Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
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