RFK JR.: WILL WE WAKE FROM THIS NIGHTMARE?
By Francesca R Giancotti, Ph.D & Kenneth J Uva
After living for more than several decades, everyone has seen things that are disturbing. Rarely, however, do we have to ask “Is this really happening?” Thanks to Donald Trump and company, in less than a year, we have asked this question more times than in all the prior years of our lives combined.
In the past few days, we have seen Trump attack Venezuela and announce that he will be in control of that country’s resources for an indeterminate time, while also issuing threats to seize Greenland, a territory of a NATO ally. In fact, the Greenland threats have replaced Venezuela and the Epstein files as the top news stories. As if that is not enough, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (“RFK Jr.”) Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has taken positions that raise the question as to how we got here and why.
RFK Jr., a lawyer by training, was given permission by President Trump to “go wild on health”. Based on what he has accomplished since being sworn in as HHS Secretary, (despite not being able to describe the difference between Medicare parts A and B), he has indeed gone wild on health. He has run the department in an unorthodox, unconventional, and dubious manner. This is a man who claims vaccines cause autism and more recently as quoted in the Friday, January 9th edition of the New York Times, stockpile shots against the bird flu H5N1 “are dangerous”; an obvious assertion derived from not understanding the dangers of the ever evolving and emerging variants of bird flu. In addition, he has cancelled $600 million in contracts to develop a bird flu vaccine using the mRNA technology that has saved millions of people around the world during the COVID 19 pandemic. Every public health expert can attest to the fact that his denial of vaccine efficacy and its ability to save lives is at worst a dangerous precedent that cannot be ignored. The experts must speak up and demand his resignation. Unfortunately, this administration thrives by loyalists not subject matter experts. And to make matters worse, we are seeing the emergence of measles outbreaks, an infectious disease that was considered eliminated in the US in 2000. Control of measles requires that greater than 95% of people within a community are vaccinated to induce herd immunity. RFK Jr. believes that the MMR vaccine is more dangerous than the measles, a serious respiratory disease that has the potential to kill.
Separate and apart from these positions is the new food pyramid, the government recommended dietary guide. The pyramid shows which categories of foods should be eaten more or less frequently. The old pyramid recommended more plant based protein, fruits and vegetables with meat and whole dairy products to be consumed less often.
The new pyramid literally turned the old pyramid upside down. The RFK Jr. version emphasized meat and whole dairy products. It OK’s beef tallow, a meat byproduct so full of trans fats that McDonald’s ceased using it in their fries decades ago. While the new food guidelines emphasized whole foods and less processed foods, eating more meat and whole dairy is contrary to decades of dietary guidance. Why the drastic change in policy?
We will be hearing more about this pyramid in the coming weeks. It is important to point out that five of the ten members of the advisory board involved with the pyramid have ties to the beef, pork and dairy industries. Like so much of the Trump administration, policies are made by, and for the benefit of, people and industries supporting Trump.
Trump has said to cheering MAGA crowds, “I am your retribution.” He has carried out this statement in many ways. He appointed an FBI Director with no relevant experience. His Attorney General was appointed because she ended Florida’s case against him. His Secretary of Defense has no high level military experience. Yet, each of them has carried out Trump’s agenda. At the FBI and Justice, they have fired scores of people who have worked on any of the Trump related matters. At defense, the Secretary has changed base names back to those of Confederate generals while minimizing the contributions of non-white Americans.
These appointments have two purposes. The first, of course, is retribution. The other is to cater to white nationalists who make up a large portion of MAGA supporters. Remember that Trump pardoned all those convicted of attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
This leads to the question as to why RFK Jr. was appointed. Could Trump have found someone with less baggage than a former addict with a worm in his brain and no medical background? What interest group or industries benefit from decimating the CDC or cutting or ending numerous programs and studies? The answer may be even more revolting than retribution and pandering to White nationalists.
As we can see now that Trump has been in power for a year, his policies follow the authoritarian playbook. We have seen him ignoring the law, using the military without consulting Congress, carrying on about his deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize, destroying the East Wing, threatening to end the Western alliance by his coveting Greenland, et al. His appointment of RFK Jr. a well-known anti vaccine advocate was to tell the world that he could do anything he wants without restraint.
RFK Jr.’s appointment, like that of Patel, Bondi, Hegseth, and Linda McMahon at Education, was aimed at destroying government institutions populated by experts in their fields. In case there is any doubt, the US has now withdrawn from the World Health Organization (“WHO”). What remains after the enormous cuts of federal workers in general are rump agencies whose employees need to show personal loyalty to the Great Leader.
The next months and years will show the results of this agenda. Measles may only be a part of what is coming next as the nightmare continues.
