Trump Picks RFK Jr. as Health Secretary

Facts

• US Pres.-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he would nominate former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in his administration.^[1][2]
• In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said Americans had "for too long" been "crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies," and that RFK Jr. would "restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research."^[3]
• Vowing to "Make America Healthy Again," RFK Jr. thanked Trump on X (formerly Twitter), stating he would "provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families."^[4]
• If the Senate ratifies his nomination, RFK Jr. will lead the 80K-member HHS, which oversees everything from drug, vaccine, and food safety to medical research, Medicare, and Medicaid, and conducts multi-billion-dollar research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's.^[5]
• RFK Jr.'s selection comes after he said that the new Trump administration should "act fast" to implement massive changes at the National Institutes of Health, including firing up to 600 employees at the federal agency responsible for keeping the US safe from infectious diseases.^[6][7]
• RFK Jr. has been an outspoken critic on many health-related issues, saying "I do believe autism comes from vaccines," claiming fluoride in drinking water "almost certainly" causes a loss of IQ in children, as found by some studies, and accusing federal health agencies of being "puppets" for the pharmaceutical industry they're supposed to regulate.^[6][8][9]

Sources: ^[1]FOX News, ^[2]CNN, ^[3]The Guardian, ^[4]X, ^[5]The New York Times, ^[6]New York Post, ^[7]YouTube, ^[8]BBC News and ^[9]POLITICO.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by Associated Press, The Guardian and The New York Times. Allowing RFK Jr. — one of the most persistent and influential vaccine deniers with a history of spreading health misinformation and medical conspiracy theories — to go wild with America's health and food policy will prove catastrophic. As Americans grapple with an enormous number of health challenges, RFK Jr., who is keen on appointing extremists and loyalists rather than experts and technocrats, isn't the best-qualified person to lead the US forward.
• Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News, POLITICO and Daily Mail. RFK Jr. will do everything to make Americans the healthiest people on Earth again — remove the corrupt officials at the FDA and the CDC, stop the revolving door between Big Pharma and the government, and return federal health agencies to their rich tradition of evidence-based science. He isn't taking vaccines away from anyone, but he will surely fix America's substance abuse crisis, end the chronic disease epidemic, and protect the nation's children.