Trump Administration Tries To Rein In RFK Jr. As A Midterms Liability

from the too-late dept

I’ve obviously talked a great deal about how RFK Jr. and his activity as the Secretary of HHS has been a massive health liability for the American public. The implementation of his batshit anti-vaxxer stances have, of course, grabbed most of the headlines here, especially given the recent pushback he received from the courts, but it’s also worth noting the other craziness he’s spouted at the same time. He co-signed Trump’s nonsense about Tylenol giving all the kids autism. He’s overseen the worst measles outbreak in America in several decades. It seems likely he lied to Congress about his “work” in Samoa. He has vindictively repealed grant funding to groups that disagree with him on public health matters. He’s very interested in teenager sperm counts. He once took his grandkids swimming in a river known to be filthy with human waste.

It’s bad for the health of America. The Trump administration hasn’t really seemed to care all that much about that fact, of course, but it certainly does care about retaining power through the midterms. To that end, it seems the White House has finally woken up to the idea that most Americans hate what Kennedy and HHS are doing and has decided to pare back his activity because it’s a political liability.

The White House has taken steps to assert tighter control over HHS amid leadership and messaging changes tied to concerns that department Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s focus on vaccine policy could pose political risks heading into the 2026 midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported March 13.

While Mr. Kennedy remains in good standing with President Donald Trump, administration aides have grown frustrated with what they described as disorganization and missteps inside HHS, according to the report. Among them: a delayed response to a measles outbreak in Texas, backlash over mental health grant cuts and internal tension surrounding the FDA’s approval of a generic abortion pill.

We somehow are not at a place yet where the Trump administration realizes that they put a loon in charge of public health and are looking at making a leadership change. But they can read the polling as well as I can and they damned well know that the majority of America is not happy with Kennedy’s performance generally, and especially unhappy with his anti-vaxxer bullshit. To that end, the White House is making several moves to try to steady the waters and keep Kennedy and HHS out of the headlines.

Basically, it looks like they’re trying to provide a bit of more adult supervision, moving Chris Klomp up from managing Medicare to managing Kennedy… er… being Kennedy’s deputy, while moving Peter Thiel’s former righthand man, Jim O’Neill, out of his HHS Deputy Secretary role and over to the FDA where there’s hope he “reduce internal friction.”

The problem is that Captain Brain Worm remains at the top of all of this. Trump and his advisers know the country doesn’t like what HHS has done. They see the chaos, the resignations, and the bullshit that gets spewed out in press conferences and courtrooms alike. It would be nice if the government did this for reasons having to do with the American people rather than for its own political ramifications, but I suppose I’ll take what I can get under the circumstances.

Filed Under: chris klomp, donald trump, health & human services, jim o’neill, maha, rfk jr.