Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Former Environmental Attorney, Independent Presidential Candidate
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the son of Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He built a career as an environmental attorney and clean-water advocate — legitimate, important work. Then he went off the rails.
He became one of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the United States, falsely linking childhood vaccines to autism (a claim comprehensively debunked by decades of research). He ran for president as an independent in 2024 on a platform that blended left-wing anti-war positions with anti-corporate grievances and conspiratorial health claims. He then dropped out and endorsed Donald Trump — a man whose positions were largely opposite to everything RFK Jr. had publicly claimed to stand for.
His reward was the Department of Health and Human Services — the agency that oversees the CDC, FDA, NIH, Medicare, and Medicaid. He has since fired hundreds of NIH researchers, proposed cutting CDC staffing by 40%, pushed to end fluoride in drinking water, promoted raw milk, and dismantled vaccine-safety monitoring programs. The irony of an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist running public health is not subtle. The damage to institutions is not theoretical.
Kennedy publishes extensively claiming childhood vaccines cause autism. This claim has been studied in millions of children across dozens of countries. The science is unambiguous: there is no causal link. Kennedy repeats the claim for nearly two decades. He founds Children's Health Defense, which raises millions distributing anti-vaccine materials during COVID.
Kennedy suspends his independent presidential campaign and endorses Donald Trump for president at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona. He cites shared interest in 'making America healthy again.' Trump thanks him.
Trump nominates RFK Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Medical professionals, public health researchers, and former HHS officials across both parties express alarm. The department he is nominated to run oversees the very vaccine programs he has spent two decades attacking.
As HHS Secretary, Kennedy fires hundreds of NIH scientists and researchers, proposes a 40% reduction in CDC staff, moves to end fluoride in public water systems, promotes raw milk consumption (which causes preventable infections and deaths), and begins dismantling vaccine adverse event monitoring systems. He describes these actions as 'cleaning house.'