Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday got here out towards Donald Trump’s resolution to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to steer the Division of Well being and Human Providers, a task that might put him answerable for overseeing the nation’s well being care infrastructure as a way to preserve Individuals wholesome.
However Pence didn’t condemn the selection for the explanations you could suppose.
His essential assertion talked about nothing about Kennedy’s harmful anti-vaccine views, which helped result in a measles outbreak in American Samoa that led dozens of kids to die of a preventable illness.
Nor did Pence slam Kennedy’s different insane positions, together with the truth that he promotes the consumption of harmful uncooked milk, which might result in preventable foodborne sickness; that he falsely linked antidepressants with mass shootings; that he falsely stated chemical substances within the nation’s water are inflicting children to be homosexual or transgender; that he desires to take away fluoride from America’s ingesting water, which may result in dental decay in youngsters; that he believes the wild conspiracy that 5G wi-fi is getting used to “control our behavior”; and that he pushed ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as COVID remedies, though they have been discovered to be ineffective.
As an alternative, Pence is towards Kennedy as a result of Kennedy isn’t sufficiently anti-abortion sufficient for Pence’s liking.
In a assertion, Pence stated Kennedy’s nomination “is an abrupt departure from the pro-life document of our administration and must be deeply regarding to hundreds of thousands of pro-life Individuals who’ve supported the Republican Social gathering and our nominees for many years.”
“If confirmed, RFK, Jr. would be the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history,” Pence wrote within the assertion.
Trump turned unusual bedfellows with the infamous anti-vaxxer after Kennedy made a deal to drop his unbiased bid for president as a way to again Trump and assist him win one other time period within the White Home.
Trump then nominated Kennedy to “go wild” on the nation’s meals and well being insurance policies.
Kennedy has reportedly been spreading his anti-vaccine views to Trump’s transition group already, with the co-chair of the group telling CNN that it’s attainable the Trump administration might pull product legal responsibility insurance coverage for vaccine makers, which might power them to take vaccines off the market.
Scientists are terrified Kennedy may additionally thwart the creation of recent vaccines, which may trigger pointless struggling and probably extra dying if one other pandemic strikes.
Even the New York Put up—run by Republican megadonor and Fox Information head Rupert Murdoch—warned concerning the risks of placing Kennedy on the helm of HHS.
The Put up’s editorial board wrote that Kennedy’s views on well being have been “a head-scratching spaghetti of what we can only call warped conspiracy theories.”
They went on to say:
A radical, extended and confused transition ordered by a man like RFK Jr., who will use his excessive workplace to spout his controversial beliefs, leaves quite a lot of room for issues to go unsuitable—and for folks to wind up harmed and even useless.
[…]
Donald Trump gained on guarantees to repair the financial system, the border and hovering world dysfunction; his group must deal with delivering change on these fronts — not spend power both having to defend crackpot theories or attempting to regulate RFK Jr.’s mouth.
Nonetheless, few GOP senators have spoken out towards Kennedy’s nomination—and so they finally have the ability to substantiate him for the submit.
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a conspiracy theorist in his personal proper, referred to as Kennedy “a brilliant, courageous truth-teller.” Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, one of the dumbest senators in the chamber, said Kennedy was “an absolutely brilliant pick by President Trump.” Even Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, an actual medical doctor who is considered a more moderate Republican (if you believe those still exist), didn’t condemn Kenendy’s nomination, saying in a press release that Kennedy “has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure.”
We’re really residing in terrifying occasions.
