One Brainworm To Rule Them All
Better than EPA: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—bear scavenger, Peter Luger Steak House appreciator, wannabe journalist impregnator, brainworm victim, once (and future?) Just Asking Questions guest (in its nascent form)—will soon be in charge of some 20 percent of the federal budget, because fuck it, why not?
President-elect Donald Trump announced yesterday that he was putting RFK Jr. in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees 13 different divisions and is in charge of a massive chunk of the federal budget. Included in HHS’s purview is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (which provides vaccine guidance and tracks infectious disease outbreaks); the National Institutes of Health (which oversees research on cancer, Alzheimer’s, infectious diseases, and HIV/AIDS, and oversees 27 different institutes and centers); the Food and Drug Administration (which is tasked with authorizing different drugs for use in the U.S. and conducts safety inspections for food and drugs and supplements and medical devices); and the operation of those little programs called Medicare and Medicaid.
In short, if confirmed, RFK Jr. would be in a position of extraordinary power. Some have greeted this appointment optimistically, believing RFK can MAHA or “make America healthy again.” Others voice worry about the competence and experience of RFK Jr. (as well as other appointees). Still others—like Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D)—flip-flop, seeming to fall in line after feeling the political winds shift.
Look, making America healthy again is a valiant objective. I am personally antiseed oils and pro-working out; the sedentary lifestyle in which one eats infinite processed foods and ends up with terrible chronic illness is a horrible side effect of American abundance. The Means siblings, whom RFK Jr. seems to rely on quite heavily, often speak in hyperbole but they’re…not altogether wrong, and maybe hyperbole is needed to get Americans to wake up and begin to take responsibility for how we treat our bodies. When rates of obesity and diabetes remain stubbornly high, it’s not wrong to sound the alarm that mass cultural change is needed. We are no longer undernourished, as a people; we’re so materially successful that our problem is being overnourished to the point of sickness.
But RFK Jr. is not a scientifically literate, fact-based, competent, experienced, or measured person. He is wrong about HIV/AIDS; linking vaccines to autism; and the purported danger of thimerosal. On some things, he is correct: The COVID regime and the “noble lies”—which are still lies!—spread to the American public by our purported health authorities are despicable. We still need accountability. Considering which endocrine disruptors might exist in our environment and what unintended consequences might stem from SSRIs are valid research questions to which RFK Jr. has brought attention. Also, raw milk is great.
But in order to actually administer these programs, you need more than the ability to just ask questions and spread theories about what could be happening. You need some amount of competence. Perhaps RFK Jr. can take a pickax to the government waste that stems from certain companies being in bed with their overseers, but don’t count on it:
It’s widely known that Medicare Advantage providers upcode procedures and scam the gov out of tens of billions a year. But the plan admins like Humana and UnitedHealth buy off both parties and nothing ever changes. Most gov waste like this is just a political choice.
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) November 15, 2024
“When we talk about making America healthy, we really have to talk about corporate capture and the way that large corporations have captured our governmental agencies,” said Make America Healthy Again PAC spokesman Jeff Hutt. Again: Not a totally bad goal, but unclear that the MAHA types will be able to pull this off, let alone in a way that’s judicious and not just focused on punishing Monsanto for the show of it or banning the development of GMO crops, which are widely considered safe.
One other takeaway that’s kind of wild: This isn’t even the first time RFK Jr. has gotten close to serving in a president’s cabinet. He and his brainworm just keep getting lucky, over and over again.
2008: Obama is strongly considering RFK to run EPA
2024: RFK to run HHS
total realignment https://t.co/YBQgkB0ZDI pic.twitter.com/oKrOUHxGU8
— Will Manidis (@WillManidis) November
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