‘Make America healthy again’: Trump names RFK Jr. to head HHS

: World Tribune; 14 November 2024; Hits: 6

by WorldTribune Staff, November 14, 2024 Real World News

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

After the Democrat Party machine essentially locked him out of the 2024 presidential primaries, Kennedy first ran as an independent but then dropped out and endorsed Trump. He became a top ally at Trump rallies down the stretch.

Kennedy has promised sweeping changes to food-and-drug regulation and government-funded scientific research.

Kennedy said the Food and Drug Administration’s nutrition department needed to be eliminated and warned the agency’s employees to “pack your bags.”

Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social: “I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.

“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”

Kennedy would take over a department with an annual budget that tops $1.7 trillion, more than 80,000 employees and 13 operating divisions, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the FDA. Most of its spending goes to Medicare and Medicaid.

Kennedy has pledged to advise against fluoride in drinking water and said he would ask for more data on vaccine safety to be made public. He is also eager to investigate food colorings and pesticides restricted in European countries but widely used in the U.S.

For major media, it was another meltdown over a Trump Cabinet choice with many referring to RFK Jr. as a “vaccine skeptic.”

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal noted: “Kennedy made the case to Trump’s advisers that he would be able to enact more sweeping change as HHS secretary than he would as the administration’s health czar, the other position he was being considered for. He has told associates one of his goals as secretary is to overhaul the department’s subagencies, including the FDA.”

I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint @RobertKennedyJr to @HHSGov. He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA. I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than… pic.twitter.com/cILtTYplcn

— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) November 14, 2024