Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump/Elon Musk got the Cabinet they wanted. That’s what happens when voters decide that they not only want to empower white supremacists in the executive branch, but they also want to ensure that the white supremacists have congressional carte blanche to dismantle the government in the most methed-out way possible. The Republican majority in the Senate ensures that even with a few “defectors,” all of Trump’s nominees are getting confirmed. That even goes for nominees whose families have come out to describe the nominees as predators (it’s happened more than once). So, Robert Kennedy Jr. was confirmed by the Senate as the secretary of Health and Human Services. The Polio Era is upon us.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine skeptic and former presidential candidate who fled his family’s party and threw his “medical freedom” movement behind President Trump, won Senate confirmation as the nation’s health secretary on Thursday and was sworn in hours later during an Oval Office ceremony.
The ceremony, conducted by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch as Mr. Trump looked on, capped a remarkable rise for Mr. Kennedy and a curious twist in American politics. He was confirmed by a Republican Senate, without a single Democratic vote, in a chamber where his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncles, John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, all held office as Democrats.
During the ceremony, Mr. Kennedy remarked that he first visited the Oval Office as a child in 1961, the year John F. Kennedy became president. He said Mr. Trump, whose presidential campaign he joined in August after abandoning his own, had been a blessing in his life: “On Aug. 23 of last year, God sent me President Trump.”
Mr. Trump said he intended to sign an executive order establishing the President’s Commission to Make America Healthy Again, named for the moniker Mr. Kennedy has given his movement. Of Mr. Kennedy, he said, “There’s no better person to lead our campaign of historic reforms and historic faith in American health care.”
The Senate vote to confirm Mr. Kennedy, 52 to 48, was almost entirely along party lines. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a polio survivor and the former G.O.P. leader, voted no, the lone Republican to oppose Mr. Kennedy. Mr. McConnell issued a searing statement explaining his vote. At the swearing-in ceremony, Mr. Trump criticized Mr. McConnell, calling him a “very bitter guy.”
Kennedy is now in control of HHS, which oversees the FDA, the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Kennedy isn’t a “vaccine skeptic” – he is flatly anti-vaccine. While there is an abundance of legitimate concern about how badly Kennedy will f–k up any and all current and future pandemics and vaccine schedules, I would be willing to bet that one of the first things Kennedy does is f–k with the FDA’s long-standing approval of prescription abortion pills. Kennedy openly endorsed Trump’s anti-abortion stances during the campaign.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Robert F Kennedy, Jr testifies before the United States Senate Committee on Finance concerning his nomination to be US Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Copyright: xRonxSachsx/,Image: 958655826, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Ron Sachs / CNP /MediaPunch/Avalon/Avalon
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- Robert F Kennedy, Jr testifies before the United States Senate Committee on Finance concerning his nomination to be US Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Copyright: xRonxSachsx/,Image: 958656296, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Ron Sachs / CNP /MediaPunch/Avalon/Avalon
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- Robert F Kennedy, Jr, right, and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, left, arrive prior to Kennedy giving testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Finance concerning his nomination to be US Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Copyright: xRonxSachsx/,Image: 958656389, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Ron Sachs / CNP /MediaPunch/Avalon/Avalon
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- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds hands with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines as they depart the funeral of his Mother, Ethel Kennedy, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle Featuring: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Cheryl Hines Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 16 Oct 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages **NO DAILY MAIL. NO New York or New Jersey Newspapers.**
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- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., United States President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to be US Secretary of Health and Human Services, walks through the halls of Dirksen Senate Office Building as he makes courtesy calls on US Senators Featuring: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 19 Dec 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
Get your vaccinations and your adult boosters. Wear your masks in public and sign up for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) newsletter via email: see link below 👇🏾
We are screwed but we may be able to get through it if we rally and take care of each other.
https://www.who.int/news-room/newsletters
American Celebitchies , I’m so sorry this is happening to you. Take care of each other. I wonder what happens when Trump kicks the bucket, I mean it’s hard to imagine he will live 4 more years. Vance is just as awful, but is he this stupid too?? He is a cheesburger and ice cream binge away from having to deal with these people.
Don’t feel bad for us. We voted for this utter insanity. We voted to be the laughingstock of the world.
Sometimes I think the only way we can reverse this and save what’s left of our reputation is to collectively reject this man and this entire administration but alas, our country is half full of cultists who truly believe Trump is the second coming of Christ. Plus honestly, it’s probably too late anyway.
@Kitten DT won by a bare margin. I think the second lowest ever. And it is time to do away with the electoral college which stuck us with him the first time. That might have made things different if he hadn’t won before. And I wonder if some of that was through cheating and voter intimidation at the polls. What he accused Biden of.
I just don’t think the margin by which he won matters at all TBH. He won. We knew exactly the insanity we were signing up for–no surprises, we’ve been through this before–and we willingly signed up for it again. History will not remember the fact that he won by 2M votes–all that will be remembered is that we liked this guy enough to bring him back to destroy our country and possibly, the world.
@Smart&Messy, Thank you for your kind words — and your, quite justified concern. It’s highly likely that the policies set by Kennedy and the Trump administration will hit some Americans much harder than others — starting with those of us who get our healthcare coverage through Medicare, Medicaid, and then private coverage through the ACA (which has mandated coverage for basic, required services including most vaccines).
Trump doesn’t appear to be in the best of health, and we’re in unprecedented times. At some point, when faced with a public health emergency, Americans will suffer. We saw with COVID that the suffering disproportionately impacted the elderly and what were deemed “essential workers” . Trump got whisked off to Walter Reed for top notch medical care, while others suffered and died. Trump has spent the last 3 weeks or so pulling us out of the WHO, and dismantling NIH. It’s likely that what limited public health we have, Medicare and Medicaid, and the ACA will be getting the DOGE “efficiency” interventions soon.
It must be horrible watching a tragedy unfold from the outside. It’s definitely horrible being in the midst of it. We need rescuing badly — before the infections in the US also irreparably harm the rest of the world too.
@Kitten, every time you write the word: “we” my brain is reading : “y’all”. Those of us in the 93% did what we could— yet again— to save us all. The “fun” part of being a member of a numerical minority group in a winner-takes-all society is that sometimes all we can do is sound the alarm while the “winners” in the majority try to destroy us. The issue here, as I see it, is less about “reputation “ and more about who survives the coming onslaughts.
@ Blithe–To clarify, I mean “we” as in white people. I include myself in that because even though I voted for Kamala, I see no utility in separating myself from other whites beyond a feeble attempt to convey that somehow my ass is off the hook. I certainly do not include Black women in the choice that our country made and I hate that white people essentially decided for y’all. I’m just enraged and disgusted with what we have done. I was never a big patriot but I had a level of investment and yes, love, for this country that no longer exists and I have never hated fellow Americans (the ones who voted for this) more than I do now.
I’m Canadian, but my Mom was born in Michigan. She would be appalled at seeing what has become of her Homeland. I don’t think I have in my over 60 years, been afraid of our neighbours. The fact that radical extreme Christians have taken over your country along with nazi racist white supermicist is horrifying. I don’t know what else to say except that all the decent Americans must demand action from Democrats (where are you Democrats??) and rational Rebuplicans and get trump and musk out of your White House. This is just raging insanity. A very concerned Canadian (and trump better stay away from my Country.) I think you have elected your very own putin.
My daughter is 3 and a half years old. She can’ t get her next round of childhood vaccines until she is 4 years old. I am terrified. My one ray of light is that I live on the border of Canada and maybe I can take her there to get them if things go really south? I don’t know – I hate that I even have to look into that.
I’m in downtown Detroit with Windsor just across the river. Definitely finding myself spending more and more time looking wistfully at it 😞
Really hope this idiot allows vaccines to still be an option even if he gets rid of the requirement in public institutions.
My co-worker’s daughter refused to take her baby to a party at a friend’s house because said friend is a Trumper and as such, refuses to vaccinate her children. It just makes parenting choices so much harder when you have to worry about shit like this. This is a public health issue that has been successfully framed by the GOP as rugged individualism don’t tread on me nonsense.
MSM’s 1st order of business for HHS Junior is to press him on the measles outbreak in Gaines County TX
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The county has been headlining statewide affiliates all week. Reporting has it that, in the LoneStarState, it has the highest % of parents opting out for their school-aged children. And all the cases were unvaxxed – to the surprise of no one.
Seriously guys, I was full of hope for 2025 when kamala was running, and now it winds up being the worst year. Watching the news depresses me so much, and now this. I can’t. The world is changing and it’s not for the better.
Me too re: hopeful. And while I knew DT2 was going to be hellish, this is way worse than I thought. Meanwhile, get ready for the bird flu pandemic. It’s just a few mutations away and now a literal idiot is in charge. Stock up on good n95 masks and hunker down.
Yup, I have been ordering a slew of N95’s and am back to disinfecting my shoes after being outside before leaving them on the shoe rack. We are right on track for another pandemic very soon. Which is so unfortunate…
McConnell, that ancient turtle, is only trying to save his alleged “legacy” which will forever include dooming us to this unending hellscape by not whipping his caucus to convict Trump in the second impeachment. He can run but he can’t hide. And between all other Senate Republicans confirming this Kennedy lunatic and confirming Tulsi Gabbard the night before, all Senate Republicans are now proven to be nothing more than rubber stamps for whatever horrors Trump chooses to inflict on us.
Thank you Brassy Rebel. McConnell only voted against because he knew it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference. He is part of the gaslighting campaign to make you think there are actual checks and balances and voices of reason here. There are not.
If he were the deciding vote McConnell would have voted to confirm. It’s all performative and I’ll never forget the role that turtle played in dismantling democracy.
Mitch is a Polio survivor so I actually think this was a bridge too far. Of course that doesn’t mean he isn’t a P*S anyway.
Since this orange poo took over the presidency again my stress level has gone up significantly and my paranoia has gotten worse. And I am a citizen of a European country. I can’t even imagine how the citizens of the United States feel (those who know what is really going on, not those who still live in illusions and believe in what this idiot promised).
@Eva: I am just so sorry my fellow Americans have inflicted this monster and all his assistant monsters on the rest of the world. My deepest apologies forever. 😢 And, yes, it is pure hell being an American now. I envy anyone still living in a free country.
The problem is that because of what he does I may wake up one day in a country under occupation (I bet it’s Russian). Unfortunately I live in one of those countries that are too close to Russia. So this freedom may not last very long.
For your sake and others, I hope NATO can hold the line without the US. Again, I am so sorry.
You’re not wrong, Eva. Trump clearly wants Putin to control Europe and Xi Jinping to control the Eastern Hemisphere while the US takes over Canada, Greenland, the panama canal, and apparently, Palestine? Trump clearly sees these dictators as his peers and Viktor Orbán as his role model. He’s hellbent of punishing our allies and cozying up to our enemies. It’s fucking insane.
I don’t blame anyone for hating our country. I know I do.
Eva, i seriously believe that there will be heart attack and stroke victims because of the stress so many of us feel. My husband and I no longer watch the news because he has high blood pressure and doesn’t need the aggravation. We are in our 70’s and are truly frightened by the changes already made and what the future may hold.
After the election I had a medical visit. My blood pressure was not only high, but varying widely. The doctor said that this pattern was consistent with “stress”. Ya think?
So that has been my signal to hunker down, surround myself with a supportive community, and recognize that my propensity for trying to “save the world” is unhealthy. It’s time for me to focus on changing the things that I can. Exhale.
This does feel worse because I had such hopefulness. Now I’ve scaled down from: “Maybe we’ll build a better world” to gratitude for a Christmas gift of Peppermint Joe Joe’s and going to the gym.
I’m 70 and retired 2 years ago. My 68 yr old husband was just getting ready to retire, but now can’t. We’re scared of losing our Social Security and Medicare. These are terrifying times. We can’t even watch the national news without having to turn it off because it raises our stress levels so high.
I’ve quit Facebook, Amazon Prime, Audible, Whole Foods, and Zappos. Switched my social media to BlueSky and Substack. I know I need to do more. The people need to rise up!
I feel like I haven’t slept since January 20. The anxiety and stress is just through the roof. And its so bad because it feels like its coming from EVERYWHERE, every direction. There’s nothing to look at it and think “well at least he’s leaving THAT alone.”
And the worst part is how so many private companies are capitulating to him. I know a lot don’t really have a choice, but some do, and they’re just bending the knee.
ETA I should say “one of the worst parts” because there are quite a few.
Mitch knew MAGA was anti-vax and he’s now lost control of the train.
I am thinking about everyone’s pookie Joe Schlossberg.
Because vaccines work…
Because pasteurization of milk is a GOOD thing…
Because food safety standards are necessary….
We as a people have forgotten the horrors of the past because we’ve never seen them.
Polio
Tetanus
Diphtheria
Measles
Listeria
Legionella (water safety standards)
Widespread salmonella (instead of the isolated products now and again)
Rest assured though, our ignorance won’t last long. We’ll all have a front row seat to the epic Infectious Diseases and Other Life ending/altering Maladies nation wide tour.
i worry about the next Ebola outbreak, since the destruction of USAID. One of the things that agency worked on was monitoring outbreaks in Africa and ensuring that they were contained and eliminated before they spread.
My scientist child is having a meltdown because the paper on an infectious disease they had ready to go cannot be submitted because all the CDC co-authors are on an indefinite pause from submitting anything anywhere. They are petrified of being fired. And this is on a disease that someone died from recently. So yes, we are fucked and going backwards fast.
You are absolutely right. A lot of antivaxxers never experienced these diseases thanks to the very vaccines they now vilified. I had measles as a child and it permanently damaged my eyesight. Mumps almost killed me. I have long term, possibly permanent, pain from shingles due to the chickenpox I had. I am grateful every day that my daughter and grandchildren will hopefully never experience these things. I do worry for my 1 year old granddaughter if they make the rest of her shots unavailable when she is older. Fortunately, my doctor and nurse openly call American Healthcare a sh…..show and he writes me 90 day prescriptions as often as he can for my life preserving meds.
He’s also racist and believes in eugenics which makes him a danger to black people and other people of colour.
His comments about how Black folks need fewer vaccines were fucking textbook eugenics and does not bode well for Black maternal mortality rates improving under his leadership.
You know who fucking cared deeply about Black maternal mortality rates? Kamala Fucking Harris. Sigh.
Antisemitic and Sinophobic, too. Remember when he said that the COVID-19 virus was “engineered” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese? Because I sure do.
He is a virulent and vicious racist, and even falsely accused an innocent Black teenager of the murder he knew his cousin (Michael Skakel) committed.
But then again this is why he was confirmed. Makes sense he would be in charge of health during the nazi regime.
EXACTLY!! He is a threat to all but especially those of us of African descent, he literally quoted eugenics studies and with this racist government African Americans are yet again under attack. I used to live in the US and had to deal with the medical system there as a black women it was a horrid experience and so bad I have since left and returned to Canada and will never live there or really have anything to do with that country again.
RFK Jr. has also been very open about his anti-SSRI stance. These anti anxiety meds have been a godsend for most of my family. I have ADHD and cannot function without my meds—the idea that this unqualified conspiracy theorist has the final word on my mental (and physical) health terrifies me.
Audhd’er here and I feel you, if you can see if you can stock up a bit on meds as I do not know how long they will be available down there for once his regime of terror really kicks off.
It’s virtually impossible to stock ADHD meds in the States. It’s a strict 30 refill and not one day before. Time restrictions are the same between ADHD meds and Sudafed. 😑 If I need some Sudafed, I have to show ID, sign paperwork which goes to the State of Michigan. It’s not as if I’m cooking meth, but when I complained to the pharmacist, she replied “you’d be surprised the number of people who are doing just that”.
I am very lucky where I live (Canada) I can get 90 days at a time.. I am so so so so sorry. This is just awful and I hope, I hope that maniac gets stopped at every turn.
Recently, as I researched my family tree, I found pictures of the graves of two great-great-great-great uncles. They died of diptheria in 1880, only 12 days apart, aged just 5 and 3.
It’s not Make America Healthy Again. It’s Make Baby Coffins Again.
Let’s not forget, Daughter-Wife got the Chinese patents for coffins and body bags during the 1st Reign of Terror. Guess btwn Covid and what’s to come, she’s making big bank.
Can someone explain to me why they are trying to kill us? Don’t the billionaires want us plebes around to be their little workers, price gouge our necessities and take our taxed money?
No because their plan is to replace us with automated labor, AI, ChatGPT etc.
The billionaires have always ALWAYS hated that they had to depend on us for labor so this has always been their Ultimate Grand Plan, in the making for decades now.
@ Kitten – thank you for explaining this to me. Chilling.
I would encourage everyone to read about Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union — not so much the specific ideaology (though it IS fascinating and pretty damn wild), but the enormous fallout, because that is what we have to look forward to. The entire concept of genetics was declared “bourgeois pseudoscience” — just the communist term for “woke”, really — and research was destroyed. Research in other fields of biology was set back decades. Opponents were arrested and imprisoned, sometimes executed. This all began in the early 1930s and only began declining after Stalin’s death in 1953, but even years after that, it was still found in textbooks throughout the Eastern Bloc. Scientists were still being imprisoned into the 1960s. The doctrine was also exported to Soviet allies, and eventually contributed to the Great Chinese Famine. This kind of willful stupidity has a massive ripple effect.
As an FYI – CMS is also under HHS. He’s now in charge of Medicare/Medicaid.
Absolutely terrifying.
Dr Oz and RFK Jr. you’re right, absolutely terrifying,
Also know that CMS regulates nursing homes. If you think horror stories out of nursing homes are bad now, just wait until what little regulation we have is gone
So, the older and poorer among us will be disproportionately impacted by whatever this pack of psychopaths decides to unleash.
As someone who is very urban, I’ve always realized that I owe my life to people who do things that I can’t do — from those who drive the trains, to those who grow and raise our food, to those who keep the lights on. I’m curious about the big plan here. Once they kill off all the rest of us, how will the 1% survive? Do they really have the skills for that? Will they just pack up their food bars, head for Mars, and hope for another underclass to exploit? Are they prepping in Hawaii and New Zealand — planning for exports from China? It’s a puzzlement.
Jesus wept.
I hate it here.
I’ll be wearing my mask in public for the foreseeable future.
Unless one of these idiots in the government bans wearing them under threat of imprisonment or fine. Anything can be expected. When Jenifer Gardner’s daughter recently spoke publicly about wearing masks (voluntary) a shitstorm broke out.
You’re so right — they were awful to Jennifer Garner’s daughter. Stupidity has become the norm and it is so depressing.
Vote out Republican senators at the midterms, send a message.
If they allow midterms.
I wish I was joking.
No joke. We can all recall when he said” vote for me and you will never have to vote again. ” Scared.
Why are you limiting yourself to Republican senators? Why are you limiting yourself to the next election? If you’re unhappy you should be contacting your representatives today, all of them today. If you’re really unhappy you should be contacting all of your representatives every day in every way, by phone, by email, by snail mail, and in public discourse.
Just another dark day for our country. I will be lucky if I can get a flu shot next year.
We saw this coming; 2 classes, the very rich and the very poor. I dread what my grandkids future holds.
Wait…sorry…I blacked out for a moment. Is Hannibal Lecter secretary of state now too?
I’m sick & disgusted. Don’t any GOP senators have brains or balls? Some of them previously said that Bobby Jr is nuts but they still confirmed him! Is it blackmail? Are there pics of these pols with piles of stolen money or fornicating with animals? I cannot understand how anyone elected to serve the country & their constituents can support the orange creep & his pals.
We don’t need Russian oil to have oligarchs – it’s Bezos, Musk, Zuck, Thiel, Cook, et al who are blowing up everything but their own interests. Even after hearing the dumpo’s rants against Jews & gays, Zuckerberg & Tim Cook (Apple CEO) are still supporting him. Please, Donnie, eat lots more McD burgers & ice cream. I pray for a medical event that Dr Oz won’t avert.
“Don’t any GOP senators have brains or balls?” Hilarious. I’m always astounded whenever somebody makes a comment about normal GOP members. It should be obvious to everyone by now that the entire GOP is all MAGATS.
I find everything coming from this presidency so incredibly difficult to deal with mentally, and it’s made its mark physically. Reading this gives me one of those dread-fueled tummy aches.
We know how he views vaccines. As stated, anti- and actual pregnancy care is in danger. His understanding of neurodivergent people effing sucks. Healthcare professionals tend to suffer burnouts, and either change careers or retire in greater numbers when overwhelmed. People with certain diseases are in serious danger as well as the very old and very young.
Unfortunately, RFK Jr’s ideas are not just confined to the US. There are a miserable number of people who are antivaxxers and believe in the power of supplements over medicine in other countries. Ten years ago, I did not see Trump 1.0 or 2.0 as possible. I keep hearing people around me saying my country is crazy. It can happen anywhere: We’re getting our, “How did the Germans vote for Hitler?!” Moment.
Keep as safe as you can!
So…what does this mean for vaccine distribution? Are they planning to ban them in the US or…?
The Make America Healthy Again Commission created by executive order yesterday (and clearly authored by RFK Jr.) states among this among its aims:
“assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and weight-loss drugs.”
So they’re targeting medications taken by people dealing with obesity and mental health issues. It’s a f*cking nightmare.
More dangerous lunacy in this part:
“study the scope of the childhood chronic disease crisis and any potential contributing causes, including the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, Government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation, and corporate influence or cronyism.”
Electromagnetic radiation, not the measles or polio or actual dangers to children.