Trump Administration Tries To Rein In RFK Jr. As A Midterms Liability
from the too-late dept
I’ve obviously talked a great deal about how RFK Jr. and his activity as the Secretary of HHS has been a massive health liability for the American public. The implementation of his batshit anti-vaxxer stances have, of course, grabbed most of the headlines here, especially given the recent pushback he received from the courts, but it’s also worth noting the other craziness he’s spouted at the same time. He co-signed Trump’s nonsense about Tylenol giving all the kids autism. He’s overseen the worst measles outbreak in America in several decades. It seems likely he lied to Congress about his “work” in Samoa. He has vindictively repealed grant funding to groups that disagree with him on public health matters. He’s very interested in teenager sperm counts. He once took his grandkids swimming in a river known to be filthy with human waste.
It’s bad for the health of America. The Trump administration hasn’t really seemed to care all that much about that fact, of course, but it certainly does care about retaining power through the midterms. To that end, it seems the White House has finally woken up to the idea that most Americans hate what Kennedy and HHS are doing and has decided to pare back his activity because it’s a political liability.
The White House has taken steps to assert tighter control over HHS amid leadership and messaging changes tied to concerns that department Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s focus on vaccine policy could pose political risks heading into the 2026 midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported March 13.
While Mr. Kennedy remains in good standing with President Donald Trump, administration aides have grown frustrated with what they described as disorganization and missteps inside HHS, according to the report. Among them: a delayed response to a measles outbreak in Texas, backlash over mental health grant cuts and internal tension surrounding the FDA’s approval of a generic abortion pill.
We somehow are not at a place yet where the Trump administration realizes that they put a loon in charge of public health and are looking at making a leadership change. But they can read the polling as well as I can and they damned well know that the majority of America is not happy with Kennedy’s performance generally, and especially unhappy with his anti-vaxxer bullshit. To that end, the White House is making several moves to try to steady the waters and keep Kennedy and HHS out of the headlines.
Basically, it looks like they’re trying to provide a bit of more adult supervision, moving Chris Klomp up from managing Medicare to managing Kennedy… er… being Kennedy’s deputy, while moving Peter Thiel’s former righthand man, Jim O’Neill, out of his HHS Deputy Secretary role and over to the FDA where there’s hope he “reduce internal friction.”
The problem is that Captain Brain Worm remains at the top of all of this. Trump and his advisers know the country doesn’t like what HHS has done. They see the chaos, the resignations, and the bullshit that gets spewed out in press conferences and courtrooms alike. It would be nice if the government did this for reasons having to do with the American people rather than for its own political ramifications, but I suppose I’ll take what I can get under the circumstances.
Filed Under: chris klomp, donald trump, health & human services, jim o'neill, maha, rfk jr.
Comments on “Trump Administration Tries To Rein In RFK Jr. As A Midterms Liability”
Junior should check the schedule. There might be a bus coming and he might be under it soon.
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It also sounds like hegseth might be under a bus soon too due to the issues with the Iran war not being over instantly.
Trump really filled his cabinet with the most unqualified people imaginable.
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It depends on what qualifications you’re looking for, when it comes to the cabinet it’s pretty clear that the only qualification Trump considered this time around was unquestioning and absolute loyalty to him.
'What more do you people want from us?!'
Trump regime: ‘Okay the house has been burned to the ground, the people that were in it are all charred bodies and we’re keeping the ‘Fire is actually super healthy for the human body’-pyromaniac who lit the house on fire as the head of the fire department, but we’re putting someone in place to advise that he not burn the next house down so problem solved and stop blaming us for putting him in charge of the fire department to begin with!’
RFK Jr
“Captain Brain Worm” is OK, but Tom Tomorrow had a better one this morning: “Leatherface Guy.”
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Trump then, “Let’s put RFK Jr in as head of HHS, that’ll really own the libs!” “Let’s fill all positions with fuckwits!”
Trump now, “We’re going to lose the mid-term elections, why? I don’t understand.”
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People whose politics are reactionary “we have to troll our enemies” politics never seem to understand why their bullshit rarely does well outside of reactionary circles.
Re: Appelation
I’ve always preferred Bobby Brainworm. Everybody understands of whom I speak.
They’ll shuffle him out of the spotlight for a couple of months but he’s not going anywhere, they brought him into government because he’s a malignant narcissist who doesn’t care how many children die as long as he can find some way to use government to justify what he already believes in his drug addled brain. If they fire him, they know that he will resume working as a third party spoiler candidate and do them a lot of damage in swing seats where the margins are tiny.
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You’re giving a lot of credit to someone who fires people like it’s a bodily function. Trump has no allies—only people who aren’t enemies yet. And you’re suggesting there’s some kind of intelligence, logic, even long-term planning?
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Either there’s a 2028 election and Trump’s not on the ballot, or there isn’t one and he’s declared himself dictator-for-life. Either way, what the fuck does he care about spoiler candidates?
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If we accept the view, contrary to evidence, that Trump is some kind of brilliant planner, another option would be to become Speaker of the House. Third in the Presidental line of succession—that is, two bribes away from being President again—and with no qualifications imposed by the Constitution (in particular, the person does not have to be a member of the House or any other body, and does not have to be eligible to be elected President as the V.P. does—Trump remains eligible to hold the office, which is the requirement for succession).
In that case, Trump would still need allies in the House.
A feature, not a bug
“a delayed response to a measles outbreak in Texas”
The response wasn’t delayed. The response was to let people get sick on purpose because the idiot in question believes that it’s better to let children die or be brain damaged by preventable illnesses than to, you know, prevent them.
Yeah, RFKjr is a liability, not on the level of Trump himself, but certainly more health-specific than Trump. Of course, no one in the Trump Abomination is doing themselves any favors.