Beneath the day-to-day action of the Trump administration, with chaos and confusion taking up all of our attention, there are elements of the new Make America Great Again coalition that are barely holding together. The ultimate example comes from Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has sparked fury among his supporters for (mostly) telling the truth about measles.
Now, Kennedy is known for many things, including hosting a parasitic brain worm, dumping a dead bear cub in Central Park, and being blamed for driving his second wife to suicide. But he is best known for being the nation’s most prominent “vaccine skeptic” or “anti-vaxxer,” depending on whom you ask.
His decades of profitable advocacy against vaccines included likening an “autism epidemic” to the Holocaust, claiming that no vaccine is “safe and effective,” and suggesting that the polio vaccine was responsible for killing “many, many, many, many, many more people than polio.”
After being confirmed by the Senate, a brazen display of the power President Donald Trump holds over the legislature, Kennedy has been tasked with grappling with a measles outbreak that has killed two people to date.
How did he respond? By telling CBS News’s chief medical correspondent, “We encourage people to get the measles vaccine,” and announcing on X that “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.”
Now, whether or not Kennedy believes this, it is demonstrably true.
But this sparked fury among his anti-vaccine base, leading to mass speculation among those who dabble in conspiracy theories regularly that Kennedy has either been compromised or is being blackmailed. According to commentator Candace Owens and her wealth of sources, “They” even have “sexual blackmail.” (You are free to fill in the blanks with your least favorite “They.”)
Of course, how one successfully blackmails a Kennedy for sexual perversion is an important question. But beneath the nonsense, there’s the ultimate lesson: Kennedy is a politician.
Kennedy rose to prominence because he hijacked a largely grassroots “Make America Healthy Again” movement as a launching pad for his presidential campaign. When that didn’t work, he offered to endorse both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump in return for executive power. Now that he has what he wants — power — he’s willing to do and say what is needed to maintain it.
RFK JR. GETS PUSHBACK FROM MAHA ON VACCINES AND MEASLES RESPONSE
What he actually believes is inconsequential. Always was, and always will be. There is no blackmail. Kennedy has not been compromised. There is nothing deep going on here.
Kennedy is willing to do and say whatever it takes to climb the ladder of power that intoxicates so many in our society. This includes becoming the avatar of health for every American who is genuinely concerned about problems such as modern medicine, diet, and vaccine policy. MAHA supporters should feel betrayed, but they only have themselves to blame.
Ian Haworth is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and podcast host. He can be found on Substack and followed on X at @ighaworth.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
