Robert Kennedy Jr.

Liz Wolfe | 11.15.2024 9:30 AM

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........

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