On Aug. 23, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump for president. Kennedy revealed that Trump had offered him a role in a second administration on issues related to health care, food and drug policies.

“This time,” Kennedy said, he was “choosing to believe” the former president would deliver — a reference to an unfulfilled promise in 2017 to appoint him as chair of a commission on vaccine safety. RFK Jr. discussed his opposition to U.S. aid to Ukraine and the rise in chronic diseases, which he attributed to the toxic environment, prescription drugs and processed food. He did not mention vaccines.

Trump praised Kennedy as a “beloved” person, “respected by everybody,” but didn’t comment on an appointment.

Kennedy and Trump differ on many issues, but they have well-deserved reputations as peddlers of false and dangerous allegations about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Their claims play well with the MAGA base, but they raise the possibility that in the general election RFK’s endorsement will give Trump a pain in the butt instead of a shot in the arm.

As recently as July 2023, Kennedy told members of a House Judiciary Subcommittee that he was up-to-date on COVID-19 shots and has never told the public to “avoid vaccination.” Kennedy’s false claims, however, include that the 1918 influenza pandemic and HIV originated in vaccine research, that autism is linked to childhood vaccines, and that COVID........

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