Robert F. Kennedy now heads Trump's MAHA commission: What to know
WASHINGTON − For Robert F. Kennedy Jr., it was divine intervention.
With his confirmation by the Senate on Thursday to helm the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy, one of President Donald Trump’s most divisive Cabinet picks, now will oversee the nation’s food and healthcare systems.
“The first thing I've done every morning for the past 20 years is to pray to God that he would put me in a position where I can end the chronic disease epidemic and protect our children,” he said during his confirmation hearing.
Those prayers were answered on Thursday: “God sent me President Trump” he said, after being sworn-in as health secretary in the Oval Office surrounded by his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, and other family members.
Kennedy, 71 is a longtime environmental lawyer with no professional background in medicine or health care. His promotion of conspiracy theories claiming vaccines cause autism, linking antidepressants to school shootings and even suggesting WiFi causes cancer have alarmed healthcare professionals and Democratic lawmakers. But his contention that chemical additives and food dyes are behind the “chronic diseases epidemic” and vow to take on "Big Pharma" have won support from a cross-section of the society, particularly mothers.
Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the only Republican to vote against Kennedy, said he had a “record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions,” in a statement after the vote.
To others, such as Vani Hari, a food activist and blogger, who attended both days of Kennedy’s confirmation hearings, it was a fresh start.
“This is a historic nomination that will change the course of American health,” she said Thursday.
In his first interview after his confirmation, with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Kennedy reacted to a criticism by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. that he lacked the qualifications to lead the health department.
Kennedy said the qualifications Schumer was talking about is “what got us to where we are today.”
“We do need somebody different who can come in and say, ‘I’m going to be a disruptor. I’m not going to let the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry run health policy anymore,’" Kennedy said.
Here’s what to know:
A 'disrupter' heads Trump's MAHA Commission
“Just two generations ago, America was the healthiest country in the world,” Kennedy says on his website. “It can be that way again. We can Make America Healthy Again.”
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission.
The commission, chaired by Kennedy, will be tasked with investigating and addressing the “root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with an initial focus on childhood chronic diseases.”
Kennedy has focused much of his healthcare crusade on his contention that American healthcare mostly prioritizes treating chronic illnesses over preventing them.
Ninety percent of the nation's $4.5 trillion in annual health care expenditures are for people with chronic and mental health conditions, according the CDC.
Within the first 100 days, the commission has been mandated to produce an assessment on “what is known and what questions remain” on childhood chronic diseases, including international comparisons.
Reactions from supporters and detractors of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Hari, who blogs at Food Babe with millions of readers and is a self-identified MAHA Mom, said she was pleased.
“If you would have asked me six months ago if I had any faith that our government agencies would hold food and chemical companies accountable, I would have laughed in your face,” she said. “They have horrifically failed the American people.”
It shouldn’t be up to “moms, dads, and citizen activists like us to do the FDA's (Federal Food and Drug Administration's) job,” she said.
Dr. Rob Davidson, a Michigan emergency room doctor and the executive director of the Committee to Protect Health Care, who led a petition signed by thousands of doctors opposing Kennedy’s confirmation, said he was disappointed.
“RFK Jr.’s dangerous track record is clear – he has sowed doubt in public health, spewed medical misinformation, and peddled conspiracy theories,” he said. ”But we will not stop standing up for our patients and providing the scientifically proven care they deserve.”
Others struck a more reconciliatory tone.
Immediately after the confirmation, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry, sent a supportive message saying they were aligned with Kennedy’s urgent priorities to “reduce the burden of chronic disease, improve health outcomes and make health care more affordable for the American people.”
'We shouldn't be subsidizing people to eat poison'
Kennedy told Fox his top goal was “radical transparency.”
He said he was all about giving people freedom of choice.
“If you want to eat Twinkies, you ought to be able to eat 'em. But you ought to know what's in 'em,” he said.
“We have 10,000 additives in our food. The Europeans have 400, many of the additives that we have are just illegal in Europe,” he said.
One area he said he wants to see change is in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides food benefits for low-income households, including free school meals, because it is funded by the federal government.
“We shouldn't be subsidizing people to eat poison,” he said.
He also said his travels across the country have convinced him the country is “not just in a health crisis, but we’re in a spiritual crisis.”
“And those things are connected,” said Kennedy.
“We have a whole generation of kids that feel alienated, dispossessed. They are in a existential crisis,” he said.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for Paste BN. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal