RFK Jr. brings chaos, not science | Red Hot Take

Transcript

00:00Health Secretary Robert Kennedy's Senate testimony last week made one thing crystal clear.

00:06The public health system in America isn't going to become more science based on his watch.

00:12In a finance committee grilling focused on his vaccine policy at the Department of Health and Human Services,

00:18Kennedy came off as downright paranoid when Senator Bernie Sanders,

00:23who's no fan of the pharmaceutical industry himself,

00:25pressed him on his criticism of major medical organizations,

00:29Kennedy raved that they were bought and paid for by Big Pharma.

00:34According to Kennedy, the American Academy of Pediatrics is compromised

00:38because its biggest contributors are the four largest vaccine makers, his quote.

00:44And the American Heart Association has also been corrupted by the pharma industry.

00:49How incredibly convenient. Everyone who disagrees with him is a shill.

00:53That excuse relieves him of the burden of having to provide evidence for anything he believes.

01:00Kennedy doesn't think the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can be trusted either.

01:05His reasoning is that chronic illnesses are on the rise,

01:08which proves the CDC leaders didn't do their job, as he puts it.

01:13He's not wrong about the increase in chronic illness,

01:15but what we know about the causes of many of these illnesses suggests that it's more likely because of lifestyle changes.

01:22Americans' diets are getting worse, we're moving less, we're sleeping less, and we're more stressed.

01:28The CDC doesn't have a lot of control over any of that.

01:32What's strange is that Kennedy himself in the past has identified things like food quality

01:37as a massive contributor to Americans' health concerns.

01:40But this far, his total obsession with vaccines seems to be taking up the majority of his time at HHS.

01:49There are unquestionably improvements to be made in the public health system to better serve Americans.

01:54But Kennedy isn't advocating for sensible reform.

01:57He wants to burn down the entire public health apparatus and rebuild it in his image to push his anti-science beliefs.

02:05It's not just his long record of anti-vaccine rhetoric.

02:10Kennedy has displayed conspiratorial thinking on a host of issues, like suggesting that cell phones cause cancer.

02:17Former CDC Director Susan Moneraz claims that she got axed last week because she wouldn't pre-approve recommendations

02:23from RFK Jr.'s newly refilled Vaccine Advisory Committee, which Kennedy denies.

02:28We may never know whose side of the story is true,

02:31yet Kennedy clearly is on the warpath to purge the public health system

02:35of any person, policy, or idea at odds with his worldview.

02:40America needs agencies like the HHS and the CDC basing decisions on data-informed evidence.

02:47The more Kennedy opens his mouth, the more clear it becomes that he is not the man for that job.