In July 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised a few eyebrows with an unexpected personnel announcement. The then-Republican presidential candidate said that if he were elevated to the White House, he’d consider then-Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a position in his administration — with either the Food and Drug Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That caused a stir for a variety of reasons, including the fact that Kennedy is an environmental lawyer with no professional background in medicine or public health. Complicating matters, Kennedy’s bizarre conspiracy theories and ridiculous ideas about health threats have left him derided as a proponent of “kook science.”
DeSantis ultimately backed off the idea of giving Kennedy a powerful administrative position, but 15 months later, a different Republican is still thinking along the same lines. The Wall Street Journal reported a few days ago on members of Donald Trump’s prospective Cabinet.
Trump did give some hints, referencing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but stopping short of confirming concrete plans. He praised Kennedy, the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy who ran for president as an independent before dropping out to endorse Trump in August, for his work supporting women’s health and the environment. “He’s going to be a part of it,” Trump said.
Since making those comments on Fox News late last week, the Republican former president has emphasized RFK Jr.’s potential role on his team several times.
On Monday, for example, Trump appeared in New York and fielded a question from a voter who was concerned about banning artificial foods in urban communities.
“So, Bobby Kennedy, right?” the GOP nominee responded. “Everybody likes Bobby, and he’s so big into the health food and women things, everything.”
As eloquent as those comments were, Trump added a day later, at a campaign rally in North Carolina: “Make America healthy again. Come on, Bobby. Bobby’s gonna do it. Bobby. Let’s go, Bobby. You gonna make us healthy, Bobby?”
He’s obviously one of the great orators of our time.
All joking aside, the idea that Kennedy should be rewarded with a powerful position in a Republican administration, presumably to work on making Americans “healthy,” is more than a little bizarre.
As my MSNBC colleague Zeeshan Aleem recently explained, RFK Jr. “is best known for fringe conspiracy theories tied to vaccines and other medical interventions, such as the belief that antidepressants cause school shootings.” NPR had a related report last year, noting, “Wi-Fi causes cancer and ‘leaky brain,’ Kennedy told podcaster Joe Rogan last month. Antidepressants are to blame for school shootings, he mused during an appearance with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Chemicals in the water supply could turn children transgender, he told right-wing Canadian psychologist and podcaster Jordan Peterson, echoing a false assertion made by serial fabulist Alex Jones. AIDS may not be caused by HIV, he has suggested multiple times.” To be sure, this is just scratching the surface. Not to put too fine a point on this, but if his name were Robert F. Smith, there’s obviously no way he’d be considered for a position of authority in the federal government. He’d be dismissed by the American mainstream as a fringe figure, better left ignored by serious people. But in 2024, the Republican Party’s nominee for the nation’s highest office is nevertheless letting the public know — indeed, he’s boasting to voters — that this fringe figure with ridiculous ideas is “going to be a part” of his team in a second term.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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