Former US presidential candidate and well-known anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will become health secretary in the future US government. This was announced personally by the newly elected President Donald Trump on the online platforms X and Truth Social. Kennedy “will end the epidemic of chronic diseases“ and will make America healthy again, Trump wrote. According to him, we have been subjected to fraud and misinformation on the topic of public health for too long, for which, however, Trump did not present any evidence, ARD emphasizes.
Even during his election campaign, the Republican announced that he would entrust Kennedy with a role in health policy. Trump had said that he would engage “the best minds“, including Kennedy, in improving children's health. The goal is to halve the number of cases of cancer and depression, as well as suicides among children, within four years. Trump did not say how this goal would be achieved, the German public media added.
Conspiracy theorists
On the eve of the election, Kennedy announced that Trump had promised him "control" over the ministries of health and agriculture. He then made a request to make Americans healthier, which he would achieve by eliminating the widespread use of pesticides in agriculture, ARD further recalls.
He has also repeatedly said that Covid-19 vaccines are dangerous and can lead to autism in children. Antidepressants are to blame for school shootings, and Wi-Fi causes cancer, are other insights from the future US health secretary.
A hopeless candidate
The lawyer, who was once a staunch environmental activist, initially ran as an independent candidate in the presidential election, but then withdrew his already hopeless candidacy to join Trump's camp. This saved him from losing valuable votes.
The seventy-year-old man comes from the famous Kennedy family - he is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy. He was a Democrat for many years before distancing himself from the party. The staunch anti-vaxxer is often criticized not only by Democrats but also by members of his own family for spreading conspiracy theories and maintaining contacts with far-right politicians.
Trump's government team is taking shape
After his victory in the election last week, Trump immediately began to form his future government team. At a gala dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate, he announced that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum would become Secretary of the Interior in his cabinet. Burgum was initially considered a candidate for Trump's vice president, but in the end he bet on J.D. Vance.
According to Donald Trump's will, TV host Pete Hegsett is to head the Department of Defense, ultra-radical former congressman Matt Gaetz will become attorney general, and South Dakota Governor Christy Noem is on the way to head the Department of Homeland Security. Cabinet appointments are usually confirmed by the Senate, but Trump is plotting to bypass the upper house of Congress.
Emilian Lilov (editor)