By Michael Woyton
What do 77 Nobel Prize winners have in common with the New York Post?
Both the newspaper and the smarties are against having Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of the nation’s health organizations.
On Nov. 15, the editorial board of the New York Post came out in opposition to RFK Jr.’s nomination by convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and president-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
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The NY Post called Bobbie Jr. “nuts” and said, “it’s hard to see how he’s the guy to lead HHS and its staff of 83,000 to practical solutions” based on his “warped conspiracy theories” that encompass more than just vaccines.
On Monday, The New York Times published an open letter from 77 Nobel laureates asking members of the United States Senate to oppose the confirmation of RFK Jr. as secretary of DHHS.
“In addition to his lack of credentials or relevant experience in medicine, science, public health, or administration, Mr. Kennedy has been an opponent of many health-protecting and life-saving vaccines, such as those that prevent measles and polio; a critic of the well-established positive effects of fluoridation of drinking water; a promoter of conspiracy theories about remarkably successful treatments for AIDS and other diseases; and a belligerent critic of respected agencies (especially the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health).”
The Nobel winners in the fields of chemistry, economics, medicine and physics told the Senate that placing RFK Jr. in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services would jeopardize the public’s health and undermine this country’s global leadership in the health sciences in public and commercial sectors.
RFK Jr.’s nomination fits what Trump wants to do to government in general — disrupt it and sow chaos.
Look also at former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who was nominated to be the director of national intelligence. She faces skepticism about her views on the recently fallen Syrian regime and former president and current Russian resident Bashar al-Assad.
Foreign intelligence concerns are wary of Gabbard and might be less inclined to share sensitive information that she could use for political ends.
Reuters said that a European defense official described her “as ‘firmly’ in the Russian camp.” That certainly lines her up with Trump.
And then there’s former Fox weekend host Pete Hegseth, whose mother went to Capitol Hill to tell senators that he’s a good boy.
He’s fighting back on multiple fronts, including accusations of having a severe drinking problem and sexual abuse.
Hegseth, who does not have any experience in running an organization with an $800 billion budget and millions of active duty soldiers and employees, even took to Fox News to deny that he said he doesn’t want women serving in combat roles. It was something that he said a month ago on video.
There’s a new strategy being employed by the MAGA movement to make certain that Trump gets his way with staffing decisions.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, recently had the nerve to voice concerns about Hegseth’s nomination and, according to Politico, Trump’s allies followed their master’s playbook and decided to lavish criticism and attacks on Ernst and, lo and behold, she is now saying she is supporting him “through this process.”
That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement, but it is a far cry from what Ernst was saying just a few days ago.
So the question remains, just how afraid are the members of the senate who surely know that the Constitution gives them the role of advice and consent when it comes to presidential cabinet nominations? Let’s be real: These senators know these nominees are flawed deeply, but are they willing to go against Trump.
Here’s to hoping that hard questions will be asked of each and every one of Trump’s picks, if only by the Democratic side of the aisle.
Lead art: Screen grab from CNN
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