RFK Jr will be the health secretary of the country — as President Donald Trump wanted — following the Senate’s confirmation Thursday. The 71-year-old Kennedy Scion is a prominent lawyer and a vocal vaccine critic but he refuses to call him an anti-vaxxer as his family members are all vaccinated. RFK Jr was an independent presidential candidate against Kamala Harris and Donald Trump until he suspended his campaign to endorse Trump.
Kennedy Jr has been confirmed in 52–48 votes with every Democrat and McConnell voting against him. Republican Mitch McConnell who voted against defense secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard again voted against Kennedy Jr.
Ahead of the vote, minority leader Chuck Schumer said Kennedy is not remotely qualified for the job. “Robert F Kennedy Jr is not remotely qualified to become the next secretary of health and human services. In fact, I might go further. Robert F Kennedy Jr might be one of the least qualified people the president could have chosen for the job,” Schumer said.
“If the Senate had a secret ballot, I bet you that Robert F Kennedy Jr would never have come close to confirmation,” Schumer said.
What is Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again?
In line with Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan, RFK Jr raised a Make America Healthy Again pledge in which he promised to cut out junk and ultra-processed food from the American diet and ban other harmful chemicals and additives. He said he would not ban junk food as his boss Donald Trump is a fan of them but would enforce healthier oil for frying.
Kennedy Jr’s weird tryst with animals
Kennedy Jr acknowledged several incidents that involved wild animals mostly because he’s very interested and experimental about them. Kennedy Jr once beheaded a dead whale that had washed up on the shores of Squaw Island as he wanted to study its skull. He then tied the whale to the top of his van and took it home. Another weird incident involved a dead bear and the Central Park of New York. He said he saw a bear get hit and killed by a car in front of him. He planned to take it home but as he got engaged in some other work and could not head home, he left the bear in Central Park.
