Tag Archives: RFK

Health And Safety

It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry while you’re watching the Keystone Kops dismantle the federal government.

A recent article charting the decimation of HHS under RFK, Jr.–aka Mr. Brain Worm– contained the following tidbits: employees who were laid off and who wanted to pursue discrimination complaints were told to contact Anita Pinder, former director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights. Pinder died last year.  Then there was the report that a number of FDA staff members only discovered they were part of the sweeping reduction in force when they arrived for work one morning and their badges would no longer let them into the building.

Kennedy’s haphazard and unprecedented downsizing of the federal health workforce–the dismissal of twenty thousand workers–was evidently conducted with similar inattention to careful analysis, let alone standard procedures or pesky details. The dismissals removed what the article called “a broad swath of expertise: biomedical scientists, staff who respond to freedom of information requests and researchers who work to improve patient safety.”

Those dismissed from HHS included numerous senior leaders–individuals who represented often irreplaceable institutional memory.

At the National Institutes of Health, a nearly $48 billion biomedical research agency, at least five top leaders were put on leave. Among those offered reassignment were the infectious-disease institute director Jeanne Marrazzo, according to emails obtained by The Post and multiple people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Marrazzo had succeeded Anthony S. Fauci as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped lead the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and later became a target of Republicans. An internal email showed that two other leaders there, H. Clifford Lane and Emily Erbelding, also lost their jobs, and the agency had no advance notice of who had been targeted for layoffs through the reduction in force, or RIF

The story was the same throughout the reckless purge of HHS. At the CDC, for example, senior leaders overseeing global health, infectious diseases, chronic disease, HIV, sexually transmitted disease, tuberculosis, outbreak forecasting and information technology were all among those notified that they would be reassigned to the Indian Health Service (a reassignment most refused). The article quoted one official for the probable effect: “The agency will not be able to function. Let’s be honest.”

The purge included some 3500 scientists working on bird flu and vaccine safety, as well as the safety of the U.S. food supply and tobacco products.

“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed,” Robert Califf, who served as FDA commissioner under Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, wrote on LinkedIn on Tuesday morning.

Forbes was among the publications warning that the cuts could have profound effects on the health and well-being of Americans. A capacity to respond to emerging new diseases that has arguably already been inadequate will be even more vastly curtailed; food and drug safety are being imperiled; and research on diseases like cancer, Alzheimers and Parkinsons (among many others) will be dramatically set back. Other cuts significantly reduced the number of caseworkers who assist Affordable Care Act consumers and Medicare beneficiaries.

The list goes on.

And what about the “savings” being touted? Will the vast majority of Americans whose health and safety are being compromised by these ill-considered dismissals at least see a financial benefit? Hardly. The Trump administration is “saving” this money in order to fund further tax reductions for the wealthy–trading the health and well-being of the many for fatter pockets for the few.

America has long been the only Western democratic country without a program of national health care. Now we face the prospect of greatly diminished public health and safety protections, in order to exempt our plutocrats from paying their fair share of taxes.

Makes me want to ask those folks with the red hats: are we great yet?

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Who Will Die?

Among the travesties being committed by a lawless and determinedly stupid administration, its assault on science–and particularly medical science– is among the acts most likely to affect all Americans negatively. Ironically, the administration’s anti-science, anti-expertise tantrum has already proved to hit devoted MAGA Neanderthals the hardest.

While there have always been medical skeptics, this expanded retreat from sound medical advice began in earnest during the pandemic, when the “give me liberty” MAGA cult refused to wear masks, continued to sponsor and attend public gatherings, and–especially– refused to get vaccinated. They died of Covid in disproportionate numbers.

In the wake of the 2020 election, there was some speculation that–at least in some deep Red congressional districts–a fall-off in Republican votes was due to that disproportionate death rate. (I’ve been unable to find confirmatory data for that speculation, but the fact that unvaccinated folks were much more likely to suffer and die has been repeatedly documented.)

The designation of MAGA folks as a cult has become widespread, and the evidence for that continues to mount. During the pandemic, followers of their massively ignorant cult leader obediently ingested bleach and Ivermectin, a medication intended for horses; today, RNK, Jr.–he of the brain worm and an assortment of bizarre conspiracy theories–is busily substituting those theories for medical science. His cuts at HHS are already imperilling public health, and are likely to make it more difficult for sane Americans to receive the vaccines that protect us from a wide variety of diseases.

The dramatic politicization of health care is likely to affect us all, but–again, ironically–it is much more likely to affect the cult’s true believers. I recently came across an article describing how the choice of a doctor has become partisan. Research published in the British Journal of Political Science finds that Americans’ trust in their personal physicians—an area that the study notes “was once a rare nonpartisan sanctuary”—has become increasingly divided along political lines, with potentially serious implications for public health.

Here–in a nutshell–is what the study found.

Trust reversal: While Republicans were slightly more trusting of their doctors a decade ago, Democrats are now 12 percentage points more likely to express “a great deal” of trust in their physicians.

Political preferences matter: Both Republicans and Democrats strongly prefer doctors who share their political affiliation, sometimes placing as much importance on political alignment as on shared race or gender.

Health implications: With Trump voters over 50 being 11 percentage points less likely to closely follow their doctor’s advice, this partisan divide could affect health outcomes and potentially widen existing mortality gaps between Republican and Democratic counties.

It hasn’t always been this way.

In 2013, Republicans actually reported slightly higher trust in their personal doctors than Democrats. By 2022, the tables had turned dramatically, with Democrats approximately 12 percentage points more likely than Republicans to report “a great deal” of trust in their physicians.

The study noted that the General Social Survey–a research instrument that tracks American attitudes– found diminished “confidence in the scientific community, education, the press, and many other institutions had already polarized along partisan lines by 2010. Medicine, however, remained stubbornly nonpartisan until 2021.”

The COVID-19 pandemic thrust public health officials into the spotlight, where they quickly became lightning rods for partisan conflict. The study found strong evidence that as medical authorities like Dr. Anthony Fauci became political targets, the distrust spilled over into Americans’ relationships with their own personal doctors….

Between 2001 and 2019, researchers observed a growing gap in death rates between Republican and Democratic counties, with people in Democratic counties living longer. If partisan divides continue to influence healthcare decisions, this gap may widen further, creating a feedback loop where political identity affects health outcomes, which then reinforce political divisions.

As the linked article concludes, if this polarization continues or increases, and Americans increasingly make critical life choices based on political identity, those choices could mean the difference between early diagnosis and late-stage disease. That makes the stakes of this particular aspect of our deepening political divisions literally matters of life and death.

If the results of the stupidity were confined to those applauding it, that would be one thing. (Admittedly, still a bad thing, but–hey, I’m not a nice human–somewhat fitting.) But we’re all likely to inhabit a far less protective world. Cuts to the FDA alone will mean slower approval of new medications, fewer food safety inspections, and lapses in new medical products. Other cuts have decimated research into diseases like HIV, Parkinsons and Alzheimers.

The cult’s dominance threatens us all.

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Actions We Must Take NOW

Thus far, there hasn’t been a single admirable or even minimally fit Trump Cabinet nominee –but even among the clowns, buffoons and conspiracy theorists who are likely to dominate the upcoming administration, four stand out: Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 

I’ve used the term “resistance” a lot since the election, without suggesting concrete steps to take. But Simon Rosenberg has outlined two in a recent Hopium newsletter, and I heartily endorse them.

  • Call your Senators and Representative to let them know your dissatisfaction with the rapist, fraudster, traitor and 34 times felon’s pick of Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth and Robert Kennedy; and to inform them of your expectation that they will leave it all out there on the playing field to block these profoundly dangerous nominations whether they have a vote on them or not.

  • Contact the White House and ask President Biden to order the FBI to begin background checks into Trump’s nominees immediately and before Trump installs Patel to disable the process.

In case you are unfamiliar with these nominees, Robert Hubbell has offered a description of the terrifying Kash Patel, noting that Patel wants to destroy the FBI while converting it into a weapon of political vengeance.

Patel has promised to “shut down” the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. on his first day as director of the FBI and re-open the FBI Headquarters the next day as a “museum to the deep state.” He said,

“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen the next day as a museum of the deep state. And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals.”

But he has also threatened to use the FBI to harass journalists and politicians who sought to hold Trump accountable for his crimes. Patel said,

“[W]e’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections — we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.”

Patel’s nomination is also an assault on the US intelligence community; the FBI plays a critical role in counterterrorism and intelligence gathering. Hubbell links to a number of other resources for background on Patel.

Speaking of the intelligence community she would head, Tulsi Gabbard is widely considered to be a Russian asset. As the Independent has reported, 

Even before Gabbard left the Democratic Party, ingratiated herself with Donald Trump and secured his nomination to become director of National Intelligence, she was known as a prolific peddler of Russian propaganda.

In almost every foreign conflict in which Russia had a hand, Gabbard backed Moscow and railed against the US. Her past promotion of Kremlin propaganda has provoked significant opposition on both sides of the aisle to her nomination.

The media has been full of reports about Pete Hegseth–all negative. The New Yorker has issued an updated review of the behaviors that caused him to be forced out of prior positions. Those disclosures–unethical behaviors, sexual misconduct, egregious drunkenness–added to the already widely reported and salacious details of this nominee, who at this point, is not expected to be confirmed.

It is hardly necessary to update my prior comments about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. His brain worm is insufficient to explain the conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine fixations he’s embraced. Even Trump’s former FDA commissioner has expressed significant concerns about naming him health secretary.

So here’s the assignment, as Rosenberg outlined it.

We need to inundate our Senators and Representatives with letters, emails, phone calls–any and all methods of communication decrying these nominees and demanding that they be properly vetted. Those of us fortunate enough to have Democratic Senators and/or Representatives can simply affirm our deep concerns and urge them to do whatever they can to derail what are actually attacks on the agencies involved.

Those of us unfortunate enough to be represented by Republicans have a trickier task. Here in Indiana, for example, we have two Republican Senators. Todd Young is relatively moderate (he’s a policy person and refused to endorse Trump)–letters to him should urge him to do what he probably knows is the right thing, and oppose these unfit nominees. Our other Senator (replacing Trump-complacent Braun) will be Jim Banks, who is certifiable. Banks is a lost cause; he will support anyone Donald Trump wants. Letters to him should set out the demonstrated flaws of these nominees and call on him to explain his support for any of them. Copy the news media with all of it.

Bury them with protests. I’m starting mine now.

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Speaking Of Lunatics…

Third-party candidates in two-party America share several characteristics, one of which might be called a martyr complex. After all, application of elementary logic leads to the inevitable conclusion that–while such a candidate might manage to be a spoiler depriving one of the major party nominees of success–he or she has zero chance of actually winning.

That logic explains why so many of these “spoiler” candidates are–to put it mildly–less than rational. While some social activists probably run simply to make a point or to bring attention to a pet issue–Ralph Nader comes to mind–  others come to us straight from their private fantasy-lands.

This year, for example, Robert F. Kennedy’s quixotic candidacy comes directly from an alternate universe. If this sad, deluded man was not a member of a storied political family, he’d have been escorted off the public stage a long time ago. As an article in Mother Jones recently pointed out, his distance from reality isn’t limited to his anti-vaccine beliefs, and far too much of the media coverage of his campaign has served to normalize this very abnormal man.

He’s a conspiracy theorist who has made a lot of money pushing baseless or disproven notions about vaccines, Covid, and other hot-button subjects. At the start of his 2024 presidential bid, the media reported his history as a disinformationalist on multiple fronts. Yet now he’s largely covered as another character in the ongoing presidential horse race.

Most of the recent stories about him focus on his standing in the polls, what voters he’s attracting, and speculation regarding his potential impact on the outcome. In such pieces, his extreme conspiracism is often not conveyed fully and sometimes not even mentioned. A recent Washington Post story on Kennedy family members endorsing President Joe Biden noted in mild fashion that  RFK Jr. “has embraced controversial, unfounded claims on issues including vaccines and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.” A Wall Street Journal article on chaos within his campaign merely said Kennedy “has promoted conspiracy theories—in particular on vaccines—and espouses political views from across the spectrum.” A New York Times piece referred to him as a “vaccine skeptic” who has promoted “vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories about the government.”

The article proceeded to focus on one of Kennedy’s many conspiracy theories–one that has received minimal coverage– noting that “He is much further around the bend than [the media] indicates. With his advancement of unhinged and outlandish conspiracy theories, RFK Jr. is in the league of Alex Jones.”

The author noted RFK, Jr.’s evidently fervent belief that a “global elite led by the CIA had been planning for years to use a pandemic to end democracy and impose totalitarian control on the entire world,”  a claim he has repeated at public events and on podcasts, and for which he has claimed to have proof. That “proof” revolves around something called “Event 201.” During one interview, Kennedy told listeners who might be skeptical of his description of that event to “do the research. The meeting is still on YouTube.”

As the Mother Jones article notes, the video of Event 201 does indeed remain on YouTube—”as does an entire website devoted to the exercise—and it in no way matches Kennedy’s description. Not even close.”

The remainder of the lengthy article takes each description of that event offered by JFK, Jr. and patiently and thoroughly debunks it.

Other claims made by Kennedy have been shown to be equally unfounded/unscientific/looney. He has asserted that chemicals present in water sources cause transgender identity, has repeatedly endorsed the idea that the increase in mass shootings is due to heightened use of antidepressants, and has accused the CIA of assassinating his uncle. Just last June, in an interview with the Washington Post, he reaffirmed his belief that Republicans had stolen the 2004 election, and that John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, had really won.

In his defense, it is likely that Kennedy (unlike con artists like Alex Jones) actually believes these things. That is sad. It is sadder still that many Americans tell pollsters they plan to vote for him, in most cases not because they agree with any of his bizarre assertions, but because they are unaware of how demented he really is. The only thing they know about him is his name, and that he is the nephew of the former President.

If MAGA’s devotion to Trump hadn’t already proved the extent of American political ignorance and hostility to reality, the fact that a meaningful percentage of voters claim to be supporting this very troubled man should conclusively prove the point.

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