Trump election win: The danger of RFK Jr. is already becoming clear.
SlateKellyanne Conway pushed the idea of “alternative facts” in an interview almost eight years ago as then-President Trump’s senior counselor. The dispassionate expertise from the medical community provided some kind of solid ground in a frightening time, despite Trump’s politicization of the disaster—even as the figureheads were assaulted by misinformation powerful enough that Anthony Fauci, years later, would still face heated conspiracy theory–based accusations from members of Congress. In the weeks leading up to the election, Donald Trump indicated he would elevate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to a place of leadership over America’s health policy. In his acceptance speech early Wednesday morning, Trump promised that Kennedy would “help make America healthy again” and that “we’re going to let him do it.” Kennedy is part of Trump’s presidential transition team; in October, Trump said Kennedy would have a role in his administration. Instead, it seems that Trump cares about having Kennedy’s support—and that he doesn’t care to think too much about public health matters, despite the recent overhaul of American society by a major pandemic or the continued fallout of a seismic shift in reproductive health access in the country, with life-or-death implications.