Washington (AP) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said vaccines are not certain. His support for abortion access has made conservatives uncomfortable. And farmers in the Midwest are nervous because he prohibits corn syrup and pesticides from American food supply.
The 71-year-old, whose famous name and family tragedies have put him in the national spotlight since childhood.
Kennedy, a son of a democratic political dynasty, tries to become the nation’s best health officer under President Donald Trump. To get there, he proves these long -cherished beliefs and hopes to gain the approval of the Republican Party.
At the game, Kennedy’s control over the extensive agency for health and human services is 1.7 trillion dollars that monitors food and hospital inspections, health insurance for around half of the country and vaccine recommendations. The job would finally give him the kind of political power that Kennedy has been doing for decades.
He made a long offer for the presidency last year after Uncle John, who won the White House in 1960, the California primary school in 1968.
With a forceful resemblance to his father and his legal instructions, he found passionate supporters who accept the criticism that he submitted against unhealthy food, pharmaceutical company and chemicals.
But he could not bring Democrats to his side, some of his relatives avoid his vaccine views. His adaptable ideological journey, part of liberal democrat, a part of libertarian, and now a supporter of the Maga agenda after he had left the race last year to support Trump.
Since then, the president has instructed him to “wild” health. Together they even slipped a modern slogan: “Make America well again.”
Kennedy’s efforts now rest in the Republican-controlled Senate, where he can only lose three GOP votes if all Democrats oppose him.
As Kennedy’s confirmation listings approach this week, he is faced with a coordinated effort to stop his nomination. A television and digital advertising campaign underlines its anti-access. And the former Vice President Mike Pence, a stable ward of the conservative anti-abdominal movement, is also committed to him.
Kennedy’s closest supporters believe that he will prevail. He plans to concentrate on topics that have a non -partisan consensus, e.g. B. the reduction of food additives and increasing access to healthier food. When concerns about his views on conservative priorities such as abortion, he has promised to follow Trump’s leadership.
Then there is Kennedy’s greatest advantage – and maybe his greatest liability for someone who works under Trump – his star power.
“Bobby K. comes with a larger microphone than any HHS secretary,” said Calley, a close consultant from Kennedy.
Kennedy’s biggest hurdles: anti-access statements and tragedy in Samoa
Kennedy’s numerous statements, non -profit organizations and lawsuits against vaccinations against vaccinations will probably follow him.
He rejected the anti-access label and instead as a crusader for “medical freedom” who wishes more research. He and Trump swore not to take vaccines away. In order to defuse the criticism, he resigned from the children’s health defense, his non -profit organization, which submitted dozens of complaints against vaccines, including the state permits of some of them.
However, critics have argued that his work, which is committed to vaccines, cost life. The Democrats are ready to be at home in his social media campaigns in Samoa, the island station in the Pacific, where doctors say that he and his anti-accyc acolythes confiscated a tragedy for the campaign against nanny.
In 2018, two Samoan children died of botched vaccinations and prompted the government to suspend the vaccination program for children.
Kennedy appeared in 2019 with his wife, the actor Cheryl Hines, to meet the prime minister, the Minister of Health and other health officers. Kennedy said drug for general health. ”
Later this year, a measles epidemic killed dozens of infants and children.
The Hawaii Governor Josh Green, a democrat and an emergency doctor who organized flights with 50,000 vaccine doses, doctors and nurses for the management of vaccinations, has led the campaign to emphasize Kennedy’s role. At the beginning of this month, he shared at individual meetings with a handful of senators, which he had seen there, including the reports of village residents who told them about Facebook posts who frightened them from vaccinations.
“He went there and used the celebrity status to deter the country before vaccination,” said Green about Kennedy.
Kennedy has denied playing a role.
A democratic group leads digital ads that accuse Kennedy of spreading misinformation in Samoa. The campaign is aimed at senators in nine states, including Sensan Collins from Maine, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, Thom Tillis from North Carolina and John Curtis from Utah, who have an critical Samoan population.
Another goal is the Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, Chairman of the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pension, which holds a hearing on Thursday. Cassidy, who is also a doctor, kept Kennedy there, after getting to know each other, and is considered frail.
Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, who suffered from Polio as a child, can also be in the game. At the climax of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2021, McConnell immersed themselves in his own campaign funds to push the residents of Kentucky against the virus.
Last month, McConnell threw a warning of attempts to discredit the polio vaccine.
“The efforts to undermine the public’s trust in proven remedies are not only uninformed – they are dangerous,” said McConnell. “Anyone who applies to the approval of the Senate to serve in the incoming administration would stay well away from the appearance of a connection with such efforts.”
A former Vice President questions his commitment to “Pro -Life” guidelines
Other conservatives have questioned Kennedy’s abortion views after saying last year that it should be legal for full -time pregnancy. His campaign later made it clear that he supports the abortion rights up to the fetus livelihood of around 22 to 24 weeks.
In meetings with some senators, he promised to follow Trump’s guideline on this topic.
The Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri said, for example, that he was convinced after he had spoken to Kennedy that he would be a forceful lawyer against abortions.
But the skepticism remains, since Pence’s advocacy representation emphasizes its abortion views in an advertising campaign.
“RFK Jr. did certain overtures to Pro-Life leaders that he would pay attention to their concerns at HHS, there is little reason for trust at the time,” said his group in a letter to the senators last week.
Senators ask: Will his ideas hurt farmers?
In Iowa, Kennedy’s nomination excited both corn and soybean builders Brian Fyre.
The farmer and the Republican of the sixth generation believe that Kennedy will offer a modern perspective, but he cannot afford the ban on corn syrup or pesticides that Kennedy has promised. If it were confirmed, Kennedy would monitor the Food and Drug Administration that has the authority to issue restrictions.
“We would be trapped. It would destroy the rural communities in the middle west, ”said Fyre. “You speak of a food supply for a nation. You cannot improve this without a practical alternative. ”
The Republican Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa said that he intends to offer Kennedy an “training” for agriculture.
Wisconsin’s senator, Ron Johnson, a Republican from a dairy state, sees it differently last month and tells a lot at the Heritage Foundation that Kennedy’s agricultural ideas are a promising part of a larger goal: “to make America well again.”
