Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could assist transform the country’s health care system if former President Trump wins the presidential election on Tuesday, worrying skeptics who say his anti-vax stance is unsafe and could go mainstream.
Kennedy has openly sought a leadership position at one of several public health agencies, hoping to make his “Make America Healthy Again” platform a reality, particularly on vaccinations.
Kennedy allies and members of Trump’s inner circle have begun discussing various places where the former independent candidate could have influence in a second Trump term, most recently over vaccine data, and are even considering workarounds for the confirmation process on Capitol Hill, if he should kick in, recoil.
“Bobby has put everything on the line and that will not go unnoticed or unnoticed,” said a source familiar with discussions about Kennedy’s political future. “Trump is serious about rewarding Bobby for his sacrifice and courage and turning his electorate back to MAGA.”
“Trump and some of his people are prepared to deploy political capital if necessary during a Senate confirmation fight,” the pro-Kennedy source added.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, told The Hill on Friday that the former president had actually indicated that Kennedy would have a prominent place in Washington if he won.
“The only thing President Trump and his campaign are focused on is winning on November 5th,” Miller said. “Everything after that is after that, and President Trump has made it clear that Bobby Kennedy will play an important role.”
This week, Howard Lutnick, co-chair of Trump’s transition team, acknowledged in an interview with CNN that Kennedy would take a place in a Trump administration that is closely examining the safety of vaccines for the general population.
“He says, ‘If you give me the data, all I want is the data, and I’ll take the data and show that it’s not safe,'” Lutnick said of Kennedy suggesting that certain shots would be fired from the airport if he would have more influence on the process.
Lutnick, who said he spoke with Kennedy for more than two hours, seemed himself to become increasingly uncertain about the conventional orthodoxy on vaccinations, asking interviewer Kaitlan Collins: “Why do you think vaccines are safe?”
It’s no secret that Kennedy’s support for Trump, which he received after he dropped out of the race, was a gamble, in part a bet on a key position. Now, just days before the election, Trump has been more open about his desire for Kennedy to have a role in which he can implement his health mentality.
Yet Trump has still been evasive about any particular agency or position. During his controversial rally at Madison Square Garden, the former Republican president said he would “let him go wild on the food,” referring to Kennedy, and “let him go wild on the medication.”
While Trump’s simplistic rhetoric left many questions unanswered, his promise was seen by allies as a sign of giving Kennedy influence over agencies such as the Health and Human Services Department, the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department.
At an event in swing state Nevada, Trump fired off another sweeping target for his former opponent, saying the 70-year-old could potentially accomplish more than just vaccines, including medical issues related to women.
“He will stand up for health and women’s health,” Trump said.
Vice President Harris, who is essentially tied with Trump in all major battlegrounds, responded with a laugh that Kennedy was “the exact last person in America who should be setting health care policy.”
The two men in their seventies, with very different approaches to personal health, were in touch and expressing different ideas even before Kennedy suspended his own bid for the White House.
“I said to Bobby, ‘I want you to care about health, I want you to care about the food and the food supply and what we’re putting on the food,” Trump said at the MSG rally.
Some of Kennedy and Trump’s most apparent supporters banded together in the final weeks of the campaign to spread a message of greater focus on health, forming a political action committee called MAHA PAC to raise funds and bring modern attention to Kennedy’s vision of a more health-conscious country to provide.
But many health experts have spoken out against it and are increasingly concerned about the prospect of Kennedy holding any senior position with influence over the U.S. health care system.
Some have tried to draw attention to his more controversial claims about the science of vaccinations and an unconfirmed link between children, autism and vaccinations, as well as his founding of the anti-vaccination group Children’s Health Defense.
Jerome Adams, who served as U.S. surgeon general under the Trump administration, said there would be consequences if Kennedy’s agenda affected vaccine trust and acceptance.
“It will be difficult for a potential Trump administration to focus on other priorities, or for Kennedy to make progress on overall American health, when government agencies are busy dealing with resource-intensive and preventable measles and polio outbreaks.” said Adams in an email.
Another leading health expert, Georges Benjamin, who serves as executive director of the American Public Health Association, said the public listens to Kennedy even though he lacks credibility in the public health sector. Amplifying Kennedy’s voice could lead to distrust of scientific experts and undermine vital messages.
“We are going to have to spend a tremendous amount of time correcting this bad information to the public,” Benjamin said. “People don’t know who to trust… They can undermine not only the normal routine processes around things like vaccinations, but also what happens in an emergency? You know, people won’t know who to believe.”
Democrats, for their part, have sought to highlight Kennedy’s changing positions, including on abortion, which is more in line with the right’s view of restricting access, as the issue is likely to play a key role on Election Day.
They want to combine conservative anti-abortion stances with stricter access to vaccines to show voters how far-reaching his program could potentially be if Trump wins back the Oval Office.
“RFK Jr.’s extremist anti-abortion and anti-vaxxer ideas have nothing to do with guiding national health policy, but that’s what Donald Trump promises if he wins,” said Britt Jacobich, a spokeswoman for the progressive group MoveOn.
Jacobich, like other Democratic activists who have sought to downplay Kennedy’s stature throughout the cycle, said giving him key responsibilities could have a “deadly” impact on the lives of Americans.
Kennedy was particularly critical of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, when more than 1.1 million people have died, according to U.S. health records, and partisan battles erupted in the workplace and in public over things like mask requirements and vaccination requirements.
Democrats worry that the higher Kennedy gets in Trump’s orbit, there could be more controversy, especially in unknown times of crisis.
“If Trump hands RFK Jr. the keys to critical health agencies, it would have deadly consequences for millions of Americans,” Jacobich said.
Nathaniel Weixel contributed.
