Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has weathered ample family tragedy, drug and alcohol addiction, infection from an alleged brain worm, and a few sex scandals both minor and major — and now he’s weathering condemnation from his own political allies that could presage a genuine crash out.
Amid his single-minded quest against vaccines, the 71-year-old health secretary seems to have made a serious miscalculation when he chose to fire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Susan Monarez at the end of last month, after she called out his scientific “sabotage” in the Wall Street Journal.
Even ahead of his hearing before the Senate Finance Committee this week — in which Kennedy claimed that Monarez told him she was not “trustworthy” — GOP senators previously aligned with his “Make America Healthy Again” mandate had already begun expressing public criticisms about her shocking ouster.
“I need to know why… his words in his confirmation hearing aren’t matching up with some of the deeds,” demanded Thom Tillis, a GOP senator and Senate Finance Committee member from North Carolina who, per Axios, expressed his displeasure to Capitol Hill reporters ahead of the September 4 hearing.
Post-hearing, the senior North Carolina senator pointed to Kennedy’s swift reversal on Monarez, president Donald Trump’s pick for CDC director who just a month prior he’d praised during her confirmation hearings that brought her, for just under a month, from acting director to official.
Tillis also seemed to make reference to the anti-vax HHS director’s dismissal of the COVID-19 vaccines, which Trump pridefully claims to have “[come] up with” by enacting the multi-billion-dollar Project Warp Speed public-private partnership in 2020, during the early days of the pandemic.
“I don’t see how you go over four weeks from a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials, a longtime champion of [Make America Health Again] values, caring and compassionate and brilliant microbiologist and four weeks later fire her,” Tillis said, as noted by Politico, later adding that he considers the COVID vaccine push a “signature achievement of President Trump.”
Other GOP Congress members had also, apparently, seen the writing on the wall.
Wyoming’s John Barrasso, the Senate’s majority whip, harkened back further to Kennedy’s own confirmation hearings earlier this year.
“In your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines,” Barrasso said, per Politico‘s recounted. “Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned.”
Louisiana senator John Neely Kennedy — no relation — suggested, meanwhile, that he was tired of all the drama. That’s pretty understandable given how circus-like the health secretary’s tenure has been in the already-anarchic Trump administration.
“I want the chaos to stop,” the other Kennedy said. “You can’t have the institution of public health in turmoil.”
What all this dissent means for RFK Jr himself is unclear. Compared to his first term, when his administration was a nonstop revolving door, Trump has showed enormous restraint against firing his top lieutenants — but if Kennedy becomes a liability, it’s never seemed that Trump’s loyalty to his one-time opponent runs particularly deep.
When reporters asked GOP Texas senator John Cornyn if he had any questions or concerns about Monarez’ firing, he responded “of course.”
“[Kennedy] works for the president, the president can fire him any time he wants,” Cornyn said. “But our role is really just to do oversight, which we’ll do.”
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