Oh boy. According to The Hill, Sen. Bernie Sanders may be open to supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health & Human Services Secretary. Not that The Hill is the most reliable of outlets, but this is just alarming. If Bernie is, indeed, mulling a “yes” vote, he should stop it. Immediately.
As the story tells it, Sanders and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman could vote “yes” on RFK’s nomination because of “shared critiques on heavy corporate influence over food and a desire to promote a less chemical-laden country.”
The story relies heavily on anonymous sources, and not many of ’em at that. There’s a single unnamed “source close to [Sanders’] office,” whatever the hell that means. And that source didn’t go much beyond asserting that Sanders “will use the opportunity [of hte confirmation hearing] to point out the shortcomings of the industrial food system, supply chains, etc.” That’s a far cry from actually voting “yes” on Kennedy.
There is one quote from a named source. Progressive activist Nina Turner went on the record, offering “my sense” that Sanders and Fetterman would support Kennedy.
Please, God, no. Don’t do it, Bernie.
Do I need to lay out all the reasons why RFK is dangerous and unfit? I guess I do, but first I’ll note that there’s no way on God’s green earth that the pro-corporate, deeply corrupt fast-food fan Donald Trump would allow Kennedy to pursue an anti-industrial food agenda. Need I remind you of the infamous post-election photograph of Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Elon Musk and RFK chowing down on McDonald’s?
Kennedy might be allowed to use his bully pulpit to rail against additives and such, but there’s no chance the Trump administration will pursue a healthy agenda with any teeth in it.
But even if Kennedy did so, he’d do much more harm than good with all his other fringey conspiratorialist views. He has been openly and consistently critical of vaccines, offering the long-debunked notion of a link between vaccines and autism. His intervention into a measles outbreak in Samoa contributed to the deaths of dozens of people, many of them small children. You want to put that guy in charge of regulating vaccines and federal funding for vaccine development?
Across the board, Kennedy has advocated for conspiracy theories or used the old dodge of “just asking questions” while doing damage to the public discourse by using his name and platform to spout nonsense. Forbes published an appalling list of Kennedy’s conspiratorialism including his attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci, his assertion that “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people,” his denial that HIV causes AIDS, his opposition to the use of fluoride, and his claim of a link between psychiatric medications and mass shootings.
Kennnedy has, in fact, spouted so much nonsense that various media outlets’ lists of his conspiracy theories fail to cover them all. Unmentioned in the Forbes list: Kennedy’s advocacy of the ridiculous chemtrails theory, his suggestion of a link between gender dysphoria and chemical exposure, and his assertion that Wi-Fi causes cancer. As NPR put it in 2023, Kennedy built “a presidential campaign around conspiracy theories.”
Then there’s the non-health stuff like his compulsive womanizing, his support for Russia’s version of events in its war against Ukraine, and that brainworm thing. And as Fetterman himself told Roll Call in November, “I’m not going to really take any kind of advice [from] a dude that chainsaws whale heads and delivers dead bears into a park.”
The Hill’s anonymous sources suggest that Fetterman may have changed his mind since then. But he shouldn’t. And if Bernie is thinking about a “yes” vote for RFK, he should stop. Kennedy is dangerously unfit for any position of leadership, and particularly unfit to administer the Department of Health & Human Services. A vote to confirm Kennedy would be a stain on Sanders’ admirable record of public service.
The Vermont Political Observer. 
Tough. I can see why Bernie would do it. When Trump inevitably cuts RFK off at the knees after getting the panicked call from Monsanto, it will force Bobby to stay or quit, honor his Dad or the grift. A great show to watch. Why tank his nomination and let them off the hook?
Because you don’t want to be on the record supporting a rabid sociopath to a top position in government?
which battle to you pick. Patel, Hegseth, RFK? Gotta have the votes.
Or just vote “no” on all of them for principle’s sake. Most of these battles will be lost because Republican members of Congress are either ideologues, cowards, or both.
praying to God Sen Sanders votes yes for RFK.
A few things:
RFK, Jr’s been the subject of corporate media “take down” narratives (even as has Bernie Sanders) vis a vis heavily-funded misinformation campaigns because of his success winning lawsuits against corporate malfeasance. He’s an easy target and it is very challenging to de-construct those false narratives.
While no human being is a perfect person with a perfect public record in these corrupt times, RFK, Jr. has some very sound ideas to dismantle some of that corruption; good ideas about public SAFETY for food, chemicals, and–yes–pharmaceutical products; and an excellent track record of successful litigation.
IF Sanders supports his appointment, it will be because so many here in Vermont are calling him to say so for the above reasons.
(and, slightly an aside: So many Americans who support RFK’s litigation record, public statements (from his mouth, not as falsified by corporate media), and commitment to 1-children’s health, 2-public health, 3-holding corporations accountable to the public, etc.,–even though many were dismayed at him taking up with the current prez-elect–had something to do with his numbers increasing (not acknowledge publicly by mass media sources)
RFI, Jr. is his own worst enemy. He may have a good idea or two, but he’s spouted so much nonsense and done so much bad or werid stuff that I find it hard to trust anything he says. And I definitely don’t want him in charge of public health in this country.