RFK Is A Deadly Disease
A closer look at Trump's 100+ Days of Destruction.
Kook. Roided-Out Idiot. Entitled Asshole. Conspiracy Theorist.
Anyone with half a brain — or one not attacked by a killer worm — always knew that RFK Jr leading the Department of Health and Human Services was a giant, almost comical mistake. Almost comical because his purview of HHS probably has more life and death consequences than any other cabinet position — all things being normal(ish).
But, during his confirmation hearings RFK did his best to downplay his decades of fringe conspiracy theories and come across as normal. Of course, that was an act and since worming his way into the department RFK has been doing plenty of damage. He’s forced out scientists at the National Institutes of Health and proposed (then pulled) the idea of a mandated autism registry because he’s 180 degrees wrong about that too. He’s even questioned fluoride in our drinking water — a greatest hit (and long ago completely debunked) anti-science conspiracy theory.
He’s also ending the federal Narcan distribution program credited with helping drive a steep drop in U.S. overdose deaths. This from a former long-time heroine addict.
And then there’s measles.
Once considered eradicated in the US, it’s been making a slow but steady comeback thanks to anti-vaxxing idiots. Now we’re up to almost 900 cases and RFK can’t help but to grunt out of both sides of his mouth on the issue.
Not long ago he went to the funeral of a child who died in Texas. Sounds good, but he also downplayed the measles vaccine and then praised a leading measles anti-vaccine leader.
With cases on the rise he more recently coldly told a reporter that “Every child who gets measles gets a headline.”
Because RFK is old enough to remember a world without a measles vaccine, he seems to think that it’s some rite of passage or some sort of herd immunity bullshit.
The fact is, measles is no joke and it’s highly contagious. Here are some facts:
Ear infections and diarrhea are the most common, but as many as 1 in 20 will get pneumonia; about 1 in 1,000 will have brain swelling that can cause deafness and intellectual disability; and nearly 3 in 1,000 will die. Before the vaccine was available in 1963, nearly every child got measles by age 15. The disease sickened 3 million to 4 million people and led to about 500 deaths and 48,000 hospitalizations every year in the U.S.
Going by my math that would mean the death of more than 113,000 a year out of our roughly 340 million population. And make no mistake the people (usually kids) don’t go gently to meet their maker. It’s a grisly death. That estimated number also doesn’t consider any mutations or variations that could very well happen with measles unleashed again.
Either way, I’m sure those numbers would be smaller in the circles RFK runs in, given that even those who play the anti-vax game usually don’t practice it. And top-notch private health care in case any of their kids comes in contact with a sick servant helps.
In many ways RFK is the most dangerous Trump cabinet member.
We’ve had an anti-vax, anti-science movement that’s been spreading across this country like and infectious disease for decades now.
It started primarily with rich, white liberals who had nothing better to do with their time than do their own research and go down YouTube conspiracy rabbit holes.
But, the Trump-induced and flamed paranoia around COVID brought in a whole new audience and took many kooks from out of the shadows and put them front-and-center on TV. Suddenly vaccines became political and fringe conspiracy theories were treated like normal debate and discourse.
Every time RFK questions established science he fuels the flames of conspiracy. And trust me, even if it doesn’t seem like a giant leap away from the norm, the kooks take everything as a sign. When MAGA saw Trump going against their interests they would wish cast that he was doing the best fighting the deep state. Contradictory statements were all part of the plan and you just had to look for the signs Trump was flashing.
It’s the same with science kooks. They take RFK’s winks and nods as signs of agreement while fighting against the Deep Science State.
Listen, for all his fatal flaws RFK has brought up some valid health and science issues that deserve debate — from the power medicate-for-profit motive of some of the pharmaceutical industry to processed food. And there’s tons of issues at the intersection of health and environment that should be on the table.
But, if we get through this era, there’s a much higher probability that we’ll be talking more about countless Americans needlessly killed and how we convince an increasingly hostile populace from doing the right and smart thing than we will any of those issues.
I guess we fight to get past this insanity and face a generation of cleaning up the messes.