What is Donald Trump to do when suffering 32 percent approval and watching even his “pool of most ardent supporters [shrink]” amid worsening inflation he promised to fix on “day one”?
Throw a lavish 3-day party for himself, of course, in the form of a highly “unusual” midterm Republican Convention.
The race is on for the biggest bootlicker in the bunch of convention speakers, and Health Secretary RFK Jr. certainly swung for the fences for the title last night before the “scores of empty seats”. Nary a fact was found in Kennedy’s frothy-mouthed diatribe against his former party that wanted nothing to do with his anti-vax crazy that gets kids killed — only hyperbolic red meat for Trump’s dwindling base.
In retribution against his father’s party, Kennedy took his science-denying rhetoric to new lows by invoking the Me Too movement. RFK Jr. is a walking self-fulfilling prophesy, having spent over 20 years abusing his celebrity status to spread debunked lies about vaccine safety and then exploiting the confusion and misplaced concern he sowed in parents as justification for the Trump White House’s full-scale war against vaccines we see today. The result: plummeting vaccination rates and the worst measles crisis in 35 years that now even Kennedy himself admits has turned deadly.
We’ll see how well RFK Jr’s new cartoonishly spiteful schtick works to win back independent voters he’s driven off in droves.
How Quaint The Old Trump HHS Secretary’s Taxpayer Abuse Scandal Was: Pepperidge Farm remembers when Trump’s first-term health secretary Tom Price resigned in disgrace over “multiple investigations into his use of private charter and military jets to travel around the country at taxpayer expense.” Now these sort of corrupt, self-serving shenanigans on the taxpayer dime are just standard practice for the Trump administration this term, and of course RFK Jr. wanted in on it. The Washington Post reports that RFK Jr. has been “given access to military aircraft for his travels across the country” — including political campaign stops – with a cool $9,000 an hour tab for taxpayers for the use of the Gulfstream jet. Tom Price walked so RFK Jr. could run.
Meanwhile, several Senators are now demanding answers from RFK Jr. about his flagrant “diverting of taxpayer dollars for self-promotion projects such as a podcast and cooking show to highlight his own interests, hobbies, and brand”.
Yet Another Fear-Mongering Anti-Vax Fishing Expedition: The NYT reports Sec. Kennedy has hired a vaccine skeptic Army doctor with “no specialized training in vaccines or viruses … to investigate unsubstantiated claims that more than 2,500 U.S. service members died after receiving the shots,” even after a “March report from the Pentagon, and one in July 2025, found no deaths from the vaccines.” This latest dubious and wasteful anti-vax fishing expedition comes as Kennedy continues to seek “government access to most Americans’ medical records, in a quest to research a link between vaccines and autism.” Meanwhile, still no apology or acknowledgement of the death of an Air Force recruit “caused by a flu virus” that swept through his base after Sec. Hegseth’s reckless order to rescind the flu vaccine requirement in April.
MAHA!…? “Thank You for Smoking” ads may be on the horizon from the Surgeon General. Bloomberg reportsTrump’s nominee for the role Nicole Saphier ironically “reported investments in companies including McDonald’s Corp. … and tobacco company Philip Morris International Inc.” It’s a safe bet that Saphier will be on board with fellow Philip Morris investor Donald Trump’s obsession with getting poisonous and addictive flavored vapes into the hands of more children. Always the stock portfolios before public health for Trump world. Also we learned this week the Trump administration has once again postponed cleanups of toxic PFAS ‘forever chemical’ at hundreds of military sites for “up to 19 years” despite contaminating local drinking water sources. How much more betrayal can MAHA take?
In The News
Infectious Disease Outbreaks and Public Health Threats
Measles
- New York Times: Six-Week-Old Infant Died From Measles, Lancaster Coroner Says
- Politico: Gov. Shapiro gets validation: A Pennsylvanian did die of measles
- The Hill: RFK Jr. accepts PA child died of measles, says Shapiro hastily ‘politicized’ death
- The Bulwark: RFK Jr.’s Sickening Measles Victory Lap
Cyclosporiasis and Foodborne Illnesses
- Associated Press: Cyclospora outbreak followed years of declining FDA foreign inspections
- Reuters: US FDA reports 22 cases of salmonella infections linked to broccoli sprouts
Other Public Health Threats
- NOTUS: Screwworm Cases Are Going Down. Experts Are Suspicious.
- Tampa Bay Times: A Tampa woman was diagnosed with Dengue fever. Within a week she was dead.
The GOP War on Vaccines Will Have Deadly Consequences
- New York Times: Kennedy Hires Covid Vaccine Skeptic to Look at Dubious Claims of Military Deaths
- Politico: RFK Jr. is investigating whether troops died of Covid vaccine, Army doctor says
- New York Times: Inside the D.O.J.’s Investigation of Fauci and Other Virus Scientists
- Bloomberg: RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Adviser Picks Safe From State Challengers
Chaos and Corruption At HHS
- Bloomberg: Trump’s Surgeon General Pick Invested in Tobacco, McDonald’s
- New York Times: Inside the D.O.J.’s Investigation of Fauci and Other Virus Scientists
- Bloomberg: Acting FDA Drug, Vaccine Leaders Tapped for Permanent Roles
RFK’s Agenda
- USA Today (John Feal): 25 years after 9/11, RFK Jr. is failing first responders | Opinion
- New York Times: Kennedy Promised Children’s Health Reforms. Here’s How He Did.
- New York Times: Toxic ‘Forever Chemical’ Cleanups at Military Sites Face Years of Delay
Women and LGBTQ Health
- NOTUS: HHS Cancels Infant Mortality, Postpartum Grants to Focus on Sperm Counts, ED
- New York Times: Trump Officials Draft Plan to Pay At-Home Parents, Using Funds for Working Ones
- The Guardian: ‘Nakedly political’: US attempts to link trans support to authoritarianism in new health department report
Grift and Corruption
- Washington Post: RFK Jr. uses military aircraft as he campaigns for GOP in midterms
- CBS: Bureau of Prisons faces scrutiny over startup’s exclusive deal to sell non-FDA-authorized nicotine pouches to prisoners
RFK, MAHA and the 2026 Elections
- Politico: MAHA leaders don’t see a 2028 champion
- New York Times: How a Teenager’s Cancer Treatment Became a MAHA Crusade
- New Yorker: The MAHA Custody Battle
Food Rhetoric
- The New Republic: MAHA’s Meat Obsession Exposes the Movement’s Delusions
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