Will Democrats Help Appoint Trump’s Worst Nominee?
Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., may receive some support, or at least an open mind, from some Senate Democrats.
The Hill reports that Senators John Fetterman and Bernie Sanders may consider voting to confirm the former presidential candidate’s appointment to Trump’s cabinet, citing Kennedy’s criticism of food additives, as well as corporate control of the U.S. food industry.
“I think Bernie will give him a fair review,” one anonymous source told the publication, and a different pro-Kennedy source said Fetterman is “definitely a swing vote for all of Trump’s nominees.”
Last week, Sanders wrote a column for The Guardian in which he criticized the U.S. health care industry and called for reform to the U.S. food industry, saying “Large food corporations should not make record-breaking profits making children addicted to processed foods, which make them overweight and prone to diabetes and other diseases.”
These criticisms overlap with parts of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Initiative” plan, which includes promises to remove chemical additives from food and reduce federal funding for processed foods. Kennedy has said that Americans have been “mass poisoned by big pharma and big food,” and Trump has pledged to let Kennedy “go wild.”
But Kennedy’s longstanding opposition to vaccines and pledge to ban water fluoridation has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike, and he’ll have a tough time selling those parts of his ideology to the Senate. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor, said on Fox News Sunday that Kennedy was “wrong” on vaccines, but still planned to meet with the nominee this week.
Kennedy has met with many senators in recent days to bolster his cabinet bid, including Republicans John Barrasso, Shelley Moore Capito, and Marsha Blackburn. But, in addition to concerns about his medical views, Kennedy also faces from the GOP over his support for abortion, which means his confirmation is far from a done deal.
