MAGA crowd yells insults at reporter who asks RFK Jr. about deadly measles outbreak

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got an enthusiastic welcome from the Grand Canyon State’s Make America Healthy Again crowd during a stop at the Arizona Senate on Tuesday.

A small but noisy crowd that gathered in the Arizona Senate building — including comedian and prominent anti-vaxxer Rob Schneider, a Scottsdale resident — cheered and applauded while Kennedy praised two Republican-backed health bills that have already passed through the legislature.

One would direct the state to request a federal waiver to ban recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps, from using them to purchase soda. Another, which garnered unanimous support from legislators in both parties, would ban ultra-processed foods from school lunches.

“This is a historic moment of leadership for our state,” Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, said on Tuesday. “Arizona is once again proving that we will stand up for what is right, even if we face opposition. We are prioritizing the health of our citizens, our children, over corporate interests. We are choosing science over profit.”

But the same crowd that cheered for the Republicans’ nutrition legislation booed and yelled insults at a reporter who asked Kennedy about the government’s response to a measles outbreak that has killed two children and one adult so far. The outbreak has primarily sickened the unvaccinated, including all three the people who died.

“Let’s talk about food!” Kennedy yelled into the microphone as the moderator and crowd shouted down the Associated Press reporter who asked the question.

Kennedy has long been an anti-vaccine activist, but since taking office has given lukewarm support to the MMR vaccine — the inoculation against measles, mumps and rubella — finally saying on April 6 that it’s the best way to prevent the measles. Shamp, who is a former nurse, said she was forced out of her previous job because she refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

House Bill 2164, which would ban “ultra processed” food from being served at any school that receives federal funding for its meal program, passed unanimously through both chambers of the Arizona Legislature and has a chance of being signed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Hobbs is not shy about vetoing legislation that’s lacking support from Democratic legislators. For that reason, the other piece of “MAHA” legislation that Kennedy was there to support, House Bill 2165, is likely headed for a veto.

Both measures were introduced by Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City, who said that for too long people talked and worried about what the harmful ingredients in foods are doing to Americans’ health, but no one listened until Kennedy started talking about it.

It certainly hasn’t ever been a priority for Republicans. Michelle Obama’s efforts as first lady to reform the school lunch program by making meals healthier and to get kids exercising were met with derision from Republicans, many of whom disagreed with the idea that the government should closely regulate the contents of school lunches.

On Tuesday, Biasiucci mentioned the various food dyes and chemicals that are banned in Europe but are allowed in food in the U.S., as well as the country’s high rates of obesity and chronic disease. Several of those chemicals are listed in the description of ultra processed foods in his school lunch bill.

The SNAP legislation initially would have sought a waiver to ban recipients from using their benefits to purchase candy and soda, but was later amended to include only soda after opponents, including some in the food and beverage industry, argued that it was too difficult to pin down a definition of candy that didn’t encompass foods like cereal and granola bars.

Democrats didn’t support the proposal, arguing that legislators should do more to ensure the people who rely on SNAP, especially those who live in food deserts, have access to healthy foods instead of banning them from purchasing unhealthier options.

Kennedy claimed, without evidence, that any politician who voted against the SNAP bill did so because they’re taking money from the soda industry.

“There’s no reason to vote against this bill except for corruption,” he said.

A proposed amendment to HB2165 from Democratic Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, of Coal Mine Canyon, that would have banned legislators from using their travel-expense money to purchase soda failed on the Senate floor when all Republicans voted against it.

Biasiucci claimed that legislation like his would “save the lives” of school children, including a small group of them gathered at the Senate on Tuesday. But neither he or anyone else there to celebrate and prompt the MAHA agenda mentioned that President Donald Trump’s administration canceled roughly $1 billion in spending that was already promised for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers.

That includes $21 million for Arizona, of which more than $13 million was slated for schools for healthier student meals.

They also didn’t mention that the Trump administration has rolled back pollution regulations, including those for mercury, soot and coal ash. Pollution has a bigger impact on children than it does on adults, according to the Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative, and can cause asthma, cancer and have negative impacts on their cognitive abilities.

Arizona Democrats held their own press conference on Tuesday, just before Kennedy spoke in the Senate, during which Attorney General Kris Mayes criticized the Trump administration’s supposed commitment to Make America Health Again while also canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health to fund medical research in Arizona.

Hatathlie, who is Navajo, also criticized the Trump administration for its talk about the importance of health while there are still hundreds of open uranium mines on the Navajo Nation that cause higher rates of cancer and birth defects.