Robert F. Kennedy Jr. worked hard to help re-elect Donald Trump, a man who will be stepping back into the White House on Jan. 25, 2025. And while we still don’t know exactly what role Kennedy will play when that happens, the anti-vax crusader and Trump have pledged to “Make America Healthy Again.” Kennedy has now launched a webpage to help solicit ideas for who to appoint in important roles during Trump 2.0, including the top spots at agencies like the FDA. And it’s pretty terrifying to look at who’s being suggested, given the extreme ideas that so many of these people hold.
Kennedy launched the effort on his website MAHA.vote (Make American Health Again), just before Election Day, according to health news outlet STAT. The crowdsourcing project is dubbed Nominees For the People and anyone can submit a name for different categories, including Technology, Health, and Housing, among many others.
One name that stands out on the website is Dr. Simone Gold, who founded an organization called America’s Frontline Doctors. It first became known nationally when it held a press conference in Washington, D.C. during the summer of 2020. The group tried to insist that health experts were hiding a “cure” for covid-19. That cure? Hydroxychloroquine, of course—which is not a cure for covid. But that hasn’t stopped a lot of right-wingers from believing it is. Gold, it should be noted, was sentenced to two months in prison for her role in Trump’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Anyone can nominate a name to Kennedy’s website. And the people who appear aren’t necessarily even aware that they’ve been nominated. The section with nominees for Technology include a ton of names we’ve never heard of, likely self-submitted. And while we don’t doubt Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak would make a good addition to the Office of Science and Technology Policy, there’s no evidence that he even knows he’s been nominated and little chance want it.
Kennedy often insists that he’s not actually anti-vaccine, but he frequently attacks vaccines under the pretense that he cares about “safety” despite the fact that vaccines available on the market today are safe and effective. However, Kennedy’s ideology spans much wider than that of vaccines. He wants to completely revamp the health and dietary regulations in a way that can only be achieved by making changes at several agencies, including the USDA.
RFK Jr proposed what he describes as a ‘Win-Win’ plan for farmers AND consumers pic.twitter.com/kDiIVX5eAb
— KennedyForTheW (@KennedyForTheW) November 8, 2024
It’s not yet clear whether Kennedy himself will get a role in Trump’s cabinet, perhaps as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is the agency under which the FDA resides. But even if Kennedy doesn’t take a top spot in a second Trump presidency, it’s pretty clear he’s going to influence policy as a thank-you from Trump himself for his work getting the campaign over the finish line.
Things are about to get really weird after Trump takes office again. And it’s a safe bet we can’t even fathom just how weird it will get.
