The Appointments
Why The Gaetz Defeat Really Matters
The first step of defiance is the hardest. Senate Republicans took it.
William Kristol and Andrew Egger
Earlier this week, we reported on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2020 dalliance with the “plandemic” conspiracy theory. Turns out that dalliance goes deeper than we previously knew. The social media account Patriot Takes unearthed an old clip of Kennedy seemingly bragging about producing and funding the Plandemic documentary:
We also have a film platform. We have a film division at Children’s Health Defense. We’ve produced two films. One of them is VAX 2, which was, you know, a huge success. And then Plandemic, which we financed, which is now by some metrics the most successful documentary in history. I think it’s had 25 million views. Even though they threw us off all the social media, we were able to still get a lot of people to see that film.
Did Kennedy’s organization actually finance the documentary, or was he just randomly claiming they did? We don’t know, and a spokesperson for Kennedy declined to respond. Either way, not great! Happy Friday.
Gaetz Overboard
It was heartening to learn yesterday afternoon that Matt Gaetz had withdrawn as the nominee for attorney general. For a brief, shining moment in the era of Donald Trump, one felt that the arc of the moral universe bent toward justice.
The news was particularly cheering because it was a forced withdrawal. Gaetz is gone because Trump told him to be gone. As Marc Caputo reported in The Bulwark, Trump phoned Gaetz Thursday morning to tell him, “You don’t have the votes.”
“Gaetz had repeatedly told others he would stay in the hunt for the nomination unless Trump signaled it had become a distraction,” Marc wrote. “That signal came Thursday.”
Trump didn’t exactly toss Gaetz overboard. But he instructed Gaetz to jump. And Gaetz did.
AB: This is like a “so what.” Trump will just line up another piece of garbage with less history of being a fool or stupid. After the appointment, they will worsen in their position.
RFK Jr is deeply dangerous. Not his position on water fluoridation, which is ignorant but ultimately it won’t kill anyone if water fluoridation goes away. And not his position on nutrition, which appears to be based on the silly notion of food as medicine but if funded (which the GOP won’t) would be good for public health.
It’s his ignorant and frankly dishonest position on vaccination. Vaccines don’t cause autism and there is no data showing that they do. All childhood vaccines have proven to be safe and effective. Sowing suspicion and rejection of vaccines will get people killed, including children. Shame on him and his supporters.
Joel:
If we do not age out first and if there are still vaccines available, we may end up as being some of the few remaining.
The Kennedy family does not think highly of Robert. A strange person.
@Bill,
As a private citizen, he’s merely strange. As head of HHS, he’s dangerous.