This week on Bulwark on Sunday, Jonathan Cohn joins Bill Kristol to discuss why RFK Jr. is the worst cabinet secretary and what he’s doing to public health in the United States.
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An actual successful businessperson would have been leveraging what was learned from the “Warp Speed” development of the COVID vaccines to streamline the NIH, BARDA, FDA, CDC processes in support of rapid conversion of lab discoveries into commercially viable product. The. federal government invested in multiple strategies to develop vaccines and therapeutics and an infrastructure that could be leveraged for streamlining new therapies … AND follow-through to determine what risks and limitations (e.g. side effects) show up as more people take them.. I consulted for NIAID during 2017 (during Zika) and I was amazed at how much opportunity there was to do what was actually done in developing COVID treatments …. only for them to be. disavowed by the MAGA crowd. The death of expertise seems to be an actual objective of MAGA..
Listening to this conversation I was thinking about when Trump got COVID and was given an experimental anti-body treatment developed by Rengeron and BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority). The research he is cutting is literally the research that saved his fat stupid ass. It would be tragically hilarious to watch him slowly rot away from the disease that took his Dad and we later find out that we were on the edge of a discovery that could have saved his life and he cut it.
I wonder if we aren’t giving sufficient credit to the administration. By eliminating or limiting medical research and changing regulations for vaccine modification the elderly may not have opportunities to get the best vaccines. This is a horrible thought, but if more of the elderly (Boomers) die from preventable diseases there will be fewer people collecting on the Medicare rolls. The ghouls running the government will likely be dancing on our graves.
RFKjr espouses a voodoo medicine and so do his followers. It’s not real science. Go look at American Samoa and how he screwed with them. No one will stop him. He’s extremely dangerous. This regime doesn’t care about the American public, period. Their health or otherwise.
Cohn needs a shock collar that zaps him every time he says "you know." he'd be curled up in a ball under the table.
The unfolding american tragedy is difficult to behold. For the love of God rise up. You're running out of time.
Kennedy is a tragedy for science, a tragedy for healthcare, a wrecking ball of ignorance.
What happened to HHS is about to happen to earth science across multiple agencies. The skinny budget is the blueprint for the RIFs and contract/grant cancellations that are going to roll out in the next few weeks, and it completely destroys pretty much all research science at NOAA, plus more earth science at DOE and NASA. This includes the severe storms lab in OK (NSSL), the hurricane and ocean lab in Miami (AOML), plus a bunch of other basic science labs. They want to cut not just the people but also the instruments and data. Since climate science and weather forecasting use the same data, models, and have a lot of research overlap, weather forecasting is going to take a huge hit. Although they may leave a portion of NWS and some of the areas that support it, what is left may well be crippled. There is *not* much in the way of a private sector (esp for research, but also operations), and most of what there is relies heavily on federal data, federal models, and federal research.
Also, Vought is worse than RFK. (How much of the cuts so far are actually from RFK and not actually Vought through DOGE?)
Bill Cassidy has earned the Susan Collins Senatorial Dupe of the Year Award.
During RFK'S nomination hearings, Senators Blackburn of Tennessee and Barrasco of Wyoming expressed concern about the status of rural hospitals in their respective states. They sought assurances from the nominee that he'd attend to that precarity. RFK provided those assurances.That senators would believe that Trump's nominees are responding in good faith is risible. The ultimate irony is that neither Tennessee nor Wyoming has adopted the ACA Medicaid program which has underwritten rural hospitals in the states that have acceded to program. Accountability is scarce on the ground.
Worst is yet to come. Donald "The Beast" Trump is building a wall once again. Colossal tariff wall that is the beginning of the end for the system of down. At first the beast will pull the plug out of the global economy. The worst financial crisis of human history will pull a swarm of the banks underwater and the bank run begins. Then the beast will collapse a mountain of debt shattering the backbone of the monetary system causing a systemic risk to realize. Finally the beast will cast American citizens into a system slavery under the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan, just to "honor his legacy" count the number. After the destruction a new world order will be established in the US. And the Golden Age begins from the ruins of the world wide collapse. All of the system slaves will love it. No more cash - just digital transactions. No more traditional criminal activity. No more tax evasion. No more transactions without the "all seeing eye". Outcasts will hate the world without freedom, hope and privacy. To cover up the mess and distract the public by smoke and mirrors, the beast will engage in a war with Iran. Lies and deceit, corruption and decay, dancing on the graves will continue. Until; Black hole sun, won't you come, won't you come... I want to play a game. Time has come to opt out of the empire of filth. Live or die...
When Bill chuckles as he describes the foul deeds being perpetrated by trump and his lackeys, it reminds me of the mirthful laughter of Sith Lord, and my dear friend, Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine. Before, that is, his untimely death caused by the treacherous scum of the Rebel Alliance!!
May the fourth be with you!
And with you as well!
As a young woman, my dream was always to come to the US for my career and life. After 25 years living here, I am looking at returning to Canada. It will be disruptive to my life, but I do not think I can take even a few more years of this US Administration. Carney's election has only reenforced that the right move for me is to go back to Canada and make less money but live a happier, less stressful life.
It's flown under the radar a bit given all the other horrible, ignorant, dumbassery that's been going on -- and that's just exclusively referring to what RFK Jr has been up to, but I worry immensely about the push to use private health records to develop an autism registry. I apologize if I've missed it, but I'd be interested in getting the Bulwark take on that.
Given this man's clear delusional and downright dangerous beliefs about autism spectrum disorders, and given the tenor and tone of this regime, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine a scenario where this could get very dark, very quickly.
I'm on the spectrum, I'm independent, I make six figures. I don't cheat on my taxes. I'm not a vision of the autistic person Robert F. Kennedy has in his worm-infested, swiss-cheese pulp of a brain. But even I'm at the point where prudence suggests that I need to find a specialist for screening and ensure a negative result.
I will also say, "Robert F Kennedy's quasi-eugenics list" wasn't on the bingo card of "lists I'd expect to be on" when this all started, but here we are...
So interesting. As a former Missourian, I knew Josh Hawley was worried about Medicaid cuts, and I knew it wasn't because he cares about the people who need Medicaid. I hadn't really connected the dots. How ironic that because the MO state legislature refused to expand Medicaid, it fell to a referendum, and now they are in trouble if the federal money goes away!
You shouldn't underestimate the ability of the Missouri state legislature to frustrate the will of the voters, though. They are doing their best to work around the recently passed abortion protection and sick leave amendments, just as they did in the past with concealed carry and Medicaid expansion for several years until forced by a court decision to implement the will of the people.
HHS stopped operations at Ft. Detrick lab: the NIAID Integrated Research Facility which studies infectious diseases has been ordered to stop work. No one knows why.
What? Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t they research the worst of the worst viruses to try to defend against them. Why in the hell would these lunatics do that?
Yes. But we don't want to acknowledge that something like Marburg, Ebola, or nameless Sao Paulo might come to America. It would upstage Trump and take the spotlight off him and his agenda. Look what COVID did to his first term. We were caught with our pants down. If we don't acknowledge its existence, we don't have to deal with it and he doesn't have to be embarrassed by it. Just let it burn itself out. There's also a conspiracy theory that COVID came out of the Wuhan virology lab so shut 'em down. Finally, Kennedy doesn't recognize vaccines. If you're not going to develop them, you don't need to study the virus. Just take Vit. A. Lunatics indeed.
Well said. Also, he has beat the rap so many times, I guess he is convinced himself that he shapes reality around him. That kind of delusional thinking has led to uncounted misery.
The Japanese Army and naval infantry in WW2 convinced themselves that superior samurai martial spirit could overcome overwhelming firepower. They were grievously mistaken.
If world events out of our control break ok, then maybe we all get through this somewhat ok, despite this lunatic and his disgusting lackeys. If they break bad, like, say, a novel virus that is as contagious as Flu, but with an overall fatality rate of 20%, then we’re fucked. He’s gonna deny it is here, and it will be gone in 30 days. Blah, blah, blah, while the morgues overflow, and the grocery store shelves are truly empty.
Half this country deserves better.
Greg--pretty bleak picture, isn't it? There's so much focus on what Trump and his sycophants are doing right now, and it will be bad for the country. Just wait until the wildfires get started this summer with all the devastation they cause. Add to that a sudden mutation that allows avian influenza to jump into humans and cause another pandemic and we're cooked in the hot zone. Trump has a very short, selective memory--he was shocked when he saw those big white refrigerated trucks being loaded with body bags at a Brooklyn hospital, just 10 miles from where he grew up.
However, these viruses make many microbreaks before they truly dig in. Maybe it will be ok. Maybe not. Just stock up on Vit. A. /s
You should be alarmed at the cuts.
Really enjoyed this conversation, I wish we would focus more on public health from the support side (hospitals/nursing homes etc). As someone who was priced out of the ACA in 2019 as a direct result of trumps refusal to commit to the cost sharing reduction payments to insurance companies, I’m very interested in the infrastructure of our system which needs a complete overhaul IMO.
Operation Warp Speed? I don't thank Trump: I thank BioNTech from Mainz, Germany.
I also thank Mainz for Johannes Gutenberg.
The mRNA technology was developed under NIH grants.
There's a great Vanity Fair article that reports the Warp Speed story. Trump was stopped from interfering by Jared Kushner.
And the company founder is Ugur Sahin whose parents came to Germany from Turkey when he was 4. Of course these are people Trump and the AFD don’t want around, but look at what you might lose.
Right. The Germans invited the Turks to move in to take jobs that were not able to be filled, due to the massive loss of German men in the war.
It’s disgusting now for them to bitch about it, but they possess a critical character flaw. They are human. Surprisingly, the U.S. has done some pretty scummy things on immigration in the past. The Chinese Exclusion of Act 1882, for instance.
We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning, since the world’s been turning. Ughh!
Eben!
I think the statement that Canada and china won't do as good a job as the US on scientific research, for example, is uncalled for. I worked in the medical field and in clinical trials for almost 30 years as a Canadian living in Canada and it is a fact that most significant breakthroughs are multi national just by the fact that large groups of subjects from diverse populations are needed to make up a credible trial. The fact that the US will play a smaller role going forward , in my opinion, does not mean the world of science is doomed.
Not to mention that the exodus of the best scientists (American and those who came to America in the past) to those countries and to Europe and Australia, will help raise the level or research done outside of this country.
I can’t help but see a similarity to Germany in the 1930s. Not literally, but by driving out Jewish physicists like Hans Bethe, Otto Frisch, John von Neumann, etc., the Germans doomed their own later nuclear program. Perhaps we will be left behind too, by driving away scientists who will develop the next revolutionary technology. Ughhh!
How many deaths do you need to call this worst case…children were not dying from measles..we had basically overcome it, same with polio….remember RFJ Jr is vaccinated, all his children are vaccinated, easy to have opines when you have been vaccinated already.
Jonathan, Next time come prepared, know your numbers etc, not muse on live conversation. These conversations are very very important to the Bulwark audience and we need the evidence and correct information presented ( weather true or not) that has come out commented on…take notes on news statements, who, what, where when you are going to be speaking to a subject…..and PS your personal feelings are irrelevant. Go back and listen to how many times you said “I feel”.
Agreed. “I feel” and “I hope” are not a fuckin plan. The good ole days don’t really exist, but when I was a little guy in the ‘70s. We got our shots, and nobody bitched about it. Probably because my parents and grandparents lived part of their lives in the time before the Polio, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccines were developed. Rubella is horrific if a pregnant mother contracts it. If it’s the first trimester, 80-90% miscarry, or the baby is stillborn. If the baby is born, it can be born deaf, blind, or with severe heart disorders.
I’m looking at a picture of a baby with cataracts. That should not happen EVER, but it does. America wasn’t perfect, but “Screw you. I’m not getting vaccinated, and If you die, or your immunocompromised infant dies, I don’t care,” wasn’t such a popular sentiment.
Yah, let’s get into RFJ Jr…(an insult to the Kennedy family and especially his father and uncle, IMO)
His indecisions about what we need for upcoming flu season etc as he slow walks and makes uneducated statements. We must remember he is a (recovering) drug addict, his word means nothing. He is a privileged rich kid who is not rising to the occasion to really do something no, Not just push his BS——T! Fever dreams and personal conspiracies and his meandering around making decisions that affect the whole of American life and health. Our children need protection…
Bill I look forward to these conversations, your take on the happenings, thank you,
And
Jonathan thank you for your experience around all this, but please be more concise…you are very wordy and just drift off into irrelevant mini stories..a lot of blah blah and your personal opine…hard to pick the facts out of your word salad.
Very good conversation and discussion. This has been a somewhat overlooked issue but if those politicians calling themselves Republicans do drag Medicaid down, the uninformed are going to get a very painful surprise at some point sooner or later.
And if you take the Cat ferry to Yarmouth Nova Scotia, let me know. Coffee is on me.
I feel for the Governor....talk about a rock and a hard place.
And RFK Jr. is going to kill thousands if not millions of us.
I'm sad I missed the live. Bill,can I take you to coffee someday? I feel like for all your work and efforts, the least I could do is buy you a coffee.
Next time you drive through Nebraska, coffee is on me.