{"id":1050989,"date":"2025-01-29T09:54:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T14:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1050989"},"modified":"2025-01-29T09:54:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T14:54:34","slug":"anti-vaxx-conspiracy-theorist-no-church-boy-rfk-jr-is-unfit-to-lead-hhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/anti-vaxx-conspiracy-theorist-no-church-boy-rfk-jr-is-unfit-to-lead-hhs\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Vaxx Conspiracy Theorist &amp; No \u201cChurch Boy\u201d RFK Jr. is Unfit to Lead HHS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>MEMORANDUM<br>TO: Interested Parties<br>FROM: DNC War Room<br>DATE: January 29, 2025<br>RE: Anti-Vaxx Conspiracy Theorist &amp; No \u201cChurch Boy\u201d RFK Jr. is Unfit to Lead HHS\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Point: <\/strong>Donald Trump\u2019s pick for HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., is a threat to the health and safety of every American. With a record of pushing medical disinformation, railing against vaccines, pushing 9\/11 conspiracy theories, and his own appalling personal behavior, it\u2019s clear that RFK Jr. is wildly unfit to lead HHS.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kennedy is a dangerous anti-vaxxer who has spread medical disinformation and conspiracy theories, contributing to one of the deadliest measles outbreaks in recent history.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RFK Jr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2024\/07\/how-rfk-jr-falsely-denied-his-connection-to-a-deadly-measles-outbreak-in-samoa\/\">\u201cthere\u2019s no vaccine that is safe and effective\u201d<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2024\/03\/26\/vaccine-misinformation-trump-kennedy-rfk-jr-2024\/\">\u201chas an unenviable history of anti-vaccine advocacy,\u201d<\/a> including spreading debunked conspiracy theories linking vaccines to autism and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2023\/11\/scicheck-rfk-jr-incorrectly-denies-past-remarks-on-vaccine-safety-and-effectiveness\/\">disinformation<\/a> that the polio vaccines caused cancer.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>He founded and chairs Children\u2019s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine organization, and platformed a <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/column-trump-rfk-jr-want-110059368.html\">\u201cfatuously inaccurate\u201d<\/a> book claiming that the polio vaccine \u201cdoesn\u2019t work.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>RFK Jr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-election\/rfk-jr-black-voters-vaccine-disinformation-rcna139459\">\u201cdeclined to answer\u201d <\/a>\u00a0when asked if he would recommend that parents give their children the MMR vaccine amid a rise in measles cases in the U.S.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>RFK Jr. flew to Samoa in 2019 and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/politics\/election\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-vaccine-misinformation-20240530.html\">flooded the area with misinformation<\/a>\u201d about vaccines, and \u201cplayed a part in one of the worst measles outbreaks in recent memory.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Just like Trump, Kennedy supports a national abortion ban, which would rip away women\u2019s reproductive freedoms and deny critical health care.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Josh Hawley <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OrianaBeLike\/status\/1869443984361451524\">told a reporter<\/a> that RFK Jr. was \u201copen\u201d to ripping away access to medication abortion and supports Trump\u2019s pro-life agenda.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>RFK Jr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/08\/13\/rfk-jr-backs-15-week-federal-ban-on-abortion-00111017\">backed<\/a> a federal ban on abortion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kennedy\u2019s reckless conspiracy theories include denying the September 11 terrorist attacks.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RFK Jr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-election\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-wont-take-sides-911-conspiracy-theories-rcna160255\">posted<\/a> on social media that it\u2019s \u201chard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn\u2019t\u201d in regard to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In an interview, RFK Jr. cast doubt on the official government explanation about 9\/11, including whether al-Qaeda was responsible, declaring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-features\/rfk-jr-questions-911-narrative-1234828619\/\">\u201cstrange things happened.\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kennedy lied about profiting off dangerous conspiracy theories and funneling millions out of his charity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RFK Jr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/rfk-jr-admits-he-didnt-come-clean-on-anti-vax-fortune\/\">claimed<\/a> he didn\u2019t profit from his anti-vaccine organization, but actually earned a total of $1.2 million and failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump\u2019s transition team.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2025\/01\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-waterkeeper-alliance-nygard-bacon-bahamas\/\">\u201cfunneled millions of dollars\u201d<\/a> from his environmental group to help a hedge-fund billionaire.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kennedy has not denied allegations of sexual assault, instead saying that he\u2019s <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-news\/rfk-jr-sexual-assault-babysitter-response-1235052376\/\"><strong>\u201cnot a church boy.\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-news\/rfk-jr-sexual-assault-babysitter-response-1235052376\/\">responding<\/a> to an accusation that he sexually assaulted a babysitter, RFK Jr. dismissed the incident and asserted that he was \u201cnot a church boy\u201d and had a \u201cvery rambunctious youth.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MEMORANDUMTO: Interested PartiesFROM: DNC War RoomDATE: January 29, 2025RE: Anti-Vaxx Conspiracy Theorist &amp; No \u201cChurch Boy\u201d RFK Jr. is Unfit to Lead HHS\u00a0 Key Point: Donald Trump\u2019s pick for HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., is a threat to the health and safety of every American. With a record of pushing medical disinformation, railing against vaccines, pushing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1050989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Anti-Vaxx Conspiracy Theorist &amp; No \u201cChurch Boy\u201d RFK Jr. is Unfit to Lead HHS - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/anti-vaxx-conspiracy-theorist-no-church-boy-rfk-jr-is-unfit-to-lead-hhs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-29T14:54:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-29T14:54:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/anti-vaxx-conspiracy-theorist-no-church-boy-rfk-jr-is-unfit-to-lead-hhs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/anti-vaxx-conspiracy-theorist-no-church-boy-rfk-jr-is-unfit-to-lead-hhs\/\",\"name\":\"Anti-Vaxx Conspiracy Theorist &amp; 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