MAHA goes to Washington

America's public health programs are all at stake

With RFK Jr poised to secure a position as Secretary of Health and Human Services, leadership at the 11 federal agencies underneath him are also being filled. With a budget of $144B in discretionary funding and $1.7T in mandatory funding the roughly 88,000 employees under Kennedy’s purview will be subject to the whims of an anti-vax, anti-science lawyer who’s monetized fears and misinformation for decades.

As we’ve covered Bobby for years, and I’ve written a number of articles about him on this site, you can catch up with a lot of our Conspirituality reporting on him here.

This Atlantic article also provides context for the decision-making process behind the rebuilding of public health—with the caveat that Project 2025’s deregulatory stance is also heavily influential as well.

That legacy of bitterness and distrust is now a major political force. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on the precipice of leading our nation’s health-care system as secretary of Health and Human Services. The Johns Hopkins professor Marty Makary has been tapped to lead the Food and Drug Administration. And the Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya is expected to be picked to run the National Institutes of Health. These men have each advocated for changes to the systems and structures of public health. But what unites them all—and what legitimizes them in the eyes of this next administration—is a lasting rage over COVID.

Here’s a rundown of some other top cabinet picks, with the baggage they’ll be carrying along with them.

Marty Makary, FDA commissioner

• While the surgical oncologist is not anti-vax, he opposed vaccine mandates during Covid-19 and emphasized natural immunity, which we know is inferior to vaccination

• He’s behind a study that found the third most common cause of death in America is due to doctor error. While the claim is often repeated, especially as a MAHA talking point, it has long been debunked

• Makary claims that pancreatic cancer rates have doubled in the last 20 years, which is also untrue

• He told Congress that “The greatest perpetrator of misinformation during the pandemic has been the United States government”

• In 2021, Media Matters pointed out that Makary’s 142 appearances on FOX News resulted in a lot of spreading of misinformation

  • “Despite Makary making numerous false predictions (saying, for example, that the United States would reach herd immunity by April) and being called out by other public experts for downplaying the risk of infectious disease, Fox regularly invited him back on-air in 2021 to undermine public health efforts”

Dave Weldon, Director of the CDC

• Like Bobby, Weldon has often criticized the government’s vaccine review process, even though it’s quite robust

• He’s linked vaccines to autism due to thimerosal—an adjuvant that was largely removed from vaccines in 2001 due to an abundance of caution, yet autism rates have still increased; no studies have ever linked thimerosal to autism

• Weldon says he’ll go along with the GOP plan to downsize the CDC

• He called Jesus Christ one of his biggest political influences

Janette Nesheiwat, Surgeon General

• While she’s spoken favorably on vaccines, she also described them as a “gift from god,” as described in her Christian memoir, Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine

  • The book is about “global medical missions that illuminate the transformative power of prayer and unwavering dedication to healing and service”

• She’s also criticized the government’s response to Covid-19, advocating for natural immunity over continued boosters; she also suggested using zinc to treat Covid-19, which the NIH found insufficient evidence “to recommend either for or against the use of zinc for the treatment of COVID-19”

• She questioned CDC recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination in young people, suggesting a risk-benefit analysis approach

• She sells her own line of supplements. On the marketing page, she writes, “Although I am a doctor, I am not quick to prescribe drugs unless I feel necessary as we want to put into our body the most natural wholesome ingredients”

Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

• Oz is a well-known medical grifter who

  • sold “magic” green coffee extract and raspberry ketones for weight loss

  • claimed selenium supplements are the “holy grail of cancer prevention”

  • promoted red onion and sea bass for reducing ovarian cancer

  • said hydroxychloroquine treats Covid-19

  • said “spacing out” is due to childhood vaccines

  • suggested a link between vaccines and autism

  • believes in energy medicine, talking to the dead, astrology for health information, and homeopathy

Jay Bhattacharya, (leading contender for) NIH Director

• He’s been a leading advocate for natural immunity against Covid-19, even though evidence suggests vaccines provide better protection

• He’s amplified conspiracy theories about a government deep state purposefully implementing health policies for financial gain

• He fully endorsed Kennedy, brushing aside concerns about Bobby’s misinformation around raw milk, water fluoridation, 5G, and vaccines because he’s “not a scientist”

• He’s been a vocal critic against government public health mandates

• Despite evidence, he’s criticized masking to prevent the spread of Covid

• He co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which advocated for herd immunity and lifting government restrictions

Trump's health agency cabinet picks, alongside an incoming bureaucracy chomping on the bit to deregulate as many agencies as possible and cut as many social services as possible, are creating the conditions for the next great public health crisis in America.

One that, tragically, could turn out far worse than Covid did.