MAHA's war on children
Data aren't supporting RFK Jr's prayers
RFK Jr is all about the children.
The nonprofit he founded, Children’s Health Defense, was initially called World Mercury Project. Smart marketing move. If you’re going to spread anti-science propaganda, at least offer an illusion of care—especially about children—rather than sound like another forgettable bureaucratic organization.
Then came the god rhetoric, which really picked up when Kennedy went MAGA. While Kennedy has long leaned into his family’s Catholicism, he began insisting that he’s prayed since 2005 to be in position to help end the “chronic disease epidemic.”
Now that he’s in such a position, nothing indicates that his prayer will be answered—or that he’ll step up to ensure his purported dream will be realized. In fact, he seems to be doing everything possible to ensure it never does.
The CDC, which is under his purview, is no longer informing the public about the spread of diseases. Kennedy’s HHS recently canceled a contract for the development of a bird flu vaccine. Given that infectious diseases are a major driver of chronic diseases, you’d think he’d be a tad more interested in stopping the spread and giving citizens a head’s up.
No such luck. Nor is Kennedy indicating that he’ll tackle the social determinants of health in any meaningful way. Or any way at all. When the Trump administration canceled all funding of any research or projects that mention DEI (including HHS grants and research), Kennedy claimed they were just reducing bloat.
Meanwhile, the MAHA cabinet regularly claims to be focused on “gold-standard science,” chronically citing a lack of data on interventions like vaccines and fluoride. Instead of living up to that claim, we get a commission report riddled with errors, a botched attempt to blame formatting errors, then an updated report riddled with new errors. They—we have to use this pronoun given no author is listed—cite junk science in an attempt to fear monger about glyphosate, which is not good data.
Let’s for a moment take Kennedy and crew at their word. Let’s pretend they actually care about data. In such a world, the following charts tell an obvious story about the state of health in America.
First, the geographic concentration of Black people.
Now the prevalence of chronic diseases.
Finally, rates of childhood enrollment in Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program.
There almost seems to be a connection between these maps.
To understand that connection, you might need to rely on a framework that identifies longstanding racial and economic disparities in America, then work toward creating a more equitable and inclusive society that cares about the health of all citizens—especially children’s health. Then you can fund research on those connections, fund solutions that address them, and help reverse chronic disease prevalence, especially among children.
One can dream.
Just don’t pray, because as Kennedy is proving during his time in power, no one’s listening.