The Surrogate from Hell: Donald Trump Spends Days Before the Election Owning RFK Jr.’s Extreme Public Health Stances Arrow

"This is what authoritarianism is all about." … "This isn't just alarming. It's a potential catastrophe waiting to unfold." … "Children won't be safe. Full stop." … "A reminder of both the havoc RFK Jr. could wreak if he is installed… as well as the kinds of people [Trump] plans to appoint" … "It shows Trump's level of desperation."

Donald Trump's final push before Election Day has been further shaded by RFK Jr. and his anti-science, fringe public health stances. In recent days, RFK Jr. has claimed that Trump would give him "control" of public health agencies and that a Trump administration would immediately advise removing fluoride from drinking water, despite water fluoridation being considered one of the greatest public health advancements in the 20th century.

Trump has backed him up, saying that he would let RFK Jr. "go wild" on health and women's health if elected.

In response, DNC Senior Advisor Mary Beth Cahill released the following statement:

"Once believed to be Donald Trump's secret weapon, RFK Jr. is offering nothing but baggage for the former president. By continuing to embrace RFK Jr.'s fringe views about women's health, vaccines, and, now, fluoride in water, Trump is showing voters just how desperate he is and the extremists he'll surround himself with in a second administration. Both should terrify you."

Here's what public health experts are saying about RFK Jr.'s fringe, anti-science beliefs in a Trump administration:

Ted Kennedy Jr, a cousin of RFK Jr, and a healthcare lawyer: "I am deeply concerned about President Trump's flagrant disregard for public health and safety. We can't put anyone in charge of healthcare who doesn't understand how doctors and scientists develop best practices and keep us safe, and has no medical background and no knowledge about how health care is organized, delivered and paid for."

George Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association: "We're going to have to spend an enormous amount of time correcting this bad information out to the public. 'People won't know who to trust … not only can they undermine normal routine operations around things like vaccines, but what happens in emergency? You know, people won't know who to believe."

Dr. Kavita Patel, former managing director of clinical transformation at Brookings' Center for Health Policy: "This isn't just alarming. It's a potential catastrophe waiting to unfold. […] The implications are staggering and, frankly, terrifying for those of us dedicated to protecting public health. We are not just talking about a difference of opinion here. This is about the potential undermining of decades of rigorous scientific research and life-saving public health initiatives. It's about potentially reversing the hard-won victories against diseases that once ravaged populations."

Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: "Removing vaccines from the market would lead to severe health consequences for America. We go about our daily lives in the United States not worrying about a lot of preventable diseases like measles because of the protection that the vaccines provide. But if there were to be a systematic effort to use the tools of the federal government to undermine vaccination, children won't be safe. Full stop."

Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor College of Medicine and author of "The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science": "This unbridled assault on science and scientists, it's highly destabilizing for the country. This is what authoritarianism is all about […] Now we're seeing the next phase, which is not only targeting the science but targeting the scientists and portraying them as public enemies. That is both scary and worrisome."

What people are saying about Trump's embrace of RFK Jr.:

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on ABC's The View: "[Trump is] throwing everything against the wall he can to get to stick with some voters to get him over the top. […] RFK Jr. doesn't know a third of what he thinks he knows, and the third that he does know is usually not right. […] Trump is desperate to grab voters wherever he can, so if that means promising RFK Jr., a former Democrat, something - Look Trump is the guy who accelerated the COVID vaccine, which RFK Jr. was against. Now he's going to say, 'Okay, now RFK Jr. can be in charge of that.' It shows you his level of desperation."

Vaughn Hillyard on Sunday Morning with Willie Geist: "Mr. Trump has touted [Elon Musk] and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump says he wants overseeing health care policy including vaccines. This all comes as the former president tries to juice his support among men to overcome what is now a large double digit deficit among women voters nationally."

Errol Louis on CNN This Morning: "For Donald Trump to say 'Yeah sure! Let him go wild!' Very, very irresponsible. Won't get him any votes whatsoever. The conspiracy theory vote is already locked down for RFK."

Will Saletan on The Bulwark: "This is a really good portrait of what a Trump administration would be like. […] The picture you get is there are no adults in the room. There won't be."

MAGA allies floundering on what to say about RFK Jr.'s role in a Trump administration:

Sen. Tim Scott on CNN's State of the Union: "I'm not going to name anyone I don't have a personal relationship with. I don't know how they're going to serve in the cabinet. […] I'm laughing because I can't believe we are having a conversation about fluoride. […] I'm going to stay in my lane."

Howard Lutnick, Trump transition co-chair, on CNN's The Source: "[RFK Jr.'s] not getting a job in HHS. […] Let's give him the data. I think it'd be pretty cool to give him the data to see what he comes up with. I think it sounds pretty fun. […] I promise you I have not looked at all the things he's said. […] He's not gonna be the secretary! No!"

More concerned coverage of RFK Jr.'s dangerous conspiracy theories having an official role in America's public health:

Washington Post: GOP's closing election message on health baffles strategists, worries experts

Key Excerpts: "The statements add up to a surreal final week of campaigning for Republicans in which several of Trump's top surrogates are introducing unconventional - and generally unpopular - ideas that pit them against the health-policy establishment ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. The assorted proposals also add up to an agenda that would likely damage public health. Policy experts say that if the Affordable Care Act is overhauled, vaccine confidence declines and fluoride is removed from public water systems, the nation could see a spike in the uninsured rate, a return of vaccine-preventable diseases and more oral health problems, particularly in vulnerable communities."

Axios: What a Trump-empowered RFK Jr. could do on health care

Key Excerpt: "Even in an informal role, Kennedy could help diminish some of the most functional parts of the health care system, potentially leading to increases in preventable disease. […] Elevating Kennedy to a position of power could ultimately lead to more vaccine hesitancy, more infectious disease, less trust in public health institutions and generalized distrust of the health care system."

Bloomberg: Trump's Health-Care Plan Is Mostly Just RFK Jr.

Key Excerpt: "Elevating such vaccine skepticism would pose a direct threat to public health. We're already seeing a decline in uptake of routine childhood vaccines that protect against infections like measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and pertussis. We're also seeing increasingly aggressive efforts by lawmakers to undermine the value of vaccines. Imagine, then, the disastrous effects, particularly for children, of undercutting these critical public health tools.

"This doesn't even begin to address the disaster Kennedy's approach to public health might pose in the face of a new pathogenic threat - a scary thought as the US struggles to contain the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cows and poultry that threatens to jump into humans."

Mother Jones: Trump Is Preparing to Give RFK Jr. a Starring Role in His Administration

Key Excerpt: "Trump's comments are a reminder of both the havoc RFK Jr. could wreak if he is installed in a high-ranking federal position, as well as the kinds of people the Republican nominee plans to appoint to key positions should he win. As David Corn has noted, RFK Jr. has spread anti-vaccine misinformation connected to a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa. If you think that's wild, just wait. If Trump wins, there will be RFK-esque figures installed across government, many of whom have ambitious plans to deregulate health in America."

The Daily Beast: Trump Suggests He's Open to Banning Vaccines and Other Wacko RFK Jr. Policies

Key Excerpts: "The University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center noted that [RFK Jr.] and his nonprofit were responsible for spreading disinformation about measles vaccines in American Samoa, 'contributing to one of the worst measles outbreaks in recent memory' that sickened over 5,700 and killed 83 people in 2019."

Esquire: And Now RFK Jr. Attempts to Distract Us with Some Bullsh*t About Fluoride

Key Excerpt: "What the science doesn't need is a dog-roasting, dead-whale-decapitating, bear-cub-murdering quack coming in with a meat ax and butchering scientific studies, which is exactly what we'll get if RFK Jr. gets his clammy hands on the Department of Health and Human Services."

The New Republic: Trump Unleashing RFK Jr. on Public Health Would Be a Disaster

Key Excerpt: "Kennedy, an anti-vaxxer with a chilling past, says Trump has promised to name him head of Health and Human Services. The Trump camp has denied this-unconvincingly. […] In June 2019, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Samoa with his anti-vaccine organization, Children's Health Defense, meeting with local anti-vaxxers and government officials at a time when the country's measles vaccine was under attack. […] Amid the swirling misinformation, vaccine rates plummeted from 60-70 percent to 31 percent. A few months after RFK Jr.'s visit, measles swept through the freshly vulnerable Pacific island nation, killing 83 Samoans-mostly children. Kennedy doubled down, writing to the Samoan prime minister to question whether a 'defective vaccine' was responsible for the outbreak. […] Kennedy has also insisted for years, against all available scientific evidence, that vaccines cause autism, blaming them for a 'holocaust' in the United States."

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