“But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking… don’t they?”
— Scarecrow, “The Wizard of Oz”
By the time you read this, the headlines will have been written about Congress’ grilling of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Headlines that indicate the depth of his mendaciousness, his sycophancy, his contradictions, his gross incompetence.
I listened to hours of his testimony in front of the Senate Finance Committee last Thursday — often playing in the background on TV as I did other things (including writing part of this).
And while there was some coddling of the man by equally sycophantic Trumplicans, for the most part there was bi-partisan disbelief at Kennedy’s statements on vaccines, on his handling of the CDC, his firings of healthcare officials and his general lack of knowledge about our healthcare system.
I won’t recount them all here; I only hope you read the news reports.
But if there’s one thing that stuck with me it was irrefutable confirmation of what we’ve known for some time: This bumbling, mumbling, incompetent nutcase should NEVER have been put in charge of our healthcare system.
Sadly, though, Kennedy’s appointment again proves the obvious: Trump likes to surround himself with dimwits so he looks smart by comparison.
(As we all know, a good manager surrounds him or herself with people who are smarter; Trump surrounds himself with incompetents who shouldn’t be anywhere near the controls.)
Long before his appearance before the committee, Rob Kennedy was already a walking, talking irresponsible moron, with indefensible and illogical positions on a number of subjects.
But at the top of the list is his dangerous anti-vaccine crusade: he has consistently claimed vaccines are unsafe and, among other things, has linked them to causing autism — a position repeatedly debunked by the scientific community, creating a deadly health environment in our country.
To wit: For the first time in two decades, measles is back, leading to the death of two children.
It was less than three weeks ago Texas health officials declared their measles outbreak — that has sickened more than 700 people and killed the two kids — was over.
Oh, but they warned that the threat posed by the disease is not.
The question, of course, is why was there an outbreak to begin with?
The answer: Because Texas officials — like those in too many states — bought into the anti-vax BS and outright lies propagated by people like Kennedy and put their own populations at risk.
Of dying.
At of the start of this month, there have been 1,431 confirmed cases of measles in 2025 — a disease that had been effectively eliminated from our landscape up to now.
Nevertheless, at the hearing, Kennedy repeated outrageous, slanderous and unfounded claims, like: Black boys who receive the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine have a higher risk of autism.
Insane. Dangerous. Racist.
(Keep in mind that Kennedy has said that sometime this month he’d find the cause for an increase in autism — when the truth is probably that the rise in reported cases is due in large part to the expanded definition of autism.)
Equally troubling, though, was Kennedy’s stance on COVID vaccines: in one breath he blamed the CDC for the number of American deaths during the pandemic — and said he didn’t trust the data that showed vaccines saved millions of lives in the United States and elsewhere during the pandemic.
But in his next breath, he says Trump should get a Nobel Prize for presiding over the creation of those same COVID vaccines.
Yep, vaccines bad… unless your boss had something to do with it.
Then, vaccines good.
But his dangerous nonsense doesn’t end there: at one time he lied and said the COVID virus was “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
He also pushed Trump’s wacky notions of taking ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to fight off COVID.
Finally, he has claimed that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS and that chemicals in tap water — TAP WATER — can cause individuals to question their birth gender.
And this is the guy in charge of advising the president on healthcare issues.
Last week, Kennedy’s flip-flopping was matched only by his flagrant disregard for facts and the truth — which was at the core of his testimony.
And which was NOT under oath.
Nope, Chairman Mike Crapo, Trumplican from Idaho, refused a request by Ranking Member Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, to swear in the secretary.
A denial that Wyden said made it “acceptable to lie to the Senate Finance Committee about hugely important questions like vaccines.”
Among other things.
Which is how you define incompetence: the knowing ignorance or disregard of facts in lieu of adhering to ideology.
But getting back to vaccines, GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doctor, was a key vote confirming Kennedy as HHS secretary — on the condition that Kennedy wouldn’t disrupt access to vaccines.
Welp, at the hearing, Cassidy said he believes Kennedy is in fact doing exactly that through his actions as secretary.
“We’re denying people vaccine,” Cassidy said as he ended his line of questioning.
Which means Cassidy is guilty of allowing this menace to be at the helm of HHS; he knew the risks of voting yes, but did it anyway.
And now we’re all reaping the whirlwind — of someone with a history of “challenges.”
In a 2012 deposition, RFK admitted “I have cognitive problems, clearly. I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”
And he’s in charge of our healthcare system?
Well, according to those who actually practice medicine, he shouldn’t be. (Cassidy aside.)
The latest to say so was Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.
Responding to a question from CNN on Sept. 1 about who Americans should and shouldn’t trust when it comes to matters of health, Reiner bluntly replied: “do not trust, in my opinion, the leadership of HHS.”
Kennedy.
This comes after nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spoke out against Kennedy.
In an op-ed published in The New York Times on Sept. 1, the nine criticized RFK’s policies — including restricting vaccines, pulling funding for medical research and firing thousands of healthcare workers.
Culminating in the removal of CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez on Aug. 27.
This, they said, added “considerable fuel to the raging fire.”
Since taking office, Kennedy has slashed and restricted access to a number of immunization efforts, including ending U.S. support for the global vaccine program.
The nine wrote that Kennedy’s policies could put children at risk of serious disease and could ultimately lead to another pandemic if left unchallenged.
“This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings,” they wrote.
The bottom line is that our country needs — and deserves — a person at the top of our healthcare system who actually understands science, accepts the results of the scientific method, rejects voodoo beliefs and practices and actually works to protect the American people.
Not subscribe to nonsense and dangerous policies that actually make us less safe.
So serious is the situation, that three states are now going their own way when it comes to vaccine recommendations — effectively ignoring the CDC, which is now completely suspect, thanks to Kennedy’s destruction of the institution.
Why?
Because, they said, the CDC had become “a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science.”
In short, the world’s gold standard when it comes to diseases — the CDC — can no longer be trusted.
And that’s the fault of Kennedy — and by obvious extension, Trump.
Oh, sure, some will point to Kennedy’s MAHA — Make America Healthy Again — mantra as proof he wants to help us.
But telling people to eat their vegetables while denying them life-saving vaccines isn’t healthcare.
Just ask those of us who are here today, walking and talking thanks to Jonas Salk and his FREE polio vaccine on a sugar cube.
Incompetence in fixing a flat tire is one thing, it’s another when our very lives are at stake.
Kennedy not only needs to go, but he should never have been here to begin with.
To read this FULL essay — as well as others, long and short — check out Substack and look for me at “Farrandipity.” It’s free. Craig Farrand is a former managing editor of The News-Herald. I can be reached at craig.substack@gmail.com.
