My response to Caroline Kennedy's statement to the US Senate on RFK Jr's nomination for HHS Secretary
"Predators hide, then pounce. Who is the predator here?"
A video was released of Caroline Kennedy reading her letter submitted to the Senate today, January 28, 2025 ahead of her cousin RFK Jr's Secretary of HHS confirmation hearing tomorrow.
Reading the comments will give you a sense of how most folks feel about what she had to say, but my favorite comment was the following:
Caroline Kennedy wrote a letter to Senators saying her cousin is a predator.
Predators hide, then pounce.
Who is the predator here?
I urge everyone to watch her video or read her statement. I for one find it to be incredibly mean-spirited and desperate, resorting to name-calling and ad hominem attacks rather than any real substantive arguments. Every claim is made in the most general terms with zero specificity, but this is probably to be expected given that she does not understand any of the details behind most of her claims.
I'll just go through some of the more egregious things she said, one by one...
"He lacks any relevant government, management, financial or medical experience"
RFK Jr has been the Chairman of Children's Health Defense, a multi-million dollar non-profit organization which has a nationwide and even worldwide presence. Prior to this he had been a very active environmental attorney and activist, working tirelessly for decades to hold big corporations and polluters accountable in order to improve the health of everyday Americans. Anyone who questions his understanding of medical concepts should read his #1 best-selling expose book "The Real Anthony Fauci". RFK Jr believes strongly in transparency and has offered to debate anyone, anywhere on the subject of vaccine safety, but to date no one has taken him up on this offer. He came very close to debating a panel of 5 Yale professors, but they cancelled literally during his flight to the college.
As far as RFK Jr lacking government experience, given the fact that the United States lags behind other developed nations in just about every health metric imaginable, despite spending 2 times as much as any other high-income nation on healthcare, I would argue that this should work in his favor.
"His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed"
Ever notice how these claims always looks just like this, without ever mentioning which of his views are dangerous, or how he has misinformed?
Maybe it was his dogged pursuit to get mercury out of products and vaccines? Oh wait...mercury is actually known to be a neurotoxin and in 1999 the FDA finally did the math on the amount of mercury children were getting and discovered it was much higher than what even the FDA thought was safe (as if there is any "safe" amount of mercury to inject into a baby)...so they decided to take it out of childhood vaccines (except for flu vaccines, which they had just recommended for infants and children). Or maybe it was his concern about the levels of aluminum adjuvant added to many vaccines to cause a hyper-immune response so more antibodies are created? Oh wait...in 2022 the CDC itself actually published the following study:
Or maybe it was his constant yammering about how no vaccine on the childhood schedule has been tested against a real placebo? Oh wait...turns out the CDC was FOIA'd and they were unable to provide a single example of any such childhood vaccine which was tested against placebo? Or maybe it was his pointing out that the CDC decided to give a the Hepatitis B vaccine to newborn infants after a clinical trial which followed 147 children for 5 days, using brand new technology which had never been tested? Oh wait...that's true, and the next trial only followed them for 4 days...and did I mention that Hepatitis B is a sexually transmitted disease? Or maybe it was his claims that the CDC had not done the science which would actually be required to claim that "Vaccines do not cause autism"? Oh wait...the CDC and NIH was FOIA'd for studies for vaccines given during the first 6 months of life, and they did produce a list of studies...however all but one were completely irrelevant. And the one which was actually relevant? It very plainly stated that insufficient research has been done to determine whether or not DTAP (diphtheria, tetanus and acellular-pertussis) vaccines cause autism.
Or maybe it was his warning ahead of Project Warp Speed (vaccine development at the "speed of science", to quote a Pfizer VP) that the technologies they were using for the new mRNA vaccines were potentially dangerous, and that the vaccines might result in a phenomenon known as antibody dependent enhancement, where those who are vaccinated are at increased risk of injury upon exposure to the natural virus. Oh wait...that is exactly what research from all over the world discovered, the more boosters you get the higher your risk of Covid. Or maybe it was his warning that the vaccine materials, including the mRNA, the spike protein and the lipid nanoparticles which facilitate transfer of spike protein through cell membranes (including the blood brain barrier!) would not remain in the arm, but would distribute throughout the body…including the heart…and remain for months. Oh wait...that is exactly what was found.
Or maybe it was his many other claims during Covid, for example that it really was possible if not likely that the SARS-Cov-2 virus was developed in a lab, or that natural immunity was actually a thing and people who caught natural Covid did not need to be vaccinated, or that there was no science behind social distancing and prolonged business and school closures, or that the Covid vaccines would not stop transmission or infection, or that the Covid vaccines were not perfectly safe? Oh wait...he was right about all of these things.
"He is a predator, and after his drug addiction he was given a second chance by people who felt sorry for the boy who lost his father"
She blames Bobby for his siblings' and cousins' drug addictions and deaths, "while Bobby has gone on to misrepresent, lie and cheat his way through life".
This is really a low blow for his own cousin to claim that RFK Jr's early addiction is to blame for the addictions and all resulting consequences of all his other siblings and cousins. It made me very sad and very angry to hear this. If Caroline were a witness (and in fact she kinda is here...this is essentially testimony being added to the Congressional record), this kind of thing would lead me to disregard everything she says as malicious and biased.
The lack of empathy here is really palpable. The takeaway message here is that when someone can be labeled as an "anti-vaxxer", they are subhuman and do not deserve any level of human decency. Several months ago Lawrence O'Donnell from MSNBC had actually compared RFK Jr to a serial killer who ate his victims. Stay classy.
"He vaccinated his own kids, while building a following hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating their own children"
This is just plain stupid, but clearly demonstrates just how desperate she is.
RFK Jr's youngest child is 24 years old, being born in 2001. RFK Jr was dragged kicking and screaming into the vaccine safety movement by warrior moms beginning in 2005, so by this time all of his children had already been vaccinated.
Caroline makes reference to the Samoa measles outbreak and implies that because of RFK Jr children in Samoa died.
Everything you have heard about the Samoa measles outbreak is incorrect, but it it not surprising to see Caroline regurgitating this talking point.
Please watch the following 20 minute video from Del Bigtree’s TheHighwire weekly show and see if you still feel the same way about this.
She claims RFK Jr intends to maintain financial stake in lawsuit against HPV vaccine
It is true that RFK Jr plans to continue to receive referral fees for a lawsuit against Merck, the makers of Gardasil HPV vaccine, should he be confirmed as Secretary of HHS. According to RFK Jr: "I am not trying these cases, I am not an attorney of record for the cases, and I will not provide representational services in connection with the cases during my appointment to the position of secretary." I suppose the ethics of this will get hashed out, but what bothers me most here is that Caroline is claiming that RFK Jr is trying to get rid of the HPV vaccine altogether, and that because of his actions children will die. Now you know she is really getting desperate. The lawsuits in question are not trying to end HPV vaccination, they represent children whose parents believe they were harmed by Gardasil vaccines. So Caroline, are you arguing that no children are ever harmed by Gardasil vaccine? Or are you arguing that if children are harmed, then they should not receive any kind of compensation?
She says that after RFK Jr ended his campaign he "groveled to Donald Trump for a job"
Anyone who believes that RFK Jr was "groveling for a job" by aligning himself with Donald Trump really does not understand what makes this man tick. I would suggest you take some time to learn the history of the man, and then look up his statements explaining his decision to offer to lead the Make America Healthy Again movement under a Trump Administration. RFK Jr was up until recently a Democrat, his entire family is quite liberal, and he is married to a "Hollywood elite", so anyone who things this decision was easy for him really does not understand the dynamics at play here.