Los Angeles Times

Michael Hiltzik: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a threat to your health — and our democracy

Back in the dawn of the Trump era — just prior to his 2017 inauguration — the line of would-be suck-ups queuing up for face time with the president-elect included a man with a distinguished name. He was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., scion of one of the leading families of Democratic Party politics. What brought him together with Trump was their shared interest in the anti-vaccination movement. At ...
Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks as Michael Smerconish hosts a SiriusXM Town Hall with Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at The Centre Theater on June 5, 2023, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Back in the dawn of the Trump era — just prior to his 2017 inauguration — the line of would-be suck-ups queuing up for face time with the president-elect included a man with a distinguished name.

He was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., scion of one of the leading families of Democratic Party politics. What brought him together with Trump was their shared interest in the anti-vaccination movement.

At least Kennedy, who had been an anti-vaccine crusader for well more than a decade and was pushing a long-discredited claim that the MMR vaccine caused autism, thought so. He announced upon emerging from the meeting that Trump had asked him to chair a commission "on vaccine safety and scientific integrity."

Trump promptly denied that, but acknowledged that he was "exploring the possibility" of such a commission and "look[ing] forward to

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