President-elect Donald Trump nominated former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, leaving Democrats shocked. Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, via X, formerly Twitter, called the nomination “Dangerous. Unqualified. Unserious.” Likewise, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA.) said that the decision to nominate Kennedy is “f*****g insane,” adding, “He’s a vaccine denier and a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist. He will destroy our public health infrastructure and our vaccine distribution systems. This is going to cost lives.” In his nomination, Trump said that Kennedy “will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!” Kennedy won Trump’s support when he pulled out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed the president-elect. Trump regularly praised Kennedy on the campaign trail, promising that in a second Trump administration, Kennedy would be free to “do whatever he wants” with women’s health and could generally “go wild” on health-related issues.
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