After months of wavering, Newsmax enthusiastically welcomed Robert Kennedy Jr. to the right-wing fold when he dropped his quixotic presidential bid and supported Donald Trump. With Trump’s win, however, it became clear he wanted more, as articles noted:
- RFK Jr.: Entire FDA Departments ‘Have to Go’
- RFK Jr Is Reviewing Resumes for Top Trump Health Jobs, Sources Say
A Nov. 13 article by James Morley III noted that Kennedy “has been angling for a Cabinet post in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration despite conflicting ideas of where his contribution is best served,” though he was angling for Health and Human Services secretary. The next day, Trump granted Kennedy’s wish, nominating him to be HHS secretary, as noted in a wire article. That was followed by another wire article noting Kennedy’s baggage as an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist. In the days after the nomination, Newsmax found some right-wingers to tout the nomination:
- Lara Trump to Newsmax: RFK Jr. to ‘Clean Up’ HHS
- Rep. Cammack to Newsmax: ‘Could Not Be More Excited’ for RFK Jr. to Run HHS
- Rep. Mace to Newsmax: I Support RFK Jr. Due to Vaccine Injury
- Mike Huckabee to Newsmax: Senators Becoming Comfortable with RFK Jr.
- Sen. Tuberville Backs RFK Jr. After Assurances on Abortion
A Nov. 13 article by Solange Reyner even gave Kennedy space to critique Trump’s diet as “really, like, bad … just poison.”
In the following weeks, Newsmax also published criticism of Kennedy as well:
- Pence: RFK Jr.’s Abortion Views Disqualifying
- Former FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Expresses Concerns With Trump’s RFK Jr. Pick
- Haley Criticizes Trump Cabinet Picks Gabbard, RFK Jr.
- Mike Bloomberg: RFK Jr. ‘Beyond Dangerous’ as HHS Chief
- Dozens of Nobel Laureates Sign Letter Opposing RFK Jr. as HHS Head
- More Than 17K Physicians Urge Senate to Reject RFK Jr.
Newsmax also had to play defense for Kennedy as well. A Dec. 13 article by Sandy Fitzgerald noted that “Aaron Siri, an attorney who is helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. select health officials for President-elect Donald Trump, has been fighting against vaccines for years, including a petition with the federal government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine.” Given that the polio vaccine has nearly universal support, this prompted a little cleanup work on Kennedy’s behalf:
Still, Newsmax kept up the praise for Kennedy’s nomination. Kelly Victory, who claims to be a doctor, wrote in a Dec. 20 column:
Not unexpectedly, President-elect Donald Trump’s bold nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has met with significant and vocal opposition.
Responses have ranged from outrage to indignity to abject terror, as cries of “unhinged,” “conspiracy theorist,” “misinformation,” and “anti-vaxxer” ring out across pharmaceutical companies, big agriculture’s corporate boardrooms, amongst lobbyists, hospital systems, and the mainstream media.
Perhaps the most civil — and frankly, honest — of the criticisms came in a piece by Politico.com, “Washington’s Lobbyists Stunned Trump Chose RFK Jr.,” which describes Mr. Kennedy as “an unconventional pick.”
The lobbyists for the status quo are right that Kennedy is an “unconventional pick,” they’re right to be — “stunned” — rarely has our broken system been challenged by our leaders in DC – and frankly, they are right to be concerned.
Kennedy will not put corporate interests before the welfare of the American people.
[…]“Conventional” HHS leadership oversaw vaccine injury reports to VAERS between 2020 and 2022 related to the COVID mRNA injections that eclipsed, by an order of magnitude, injury claims for all other vaccines combined since the establishment of the surveillance system in 1990.
But VAERS reports are unverified, and right-wing anti-COVID hysteria may have needlessly boosted the number of dubious reports.
Newsmax stuck a new “editor’s note” at the top of Victory’s column, showing that not even it has faith in her claims and is trying to distance itself from them: “The following opinion column does not constitute an endorsement of any medicine or medical procedure; it is not medical advice on the part of Newsmax.”