Why Trump broke with RFK to defend the importance of vaccines

If there’s one thing that Donald Trump absolutely, positively despises, it’s bad publicity.

And after RFK Jr. got absolutely hammered at that hearing the other day–including by a member of the leadership, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso–he realized that he had to cut his losses.

What was he going to do, say ignore those Republican senators, like Bill Cassidy, who’s a doctor, like Barrasso, when he says that vaccines work and he’s deeply concerned that Kennedy misled the Hill during his confirmation hearings?

So after months of letting him “go wild,” in his words, Donald has broken with Bobby.

REPUBLICAN DOCTORS CLASH WITH RFK JR OVER VACCINES IN TENSE SENATE SHOWDOWN

“You have some vaccines that are so incredible. I think you have to be very careful when you say some people don’t have to be vaccinated…,” the president said.

“Look, you have vaccines that work. They just pure and simple work. They’re not controversial at all, and I think those vaccines should be used, otherwise some people are going to catch it, and they endanger other people,”

The president has had enough.

What’s more, Kennedy’s family–including his sister Kerry and former congressman Joe Kennedy III–demanded he resign, along with every Democrat on the Senate committee.

There’s some chatter that Kennedy may be let go after a decent interval.  Trump really likes him, and the magic of the Kennedy name, but let’s face it, he’s damaged goods right now.

He also was poorly briefed, or didn’t do his homework. Remember that he cut a deal in exchange for dropping out of the presidential race, and offered the same arrangement to Kamala Harris.

When asked how many Americans had died of COVID, I instantly knew it was 1.2 million. RFK said he didn’t know. Asked whether the COVID vaccine had been helpful, he mumbled that he’d have to look at the data. There’s plenty of data available. 

And that’s the problem. The greatest achievement of Trump’s first term, as even his detractors admit, was Operation War Speed, bringing the COVID vaccine to market at the height of the pandemic.

JOE KENNEDY III BLASTS RFK JR. AFTER FIERY SENATE HEARING, FUELING KENNEDY FAMILY INFIGHTING: ‘HE MUST RESIGN’

But Kennedy is the same anti-vaccine crusader he’s always been. He has called COVID “the most dangerous vaccine” ever. He’s insisted that vaccines cause autism, completely debunked by mainstream science. 

CDC performed miserably during the pandemic, but Kennedy fired CDC chief Susan Monarez just one month after praising her appointment, and then called her a liar for supposedly admitting she was not trustworthy.

So RFK was in effect denigrating Trump’s huge accomplishment by firing the mainstream members of a vaccine panel and replacing them with vaccine skeptics or outright anti-vaxxers.

Kennedy’s view is that everyone else is conflicted because of ties to Big Pharma and that only he is pure. But his actions speak louder than his words.

INTO THE ARENA: HOSTILE DEMOCRATS, SKEPTICAL REPUBLICANS TEAR INTO KENNEDY ON THE HILL

Meanwhile, the president won a double victory at the Supreme Court. The justices, in what Politico says were 6-3 rulings, gave ICE the ability to carry out “roving” arrests and raids in California against those believed to be illegal immigrants.

SCOTUS also said the president can fire FTC member Rebecca Slaughter, one of two Democratic commissioners he dismissed in March at the supposedly independent agency.

Then Trump checks the conservative media.

The Wall Street Journal editorial page, in a piece titled “Operation Warped Speed,” asks whether RFK is suffering from long COVID. The usually supportive New York Post called RFK a “paranoid kook” with a “tinfoil hat” that is “blocking out all sense.”

So Trump got mostly booed at the U.S. Open, along with some cheers. Big deal. He’s endured far worse.

But having the nation’s highest court on your side is worth its weight in gold, Trump’s favorite decorating glitter.

Footnote: The Wall Street Journal has obtained Trump’s birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein, which he repeatedly insisted he never sent, prompting him to sue the paper.

Against the backdrop of a sketch of a naked woman–with Trump’s signature in the pubic area–there is this exchange:
Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: Yes we do, come to think of it.
Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?
Jeffrey: As a matter of face, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.
Donald: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday–and may every day be another wonderful secret.

By itself, I don’t think it’s that big a deal. Lots of friends and acquaintances were solicited to send messages for Epstein’s 50th birthday. He could have owned it. But Trump *still* insists it’s fake.

By vehemently insisting it wasn’t conceivable that he sent such a message, Trump now has a mess on his hands.