January 29, 2025 | Reading Time: 2 minutes

Jamaica bound

Just for a week.

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Hi! And thank you so much for reading and supporting the Editorial Board! None of this would be possible without you. These days it’s hard fighting for the common good. But with you behind me, I can do it.

I’m writing to let you know I’m taking a small break. Just a week, in Jamaica. As many of you know, I live in New England. I’ve had enough cold and snow for now. A chance for a trip came up so I took it. 

Of course, politics isn’t going to stop while I’m away. As I’m writing this at JFK, the Senate is hearing testimony from RFK Jr. The president nominated him to be in charge of America’s public health.

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His cousin says he’s a sexual predator. That, however, is an asset, according to Lindsay Beyerstein. Donald Trump who has been accused of rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment by at least 26 women.

RFK Jr “apologized by text to his former babysitter after she alleged that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, cornering her in a bedroom and groping her against her will,” Lindsay wrote. “In public, however, Kennedy was contemptuous of the allegations and hinted there were many more where that came from. ‘I had a very, very rambunctious youth,’ Kennedy said when asked about the allegations, ‘I said in my announcement speech that I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world.’”

Turns out “rambunctious” was a euphemism for predatory.

But he’s also a third-party scammer. As I wrote in April: “Third-party scammers like Robert F Kennedy Jr do more than spoil things for one of the major-party presidential candidates. They spoil democratic hope. They get well-meaning citizens to believe they are the only way of changing the system when they were never the only way.”

And of course he’s an anti-vax conspiracy theorist. Here’s Lindsay again: “He falsely claimed that vaccine research created HIV, the Spanish flu and Lyme disease. He has previously insinuated that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, and that the only reason all reputable scientists think it does is because his nemesis, White House covid czar, Anthony Fauci nixed funding for research into alternative theories.”

And:

“During the pandemic, Kennedy became notorious for likening vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. Kennedy is also a prolific spreader of conspiracy theories, including the rumor that 5G networks are being used to “harvest our data and control our behavior.” What’s more, former Donald Trump advisor Steven Bannon keeps bragging about how he convinced Kennedy to run to spread the antivax gospel.”

As I write this, I’m trying not to get mad, because I want to get into the mood for a short vacation. But it’s hard not to get mad. Public health is serious business, but Trump wants us to accept a man who is totally unworthy of our admiration and respect, forget about our trust.

Which is why I need a short break.

I’ll be checking in, but otherwise, I’ll see you next week.

John Stoehr is the editor of the Editorial Board. Find him @editorialboard.bsky.social
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