It’s hard to believe, but in the midst of all the chaos caused by President Donald Trump in the first days of his presidency, there are a few beacons of light. One of those is Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz shedding his high-school dad image and tearing into Trump for the recent federal freeze fiasco. Another is an old favorite: The ever-spry (at 83!) Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders demonstrated he wasn’t just going to roll over for Trump recently when he went hard at Trump’s pick for Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during his confirmation hearing.
The main issue of contention with RFK Jr. is his flip-flopping stance on vaccines, a position he’s tried desperately to distance himself from. Sanders, in his signature sarcastic professorial delivery, tells RFK Jr. that he’s “really pro-vaccine” but he “wants to ask questions.” Then he brings out the big guns.
Sanders gets someone to put two large blue placards behind him with pictures of baby clothes. He reveals that they’re onesies for babies from an organization called the Children’s Health Defense, which wants to make a world that’s “free of childhood chronic health conditions caused by environmental exposures.” Any guesses on what those pesky “exposures” happen to be? That’s right! Vaccines.
To set the table a little, a random perusal of the website contains an article titled, ‘Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism’ Claim Built on ‘House of Cards,’ Authors of New Review Say. It sounds so credible. Regardless, Sanders calls RFK Jr. the “originator” of the anti-vaccine organization. He then points to the onesies. One of them says “Unvaxxed Unafraid” and the other says, “No Vax No Problem.”
“These sell for 26 bucks a piece, by the way,” Sanders adds. Using this as evidence, he grills RFK Jr. about how again, he’s just “pro vax” and simply “wants to ask some questions,” but if that’s the case then why is he blatantly selling this merchandise? To babies, no less.
Now that you’re “pro vaccine,” Sanders adds, can you tell us now that you’re going to take these products down? RFK Jr.’s answer? He has “no power over that organization. I’m not a part of it, I’ve resigned from the board.” This is really interesting, because when you go on the website, not only is RFK Jr. (as of this writing) prominently featured in the site’s picture carousel, he’s also the first person listed when you go to the “About Us” section. Something isn’t quite adding up here.
Sanders isn’t having any of it. “You founded that,” he tells the beleaguered Kennedy, who repeats that he resigned from the board. “That was just a few months ago,” Sanders fires back. “Are you supportive of this? Are you supportive of these onesies?”
RFK Jr. says that he is supportive of vaccines. Sanders then calls the onesies “militantly anti-vaccine,” which gets an uncomfortable laugh from Kennedy. “I want good science,” he says. Sanders points out that if RFK Jr. is so suddenly staunchly anti-vaccine, then why won’t he tell his organization to stop selling the onesies?
Kennedy’s confirmation has been fraught with moments like this. In one exchange with Colorado Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, Kennedy is asked about claims he made that COVID was aimed at certain ethnics groups or that “African AIDS” is somehow different than “Western AIDS.” So with Trump bulldozing his way through the government, it’s good to know that there are still fiery senators guarding some of the gates.
Published: Jan 30, 2025 4:23 PM UTC