America’s health is under attack, not just by disease, but by the very department tasked with protecting it. After two and a half years of chemotherapy, my body strength is depleted. We’re working on that in Occupational and Physical Therapy, rebuilding what the cancer and its treatment took away. What I quickly discovered, however, is that many of the things being recommended by trainers and doctors—evidence-based, medically sound approaches to recovery—differ dramatically from what the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement suggests. The trainers, quite frankly, laughed when I brought up some of the suggestions.
This stark disconnect reveals a combination of two catastrophic failures. First, we allowed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to be gutted, its vital functions stripped away. Second, and perhaps more insidious, is the passion of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current HHS Secretary, for pseudo-science and fake remedies that are, in some cases, potentially lethal. This is a federal department that could do damage to every person who listens to their advice, essentially making the entire department useless.
The Gutting of HHS: Dismantling the Nation’s Health Shield
The systematic dismantling of HHS under Felonious Punk’s administration is a calculated assault on public health. Secretary Kennedy has vigorously defended proposals to slash HHS’s annual budget by over 25% for fiscal year 2026. This comes on the heels of a staggering 20,000 staff positions already eliminated across HHS and its critical subagencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A Senate committee minority report shockingly revealed that NIH alone lost $2.7 billion through March.
Senators from both parties have expressed outrage, directly interrogating Kennedy about the real-world consequences. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) cited urgent constituent concerns: a cancer patient’s last-resort treatment delayed, Milwaukee public schools denied federal assistance for a lead poisoning crisis, and 250 families left stranded in Wisconsin when Head Start programs abruptly paused due to staff firings and office eliminations. Lawmakers criticized the department’s barely one-page plan for outlining its intended use of appropriated funds, demanding concrete answers.
Despite Kennedy’s strong public pledges not to fire competent staff or harm the CDC, HHS implemented the “Fork in the Road” plan, a massive 20,000-person workforce reduction, with layoffs often issued “without notice.” This wasn’t merely about efficiency. Over 1,500 NIH grants, valued at a collective $7.5 billion, have been canceled, often with vague notices stating the research “no longer effectuates agency priorities.” These cuts disproportionately target “polarizing issues” such as HIV/AIDS (28.7%), transgender health (24.3%), COVID-19 (17.1%), and climate change (3.5%), with roughly two-thirds of canceled grants affecting “blue states”—a clear indication of ideological targeting. This is a deliberate, politically motivated dismantling of the nation’s health shield, leaving its citizens vulnerable.
The Poison of Pseudo-Science: RFK Jr.’s Dangerous Agenda
Beyond the budget cuts, the true peril lies in Secretary Kennedy’s aggressive promotion of pseudo-science and misinformation, actively making America sick again. Kennedy has built a career on spreading dangerous falsehoods, from vaccine skepticism and HIV/AIDS denial to outlandish claims about environmental chemicals causing children to become gay or transgender. His appointment to lead HHS, a prospect that alarmed public health leaders nationwide, threatens to institutionalize these harmful beliefs at the highest levels of government.
His actions since taking office are a direct assault on proven public health measures. Despite pledging not to undermine vaccination efforts, Kennedy has sown profound doubt about the measles vaccine’s effectiveness, falsely claiming it was never safety tested, promoting unproven vitamin A as an alternative, and touting falsehoods about fetal tissue in the MMR shot. A top FDA official allegedly faced pressure to find non-existent data linking the measles vaccine to brain swelling. The consequences are tangible and tragic: cuts to state-level outbreak monitoring have led to the shutdown of 50 vaccination clinics in Dallas, near the epicenter of this year’s measles outbreak. New FDA guidance has limited access to annual COVID-19 boosters to only those over 65 or at high risk, directly contradicting earlier pledges not to alter childhood vaccination schedules.
This is where the personal becomes terrifyingly public. The very advice emanating from this federal department, the purported authority on national health, could do damage on every person who listens, essentially rendering the entire department useless. Kennedy has hired a known anti-vaxxer to lead a study on vaccine-autism links, despite overwhelming scientific consensus. He has stopped NIH research focused on preventing future epidemics. He is actively pushing for “lower standards” and “disregarding science” to approve unproven medications and treatments. His tenure, as one expert put it, is “unwinding a century of progress on fighting disease and promoting public health.”
The human cost of this agenda is immense. Beyond the systemic vulnerabilities, there is direct patient suffering: delayed cancer treatments, denied lead poisoning assistance, and Head Start programs paused. Weakened public health agencies lead to delayed responses to infectious diseases, reduced access to life-saving medications, and a terrifying deterioration of health outcomes for the entire country. Kennedy’s history of attacking public health agencies and promoting unproven treatments threatens to paralyze their effectiveness, eroding the public confidence that is “critical to good leadership and public health.”
A Call for Science, Integrity, and a Healthy America
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership at HHS is not merely a misstep; it’s a calculated assault on public health, driven by pseudo-science and a willingness to gut essential services. The department, under his guidance, is being rendered useless, actively doing damage to every person who listens to its advice.
America deserves an HHS Secretary who prioritizes facts and evidence-based medicine, not misinformation and ideology. We must demand accountability. We must fight for the restoration of HHS’s scientific integrity and its capacity to protect, not endanger, the health of all Americans. The price of inaction is too high; it is paid in lives, in preventable suffering, and in the erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard our well-being. The time for pseudo-science in power is over. The time for science, integrity, and a truly healthy America is now.
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