Thursday, February 13, 2025. What the press missed about Chump's announcement in front of King Abdullah II, DSA's gunning for Hakeem Jeffries (and lying again), Jill Stein's campaign has been revealed as the fraud we all knew it was, and much more.
Let's start this morning with the campaign of known grifter Jill Stein.
Jill Stein’s campaign manager just admitted what anyone with half a brain knew all along—their real mission was to help elect Donald Trump. Fu*k Jill Stein and anyone who supported her
— Republicans Against Trumpism (@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social) February 11, 2025 at 9:46 AM
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It was all performative. It was all pretense. And now that they've put Chump back in the White House, they admit to it and see it as a success.
.
They had so much help . . . from non-Democrats. Remember when Kyle and Krystal were pimping Jill Stein? THE VANGUARD boys. Amy Goodman
So many, many more. In fact, you just have to look at who trashed Medhi Hasan for asking actual questions in the interview he did with Jill and little "Butchy" Ware -- I forget his real first name but so has he.
Immigrants are suffering now, LGBTQ+ people are suffering now, the country is suffering now and it's only going to get worse but the Green Party, via Jill's campaign manager, has made clear that they did the right thing --- what they'd planned to do all along -- by putting Chump back into the White House.
There are not your friends.
THE VANGUARD's blowing sloppy kisses to Saagar.
That's how they're helping the country?
A known homophobe and transphobe and they're blowing kisses to him.
I remember when nut job Marianne Williamson went on Bill Maher's podcast as part of her never ending and always failing bid to et the 2024 presidential nomination.
I do not watch trash TV. That's how I have never stumbled across Bill Maher on any network -- not COMEDY CENTRAL, not ABC, not HBO.
But THE VANGUARD boyz watch Bill and they did some clips of Marianne's visit to Bill's podcast and praised her.
For?
When Bill Maher started trashing trans people, Marianne did the right thing.
That's what Zac and Gavin insisted.
The wrong thing?
To defend trans people. No, Marianne stayed silent and "focused" and ignored it and just made the points she wanted to make.
Zac and Gavin, I try to be kind due to your young age but surely even you now realize that Marianne was never, ever going to get the nomination and that it was surely more important for Marianne to stand up to transphobia in that moment in time.
If she had, she might have even got some support.
Ava and I covered this at THIRD -- see "Media: Marianne's campaigning for right wingers, Cornel's trying to destroy The Green Party." How her 2020 effort found her embracing LGBTQ+ rights and doing it over and over -- including on Twitter -- but how in her campaign for 2024, she wasn't just silent in the face of attacks on trans people, she was also silent on Twitter and every platform.
Let's be really clear that after her actions during the AIDS crisis, Marianne will always have a lot to answer for.
But she went to Krystal and Kyle's wedding and that's all that mattered, right?
The Green Party has now made clear that the whole point of Jill Stein's campaign was to get Chump back in the White House.
That should lead to outrage. People should be outraged over the soft ball interview that Amy and Juan conducted with Jill and Little Butchy.
Her whole goal -- as many of us pointed out in real time -- was to hand the White House to Chump. Her own children who opposed her run noted that was her goal. Now her campaign manager has admitted it as well.
A lot of people have to answer for that.
And again don't come at me with numbers. I hate the stupid idiots who think they understand campaign politics. How many campaigns have you been a part of? How many classes did you take in campaign politics (international relations and campaign politics were the two fields of poli sci I emphasized for my undergraduate and my graduate work). Jill was there to poison perception -- the same thing Amy Goodman did every day on DEMOCRACY NOW!
As I have noted repeatedly: We have the numbers. Forget the Greens, forget the closet Socialists. We have the numbers. We can elect Democrats. But we have to turn out.
That's why the GOP, every damn year, is focused nation-wide and state-wide on how to reduce our access to the ballot. Because we have the numbers.
That's why, if we turn out, we win.
Jill Stein's garbage and Rahsida's and all the closet case Socialists was about defeating Kamala. They had to create the perception that she wasn't worth voting for to try to keep some people home. Voting's hard for a lot of people. There are those with children -- not just young children, trying havind middle school kids in sports and other school activities -- there are those who can't drive themselves, there are those who work the graveyard shift. There are so many things so many peoople are dealing with.
And if I've stayed up all night in the hospital with a loved one and I can now go home to sleep right away or I can go vote? I'm tired, I'm drifting off and if you're giving me any reason to think my vote doesn't matter or the person's not going to fight for me, I'm going home to sleep.
That's what they did, they poisoned the well. They screwed with perception. And still Chump didn't get 50% of the vote. Because Kamala ran a great campaign and I'm not in the mood for a closet case named Sam Seder to say otherwise.
Yesterday's snapshot led to whining in the public e-mail. "So we can't even criticize Hakeem Jeffries?"
If you're asking me, what you can't do is read. I don't know why that is? Could be a learning disorder (I'm dyslexic) or maybe you're just too damn lazy. But clearly you can't read:
We were calling out the trickery that the usual con artists were pulling. They couldn't attack Hakeem with the truth so they selectively edited a statement from a public press conference. And this is how stupid the DSA thinks Americans are -- a public press conference. They didn't expect that anyone would pull it up to see what they done. Tabitha did right away. And she documented on camera which is why we put her video in there.
In a minute, we'll be noting an issue regarding Gaza that apparently everyone missed. My excuse is that I don't cover it anymore. But every day there's so much to cover. Yesterday, what I missed was how useless DSA is.
Yes, I noted their edit but I was on the phone with a friend discussing it last night when I talked about how wasteful DSA is (he's a former DSA-er, by the way) and how they distract from real issues and pointed out what a waste of time attacks on Hakeem were. And how Hakeem is not losing his job and --
Yeah, that's what I forgot in my rush yesterday.
Hakeem is the Minority Leader. That vote already went down. They're trying to bloody him -- the DSA is -- and they're pretending that they can take him down.
No, they can't.
And their notion seems to be that AOC then replaces him.
No.
The Democratic Party, bound and determined to win the 2026 mid-terms, is not going to put AOC in charge of the House Democrats. She's a Socialist. She and DSA are having problems but she remains a Socialist. And I'm so sorry for the Ed Wood crowd of the left but Socialism doesn't get votes.
That's your fault if you are a DSA-er because you hide and lie. It's your job to educate the American people on Socialism, not mine. You hide and you lie and you trick.
Again, the SEP doesn't hide in a closet. Other Socialists don't hide in closets.
But this is one more example of what a waste of time DSA is. They decided to selectively edit Hakeem speaking to make him look bad and sew dissension and told the idiots stupid enough to believe them that it was time for Hakeem to go!!!!
Hakeem's not going anywhere. He's the Minority Leader. That could change in a year or two. But he's the leader.
There's so much that we need to work on to save our country. Instead, we've go the DSA conning people into believing they can knock Hakeem out and replace him with a Socialist like AOC or Rahsida or Greg Casar.
And we noted Greg all the time. The minute Rashida ran into trouble we posted everything her office issued. When Cori Bush ran into trouble, the same.
The difference now is that DSA actively worked to destroy to Kamala's campaign.
If they'd done that to Hillary (and to a degree, they did), I would've just shrugged and focused on the next election. But this wasn't an unknown. We knew it was Chump or Kamala, we knew Chump was a convicted criminal who led an insurrection against the country and who would rule out of hate and fear and try to destroy our country.
That's the difference now. I love the Michigan Green Party but I've ignored everything they've sent in the last two weeks. I'm just not in the mood.
I was happy to promote all on the left. Up until you worked to destroy our country.
Chump was not an unknown. He was a very real threat and when we needed to pull together? A number of you worked instead to put him back in the White House.
That's unforgivable.
What you have done to this country is unforgivable. The lives that are being destroyed because of your actions and lies is unforgivable.
This is not "Oh my preferred candidate didn't win!" This is: You actively worked to put this country into a dangerous situation that could lead to our destruction.
That is not forgivable.
Some e-mails to the public account say that Hakeem's got to go because he's complaining in private about pressure being put on him.
Oh, the horror!
He's complaining?
I feel so insulted!!!!
Of course he's complaining. We're his boss. We're on his ass. We're demanding he get to work.
I don't know what kind of Frank Capra lunatic world you live in (one that lets you overlook the fact that Capra was a government snitch, for one thing) but politicians complain about the people they represent all the time. And that's fine. As long as they get that we're the boss, not them.
This isn't, 'Hey, if you can, stay about 15 minutes late and try to get three or four calls done.' This is: You work for us, start defending us.
And if he's pissed -- he may not be, that's an anonymouse story -- great. And work to get him more pissed so he knows he has to answer to us. That is politics.
Let's note Rachel Maddow from last night on MSNBC.
I'm trying to let the Gaza Freaks cover Gaza. I did my part and I'm not really in the mood these days. But I was on the phone last night with a friend (news producer -- not at MSNBC) and he was asking my thoughts on a recent event. I shared my take. He said no one covered that. A huge event at the White House and no one covered it. So I said I'd mention it here (he's a TV producer, the moment has passed, they've moved on as TV does).
Pablo R. Suanzes (EL MUNDO) reports:
The US President insists that it is easy, "and two million people is a small number," while Abdullah avoids committing but also contradicting him to avoid losing $1.5 billion in annual aid.
Faces of circumstance, uncomfortable silences, and evasions. King Abdullah II of Jordan traveled to Washington this week, met with Donald Trump at the White House, and has a lot at stake. And that's why the situation could not have been more uncomfortable when the President of the United States, in response to journalists' questions, insisted on his plans for the Gaza Strip, which include Jordan, an important ally in the region, voluntarily or involuntarily hosting millions of Gazans, who would be illegally expelled from their land forever, as Trump said this past weekend, without considering their right to return.
Trump reiterated on Tuesday that Washington will take control of Gaza and will not back down. With what authority will all this be done? "With that of the United States," he stated. "It's not something complex to do. And with the United States in control of that piece of land, a fairly large piece of land, we will have stability in the Middle East for the first time," Trump declared from the Oval Office.
When pressed, given that he described it in terms of real estate operation, if it was part of his plans to do business personally, the President stated that it was not because "I have had a great career in the real estate sector," he said laughing. "We are not going to buy, there is nothing to buy. It is a devastated place. We are going to take control, manage [Gaza], preserve it, and give it value. It could be a diamond," he added, attacking Hamas, whom he described as "bullies and weak" and reiterating that they have a clear ultimatum to continue releasing the Israeli hostages from October 7.
There was reporting soon after that the White House had not done “even the most basic planning to examine the feasibility of the idea.” Instead, Trump just blurted out his radical thought, failing to even alert the State Department or the Pentagon in advance.
As confusion reigned at the White House, Trump apparently thought he could help clear things up with a 107-word missive published to his social media platform. In it, the Republican said Gaza “would be turned over to the United States” — he didn’t say how, when or why — and Palestinians would be “resettled” in some other countries that he didn’t identify.
A day later, after threatening to cut off U.S. aid to Jordan and Egypt, Trump met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House, and went even further.
President Donald Trump’s attack on South Africa has brought relations between Washington and Pretoria to their lowest point since sanctions were imposed on the previous apartheid government in 1986.
In South Africa, this row comes seven months into a coalition government that is testing the ability of the former liberation movement, the African National Congress (ANC), to work with its partner, the strongly pro-Western Democratic Alliance (DA), which represents about 90% of white voters.
Ramaphosa’s ANC chose the DA over the third and fourth largest parties, which are black, anti-Western breakaways from the ANC that accuse the president of failing to address historic black land claims. Under this intense political pressure, the ANC produced an Expropriation Act it hoped would satisfy all sides.
The coalition government’s success depends on whether it can restore economic growth and reverse rising joblessness after 15 years of stagnation.
If anyone feels noting the above three stories on South Africa is 'a little much,' maybe they went to school with Eoin Higgins?
Because the above is not minor. His whole attitude reeks of White privilege. Such as when he's failing to grasp that Thiel's support of Ron Paul was not despite of Paul's well known racism but actually because of the politician's well known racism. Equally true, he never notes the racist connection of rich supporters of Donald Chump to South Africa. Or that, for example, Elon leaves South Africa because apartheid is falling. Instead, he -- and Thiel -- just happen o leave South Africa, the country that has allowed them to benefit their entire life from their White skin while discriminating against Black people. The attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is briefly noted in terms of when Musk took over Twitter and was appalled by the diversity he sees in the company's work force. Higgins treats it as a quirk when, in fact, it's a built-in factory feature of three White men (Musk, Thiel and Sacks) spending their formative years in an apartheid state that fed and deepened their bigotry and hate.
Murray: “If you think RFK Jr. will change who he is, you are lying to yourself… If you do not draw a line somewhere, you will cross every line you could ever imagine. You will be pushed further and further into accepting things you never thought you would—things you never thought you could.”
ICYMI: In Senate Hearing, RFK Jr. Refuses to Say HPV Vaccine is Safe to Sen. Patty Murray, Pressed on Credible Accusation of Sexual Assault
Murray, a longtime congressional leader on health care who has led hearings on addressing vaccine hesitancy, has been a leading vocal opponent of RFK Jr.’s nomination—speaking out on the Senate floor, holding events, raising the alarm after meeting with him
*** VIDEO of Senator Murray’s floor speech HERE***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, took to the Senate floor to warn of the very real dangers that lie ahead if Republicans insist on confirming RFK Jr. as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and urge her colleagues to “show some courage… show some conscience” and vote against this nomination.
Murray laid out the many ways RFK Jr. could undermine vaccines as HHS Secretary—as well as so much else that’s at stake with his confirmation. Murray pointed out that, if confirmed, there will be nothing stopping RFK Jr. from firing the CDC’s entire vaccine advisory committee—responsible for making recommendations about vaccines and indirectly determines which vaccines must be covered by insurance—and replacing them all with vaccine skeptics. RFK Jr. will also oversee FDA, another agency he has repeatedly tried to discredit and attack—and where he has said he plans to fire hundreds of scientists on Day One.
“My colleagues should know better. They do know better,” said Murray on the Senate floor. “But they are looking the other way. They are choosing to pretend like it is in any way believable that RFK Jr. won’t use his new power to do exactly the thing he has been trying to do for decades—undermine vaccines.”
Murray spoke about how RFK Jr. will also have jurisdiction over NIH, where he could redirect funds away from promising cures, or make good on his plan to fire hundreds of researchers and pause infectious disease research. Pointing to Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s’ recent attacks on NIH biomedical research funding, Murray said: “At a time when lifesaving research like this is already under attack from the President and the richest man in the world, no one who truly values medical research should vote to install one of the biggest attackers of medical science as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
Murray also spoke about health insurance—another huge responsibility for HHS. “Last time Trump was in office, we saw millions of people lose their health coverage,” Murray said. “The uninsured rate went up after years of hard-won progress, and we all know he still wants to rip up the Affordable Care Act—driving up costs and kicking people off their coverage. And there’s no reason to think Mr. Kennedy will stand up to that effort. Indeed, there is no reason to think he has the experience and understanding of the system to do so. During his committee hearings, RFK Jr. confused Medicare and Medicaid—basic stuff—and failed to describe the components of Medicare.”
Murray also hammered how RFK Jr. poses an enormous risk to reproductive health care in America—pointing out that not only did RFK Jr. confess to having no real understanding of the Department’s role in enforcing Americans’ right to emergency care, but he showed he will be totally open to Republicans’ efforts to rip away access to medication abortion nationwide.
Also noting the danger of putting RFK Jr. in charge of pandemic threats, Murray emphasized that “We cannot take this man at his word—something he has changed and gone back and forth on time and again. But we can take him at his record—which is that he has consistently undermined vaccine confidence and even profited from it.”
“I cannot tell my colleagues enough: this isn’t a game, this is not a political role without consequence, the Health Secretary has real power over whether Americans can get basic information and care that impacts whether they live or die,” Murray continued.
“So if my colleagues are feeling the pressure from President Trump or if they are feeling the weight of the richest man in the world on their backs, I would warn them: this will certainly not be the last test we face here in the Senate… If you do not draw a line somewhere, you will cross every line you could ever imagine. You will be pushed further and further into accepting things you never thought you would—things you never thought you could.
“I think most of my colleagues know what is really at stake here. I think most of my colleagues know what sort of man RFK Jr. is and what sort of damage he could do if confirmed. There are political realities, we all get that—but there is also right and wrong… So, I urge all my colleagues to show some courage. I urge them to show some conscience. I urge them to join me in voting NO on RFK Jr.’s nomination,” Murray concluded.
When President-elect Donald J. Trump first announced his intention to select Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of HHS, Murray immediately and forcefully condemned the move—and she has consistently spoken out and laid out for her colleagues the case against his nomination since, including in a lengthy Senate floor speech earlier this month—VIDEO HERE. Murray met with RFK Jr. on January 15th and released a statement afterward reiterating her opposition to his nomination and urging her colleagues, “to be honest with themselves about the stakes of putting one of the anti-vaccine movement’s loudest, proudest champions in charge of HHS and join me in opposing RFK Jr.’s nomination.” In December, Murray held a roundtable discussion at UW Medicine on the importance of scientific research and vaccines—especially for children—and spoke about how having RFK Jr. lead HHS would threaten Americans’ health and safety. At the hearing on his nomination before the Senate HELP Committee, Senator Murray pressed RFK Jr. to acknowledge that the HPV vaccine was safe and effective—he would not—and respond to credible accusations of sexual assault.
As a longtime appropriator and former Chair of the Senate HELP Committee, Murray has long fought to boost biomedical research, strengthen public health infrastructure, and make health care more affordable and accessible. Over her years as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, she has secured billions of dollars in increases for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, and during her time as Chair of the HELP Committee she established the new ARPA-H research agency as part of her PREVENT Pandemics Act to advance some of the most cutting-edge research in the field. As Chair of the HELP Committee, Murray was also instrumental in crafting the American Rescue Plan Act, including its landmark investments in public health and health care. Senator Murray was also the lead Democratic negotiator of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which delivered a major federal investment to boost NIH research, among many other investments. Murray is also the lead sponsor of the Public Health Infrastructure Saves Lives Act (PHISLA), legislation to establish $4.5 billion in dedicated, annual funding for a grant program to build up and maintain the nation’s public health system across the board.
In 2019, Senator Murray co-led a bipartisan hearing in the HELP Committee on vaccine hesitancy and spoke about the importance of addressing vaccine skepticism and getting people the facts they need to keep their families and communities safe and healthy. Ahead of the hearing, as multiple states were facing measles outbreaks in under-vaccinated areas, Murray sent a bipartisan letter with former HELP Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) pressing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health on their efforts to promote vaccination and vaccine confidence.
Senator Murray’s full remarks on the Senate floor, as delivered are below and HERE:
“Mr. President, the American people are watching now with alarm—because the vast majority of people know: vaccines are safe, they’re effective, they are lifesaving.
But we are now on the verge of confirming, as our nation’s highest health official, a man who has spent considerable time, money, and effort undermining that basic fact.
“A man who has abused his platform by refusing to acknowledge the well-established science that shows that vaccines arenot linked to autism. Fear about that point—fueled by RFK Jr. and others peddling misinformation—is a leading reason that parents do not get their kids vaccinated against preventable, dangerous diseases.
“That’s why elevating a man like RFK Jr. to lead HHS would be so dangerous. Just giving him any platform to spread vaccine doubt is dangerous. But to give him one of the biggest megaphones in the world? It is truly shameful that we even are debating this.
“My colleagues should know better. They actually do know better. They are looking the other way. They are choosing to pretend like it is in any way believable that RFK Jr. won’t use his new power to do exactly the thing he has been trying to do for decades—undermine vaccines.
“Never mind the fact that CDC has already modified webpages with information about vaccines and other vital public health information—which a federal judge has now ordered the Trump Administration to restore.
“Never mind that the Trump administration is also, reportedly, planning widespread and significant layoffs—layoffs—at CDC and across HHS.
“This is how RFK Jr. substitutes his own beliefs for science. So, when the vaccine conspiracies start swirling—and RFK Jr. turns HHS into ground zero for misinformation—‘I had no idea’ is not going to be an excuse for confirming him.
“Because at the HELP Committee hearing, the Chair pressed him repeatedly about the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. And when RFK Jr. said he needed to ‘see the evidence,’ he was shown the evidence. But, to no one’s surprise, he did not keep his word, admit he’d been wrong, and spread the good news that vaccines do not cause autism.
“He has had two weeks since that hearing to look at the same settled science as everyone else—crickets. But he won’t hesitate to quote the latest anti-vax conspiracy. He is totally up to speed on that front.
“Are my colleagues really buying this guy will take an impartial look at the science?
“If you think RFK Jr. will change who he is, you are lying to yourself. He has given no evidence to suggest that—and all the evidence in the world to the contrary.
“Given his long, and growing track record, we cannot just pretend if RFK Jr. finally gets power to undermine vaccines—a cause that he has dedicated a considerable amount of time and effort to—that he’ll just give it up. That is not believable.
“And I know I’ve been talking a lot about vaccines—because it is so obviously alarming—but the responsibility he would have goes far beyond that.
“So, let’s break some of this down—both the ways he could undermine vaccines as HHS Secretary, and the other responsibilities that would be at stake.
“To start with, the CDC is under HHS. That means that the Secretary directly appoints people to CDC’s vaccine advisory board. That board is responsible for making recommendations about vaccines—and it is those recommendations that determine whether or not certain vaccines have to be covered by insurance.
“So, simply put: changing those recommendations will change what
vaccines millions of Americans, including kids, will be able to get from
their health care provider.
“If he is confirmed, there
would be nothing stopping RFK Jr. from firing the entire board and
replacing them all with vaccine skeptics.
“After all, he has said many times, and in many ways, he thinks CDC is corrupt and bought by pharma—as usual, by the way, without any evidence.
“RFK. Jr. would also oversee the Food and Drug Administration; that is another agency he has repeatedly tried to discredit and attack—where he says he plans to fire—fire!—hundreds of scientists on Day One. And an agency that plays the crucial role of making sure our drugs and our treatments—including vaccines—are safe and effective.
“Not only would Mr. Kennedy have a key perch from which he could undermine vaccines on a scale like never seen before, he could also use his platform to peddle quack treatments with no basis in science.
“RFK Jr. would also have jurisdiction over NIH. That alone means influence over billions of dollars in medical research—research that is responsible for a significant portion of our economy, and more importantly, research that patients are desperately hoping will help them find cures.
“But RFK Jr. could redirect those funds to promote his favorite pet conspiracies instead of promising cures.
“Or he could make good on his plan to fire hundreds of researchers and pause infectious disease research—for eight years. It should go without saying: viruses aren’t going to take a break.
“And here’s the thing—the attacks on medical research are now already happening under Trump. From his day one Executive Orders, President Trump has already been threatening medical research.
“Suddenly, all of our grants are at risk because they are looking at addressing ‘barriers to care’ or understanding why Black and Native American women have higher maternal death rates.
“And now—President Trump also is trying to illegally, arbitrarily, and suddenly change NIH guidelines to set an unrealistically low cap on indirect cost rates. That would mean researchers are laid off, studies canceled—including lifesaving clinical trials—and kids are not able to get the treatment they need.
“All because President Trump and Elon Musk don’t seem to understand how we actually fund important research, and couldn’t even be bothered to find out before taking an axe to medical research labs.
“At a time when lifesaving research like this is already under attack from the President, and the richest man in the world, no one who truly values medical research should vote to install one of the biggest attackers of medical science as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
“And, M. President, insurance is another huge portfolio for HHS. Last time Trump was in office, we saw millions of people lose their health care coverage. The uninsured rate went up after years of hard-won progress, and we all know he still wants to rip up the Affordable Care Act—which will drive up costs and kick people off their coverage.
“There’s no reason to think Mr. Kennedy will stand up to that effort. Indeed, there is no reason to think he has the experience and understanding of the system to actually do so.
“During his committee hearings, RFK Jr. confused Medicare and Medicaid—this is basic stuff! He failed to describe the components of Medicare.
“And yes, Mr. President, I also absolutely have to talk about abortion care. This is of grave importance—especially right now.
“In his hearings, not only did RFK Jr. confess to having no real understanding of EMTALA—that is a law which requires patients have access to lifesaving emergency care including, in some cases, abortion care—he also showed that he will be totally open to Republicans’ fact-free efforts to rip away access to medication abortion.
“Like so many other issues that RFK Jr. is simply wrong about, the science on that has been settled for many years now.
“Mr. Kennedy made clear though, he is very open to revisiting access to the abortion pill, based on a Republican argument against the science that basically boils down to: ‘Nuh uh, nuh uh!’
“Putting up barriers to accessing the abortion pill—or ripping it off the market completely, as Republicans have made very clear they want to do—would be absolutely devastating.
“And let’s not forget about pandemic threats. The lies that RFK Jr. spread during the last pandemic already make clear he is not the man to do this job. But if that weren’t enough, when there was a pandemic threat response planning session for this new Administration—he skipped it! He didn’t go! It would almost be comical if this wasn’t so serious.
“Mr. President, everywhere you look, everything about this nominee is so concerning.
“We cannot take this man at his word—something he has changed and gone back and forth on time and time again. But we can take him on his record—which is that he has consistently undermined vaccine confidence and, by the way, note: he even profited from that.
“And we can take the threat of what he might do seriously, especially given the alarming things that are already happening.
“If RFK Jr. gives you his word of honor, that he won’t freeze research—well guess what? We are already seeing the Trump Administration totally upend medical research. Thanks to the Trump funding freeze, NIH hasn’t issued any grant awards in weeks!
“If RFK Jr. swears that he is not going to take down information about vaccines, that he is not going to silence experts, well don’t look now—but the Trump Administration has already taken down or changed CDC pages about vaccines. They have already silenced public health experts.
“If RFK Jr. pinky promises you that he won’t undermine medical science or studies, and he won’t ignore global health threats, well, you might want to sit down for this—but President Trump has completely demolished our global health aid work. He has already completely demolished it.
“The fallout is utterly heart wrenching. Already we know of a woman who died—because the USAID-supported hospital she went to for oxygen was forced to discharge her because they got a ‘stop-work’ order from the Trump administration.
“It is not clear if she was the first death caused by Trump’s complete freeze, but there is no question, she will not be the last.
“And Mr. President—let me make a really important point here: it is not just people across the world who will be affected by this.
“There was a study being done on a new HIV treatment with thousands of volunteers, a study being done already having a thousand volunteers doing the treatment. But now, without their regular injections, which are cut off because of Trump’s move, there is going to be too little of the drug in their system to protect those people from HIV—but enough of the drug that if they contract HIV, it could mutate to become drug resistant.
“So, for all the absolutely unhinged conspiracies we have heard about medical research from RFK Jr. and the like, where is the concern for this actual risk, in this actual study, happening right now all because President Trump cut off foreign assistance?
“RFK Jr. has been silent about that risk, silent about how wrong that is—and so, even as he is making these empty promises on one hand to some of our colleagues, he is already standing by as President Trump breaks them on the other hand.
“Oh, and here’s one more—if RFK Jr. says he is going to consult you on health care personnel, please do not be fooled.
“Look, I don’t know why my colleagues need me to tell them this—I like to think we have some pretty smart people around here—but this vote, RFK Jr.’s own nomination, this is your consultation on health care personnel. Not some made up promise for later. This is the point you have the most power.
“Whatever he might say, you don’t get to choose who RFK Jr. will appoint to this or that—heck, he doesn’t get to choose who President Trump appoints.
“The decision you get to make, all of us on this floor get to make, is the decision on this floor before us right now. You get to choose who you vote to confirm. And you will have to live with that decision.
“And, if you ignore the warning signs, and confirm RFK Jr.—then, when the wheels fall off the wagon, you may try to tell yourself you were lied to, but you knew who you were dealing with. You knew who you were dealing with. You knew what he has said before, and what he has refused to say.
“You had all the knowledge you needed to do the right thing.
“I cannot tell my colleagues enough: this is not a game, this is not a political role without consequence. The Health Secretary has real power over whether Americans can get basic information and care that impacts whether they live or die.
“As I have tried to drive home throughout this process—vaccines save lives. That is not a question. It is not a slogan. It is a fact.
“If, when parents look to you, worried about their newborn, wanting to do what is best for their baby, and trusting your advice as a public health leader—if you cannot tell them the same truth that centuries of science and experience tells us, which is that vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving, then you have absolutely no business leading the Department of Health and Human Services. None.
“And so, just as I did at the hearing, I want to warn all of my colleagues: by merely voting to confirm Mr. Kennedy, we would be telling our constituents he is worth listening to on vaccines. That alone will get people killed—before he even lifts a finger.
“Because he does not even need the levers of power to get people killed—all he needs is a megaphone.
“To affirm his views by voting to confirm him as our highest health official—let’s not mince words about what that will mean.
“When babies die from whooping cough because parents weren’t sure the vaccine was safe—will you be able to look them in the eye? When the flu sweeps our nursing homes, when measles sweeps through our communities—will it be worth it?
“Mr. President, I will end on this—I’m sure there are plenty of members who know perfectly well just how dangerous it would be to confirm RFK Jr. They don’t need to hear it from me—in fact, some of them may even know the danger better than I do.
“But here’s what I do know: conscience is a muscle. Courage is a muscle. The less you use them, the more they fade away.
“So if my colleagues are feeling the pressure from President Trump or if they are feeling the weight of the richest man in the world on their backs on this vote, I would warn them: this will certainly not be the last test we face here in the Senate.
“Giving into pressure now won’t make it go away. It won’t soften the pressure you face later, and it will not strengthen your resolve when the stakes are higher. It will just show: pressure works.
“If you do not draw a line somewhere, you will cross every line you could ever imagine. You will be pushed further and further into accepting things you never thought you would—things you thought you never could.
“I think most of my colleagues know what is really at stake here. I think most of my colleagues knowwhat sort of man RFK Jr. is, and what sort of damage he could do if confirmed.
“There are political realities, we all get that—but there is also right and wrong. There is also fact and fiction.
“There is people staying healthy, and people dying pointlessly—kids dying pointlessly—from diseases that we can prevent, because they thought Congress took its job vetting our health secretary seriously.
“So, M. President, I urge all my colleagues to show some courage. I urge them to show some conscience. I urge them to vote NO on RFK Jr.’s nomination.”
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