Right-Wing and Medical Fringe Celebrate Kennedy HHS Nomination

Contrarians have been quick to congratulate the notorious anti-vaxxer on his nomination, touting a “realignment.”

Written by Allison Neitzel Published: 11/17/25

President-elect Donald Trump has announced anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees federal public health institutions like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

Kennedy for HHS is just the latest in a growing list of loyalists chosen by Trump for his second administration. Other controversial nominations include Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence. Last month, Gabbard appeared at the “Rescue the Republic” rally also featuring Kennedy and a slew of right-wing conspiracists. She also campaigned for Trump with Kennedy on their “Reclaim America” tour in the lead up to election day.   

A former environmental attorney, Kennedy has no background in public health or medicine, but has made a lucrative career spreading dangerous, discredited misinformation about vaccines. His anti-vax crusade has been absorbed into MAGA’s war on science during the COVID-19 pandemic and he has subsequently become a central figure in Trump world.

Immediately after dropping his spoiler presidential bid, which polls showed to be hurting Trump more than helping him by the spring, Kennedy endorsed the former president’s candidacy. Trump, in turn, announced on the campaign trail that he would let Kennedy “go wild on health” in his next administration. In the final weeks of the campaign, Kennedy announced his “Make America Healthy Again” venture to overhaul federal public health agencies, and appeared at a much derided “MAHA” hearing hosted by MAGA loyalist Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

At an anti-vaccine conference in Georgia last year, then-presidential candidate Kennedy outlined his plan to overhaul health agencies: “I’m gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all. Thank you for public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.” Prior to the nomination announcement, Kennedy stated his desire to fire and replace 600 workers from the NIH.

Just before the election, Kennedy said he wished to remove fluoride from the water systems and posted:

FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can't be patented by Pharma. If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.

While public health experts expressed their alarm at the Kennedy appointment and healthcare workers launched a petition, cranks and fringe medical voices—some of whom have, themselves, been discussed for leadership positions under the HHS umbrella—welcomed the news that the anti-vaccine conspiracy monger could soon lead arguably the most influential public health agency in the world. 

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

Stanford health economist Jay Bhattacharya, who spoke at the Kennedy campaign event announcing his former running mate, lashed out at doctors criticizing the nomination. In a post on X, Bhattacharya said, “It's ironic that the loudest cheer leaders of lockdowns, toddler masking, and mandates in academic medicine during the covid era are now smearing @RobertKennedyJr as bad for public health. Physician, heal thyself.”

Bhattacharya advised Trump on a “dangerous and discredited” herd immunity COVID strategy and co-authored the widely rebuked, pro-business, anti-lockdown Great Barrington Declaration. Since then, he’s become a darling of the right, has embraced contrarian views on topics like COVID vaccines and the pandemic’s origins. He is now reportedly a top choice to head up Donald Trump’s NIH, an agency about which he has previously promoted conspiracy theories. 

Dr. Martin Kulldorff

Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a former Harvard biostatistician, hailed the news of Kennedy’s HHS appointment as a potential “return” of “evidence-based medicine” on X. He has also previously posted in support of Bhattacharya as the head of the NIH to “restore integrity and strength to medical research and science.”

A Great Barrington Declaration co-author, Kulldorff has worked closely with Bhattacharya over the years, including advising the Trump White House, serving on Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s public health integrity committee, as a member of the Norfolk Group created to send right-wing “experts” to the GOP’s House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (HSSCP), and as a founding fellow of far-right Hillsdale College’s Academy for Science and Freedom. Kulldorff is now the scientific director of the Brownstone Institute, an off-shoot of the Great Barrington Declaration which has become a hub for public health misinformation and anti-vaccine voices. Brownstone organized the Norfolk Group.

Jeffrey Tucker

Jeffrey Tucker, founder of Brownstone, quote-tweeted Donald Trump’s post announcing Kennedy’s nomination, joyously adding, “It’s all happening, fulfilling the greatest realignment in American politics in two hundred years.”

Tucker, an anarchocapitalist and far-right Catholic whose raison d'etre became opposition COVID mitigation measures, was an organizer of the Great Barrington Declaration while working for the American Institute for Economic Research. 

Tucker and his group have long been supportive of Kennedy. When he entered the presidential race as a Democrat, Tucker penned an article for the pro-Trump, conspiracy-promoting Epoch Times—listed as a “friend” of Brownstone—titled, “The RFK Jr. Potential for Political Disruption.” Last month, Brownstone hosted its annual conference and gala, featuring a host of contrarians, anti-vaxxers, wellness influencers, and conspiracy promoters from the U.S. and abroad. Among the speakers was a contributor to Kennedy’s Children’s Health Defense.

Dr. Marty Makary

Following the announcement of Kennedy for HHS, Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgical oncologist whose name has been thrown around for a potential leadership position at the FDA, re-shared a post on X saying, “God Bless America & the new Secretary of Health & Human Services! #MAHA.” He has also been using the “MAHA” hashtag in posts promoting his new book “Blind Spots.”

Makary, previously best known for a debunked study claiming medical error to be the third leading cause of death in the US, has routinely minimized COVID. Like Bhattacharya, he made frequent appearances on Fox News during the height of the pandemic. He also infamously promised in a February 2021 Wall Street Journal opinion piece that the nation would achieve herd immunity by April of that year despite having no background in infectious disease or epidemiology. 

Makary—an advisor to the right-wing think tank Paragon Health Institute, which is run by a former Trump administration economic adviser and has promoted vaccine skepticism—testified alongside Bhattacharya and Kulldorff before the HSSCP last year, offering his non-expert takes on topics like vaccine safety. The surgeon has appeared alongside Bhattacharya at academic contrarian conferences this fall, and participated in Johnson’s “MAHA” hearing with Kennedy last month. More recently, he published a book about winning back public trust in public health.

Dr. Aseem Malhotra

Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist from the UK, also celebrated the Kennedy nomination, posting “Not just great for America, this is great for the world” on his X account. Last month he tweeted that Kennedy getting to “change health policy to make America healthy again” was one of his birthday wishes.

The British physician gained notoriety by spreading fear about the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines, once calling the mRNA shots “the single most horrific medical product in history.” He has similarly stoked fear of cholesterol-lowering medications (statins) and is behind a recent documentary called “First Do No Pharm,” capitalizing on existing and understandable fear of the pharmaceutical industry.

Malhotra has been working in right-wing US media circles (Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, etc.) and with American anti-vaxxers – like fellow cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, who he appeared with on an Epoch TImes show and who has taken massive sumsfrom the pharmaceutical industry. Malhotra, whose lack of medical board consequences for his rampant spread of misinformation inspired legal action back home, has claimed to be in talks about a potential Trump administration advisor.

Calley Means and Dr. Casey Means

The Means siblings, Calley and Casey, controversial wellness influencers who have rocketed into Trump’s orbit, also welcomed the idea of Kennedy for HHS. Casey appeared on Bill Maher’s show and voiced support for the nomination. Calley, an adviser to Kennedy and Trump’s transition team, posted to X, “There is a generational opportunity for American thriving right now.”

In addition to appearing on right-wing media programs from the likes of Joe Rogan, Glenn Beck, and Tucker Carlson, the Means duo appeared at the Johnson MAHA event. During his appearance on Rogan, Calley boldly said of 34-time convicted felon Trump, “the foundation of his existence is taking on corruption.” During an impassioned speech on the Tucker Carlson Live tour, Calley proclaimed “When Bobby Kennedy and Donald Trump joined together, it represented a historic realignment in U.S. politics.” 

Sen. Ron Johnson

Sen. Johnson celebrated the nomination on X, saying, “I could not be happier that @realDonaldTrump has selected  @RobertKennedyJr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He’s a brilliant, courageous truth-teller whose unwavering commitment to transparency will make America a healthier nation.”

Like Kennedy, Johnson has been a prolific spreader of misinformation throughout the pandemic and amplified many fringe medical voices throughout the COVID pandemic who have gone on to work with Kennedy and Children’s Health Defense. Johnson himself has encouraged fear of the vaccines and, like Kennedy, has promoted “miracle cures” like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. Kennedy has accused the FDA of “suppressing” these drugs, despite studies showing neither are effective against COVID and a current wrongful death lawsuit over the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID.