Fact Checking "The Charlatan"

 

Yesterday's hearing with former heroin addict and serial adulterer HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., before the Senate Finance Committee was almost universally deemed a monumental shit- show for the brainworm-addled Kennedy.  Not only did he exchange angry words with Dems on the Committee over his conspiracies about vaccines and public health, two MAGAt Senators who also happen to be physicians, Sen. Cassidy and Sen. Barrasso, expressed their alarm at Kennedy's dangerous thinking.  Dem Sen. Maria Cantrell (WA) correctly called him a "charlatan."  The Associated Press has fact checked Kennedy, and here's a sampling:

"COVID-19

KENNEDY, on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines: 'The only confusion I expressed is exactly how many lives were saved. I don’t think anybody knows that.'

THE FACTS: Kennedy was answering a question from Sen. Maggie Hassan on whether COVID-19 vaccines have saved millions of American lives. Myriad studies on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines have been published since they first became available in late 2020. Although protection does wane over time, they provide the strongest barrier against severe infection and death. [snip]

KENNEDY, on COVID-19 booster shots: 'Anybody can get the booster.'

THE FACTS: The Food and Drug Administration has approved updated COVID-19 shots, but only for seniors or younger people with underlying health risks. Many pharmacies are unwilling or legally barred from giving vaccines outside the uses endorsed by the FDA and other federal authorities. [snip]

SSRIs and CHILDHOOD VACCINES

KENNEDY, in response to Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, accusing him of blaming school shootings on antidepressants: 'You’re just making stuff up.'

THE FACTS: Kennedy did not say outright in a Fox News interview last week that antidepressants are responsible for school shootings. But he did suggest that they could play a role, saying that the National Institutes of Health is 'launching studies on the potential contribution of some of the SSRI drugs and some of the other psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence.' 

SSRIs, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, are medications commonly used to treat mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.'"

There's more and more detail, and it's a damning case for his resignation or removal.  There was an angry arrogance and rigidity to Kennedy's interactions with the Senators, demonstrating that he's not only unqualified for his position by lacking a scientific background, he's not open to reason or facts that go against his conspiracy theories and notions.  That's why over 1,000 current and former HHS officials have called for his dismissal. He's dangerous in that role, and needs to be removed or resign, period.

BONUSES: Even the right-wing Trumpist New York Post calls out Kennedy's "tin foil hat." And Colbert has a takedown of the nutty Secretary.

(photo: Kennedy rages during hearing. Andrew Harnick / Getty Images)