Out Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) isn’t holding back when it comes to his thoughts on Donald Trump’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, calling the pick “f**king insane” on social media. Garcia is also more quietly throwing his hat in the ring for a Democratic leadership position in the coming session of Congress.

Nominating Robert Kennedy Jr. as “Health Secretary is f**king insane. He’s a vaccine denier and a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist. He will destroy the NIH and our vaccine distribution systems. This is going to cost lives.”

Related

Who is Robert Kennedy Jr.? Where does he stand on LGBTQ+ issues?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is known for being an anti-vaxxer, but his stance on LGBTQ+ issues have flown under the radar.

The RFK has Health Secretary is fucking insane. He’s a vaccine denier and a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist. He will destroy the NIH and our vaccine distribution systems. This is going to cost lives.

— Robert Garcia (@robertgarcia.bsky.social) November 14, 2024 at 9:57 PM

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Kennedy has gotten attention for his bizarre beliefs on health matters, including HIV denialism. He included over 100 pages of quotes from people who deny the connection between HIV and AIDS in his book The Real Anthony Fauci. Kennedy has disparagingly referred to the “orthodoxy that HIV alone causes AIDS” and the “theology that HIV is the sole cause of AIDS.” He has called medications used to treat HIV “absolutely fatal.” He refers to himself as an “AIDS dissident.”

Garcia is also quietly trying to get into a leadership position among House Democrats. Garcia has been reaching out to his fellow Democrats to get support to be the new caucus leadership representative, the person who represents newer members of Congress, those who have bene there for five or fewer terms, or under 10 years.

A letter he sent to colleagues last week outlined his vision for the Democratic House caucus, which included pushing back against misinformation to build a path to a 2026 majority, according to Advocate.

Kennedy’s misinformed and conspiratorial views on health matters extend beyond HIV. For example, he has said that COVID was engineered by China to target “Caucasians and Black people” and spare “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese” people. He claimed the U.S. is sending money to Ukraine to fund other racial bioweapons.

Kennedy has been a prominent voice in the anti-vaccine movement, which is based on pseudoscience and uses misinformation to spread the belief that vaccines don’t prevent disease. He is a member and the chair of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine organization that claims that autism, ADHD, food allergies, cancer, and autoimmune disease are caused by vaccines.

Kennedy and Children’s Health Defense spread misinformation in 2018 in Samoa that led to a decline in the vaccination rate, which was followed by an outbreak of measles in which 57,000 people were infected and 83 people – including children – died.

Kennedy opposes the fluoridation of water, which is considered one of the great public health achievements of the 20th century. Fluoridation improves dental health and particularly benefits children who can’t regularly access dental care, but it has also long been the subject of conspiracy theories.

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