Billionaire Howard Lutnick said anti-vaxxer and Trump ally Robert F Kennedy Jr. wants to get "the data" to help him pull vaccines.

Per anti-vax conspiracy theorist RFK, Jr., Trump promised him control of our public Health agencies in deal for him to drop out and endorse Trump.

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
      8·
      17 days ago

      They are a type of death cult, they just aren’t the ones they want dead. It’s “us.” :/

      • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
        6·
        17 days ago

        No I get that. But all these policies impact the death cult too, and I don’t know if they’re unaware of it, or they’re all like ‘eh, worth it.’

        And if they’re like ‘eh, worth it’ then why the crap do they need these policies when they can lower the population amongst themselves? I would be willing to bet that we could even criminalize something like planning mass death by unconventional means, and maybe even make it a crime punishable by death to make sure their death cult includes enough death.

        • Asafum@feddit.nl
          8·
          17 days ago

          I think a very very large portion of them are antivax, they see it as not only unnecessary, but harmful. Tie that into the corporate mandates to get vaccinated which they viewed as oppressive and this is just exactly the kind of stuff they’d love to see. I don’t think death is a thought at all in regards to this, if anything they consider it a safety measure.

          I’m sure there’s not an insignificant portion of them also thinking “anything that triggers a liberal is great in my book!”

          • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
            2·
            17 days ago

            Your last point is the most obvious one, but the most confusing.

            Progressives debate everything, and in their mind anything that is arguable and debating equals arguing, so everything can actually trigger a progressive. All they really have to say is “some people are better than others because we say so.”

    • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      17 days ago

      Why wouldn’t you take health advice from this guy? I mean, apart from the fact that he has already caused disease outbreaks to kill many people?

    • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
      3·
      14 days ago

      Meanwhile China is laughing its ass off because its century has already begun. If Russia loses, China wins. If the US loses, China also wins.

    • jaybone@lemmy.world
      19·
      17 days ago

      I didn’t notice that was a mirror at first. Was like: are there two people in that thing?

      Then I was like whytf you want to stare at your own face all day? Then I realized this would let you see who is standing there talking to you. Thanks for attending my TED talk.

      • Nalivai@lemmy.world
        1·
        16 days ago

        As a lot of people discovered over the pandemic, staring at their own face is the only thing they want, I’ve seen a lot of people pinning their own camera in zoom to have their own face full screen the whole time

  • leadore@lemmy.worldOP
    33·
    17 days ago

    Some excerpts:

    The co-chair of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s transition team promoted the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism in a CNN interview Wednesday. He also said Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr., hopes to get “data” through a Trump administration to have vaccines pulled “off the market.”

    Kennedy told supporters earlier this week that Trump had promised to give him “control” over key public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “The key that I think I’m — you know, that President Trump has promised me is — is control of the public health agencies,” Kennedy said in a livestream, video of which CNN obtained. He cited the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, among others."

    • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      20·
      17 days ago

      Also, have we talked yet about how RFK appears to have nearly - if not fully - admitted to illegal corruption?

      Sorry to link to a PDF, but see p.8 of this government summary of corruption law: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44447/9

      While supporting a candidate is not illegal, and nor is offering financially valuable support if within limits or through a super PAC, providing value in exchange for a government position - quid pro quo - is illegal. RFK’s exchange of value is not merely supporting Trump, but actively trying to remove himself from the ballot in swing states to materially alter the election. Not illegal except it appears RFK has just admitted he was promised a position in Trump’s administration.

      So how do we know it’s quid pro quo? We know leaks before RFK’s endorsement were that he was shopping himself to the Harris and Trump campaigns. He didn’t explicitly say “in exchange for,” but it’s almost certain that’s what happened, and that there are witnesses to it who could testify or be subpoenaed.

      • jaybone@lemmy.world
        5·
        17 days ago

        That’s what Trump publicly promised Musk, a position. So if it’s really illegal no one is doing shit about it.

        • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
          5·
          17 days ago

          That’s an excellent point, and since we know Musk has spent over $100 million so far trying to get Trump elected, it’s a lot easier case to make (if there really was a quid pro quo promise made).

      • zephorah@lemm.ee
        18·
        17 days ago

        There an Ezra Klein interview with Maggie Haberman, who has followed trump closely from the start in which she says leading the American people is not what he’s interested in. The constitution and rule of law is not what he’s interested in. It’s power. He’s not keen to dive into those other two things.

        He’s also way more erratic and impulsive since getting shot at.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      64·
      17 days ago

      Fascism: “you aight seen nothing yet”

      People forget that up to 100 million died because of fascism; most were civilians just living their lives and trying not to die… That would be the equivalent of 300-400 million with today’s population.

      • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
        2·
        14 days ago

        And let’s not forget that nothing was made better by fascism for nobody but the richest people. It’s always been this way.

    • zephorah@lemm.ee
      121·
      17 days ago

      There’s such a disconnect with the raw chaos and statistics of life born of the same impulse that makes people make statements like: everything happens for a reason. Because they desperately want reason to be behind everything that happens, including their kid’s autism.

      Life functions contrary to such wishes, chaos and statistics feature prominently instead. Random, shitty things will happen. Living healthy, the statistics of some kind of cancer is still ~30% at baseline. Birth anomalies happen. And, statistically, vaccines save lives from hardship and illness, and just save lives.

      The more plausible study on autism suggests waiting to have kids is a factor. Our eggs are produced while still in the womb. Meiosis starts before birth and doesn’t complete until after fertilization. There’s room for corruption there that only goes up over time. It’s why we’re at higher risk of problems with births after 35, including Downs. Live your life as you will, this isn’t some veiled trad wife promotion or some other bs, it’s just a piece of the science on egg health over time. Studies also demonstrate men’s age impacts autism risk as well. Old sperm or old eggs, both increase autism risk. All of that said, it’s important to know there’s no 1 single cause of autism. Again, chaos and statistics, not a neat and tidy fix by removing 1 thing from your lives.

      • ysjet@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        17 days ago

        These deaths ARE happening for a reason, and that reason is the Republican party and the billionaires funding it.

      • Tower@lemm.ee
        6·
        17 days ago

        Also remember (as you clearly wrote many times) that we’re talking increased risk, not causation. We were 24 and 27 when my autistic daughter was born. Sometimes you just get dealt a rough hand.