Fox News irresponsibly championed notorious anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s potential role overseeing federal health policy in a second Trump administration. In the final days of the presidential campaign, the dire impact he could have on the American public has now come fully into view.

Fox hosts have spent the last 18 months building up in the minds of their audience members a wackadoo conspiracy theorist who has blamed self-described “cognitive problems” on having a literal worm in his brain as part of a play to return Donald Trump to the White House. The network promoted Kennedy as a potential spoiler in the Democratic presidential primary, then lavished him with praise when he ended his independent candidacy and endorsed Trump. 

The network’s hosts even touted Kennedy’s health views as, in Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt’s words, “music to every mom’s ears,” while hiding from viewers his disturbing record of spreading unfounded claims falsely linking childhood vaccinations and autism and his attacks on the COVID-19 vaccine as “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” Kennedy’s advocacy reportedly helped drive down vaccination rates in American Samoa, triggering “one of the worst measles outbreaks in recent memory.” 

Trump and Kennedy have both said in recent days that Kennedy will play a major part in a potential second Trump administration. Trump has said that Kennedy will be permitted to “go wild on health” and “go wild on the medicines,” while Kennedy has alleged the former president “has promised” him oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services and agencies under its purview, which include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

Kennedy’s public statements — and those of other Republican leaders about his potential role — suggest that the consequences could prove disastrous.

• Kennedy’s “rising influence was reflected” in an appearance by Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick, who said on CNN he had come to doubt the safety of vaccines following a conversation with Kennedy and that he approved of Kennedy getting access to federal data about vaccines and making recommendations. Jerome M. Adams, who served as U.S. surgeon general under Trump, said in response, “It’s hard to implement your other political priorities if you’re busy dealing with a measles or polio outbreak.”
• Kennedy said on social media: “On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.” Water fluoridation, which federal officials endorsed more than 70 years ago, strengthens teeth and reduces cavities, according to the CDC. A federal agency said earlier this year that there is “moderate confidence” in a link between fluoride levels double the recommended limit in drinking water and lower IQ in children. 
• Trump told a reporter on Tuesday that advising water systems to remove fluoride “sounds okay to me” and that he is open to banning vaccines. 
• Kennedy has reportedly recommended Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo to the Trump transition team as a potential candidate for HHS secretary. Lapado has fought with federal regulators over the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and earned notoriety for spreading health misinformation and for his fringe associations.
• Charlene Bollinger, a longtime Kennedy friend who recently said she is working with him to advise the Trump transition team, is a fringe commentator who describes cancer as “just an imbalance” and whose social media account endorsed threads praising Adolf Hitler and pushing claims about a “Jew World Order.”
• Kennedy recently appeared in a pro-Trump ad for a group that works to oppose in vitro fertilization, which it has labeled “evil” and “immoral.”