How did Robert F. Kennedy Jr. go from environmental activist to gadfly outsider to the boss of the public-health apparatus? Michael Scherer reports for The Atlantic’s January issue: [https://theatln.tc/gxyYHpPw](https://theatln.tc/gxyYHpPw)
Derided for years as a conspiracist, Kennedy saw his popularity surge in the aftermath of COVID. Like Trump, Kennedy has drafted on the currents of populist backlash against expert authority. “When I’m on the street, I get stopped three times a block by people saying that they love me,” Kennedy said to Scherer.
According to a recent poll, seven in 10 Americans are convinced that the health system “is designed so drug and insurance companies make more money when Americans are sick.” Kennedy aims to channel these frustrations to remake public health. “He arrived at this goal by way of his decades as a trial lawyer focused on contamination of the nation’s water by polluting corporations,” Scherer writes. “In the latter part of his career, he has come to perceive a comparable contamination of American health by pharmaceutical and food companies. A central premise of Kennedy’s leadership at HHS is that modern science is infected with bias that costs lives.”
RFK Jr.’s deputies say he’ll consider dissenting views. “We tried to engage him. We were trying to debate him,” Joshua Gordon, the former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, told Scherer of Kennedy’s 2017 trip to Capitol Hill. But Kennedy “refused to engage.” In late August, Kennedy asked that Trump fire Kennedy’s handpicked CDC director, just four weeks after she’d been confirmed by the Senate, because Kennedy was convinced that she was aligning herself with her agency’s scientific staff and against him. His team uses social media to attack science reporters by name. Even some members of Kennedy’s newly adopted party are alarmed.
Kennedy’s entire political project—his campaign, his hiring by Trump, his role at HHS—is entwined with his ability to prove that scientists were deceiving the public about vaccines. “He would lose a lot if he changed his mind,” Scherer continues.
1. Brain Worm
2. Propoganda
3. He doesn’t know or care if he is or isn’t, he just acts like he is because that’s what he gets paid to do.
Could also be all of the above.
NEKORANDOMDOTCOM on
Heroin induced brain worms running on family curse
mangoserpent on
He has cognitive impairment from drugs and the worm. Plus, most Kennedys always think they are right about everything.
bobcat116 on
Because he’s an idiot and a grifter.
Umami-Ice-Cream on
I work with older guys like him who are convinced that they’ve seen it all and know it all, and can’t be wrong because of it.
It’s a cultural thing.
For example, I’ve never heard a woman say “I’m a genius.” I hear guys say it all the time.
Glittering-Matter960 on
Drugs.
Designer-Contract852 on
1. He’s naturally stupid.
2. He was a heroin addict for 14 years and his brain is fried.
3. He had a brainworm eat part of his brain and he argued in his divorce proceedings that he was too mentally impaired to have a job because of this.
Significant_Cow4765 on
male Kennedy on roids³
can’t imagine why…
The_Frostweaver on
He is trapped in an information bubble.
And to protect their own snake oil grifting these low quality information bubbles are always anti-expert.
So you have people like RFK who are fed endless lies and told to ignore actual scientific experts by the people they trust.
accountabilitycounts on
First MAGA, huh?
Professional_Deer464 on
I’m guessing the dead worm damaged his prefrontal cortex.
Aware-Bid-8860 on
The man is nothing more than a parasite-infested con artist who sounds like a cassette being eaten by a tape deck.
RFK Jr. has a very checkered, questionable past. He is a serial adulterer and sex pest who repeatedly attempted to push drugs, misinformation and his harmful lifestyle on his family members and friends.
Dude is a terrible human being who is basically the name and face of “weaponized stupidity” in 2025.
loglighterequipment on
It’s all an act. He wants disease to run its course and cull the “weak” as evolution intended, in his view. He’s a monster.
No-Cup-8096 on
He’s a sociopath.
Hayes4prez on
Because he was born rich.
JakobVirgil on
It isn’t because he is a rich white boomer from an elite family if that is what you are thinking.
It is for a different reason I can’t think of right now.
OhNoMgn on
Because people have been blowing smoke up his ass his entire life. Also drugs.
Strange_Reindeer2821 on
Stupid people are ALWAYS convinced they’re right.
RudeAlarm on
Because that’s how a LOT of unchecked mental health issues manifest.
2ndprize on
You ever been to a city and had a mentally ill person scream at you. That person is also certain they are right
tabbycat987654 on
Severe, and I mean severe, entitlement coming from his family name that has convinced him of some sort of god complex. Along with incompetence, narcissism, and brain damage from his earlier years as an addict.
PSadair on
Because he’s a dullard.
banksy_h8r on
Delusions of grandeur due to his family name and the lionization of his father and uncle. He found a desperate audience that would confirm his insane self-image and he’s formed a codependent relationship with them. Same with Trump and MAGA, and Musk and tech bros. It’s all becoming pretty obvious in hindsight.
Also, RFK Jr. is a boomer and most of them cannot imagine a world where they aren’t somehow the heroes.
RFK Jr. is exhibit #1 for why political dynasties of all stripes are bad. Celebrity families in government is a recipe for disaster. Barron Trump will be this guy in 50 years.
RiseDelicious3556 on
Because he’s narcissistic. With narcissists, it’s all about their opinions–science be damned.
Corran22 on
Because he’s a narcissist psychopath?
Shoddy-Theory on
Dunning Kruger
Narcissism
Sense of entitlement because of his pedigree
Brain damage
Asshole
cometflight on
Dunning-Kruger + narcissistic perspectives = MAGA delusion.
48 Comments
How did Robert F. Kennedy Jr. go from environmental activist to gadfly outsider to the boss of the public-health apparatus? Michael Scherer reports for The Atlantic’s January issue: [https://theatln.tc/gxyYHpPw](https://theatln.tc/gxyYHpPw)
Derided for years as a conspiracist, Kennedy saw his popularity surge in the aftermath of COVID. Like Trump, Kennedy has drafted on the currents of populist backlash against expert authority. “When I’m on the street, I get stopped three times a block by people saying that they love me,” Kennedy said to Scherer.
According to a recent poll, seven in 10 Americans are convinced that the health system “is designed so drug and insurance companies make more money when Americans are sick.” Kennedy aims to channel these frustrations to remake public health. “He arrived at this goal by way of his decades as a trial lawyer focused on contamination of the nation’s water by polluting corporations,” Scherer writes. “In the latter part of his career, he has come to perceive a comparable contamination of American health by pharmaceutical and food companies. A central premise of Kennedy’s leadership at HHS is that modern science is infected with bias that costs lives.”
RFK Jr.’s deputies say he’ll consider dissenting views. “We tried to engage him. We were trying to debate him,” Joshua Gordon, the former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, told Scherer of Kennedy’s 2017 trip to Capitol Hill. But Kennedy “refused to engage.” In late August, Kennedy asked that Trump fire Kennedy’s handpicked CDC director, just four weeks after she’d been confirmed by the Senate, because Kennedy was convinced that she was aligning herself with her agency’s scientific staff and against him. His team uses social media to attack science reporters by name. Even some members of Kennedy’s newly adopted party are alarmed.
Kennedy’s entire political project—his campaign, his hiring by Trump, his role at HHS—is entwined with his ability to prove that scientists were deceiving the public about vaccines. “He would lose a lot if he changed his mind,” Scherer continues.
Read Scherer’s full profile of Kennedy: [https://theatln.tc/gxyYHpPw](https://theatln.tc/gxyYHpPw)
How often has anyone told him to his face he was wrong?
Because he doesn’t care about evidence. Ignorance is bliss.
Because he’s mentally ill??
Brain worm?
[Heroin.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f_Md22IIj0&list=RD2f_Md22IIj0&start_radio=1)
Dunning-kruger is the answer you’re looking for.
Years of drug addiction and a brain worm.
There’s multiple possible answers.
1. Brain Worm
2. Propoganda
3. He doesn’t know or care if he is or isn’t, he just acts like he is because that’s what he gets paid to do.
Could also be all of the above.
Heroin induced brain worms running on family curse
He has cognitive impairment from drugs and the worm. Plus, most Kennedys always think they are right about everything.
Because he’s an idiot and a grifter.
I work with older guys like him who are convinced that they’ve seen it all and know it all, and can’t be wrong because of it.
It’s a cultural thing.
For example, I’ve never heard a woman say “I’m a genius.” I hear guys say it all the time.
Drugs.
1. He’s naturally stupid.
2. He was a heroin addict for 14 years and his brain is fried.
3. He had a brainworm eat part of his brain and he argued in his divorce proceedings that he was too mentally impaired to have a job because of this.
male Kennedy on roids³
can’t imagine why…
He is trapped in an information bubble.
And to protect their own snake oil grifting these low quality information bubbles are always anti-expert.
So you have people like RFK who are fed endless lies and told to ignore actual scientific experts by the people they trust.
First MAGA, huh?
I’m guessing the dead worm damaged his prefrontal cortex.
The man is nothing more than a parasite-infested con artist who sounds like a cassette being eaten by a tape deck.
RFK Jr. has a very checkered, questionable past. He is a serial adulterer and sex pest who repeatedly attempted to push drugs, misinformation and his harmful lifestyle on his family members and friends.
Dude is a terrible human being who is basically the name and face of “weaponized stupidity” in 2025.
It’s all an act. He wants disease to run its course and cull the “weak” as evolution intended, in his view. He’s a monster.
He’s a sociopath.
Because he was born rich.
It isn’t because he is a rich white boomer from an elite family if that is what you are thinking.
It is for a different reason I can’t think of right now.
Because people have been blowing smoke up his ass his entire life. Also drugs.
Stupid people are ALWAYS convinced they’re right.
Because that’s how a LOT of unchecked mental health issues manifest.
You ever been to a city and had a mentally ill person scream at you. That person is also certain they are right
Severe, and I mean severe, entitlement coming from his family name that has convinced him of some sort of god complex. Along with incompetence, narcissism, and brain damage from his earlier years as an addict.
Because he’s a dullard.
Delusions of grandeur due to his family name and the lionization of his father and uncle. He found a desperate audience that would confirm his insane self-image and he’s formed a codependent relationship with them. Same with Trump and MAGA, and Musk and tech bros. It’s all becoming pretty obvious in hindsight.
Also, RFK Jr. is a boomer and most of them cannot imagine a world where they aren’t somehow the heroes.
RFK Jr. is exhibit #1 for why political dynasties of all stripes are bad. Celebrity families in government is a recipe for disaster. Barron Trump will be this guy in 50 years.
Because he’s narcissistic. With narcissists, it’s all about their opinions–science be damned.
Because he’s a narcissist psychopath?
Dunning Kruger
Narcissism
Sense of entitlement because of his pedigree
Brain damage
Asshole
Dunning-Kruger + narcissistic perspectives = MAGA delusion.
Because he is a mentally challenged drug addict.
A perfect example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
Because he’s an idiot.
The Dunning-Krueger effect- he doesn’t know how much he doesn’t know.
[Dunning-Kruger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect)
He just knows, ok? We wouldn’t understand because we aren’t him. Duh.
Dunning-Kruger
Because he’s a narcissist.
Dunning Kruger plus literal brain damage?
The Dunning-Kruger effect.
Pure, unbridled privilege.
Because no one told him “no” for his entire life and now his brain can’t process it.
I see it from old white dudes all the time who have astronomically less power and privilege than RFK jr.
He’s a total moron. He’s a serial cheater with all his wives. Has women in every city. Just a creep.