Letters to the Editor: RFK Jr.: Unfairly maligned, or just another Trump enabler?

To the editor: The idea that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been put forth at the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary to fix our broken healthcare system could not be further from the truth. The gaggle of billionaires who surrounded President Trump at his inauguration signaled that we are entering a new era, and indeed it’s one of wanton greed. (“Senators challenge Robert Kennedy Jr. on vaccines in confirmation hearing as health secretary,” Jan. 29)

Kennedy is not here to reform our healthcare system. Rather, as with the rest of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, he’s here to run interference as the president pursues his actual goals of self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment, largely through abuse of the presidency.

Even if Kennedy actually did aim to effect Reinhart’s pie-in-the-sky ideas on populist public health, he would get nowhere fast. He would be feckless, operating in this new Gilded Age of concentrated wealth and with a public so weak and decadent, few would have an appetite for helping others, much less for healthful food.

Johnny Thompson, M.D., San Diego

..

To the editor: While criticism of Kennedy is sometimes warranted, his accomplishments deserve recognition as well. As co-founder of Waterkeeper Alliance, where I serve as a trustee, Kennedy built it into the world’s largest clean water organization, operating in 47 countries and helping clean millions of square miles of waterways.

I’ve worked with him for more than 20 years and witnessed his fearless confrontation of corporate polluters and government agencies. This environmental advocacy has made waters more swimmable, drinkable and fishable.

Kennedy has openly acknowledged his past struggles, including substance abuse, which he overcame while helping others do the same. Though I disagree with some of his statements, Kennedy’s record of challenging special interests such as Big Food and Big Pharma and his fights against corporate pollution deserve to be part of a more balanced assessment.

Tom Gegax, La Jolla