Future
Why Businesses Worry About R.F.K. Jr.
The Kennedy scion has long been a skeptic of vaccines, pesticides and more. Corporate leaders worry he may gain policy power if Donald Trump wins.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could wield significant influence over health and food policy if Donald Trump wins.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Business braces for R.F.K. Jr.
As corporate America increasingly reckons with the possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House, it’s grappling with the policies that key advisers might push for.
Much of the focus has been on Elon Musk and the former Trump trade chief Bob Lighthizer. But several industries are keeping eyes on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a noted skeptic of vaccines and the current agricultural system.
“I’m gonna let him go wild on health,” Trump said of Kennedy at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday. “I’m gonna let him go wild on the food. I’m gonna let him go wild on medicines.”
In a sign of Kennedy’s rising influence, Howard Lutnick, the financier who co-chairs the Trump transition team, told CNN that he had come to doubt the efficacy of vaccines after spending time with the longtime vaccine skeptic.
Kennedy says he has ambitious plans. He told Trump supporters on Monday that he was promised “control of the public health agencies,” including H.H.S. “The president has asked me to clean up corruption and conflicts at the agencies and to end the chronic disease epidemic,” he told The Washington Post. He has also told Food and Drug Administration officials on social media to “preserve your records” and “pack your bags.”
Kennedy could become a sort of health czar who would have some Cabinet officials and federal regulators reporting to him, according to The Post. Putting him in such a role would also mean he wouldn’t have to be confirmed by the Senate, a potentially dicey process given concerns about his policy positions and his private life.
