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Since he was confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has used his platform to erode trust in vaccines and spread a staggering amount of misinformation. In a single appearance last week, he incorrectly claimed that fetuses develop “in” the placenta and suggested without evidence that Tylenol given to infants following circumcision causes autism. Yet his wife, Cheryl Hines — who, until relatively recently, was registered as a Democrat — thinks he’s doing a great job.
Appearing on The View on Tuesday, Hines took issue with the suggestion that her husband — who has no medical background — is unfit to serve as the nation’s top health official. “The problem, respectfully, is that your husband is the least-qualified Department of Health and Human Services head that we’ve had in history,” co-host Sunny Hostin said at one point, adding, “I think that’s very dangerous.” Hines pushed back on this. “He’s spent his career studying toxins, studying people’s health,” she said of Kennedy’s work as an environmental lawyer.
Kennedy has also spent his career profiting off misinformation about vaccines and autism, though Hines doesn’t see it that way. Despite acknowledging that vaccines are “an important part of our health care,” Hines parroted some of her husband’s most popular anti-vaxx talking points, arguing that we need to “listen to parents who say my child got the vaccine and changed and stopped hitting markers, stopped developing the way they were developing.” (In addition to blaming Tylenol, Kennedy has also vowed to reexamine the debunked link between vaccines and autism.) When Hostin pointed out that Kennedy has “spread a lot of misinformation, a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion,” Hines deflected by accusing former chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci of spreading “disinformation” about the COVID vaccine by claiming that it would stop the transmission of COVID.
Apparently, Hines is so impressed with her husband’s dismantling of our public-health institutions that she thinks now is a great time to promote her new memoir. Out next month, Unscripted will discuss “the highs and lows of fame, family, and an unexpected foray into politics” with “humor, wisdom, and unflinching honesty.”
Even though her book promo got derailed, Hines seems pleased with her appearance, with her rep telling Entertainment Weekly that “it was a great, balanced, conversation” and Hines “wasn’t annoyed at all.” Must be nice!
This post has been updated.
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