In recent weeks, much speculation has surrounded which of Donald Trump’s nominees might face trouble in the confirmation process. According to reports, it’s not just Pete Hegseth under scrutiny — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services is also facing significant challenges.
But CNN’s Scott Jennings laid out how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might successfully navigate Senate confirmation. Jennings focused on Kennedy’s approach to vaccines, a controversial topic that has long defined his public persona.
During the conversation, anchor Abby Phillip pointed out that Kennedy “has not walked back” his sweeping claim that “no vaccine is safe and effective.” She noted that Kennedy has been called out for specific statements, like his past assertion that the polio vaccine is more dangerous than the disease itself.
On this issue, Jennings believed Kennedy struck the right tone during his Capitol Hill appearances, saying that Kennedy "hit the right note on the polio vaccine.” Jennings added that Kennedy diffused what had become a “frenzy over the last few days” by aligning himself with mainstream support for the polio vaccine, effectively putting the issue “totally to bed today.”
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Jennings tied Kennedy’s strategy to broader shifts in Republican politics on vaccines, including recent remarks from Donald Trump.
“I think there's a number of things going on today. Number one, RFK hit the right note on Capitol Hill on the polio vaccine. Polio vaccine's fine,” he said. “The boss, Trump, laid down the marker. We're not touching the polio vaccine. This was a frenzy over the last few days. This was totally put to bed today. So that's number one.”
Phillip highlighted Trump’s evolving stance, contrasting his earlier emphatic support for vaccines with his more recent skepticism of mandates — even for childhood vaccines like those for measles, mumps, and rubella.
Jennings framed these shifts as part of a broader political recalibration, noting that Kennedy and Trump could win over skeptics by emphasizing trust in science, but with a twist. “Number two, if I were in their shoes, I would just simply say everything we do is going to be based on science and evidenced-based decision-making because that's all anybody really wants to hear,” he said.
Jennings continued, “And if I were further advising RFK and Donald Trump on vaccines or anything else, I would say, I'd like for science to go back to be science because during COVID and during the last few years, science became religion."
"You know, when we're putting people up on pedestals and making prayer candles with their image on it and sewing pillows with their face on it, that's no longer science. That became a religion,” he argued.
He's not wrong.
Best argument RFK can make for his HHS nomination: let’s make science actual science again. During COVID, “the science” became a religion and millions of kids and people suffered for it. My latest on @cnn. pic.twitter.com/jrEAgs0lLk
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) December 17, 2024
Will that work?
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