RFK Jr. May Not Be Able to Join Trump’s Cabinet for Funniest Reason

Donald Trump’s team may already be having doubts about one of the most recent additions to its ranks: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Ahead of Trump’s victory in the presidential race Tuesday, Kennedy was already talking about his plans as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, including removing fluoride from the U.S. supply of drinking water. Trump has signaled that he would be open to the idea, even though experts say that fluoridation prevents people from getting life-threatening infections.

After Trump won, Kennedy did an ominous interview on MSNBC, where he was pressed about his personal skepticism about vaccines and how that might factor into his future role overseeing the Food and Drug Administration. Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick had previously claimed that Kennedy had plans to strip even long-standing vaccines from the market.

When backed into a corner, Kennedy claimed that he was “not going to take away anybody’s vaccines,” but, apparently, some in the Trump camp weren’t thrilled by the optics of the conversation.

“That is not what we want people focused on today,” a source close to Trump told CNN.

Inside Trump’s camp, it seems concerns reach much further than bad press. There have been discussions that Kennedy would not pass a background check to obtain security clearance for his Cabinet-level position.

“If you dump a bear in Central Park and think you’re above the law, you don’t want to have to go through that gauntlet of political correctness,” one former Trump official who’d been briefed on those discussions told CNN.

In August, it was revealed that Kennedy had found a baby bear carcass in upstate New York and then dumped the carcass in Central Park because he ran out of time to dispose of it before going to the airport and thought staging it was funny. Kennedy has also gotten into trouble for chain-sawing the head off a beached whale.

He’s three months from taking the Oval Office, but Americans are already feeling the hurt from Donald Trump’s economic policies.

Home loan interest rates saw a sharp spike Thursday to nearly a 6.8 percent average for 30-year fixed mortgages, marking a startling shift for a country on the precipice of an aggressive new administration.

“That’s going in the wrong direction,” reported CNN’s Matt Egan. “That is happening because the bond market is getting more optimistic about the economy, but also starting to price in the trillions of dollars in debt that could get added from Trump’s plans to cut taxes.”

The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter point on Thursday as it shifts its focus from fighting inflation to preserving the current job market. The cut follows a half-point reduction that arrived in September. During a press conference, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that Trump’s election would “have no effects” on the central bank’s policymaking decisions “in the near term.”

Trump has promised to tackle inflation by imposing extreme tax cuts and tariffs. The MAGA leader has floated several tariff ideas—including one impossibly high hike on imported goods of between 200 and 2,000 percent. Businesses across the country have balked at his numbers, arguing that it will be Americans, not foreign countries, who pay the price. Readying themselves for a second Trump administration, companies whose business models rely on foreign suppliers—from the auto industry to some of the nation’s most popular clothing lines—are already planning to introduce price hikes on their products.

“We’re set to raise prices,” Timothy Boyle, chief executive of Columbia Sportswear, told The Washington Post. “We’re buying stuff today for delivery next fall. So we’re just going to deal with it and we’ll just raise the prices.… It’s going to be very, very difficult to keep products affordable for Americans.”

But that’s not what Trump has advertised to Americans. During an Economic Club of Chicago interview with Bloomberg News editor in chief John Micklethwait last month, Trump promised that American wallets would be relieved by the policy.

“The countries will pay,” he insisted, promising that it would encourage more companies to produce products inside the United States.

Trump has also proposed a more modest 20–60 plan, in which his second term would impose a 20 percent worldwide tariff alongside a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods. But even that plan would prove devastating for the economy, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which found that it would lower household incomes by an average of $3,000 in 2025.

In a joint letter released last month, nearly two dozen Nobel Prize–winning economists formally warned against Trump’s economic plan, arguing that the MAGA leader’s stiff tariff increases and tax cuts would spell disaster for the average American.

“His policies, including high tariffs even on goods from our friends and allies and regressive tax cuts for corporations and individuals, will lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality,” the 23 economists wrote. “Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Donald Trump promised would be given free rein over America’s health agencies, has vowed to gut those agencies.

In an interview with MSNBC Wednesday from Mar-a-Lago, Kennedy said he planned to root out “corruption” in U.S. health agencies—by clearing them out. 

“In some categories of worker there are entire departments, like the nutrition department and the FDA, that are … that have to go, that are not doing their jobs, they’re not protecting our kids,” Kennedy said, launching into a complaint about the number of ingredients in Froot Loops. 

When asked whether he would eliminate the agencies, Kennedy said he couldn’t do anything like that without congressional approval, but that he would go after “corruption.”

Kennedy did offer one slightly less depressing message: “I’m not going to take away anybody’s vaccines,” he claimed.

The failed presidential candidate has pushed back on the notion that he is “anti-vaccine” but has repeatedly elevated claims that vaccines have been linked to autism. He has also worked with the Children’s Health Defense, a leading anti-vaccine group. 

NPR reported that the Trump administration plans to provide “information” to citizens about vaccines, which might repeat and elevate these claims. 

That’s not all that Kennedy is planning. He posted on X over the weekend that the Trump White House planned to “advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water” within the first month of a Trump presidency.  

Fluoride helps to prevent tooth decay, which can cause life-threatening infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has listed fluoridation as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the twentieth century.

To give some idea of what banning fluoride might look like, Calgary, Canada, banned fluoride in 2011. In the eight years afterward, the need for intravenous antibiotic therapy for children to avoid death from infection skyrocketed 700 percent at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

A top Republican lawyer reportedly being considered for Donald Trump’s next attorney general has named one of his first targets: New York Attorney General and MAGA world villain Letitia James.

James, the lawyer who prosecuted both Trump and the Trump Organization for fraud, on Wednesday outlined next steps for Democratic attorney generals in the wake of Trump’s victory. James noted that they were prepared with “contingency plans.”

“So despite what has happened on the national stage, we will continue to stand tall in the face of injustice, revenge, or retribution,” the New York A.G. said. “We will continue to protect our most vulnerable and marginalized amongst us.… We are prepared, my friends, to fight back.”

This normal statement led right-wing activist and Trump attorney general hopeful Mike Davis to make sexist threats towards James.

“Let me just say this to Big Tish James.… I dare you to try to continue your lawfare against President Trump in his second term. Because listen here sweetheart, we’re not messing around this time,” Davis ranted on a podcast. “And we will put your fat ass in prison for conspiracy against rights, I promise you that.”

This comes just hours after Davis was tweeting about dragging “dead political bodies through the streets.” Davis has also threatened special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the indictments on Trump’s hoarding of classified documents as well as his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, telling him to “lawyer up.”

This isn’t the last we’ll see of Davis. Even if he doesn’t end up getting the attorney general appointment, he will likely still play a crucial, attack dog style role in an administration that has been itching to go on the offensive for four years.

Donald Trump named one of his campaign co-chairs, Susie Wiles, as his White House chief of staff Thursday. But she also witnessed him break the law—and did nothing about it.

According to Trump’s indictment for mishandling classified documents, Trump showed Wiles a classified map during a 2021 meeting where he was discussing a military operation. The indictment didn’t name Wiles, but referred to a “PAC representative.” Later, ABC News, citing anonymous sources, identified Wiles as the representative.

Trump showed Wiles a map of an unidentified country, according to the indictment, while telling her about a military operation that he said “was not going well.” He said that he “should not be showing the map” to her and warned her “not to get too close.” Wiles did not have security clearance.

The indictment also mentioned that Wiles was part of a private chat on the secure messaging app Signal about whether Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of the Mar-a-Lago estate, was loyal to Trump. De Oliveira was a co-defendant, along with Trump aide Walt Nauta, in the classified documents case for helping to move around and transport documents on the estate.

Wiles didn’t come forward after having seen classified documents that Trump shouldn’t have shown anyone, let alone possessed, calling into question whether she can attain the necessary security clearance for a high-level position in the White House. Her part in a discussion about loyalty hints at her making sure that De Oliveira wouldn’t provide damning information against Trump in his classified documents case.

In July, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the classified documents case against Trump, claiming that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith to handle that case as well as Trump’s attempt to overturn the election on January 6, 2021 was unconstitutional. Trump faced 42 felony charges in the classified docs case related to willful retention of national security information, corruptly concealing documents, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Now that Trump will be returning to the White House, his choice of Wiles to be chief of staff shows that he is looking for personal loyalty above all else in the administration’s top positions. Wiles has already shown that she is willing to look the other way when Trump breaks the law, which means Trump can trust her to protect him if, as president, he decides to push his authority to its limits.

A potential key adviser in Donald Trump’s second administration may be compromised before he even sets foot in the White House.

In the run-up to election night, Chinese cyber-spies hacked into the main cell phone used by Todd Blanche, the MAGA leader’s primary defense attorney, reported ABC News. Blanche is currently being considered for Trump’s next White House counsel or a senior law enforcement–related role, apparently qualified by his work for Trump on the soon-to-be forty-seventh president’s January 6 criminal case and his Stormy Daniels hush-money conviction.

The extent of the data breach is unclear, but the FBI determined that Blanche’s communications with his family and friends had been compromised, according to unidentified sources that spoke with ABC. Investigators are reportedly still working to assess whether Blanche’s communications with Trump or other sensitive contacts had been affected by the hack.

But regardless of what else was compromised in the digital attack, Blanche’s exposure could still pose a national security risk should the suddenly vulnerable Trump ally continue his path toward the executive branch.

The Chinese hackers, working on behalf of Beijing’s intelligence services, reportedly first broke into Blanche’s phone several months ago, gaining access to his text messages and capturing audio recordings of his phone calls, ABC reported.

The hackers then proceeded to target private companies and individuals via Blanche’s compromised line, according to an FBI statement issued two weeks ago.

“After the FBI identified specific malicious activity targeting the sector, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) immediately notified affected companies, rendered technical assistance, and rapidly shared information to assist other potential victims,” the statement read. “Agencies across the U.S. Government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector.”

The Kremlin is already shutting down Trump’s claim of military genius.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, the president-elect said repeatedly that he could end Russia’s two-year-long invasion of Ukraine in just 24 hours. Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, provided a more realistic assessment on Thursday. 

“Of course, it was a bit of an exaggeration when he said he would do it overnight,” Peskov said. However, the press secretary also admitted what we all already know: that Moscow is happy with a Trump presidency.  

“If the new administration seeks peace rather than continued conflict, it will be better than the previous one,” Peskov added.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented directly on Trump’s wild claim in his first comments following the election results. Speaking at a discussion club in Sochi, Putin first praised Trump for surviving his assassination attempt in July, calling him a “real man,” and then congratulated the president-elect. But the Russian president did not commit to anything regarding the war in Ukraine or ending it quickly, stating, “I do not know what is going to happen now. I have no clue.” 

Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey has been unseated by Republican challenger David McCormick in one of the country’s tightest and most expensive Senate races, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

McCormick won 48.9 percent of the vote, with 99 percent reporting, compared to Casey’s 48.5 percent.

Republicans have already secured control of the Senate, seizing 53 seats for a majority. Three races have yet to be called.

Pennsylvania’s Senate race was extremely tight, and hours after the Senate had been called Wednesday morning, the race was still too close to call, with McCormick leading by less than 1 percent, or approximately 52,000 votes.

As mail-in voting drew to a close late last month, McCormick joined Donald Trump in a lawsuit against Bucks County over long lines at polling stations as people tried to register for mail-in voting. A judge extended the deadline to sign up for mail-in voting in the county—a win for voting rights, but due to a request based on totally exaggerated claims. Bucks County supported President Joe Biden in 2020, topping Trump by more than 17,000 votes.

Ahead of Election Day, McCormick campaigned with failed presidential candidate Nikki Haley in the hopes of attracting the support of moderate voters.

Meanwhile, during a late-October rally for Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, former President Barack Obama lauded Casey. “All that guy cares about is doing the job and looking after the people he was elected to serve. That’s the kind of person we need to send back to Washington,” Obama said.

Last month, McCormick’s campaign was flooded with more than $108 million in donations from outside groups, absolutely dwarfing his own campaign’s previous $22.2 million in spending. McCormick has received $45.3 million from Keystone Renewal, a GOP-funding Pennsylvania-based super PAC underwritten by about 70 megadonors.

Casey’s campaign, including PAC donations, spent $110 million by the middle of October. Casey polled ahead of McCormick throughout the race, drawing stronger support from Democrats than McCormick drew from Republicans.

Donald Trump’s worthless stock just plunged again, all but wiping out the president-elect’s victory gains.  

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, or DJT,  sank on Thursday, after briefly spiking in the hours following the announcement that he’d won the presidency. 

The stock gained nearly 6 percent Wednesday but dropped more than 20 percent in afternoon trading the following day, according to CNBC. This is likely due to profit-taking from investors looking to cash in on Trump’s postelection bump and well aware that without the election to drive Trump’s stock prices, there isn’t much more DJT has to offer. 

Trump Media is a particularly volatile stock because it is tied to a service that no one really uses: Truth Social, currently the epicenter of Trump’s online ravings and not much else. As such, DJT functioned as a meme stock, rising and falling in tandem with Trump’s election prospects. It seems that since the presidential race has finally come to an end, the stock has been rendered useless for now.

In a surprise filing Tuesday, Trump Media reported that it lost more than $19 million in its third quarter this year. The company had only $2.6 million in revenue, while racking up a net loss of $363 million for the first nine months of 2024. 

The same day, DJT’s stock value plummeted as investors furiously traded shares, and trading was temporarily halted five times. 

Trading had previously been frozen in mid-October after a wild trading session caused the stock price to plummet. Frenzied trading in October indicated that investors were looking to ride the stock to some easy gains following Trump’s election victory, and now they have. Any gains the stock saw with Trump’s victory have now been reduced back to nothing. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom has called a special session in the Golden State’s legislature to protect the state’s liberal policies from a Donald Trump presidency.

In a statement Thursday, Newsom warned, “The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack—and we won’t sit idle.

“California has faced this challenge before, and we know how to respond. We are prepared to fight in the courts, and we will do everything necessary to ensure Californians have the support and resources they need to thrive,” the statement read. Newsom’s office also told the Associated Press the governor and legislators were ready to “Trump-proof” California’s state laws.

Newsom’s statement asked the legislature to give more funding to the state attorney general’s office to fight any federal challenges when it meets in December. California has a lot to safeguard: The state has many laws in place to protect abortion access, including budgeting $20 million to pay for people in other states to come to California for an abortion. The state has also mandated that every new car, pickup truck, or SUV sold in California be electric, hydrogen-powered, or plug-in hybrid by 2035.

During Trump’s first term, the state filed more than 120 lawsuits, and Newsom is preparing for another four years of legal battles, especially with conservatives eyeing anti-climate and anti-abortion measures. Newsom is not alone: Other leaders in Democratic states are also taking measures to safeguard their laws.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she and Attorney General Letitia James will be meeting to discuss how to legally protect “key areas that are most likely to face threats from the Trump administration.” These include “reproductive rights, civil rights, immigration, gun safety, labor rights, LGBTQ rights, and our environmental justice.”

Newsom may have good intentions, but he also has bigger ambitions than California and may have eyes on the presidency after Trump’s term is up. Proving himself as a bulwark against the Trump White House would do a lot to improve his national standing. The question is whether Newsom is taking these actions for real or for show, and whether the state’s measures will be effective.