Trump should replace RFK Jr. with Cassidy

The political tide began to turn against the secretary of health and social services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He had already triggered controversy by retreating the recommendations of COVVI-19 vaccinations, by canceling $ 500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts and by replacing the Consultative Committee for Centers for Disease Control.

But the dismissal of the director of the CDC, Susan Monarez, seems to have struck a bigger nerve. Monarrez would have refused to undertake to follow the recommendations of the new panel of Kennedy vaccines, which is stacked with vaccine and denial skeptics. Kennedy asked Monarez to resign, she refused and President Trump dismissed her.

It is according to the press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, who said that Monarez was “not aligned with the president’s vision to make America in good health”. But our bulky president – who called Monarez an “incredible mother and civil servant” when he named him in March – remained unusually silent.

It may be because his vision always starts – and ends – with Donald J. Trump. And he can see that Kennedy becomes a problem for him.

Four high leaders of the CDC resigned to protest against the ouster of Monarez, and they did not go quietly. Having to explode Kennedy for ignoring “scientific reality”, the outgoing leader of the CDC immunization division wrote that “the country’s health security is in danger”.

Other public health organizations have issued similar warnings. “The attacks against public health in the United States must end now,” said infectious Disease Society of America, All-Caps. (Complete disclosure: My wife is a doctor specializing in infectious diseases).

Worse still, from Trump’s point of view, Senator Bill Cassidy said that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee – which he chairs – should hold hearings on “high -level departures” at the CDC. Cassidy is also a member of the Senate finance committee, he will therefore have the opportunity to question Kennedy when the secretary testifies to the committee next week about the Trump health care agenda.

Meanwhile, Cassidy said that the meeting of the CDC’s reconstituted advisory committee should be postponed. “Serious allegations have been made regarding the agenda, membership and the lack of scientific process,” wrote Cassidy. “Reunion should not occur as long as significant opinion has been carried out.”

Doctor in office before entering politics, Cassidy has promoted vaccines to his patients. However, he voted to confirm RFK Jr. after Kennedy – a well -known anti -Vaxxer – assured Cassidy that he would maintain the CDC vaccine advisory committee “without changes”.

But talking is cheap, especially in Washington. Kennedy returned to his word – and betrayed Cassidy – by replacing the 17 members of the panel.

No wonder Cassidy is impatient to question Kennedy, which could cause enormous political benefits for Trump and his party. “This is a huge problem for the CDC, for the country and for the credibility of Kennedy,” said a republican strategist last week, asking for anonymity so that he can speak openly.

For his part, Cassidy faces a difficult main challenge because he is looking for a re -election next year in Louisiana. His opponents highlighted Cassidy’s vote in 2021 to dismiss Trump, which earned the senator a state of the state republican party.

So I have a modest proposal for a president who prides himself on “the art of the agreement”: DUMP RFK JR. as secretary to health and replace him by Cassidy.

This would allow Trump to criticize more criticism of Kennedy and, in particular – disease epidemics that are likely to occur if the recommendations of the Kennedy vaccine settled. And he would also satisfy Maga’s faithful from the party, who could replace Cassidy in the Senate with someone who is more faithful to the president.

And from Cassidy’s point of view, this may be exactly what the doctor ordered. He could restore mental health to the country’s vaccination policies, and he would also receive an easy starting ramp of the Senate. When asked why he had left the body in 1980 to become the secretary of state of Jimmy Carter, Senator Ed Muskie asked: “Have you ever heard of a graceful outing?”

Cassidy would join eight other former members of the Congress at the Cabinet of Trump, notably Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Secretary of Transport Sean Duffy and the head of internal security Kristi Noem. Better still, Cassidy could provide a bridge to medical communities that Kennedy did so much to alienate.

Since the birth of the Republic, 126 former senators have served in cupboards in the White House. Forty-five have resigned from their seats to serve their presidents, including Muskie and Rubio. We need one more senator to do it: Bill Cassidy. And Trump also needs it.

Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania and sits on the Advisory Council of the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest.