The real reason Trump will never fire RFK Jr. [View all]

The real reason Trump will never fire RFK Jr.
The president is addicted to having a Kennedy around

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published September 10, 2025 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) Every member of Donald Trump‘s Cabinet is a disaster, but even by those standards, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stands out as especially monstrous. During his Senate confirmation hearing, the Health and Human Services secretary lied repeatedly during his Senate confirmation hearing, insisting he is not “anti-vaccine” and would do nothing that “makes it difficult or discourages people” from taking vaccines. He has since waged an all-out war on vaccine access by cutting research funding, spreading disinformation, restricting access to the COVID-19 vaccine and firing health officials who get in his way.

Last week, Kennedy lied even more during a combative Senate hearing when he was called out — sometimes even by Republicans — for these actions. He lied about COVID-19 deaths, vaccine access and even Medicaid cuts. Even Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. — a former physician who “struggled” with the secretary’s nomination and went on to play a key role in his confirmation after promises from Kennedy and pressure from Trump — became frustrated at his contradictory statements, which included suggesting the COVID-19 vaccine killed more people than the disease one minute, only to feign belief that it was a miracle of science the next.

The whole display was so disgraceful that it provoked rumblings that Trump might fire his Kennedy. “GOP discontent with RFK Jr. is growing,” declared a POLITICO headline after the hearing. “GOP unease with RFK Jr. builds,” Axios blared. Multiple outlets noted that polls show broad support for vaccines, even among Republican voters. Multiple Kennedy family members — including the secretary’s nephew, former Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III, and his own sister, human rights advocate Kerry Kennedy — called on him to resign. Sensing the political winds were blowing against Kennedy, Trump told reporters on Friday he believes it’s “pure and simple” that vaccines “work,” adding, “They’re not controversial at all. And I think those vaccines should be used.”

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Being able to publicly call a bona fide Kennedy by their familial nickname is, for someone as narcissistic as Trump, a substance with heroin-levels of addictiveness. Sure, we can consult the checklists for narcissistic personality disorder — Trump seems to meet every one — but no diagnostic tools are necessary here. His belief that he can prove his superiority by aligning himself with those he views as high-status is evident every time he talks for more than two or three minutes. He’s a compulsive name-dropper, peppering his speeches with boring stories whose only point is to exaggerate his relationship to famous people. This is how he ended up telling a crowd of Boy Scouts that he used to know William Levitt, a prominent 20th century real estate developer none of them know about. Or bragging to a rally about how he knew so much about Arnold Palmer’s genitalia. Or how he pretended that Princess Diana liked him, thinking she was too dead to correct him, but not realized her brother remembered that she hated Trump. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/09/10/the-real-reason-trump-will-never-fire-rfk-jr/