President Donald Trump may quickly get himself mired in an issue that could put him at odds with his base, according to one Republican strategist.
NBC News reported Thursday that the fallout from an unvaccinated school-aged child in Lubbock, Texas dying from the measles may come with a political cost for Republicans. One unnamed GOP strategist who has worked on House, Senate and presidential campaigns told the network that the ongoing measles outbreak, combined with the appointment of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, poses a particular risk to House Republicans in swing districts.
"If you’re cutting a program, that increases the potential for something to go wrong — you’re going to own it," the strategist said. "Maybe the measles thing is the canary in the coal mine. ... This is a small example of a potential problem. This has real-life consequences, and that's the part that is politically perilous."
ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'
RFK Jr. initially downplayed the measles outbreak in this week's first official Trump Cabinet meeting, arguing that it was "not unusual" and that "we have measles outbreaks every year." He did not mention that the unvaccinated Texas child's death was the first measles-related death in the U.S. since 2015.
NBC reported that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted to confirm Kennedy to lead HHS earlier this month, pushed back on that sentiment, saying: "We should be worried about any outbreak, particularly measles."
"It was irresponsible for the president to put a vaccine skeptic in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services," Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said. "The death in Lubbock is tragic, and I hope it will be a wake-up call for Republican leaders who have pushed dangerous conspiracy theories about vaccines and advocated for cuts to medical research and public health."
In addition to the comeback of measles — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said was eradicated in the year 2000 — public health experts are also battling what is the worst flu season in 15 years, which has currently killed 86 children and 15,000 adults. The Food and Drug Administration's upcoming advisory committee meeting, in which infectious disease experts decide which strains of the flu to include in the vaccine that will be rolled out in the fall, was also abruptly called off earlier this week with no future meeting scheduled.
Click here to read NBC's full article.