In an interview this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that as president, he would be open to giving the CDC director job to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a candidate ostensibly running as a Democrat but who has become notorious for pushing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, as well as an anti-Semitic theory the COVID-19 virus was engineered to be less dangerous to Jews.
Ramesh Ponnuru, the editor of the conservative National Review, was gobsmacked by DeSantis' thinking in a panel on CNN.
"The medical stuff ... that does appeal to [DeSantis]," said anchor Kaitlan Collins. "But there is a whole host of other things that he would probably be out of step with. So in that regard, it's okay, if you're president, sic him on the FBI or on CDC. But in terms of being veep, if there are 70 percent of issues that may be averse to our base on, that just create answer issue. RFK Jr., who is spreading conspiracy about COVID-19 sparing Jewish people last week, could serve in the FDA or CDC?"
"He didn't state what things he found appealing," said Ponnuru. "He likes RFK's theory that wi-fi causes leaky brain, for example, or that antidepressants are behind school shootings. So there is room for some follow-up questions here."
"And you're joking, of course, for our audience," chimed in Collins.
"But I think the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. record on these issues is just unrelieved crackpottery," said Ponnuru. "And it is irresponsible to talk about placing him anywhere near authority, particularly on medical issues. I say that as somebody who thinks the CDC and, to a lesser extent, the FDA made some serious mistakes during the COVID crisis. But the answer to those problems is not to put somebody with this abysmal track record in charge."
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Ramesh Ponnuru slams DeSantis for considering RFK Jr. for his administrationwww.youtube.com
