“They Deserve Better Than Bobby Kennedy”

January 28, 2025

Happy Tuesday, Meteor readers,

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In today’s newsletter, it’s confirmation time again, and we’re at the edge of our seats. Plus, some pardons you may have missed.

Serving surveys,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Maybe say no this time?: Tomorrow the Senate confirmation hearings begin for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is in line to become the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. This guy is a sack of contradictions: Before he became a Trump loyalist, RFK, Jr. was an environmentalist warning consumers about the dangers of pesticides and a co-founder of the Waterkeeper Alliance. Cool. But he also led an anti-vaccine advocacy group and has repeatedly spouted theories that go against longstanding science and medical research. His greatest hits include: Wi-Fi causes cancer, chemicals in water cause “sexual dysphoria” in children, and HIV is not the sole cause of AIDS. (Tell that to this French virologist.) So he’s not exactly suited for any job at Health and Human Services, let alone the top one.

Of course, he wouldn’t be a Trump nominee if there wasn’t also an allegation of sexual assault dangling over his head. During RFK, Jr.’s bid for president, as we’ve reported before, his family’s former nanny Eliza Cooney alleged that he groped her multiple times in the late 1990s. The Washington Post also reported today that RFK Jr.’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, spoke out against his nomination, calling him a “predator” who targeted parents of sick children. In a letter to lawmakers denouncing her cousin, Kennedy added that HHS employees “deserve a stable, moral, and ethical person at the helm of this crucial agency. They deserve better than Bobby Kennedy—and so do the rest of us.”

In other words, senators will yet again be sitting down with an unqualified and potentially dangerous white man to assess whether or not he is fit to have a job that the average American and 24,000 physicians can plainly see he cannot do. But there is still some hope here.

Last week’s confirmation of alleged abuser Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense was a 50/50 vote, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tie-breaker. If every Democrat and even a small handful of Republican senators vote no on Kennedy, then the confirmation won’t pass. (Here are all the members of the Senate Finance Committee, if you’re wondering who to call.) A report from the Wall Street Journal has already identified two GOP senators who could go either way on the vote: pro-vaccine senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and James Lankford (R-OK), an anti-abortion senator who’s wary of RFK, Jr.’s previously pro-choice stance. Polio survivor Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has also warned that any nominee should “steer clear” of undermining the polio vaccine and reportedly refused to meet with RFK, Jr. Even Mike Pence is opposed to this appointment, and it’s infuriating that any of us have to agree with Mike Pence on anything.

To those senators still on the fence, I also have to ask: Is approving this man worth the message it sends to the millions of women like Eliza Cooney who have to sit and watch their abusers continue to rise? As Cooney put it: “We can do better.”

AND:

Since we’re on the topic of not giving men jobs they shouldn’t have, let’s talk about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. This April, a seat will be opening up on the bench in the cheese state, and two judges are in the running. The first is Susan Crawford, a circuit court judge who, during her time as an attorney, represented Planned Parenthood in the fight for abortion access in the state. On the other hand, there’s Brad Schimel, a “tough on crime” candidate who is in favor of enforcing Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, which is currently on hold until the state high court can weigh in. Wisconsinites, you literally have all the power here, so mark it on your calendars right now: Election Day is April 1.

The situation is growing increasingly grim for immigrants in the United States. In the last week, ICE has carried out a number of raids across the country, including in Puerto Rico, resulting in around 2,000 arrests. At least one of these raids was reportedly conducted without a warrant. Adding to the fear many immigrant communities are facing is the end of humanitarian parole programs, which allowed temporary legal status to anyone fleeing violence in their home countries, some of whom had sponsors in the U.S. Overnight, those who held humanitarian visas were recategorized as “undocumented” and are now vulnerable to detention and deportation.
As the legal fight over birthright citizenship takes shape, pregnant women are increasingly at the forefront. Women in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington are suing the Trump administration for its attempts to render their children “a citizen of nothing,” as one plaintiff, a pregnant woman from Venezuela named Monica, put it. As of today, the executive order that could undo birthright citizenship is being temporarily blocked by several state AGs who also filed lawsuits.
Last week, during the maelstrom of executive orders and proclamations, you may have missed that Donald Trump also pardoned 23 people who were found guilty of harassing and attacking patients outside of abortion clinics. One of those people was Lauren Handy, who was sentenced to five years in prison for blockading a Washington abortion clinic in 2020 and who was notoriously caught hoarding multiple fetuses in her refrigerator.
If you, like me, keep forgetting what day it is, then boy, do I have some amazing news for you. Tonight is the first installment of Real Housewives of New York’s two-part reunion, where we get to witness franchise history as Jenna Fuckin’ Lyons shows up to the reunion in a literal bathrobe and hair towel. This is the only thing keeping me going right now.