That’s what Politico is saying…
Seems the ‘System’ IS reasserting itself on Kennedy as it is on Trump……
Year two of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as health secretary is already yielding some wins — but not for him and his Make America Healthy Again movement.
Instead, the agriculture and pharmaceutical industries he’s long targeted are breathing a sigh of relief as the White House signals it’s reining in Kennedy’s attacks on their products and tasking him with touting healthy eating and President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut drug price deals.
The latest evidence came Wednesday when Trump issued an executive order promoting the production of glyphosate, the herbicide Kennedy and his MAHA followers believe is a carcinogen.
For Washington’s lobbyists, the move was an early glimpse of how midterm realities are forcing the administration to shift away from Kennedy’s anti-vaccine, anti-chemical plans.
“Picking on farmers. That’s the base of your party,” said Sam Geduldig, managing partner at CGCN, a Republican lobbying shop that has worked for food maker Kraft Heinz. “You don’t want to mess with that before an election.”
Lately, Kennedy’s been on a road show promoting his new dietary guidelines. They differ from past government guidelines in their endorsement of eating meat and drinking whole milk, but are otherwise in line with conventional wisdom about the dangers of ultraprocessed food and the benefits of fruits and vegetables.
Kennedy’s also been talking a lot about Trump’s efforts to pressure drug makers to make voluntary price cuts. A Trump administration official told POLITICO the White House wants Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist before joining forces with Trump, to lay off the shots. Surveys from Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, have found Kennedy’s moves to downsize the childhood vaccineschedule are unpopular.
The White House last week pressured the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider a flu vaccine from drugmaker Moderna that a Kennedy subordinate shot down days before. And on Thursday, Kennedy’s vaccine advisory panel — which has sought to lend scientific legitimacy to Kennedy’s push to reduce kids’ immunizations — postponed its February meeting indefinitely.
Health and Human Services Department and White House officials explained a management shakeup at HHS last week was driven by a desire to refocus on drug pricing and other popular elements of the administration’s health agenda. Chris Klomp, who’s led the drug pricing effort, is now overseeing all HHS operations.
The White House has rolled out its deals with pharma companies as evidence that it’s bringing prices down. But the deals are voluntary and industry has resisted efforts to make them law. The Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s tariffs Friday weakens a major lever in the president’s pressure campaign….
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