This week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on Capitol Hill to meet with senators as he hopes to be confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump's pick to serve as Secretary of Health & Human Services. As the nominee takes part in such meetings, RFK and Trump have sought to put to rest concerns that crucial vaccines, such as those for polio, will be at risk. Scott Jennings chimed in on such meetings and their strategies during Monday's episode of "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip." He also issued a crcuial reminder of what it is that RFK should bring to the table, especially in a post-COVID world.
As host Abby Phillip asked Jennings to weigh in about concerns that Trump would get rid of vaccine mandates for school, Jennings made clear that the "polio vaccine's fine," with Trump having "laid down the marker," emphasizing "we're not touching the polio vaccine" and that "this was totally put to bed today."
He also offered advice for Trump, which is where the reminders about how the country operated under COVID, and what we don't want to go back to, came into it. "If I were in their shoes, I would just simply say everything we do is going to be based on science and evidenced-based decision-making, because that's all anybody really wants to hear," Jennings offered. "And if I were further advising RFK and Donald Trump on vaccines or anything else, I would say, I'd like for science to go back to be science, because during COVID and during the last few years, science became religion. You know, when we're putting people up on pedestals and making prayer candles with their image on it and sewing pillows with their face on it, that's no longer science. That became a religion."
Jennings further emphasized moving away from treating science in such a way that it became a religion, adding, "so, if I were in their shoes, I would say, science is going to rule, evidence-based decision-making is going to rule, and that's how we're going to make all our decisions."
"I'd like for science to go back to being science. During COVID, science became religion!" @ScottJenningsKY pic.twitter.com/yjK1Fmqqkh
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 17, 2024
Another panelist, Ashley Allison, countered in part by bringing up something of an unrelated point, which is that RFK "has pontificated on things, and he's not a doctor, and he's not an expert." The current head of HHS, Xavier Becerra, is particularly unqualified, especially as he's not a doctor either. His previous roles included serving as Attorney General as California and as a member of Congress.
While the panel devolved at times to discussing concerns about vaccines overall, Jennings once more brought it back to COVID.
"I also think it's important for us to remember why are we here at all in this moment where people are questioning the public health regime, and it is all out of COVID," which even earned some agreement on the panel. "Everything comes from COVID, things we were told that weren't true, things about the vaccine that we were told that weren't true. This has caused people--in the past folks, might have just accepted this sight unseen. Now, I think it's legitimate for Americans to say, are we being told the absolute truth by the supposed experts? I don't have a problem with those questions."
As Phillip tried to bring up how "there was misinformation happening pretty far and wide in the COVID era," in a way that tried to make it sound like it was a both sides issue, Jennings also countered with his reminder that "millions of school children, millions of people's small businesses, millions of lives were totally upended on things that ultimately we deeply, deeply regret," as he continued to remind the other panelists, especially Allison, that "it was because we were lied to about the science."
Best argument RFK can make for his HHS nomination: let’s make science actual science again. During COVID, “the science” became a religion and millions of kids and people suffered for it. My latest on @cnn. pic.twitter.com/jrEAgs0lLk
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) December 17, 2024
To Jennings' main point, it's not an exaggeration to say that "science became religion," especially with the votive candles devoted to Fauci, as he himself proudly displayed. Fauci also memorably declared that "I represent science," and took issue with those who dared to question him.
Jennings' post of the segment to his X account received plenty of attention, from those in favor of Jennings' points, to those wanting to take issue with him, though mostly by focusing on other topics to do with COVID, as pollster Frank Luntz did.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who will serve as the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee for the 119th Congress, reposted Jennings' clip, with a message of "Couldn’t have said it better myself[.]"
Paul and Fauci, as we've been covering from the start, have been particularly noteworthy foes, though Paul has vowed to keep investigating Fauci and COVID, even after Fauci retired as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
"I think we’re on the cusp of, really, the beginning of uncovering what happened with COVID," Paul also said last month, when it was announced that he would chair the Committee.
Couldn’t have said it better myself: https://t.co/MLQdb6EBQU
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 17, 2024
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