Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth
After returning to the White House on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump made a point of choosing ultra-MAGA loyalists in order to avoid the heavy turnover of his first presidency. But in 2026, Trump has fired or forced out some of his top officials, including former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ex-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. And according to Trump biographer Michael Wolff, Health & Human Services leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could be the next one on the chopping block.
Wolff, in an episode of the "Inside Trump's Head" vodcast posted by the Daily Beast on YouTube on May 5, told host Joanna Coles, "(Trump) has staffed the administration with people who everyone — everyone — thinks are jokes. And this is certainly true of RFK Jr., but also, very specifically directed at him because he has become the face of something that is deeply, deeply unpopular — which is the anti-vax position."
RFK Jr.'s disdain for vaccines, according to Wolff, "became something central to MAGA" and "something that much of the media credited with being behind Trump's 2024 victory."
"Well, it turns out, in fact, that the anti-vax position is wildly unpopular — wildly unpopular everywhere," Wolff told Coles. "That whole idea that this was part of a new movement in America is flat-out wrong. So, they are now stuck with RFK Jr. and the anti-vax face. So, what do they do?"
Wolff continued, "Now, what I'm hearing is that they're trying to get rid of him. And they are trying to get him — the way this was put to me — they're trying to get him to go."
The Trump biographer told Coles, however, that Trump and his advisors don't want to flat-out fire RFK Jr., but are hoping he will resign on his own.
"The MAHA (Make American Healthy Again) constituency, they feel, is significant to the Trump base," Wolff told Coles. "So, they want him to go away but not go away mad.... There's only so many enemies in their own base they can afford."