'You're talking about the lives of children': Ex-RNC chair rips Trump’s erratic nominee defense
During a Monday, December 16 press conference at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump vigorously defended his decision to pick anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Kennedy's controversial views on vaccines have drawn a great deal of criticism from medical experts. Trump, however, told reporters that he doesn't consider Kennedy's ideas "radical" and that his pick is perfectly reasonable.
After the press conference, former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele discussed Trump's comments on RFK Jr. during an appearance on MSNBC — and slammed the president-elect for downplaying his nominee's more extreme ideas.
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The Never Trump conservative, who supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, told MSNBC's Chris Jansing, "And now, Trump himself can't give you a clear signal when he says: Oh, yeah, I don't want to touch the polio vaccine, but everything's on the table. Well, then, is the polio vaccine on the table or not? Is the rubella vaccine on the table or not?"
Steele continued, "What other vaccines do children get that …. is administered by the states, not the federal government? Required by the states, not the federal government?"
The former RNC chairman warned that failing to vaccinate children for dangerous diseases could have dire consequences.
Steele told Jansing, "The devil is — more than a devil — in the details. You're talking about the lives of children. And not just the children whose parents idiotically say: Don't (vaccinate) my child…. But then, what about my child in that classroom? And so, that's where this becomes very, very controversial and very, very problematic given the position of both of these men on how they're going to address the health care crisis that many families suffer not and could suffer in the future."
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