The word of this day in America is kakistocracy. Dictionary.com defines kakistocracy as, “government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power.”
The evident purpose for Mr. Trump’s second term is to overwhelm the nation with the “shock and awe” of kakistocracy. How else could one explain such Trump nominees as Matt Gaetz (suspected of sexual misconduct with minors), to become the nation’s chief law enforcement officer; or as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., (a covid denier and purveyor of vaccine lies) to become, of all things, the nation’s chief health officer; or as Tulsi Gabbard, (a spouter of Russian propaganda), to become keeper of the nation’s most sensitive secrets as the head of the Department of National Intelligence (DNI). It is Gabbard who contends with Putin that the invasion of Ukraine is the fault of the victim, Ukraine, not of Russia, the invader.
Seriously, this is not another Trump joke or prank. We are all about to live it. It all looks intentional by Trump to bring the nation into obeyance to his arbitrary whims even before he takes office. Trump intends that the nominations escape Senate scrutiny by recess appointments, an end run around the checks and balances of our democracy. The “worst persons” will then go into power over all of us. We will all live inside Mr. Trump’s kakistocracy, subject to the “shock and awe” of constantly breaking news as Trump’s appointees run over the norms of government. One can only ask: is this what Trump supporters intended to sign all of us up for?
It is RFK Jr.’s proposed appointment that leaves me with shock and awe the most. Nearly three years ago, during the pandemic, I wrote a string of articles in the Northside Sun to counter lies about the vaccines that had originated with RFK Jr. I noted in 2022: “RFK Jr. is second only to the notorious Joseph Mercola in the “Disinformation Dozen” listed by the center of Digital Hate.” Indeed, at the time I submitted the articles, RFK, Jr. was complaining he had been kicked off Instagram because of his voluminous, made-up vaccine lies.
Really, if I had to think of the very worst appointment possible to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), my instant answer could only be RFK Jr. RFK Jr. states: “You cannot trust medical advice from medical professionals.” To be sure, RFK Jr., a lawyer, is no “medical professional”; he is a living, breathing ongoing threat to the nation’s health whose foundation has raked in millions of dollars in contributions to spew baseless medical misinformation.
This much I believe about RFK Jr. If we allow him to become the nation’s chief health officer, his newfound influence will lead to outbreaks of the childhood scourges that vaccines have successfully prevented: polio, measles, smallpox, diphtheria, mumps, pertussis, rubella and tetanus. Again, is this what Trump supporters signed all of us up for? Even for their own children?
The United States beat back the covid threat because most of us (about half of us in Mississippi), cooperated by getting the vaccine. Yet, how many good Mississippians died of covid because they listened to the vaccine lies of RFK Jr.? We can all name some.
The Washington Post editorial board recently stated: “The reason Kennedy is uniquely unfit compared with past nominees is that his approach to scientific inquiry is as an activist, not a scientist.” As a result, RFK Jr. makes outrageous statements about the vaccines that the Post reports, “a Lancet study this year estimates …have saved 154 million lives globally over the past five decades and cut infant mortality by 40 percent.”
Obviously, something is badly off with Mr. Trump’s judgment to choose RFK Jr., Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard. Republican Bill Kristol recently made the point: “authoritarian leaders…want to weaken government’s institutions…so as to leave fewer impediments to their whims.” We need enough Republican Senators to have the courage to stop recess appointments and to subject the nominations to real Senate scrutiny. Otherwise, may God spare us all, regardless of our party affiliations, from the coming Trump kakistocracy.
Robert P. Wise is a Northsider.
