59: A Man of Wealth and Taste
Explicit content warning
03/11/25 • 70 min
This week we are diving into the weird world of Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services in the second Trump administration. We go over his history of environmental activism and chart how this morphed into a profoundly conspiracist worldview that, with him now in control of the levers of power in the American health sector, has the potential to do enormous harm to the well-being of the citizens of this country and indeed the citizens of the world. We honestly had too much material for this episode, and even having gone a bit longer than we normally do, we still left out much that could have been discussed, but we focus in on his vaccine skepticism, his opposition to drinking water fluoridation, as well as his specific criticisms of Dr. Fauci and the governmental response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The sources for our research can be found below. We also discuss some of the wackier incidents involving...animals.
We open the episode discussing the recent protests outside Tesla dealerships as well as the efforts to crush free speech being carried out by the Trump administration.
We didn't mention it in the episode, but next week we will be diving into the crisis of the late Roman Republic.
The New York Times on RFK Jr.'s history of vaccine skepticism
Think Global Health on the origins of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine activism
Claremont Review of Books review of RFK Jr.'s book on Anthony Fauci
CBS News on RFK Jr.'s anti-fluoridation stance
Protect Our Care on why RFK Jr. is the worst imaginable HHS Secretary
The Cut on RFK Jr. initiating yet another examination of autism and vaccines
Stat News on RFK Jr.'s nieces attempts to discuss covid with him
NPR on the infamous Central Park Bear incident
The AP on the time RFK Jr. drove home with a severed whale head on his roof
https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/
https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B
https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu
This week we are diving into the weird world of Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr., the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services in the second Trump administration. We go over his history of environmental activism and chart how this morphed into a profoundly conspiracist worldview that, with him now in control of the levers of power in the American health sector, has the potential to do enormous harm to the well-being of the citizens of this country and indeed the citizens of the world. We honestly had too much material for this episode, and even having gone a bit longer than we normally do, we still left out much that could have been discussed, but we focus in on his vaccine skepticism, his opposition to drinking water fluoridation, as well as his specific criticisms of Dr. Fauci and the governmental response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The sources for our research can be found below. We also discuss some of the wackier incidents involving...animals.
We open the episode discussing the recent protests outside Tesla dealerships as well as the efforts to crush free speech being carried out by the Trump administration.
We didn't mention it in the episode, but next week we will be diving into the crisis of the late Roman Republic.
The New York Times on RFK Jr.'s history of vaccine skepticism
Think Global Health on the origins of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine activism
Claremont Review of Books review of RFK Jr.'s book on Anthony Fauci
CBS News on RFK Jr.'s anti-fluoridation stance
Protect Our Care on why RFK Jr. is the worst imaginable HHS Secretary
The Cut on RFK Jr. initiating yet another examination of autism and vaccines
Stat News on RFK Jr.'s nieces attempts to discuss covid with him
NPR on the infamous Central Park Bear incident
The AP on the time RFK Jr. drove home with a severed whale head on his roof
https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/
https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B
https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu
Previous Episode
58: Where Strangers are as Family and Loneliness Can't Hide
This week we are discussing Todd Haynes's film Safe (1995). We get into how the movie explores the creeping sense of meaning being sapped out of suburban life in the late 1980s, focusing on the ways this parallels dilemmas that are manifesting in our contemporary moment. We also go over the film's consideration of "environmental illness" and how this notion of being poisoned by the world in which one lives brings with it attendant psychological challenges. This is one of the best pictures we've covered, but the episode should be legible even if you haven't seen the movie yet, as the plot of the film is really secondary to the beautiful way in which it was made.
We open the episode briefly touching on the latest US-Ukraine oval office debacle while also considering the about-to-be-instituted tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico.
This episode contains spoilers for Safe.
https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/
https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B
https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu
Next Episode
60: We're Together Dead and Lonely
This week we're discussing the run up to the final collapse of the Roman Republic, charting such characters as Scipio Aemelianus, the Gracchi Brothers, Gaius Marius, and Sulla and attempting to map them and their historical circumstances onto some of the events of recent American history. While the analogies are imperfect, there are enough similarities for the comparison to be...troubling. We use the book The Storm before the Storm by illustrious podcaster Mike Duncan as our guide in relating this story, a book the author himself has remarked has only become more timely and prescient now that we have entered the second Trump era. Is Trump the Marius of our moment? Was Biden a failed Sulla? To find out you must listen!
We open the episode with a discussion of Senator Chuck Schumer and some of his...missteps of late in leading the opposition to that aforementioned second Trump presidency.
Order Mike Duncan's The Storm before the Storm
NBC News on the Backlash to Schumer
The Hill on Schumer's positioning of the Democrats
https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/
https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B
https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu
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