By Dominik Stecuła, Kristin Lunz Trujillo and Matt Motta
The many controversial people appointed to the Trump administration, from Elon Musk to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have at least one thing in common: They dislike and distrust experts.
While anti-intellectualism and populism are nothing new in American life, there has hardly been an administration as seemingly committed to these worldviews.
Take President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Kennedy, a well-known vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, whose Senate confirmation hearing is Jan. 29, 2025, epitomizes the new American political ethos of populism and anti-intellectualism, or the idea that people hold negative feelings toward not just scientific research but those who produce it.
Anti-intellectual attacks on the scientific community have been increasing, and have become more partisan, in recent years.
For instance, Trump denigrated scientific experts on the campaign trail and in his first term in office. He called climate science a “hoax” and public health officials in his administration “idiots.”
Skepticism, false assertions
This rhetoric filtered into public discussion, as seen in viral social media posts mocking and attacking scientists like Dr. Anthony Fauci, or anti-mask protesters confronting health officials at public meetings and elsewhere.
Trump and Kennedy have cast doubt on vaccine safety and the medical scientific establishment. As far back as the Republican primary debates in 2016, Trump falsely asserted that childhood vaccines cause autism, in defiance of scientific consensus on the issue.
Kennedy’s long-term vaccine skepticism has also been well documented, though he himself denies it. More recently, he has been presenting himself as “pro-vaccine safety,” as one Republican senator put it, on the eve of Kennedy’s confirmation hearing.
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health
Kennedy has mirrored Trump’s anti-intellectual rhetoric by referring to government health agency culture as “corrupt” and the agencies themselves as “sock puppets.”
If confirmed, Kennedy has vowed to turn this anti-intellectual rhetoric into action. He wants to replace over 600 employees in the National Institutes of Health with his own hires. He has also suggested cutting entire departments.
During one interview, Kennedy said, “In some categories, there are entire departments, like the nutrition department at the FDA, that are – that have to go.”
Populism across political spectrum
In lockstep with this anti-intellectual movement is a version of populism that people like RFK Jr. and Trump both espouse.
Populism is a worldview that pits average citizens against “the elites.” Who the elites are varies depending on the context, but in the contemporary political climate in the U.S., establishment politicians, scientists and organizations like pharmaceutical companies or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are frequently portrayed as such.
For instance, right-wing populists often portray government health agencies as colluding with multinational pharmaceutical companies to impose excessive regulations, mandate medical interventions and restrict personal freedoms.
Left-wing populists expose how Big Pharma manipulates the health care system, using their immense wealth and political influence to put profits over people, deliberately keeping lifesaving medications overpriced and out of reach – all of which has been said by politicians like Bernie Sanders.
The goal of a populist is to portray these elites as the enemy of the people and to root out the perceived “corruption” of the elites.
This worldview doesn’t just appeal to the far right. Historically in the United States, populism has been more of a force on the political left. To this day, it is present on the left through Sanders and similar politicians who rail against wealth inequality and the interests of the “millionaire class.”
In short, the Trump administration’s populist and anti-intellectual worldview does not map cleanly onto the liberal-conservative ideological divide in the U.S. That is why Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat and nephew of a Democratic president, might become a Cabinet member for a Republican president.
The cross-ideological appeal of populism and anti-intellectualism also partly explains why praise for Trump’s selection of Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services came from all corners of society. Republican senators Ron Johnson and Josh Hawley lauded the move, as did basketball star Rudy Gobert and Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis.
Even former President Barack Obama once considered Kennedy for a Cabinet post in 2008.
Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Anger at elites
Why, then, is disdain for scientific experts appealing to so many Americans?
Much of the public supports this worldview because of perceived ineffectiveness and moral wrongs made by the elites. Factors such as the opioid crisis encouraged by predatory pharmaceutical companies, public confusion and dissatisfaction with changing health guidance in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the frequently prohibitive cost of health care and medicine have given some Americans reason to question their trust in science and medicine.
Populists have embraced popular and science-backed policies that align with an anti-elite stance. Kennedy, for example, supports decreasing the amount of ultra-processed foods in public school lunches and reducing toxic chemicals in the food supply and natural environment. These stances are backed by scientific evidence about how to improve public health. At the same time, they point to the harmful actions of a perceived corrupt elite – the profit-driven food industry.
It is, of course, reasonable to want to hold accountable both public officials for their policy decisions and scientists and pharmaceutical companies who engage in unethical behavior. Scientists should by no means be immune from scrutiny.
Examining, for example, what public health experts got wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic would be tremendously helpful from the standpoint of preparing for future public health crises, but also from the standpoint of rebuilding public trust in science, experts and institutions.
However, the Trump administration does not appear to be interested in pursuing good faith assessments. And Trump’s victory means he gets to implement his vision and appoint people he wants to carry it out. But words have consequences, and we have seen the impact of anti-vaccine rhetoric during the COVID-19 pandemic, where “red” counties and states had significantly lower vaccine intent and uptake compared with the “blue” counterparts.
Therefore, despite sounding appealing, Kennedy’s signature slogan, “Make America Healthy Again,” could – in discouraging policies and behaviors that have been proven effective against diseases and their crippling or deadly outcomes – bring about a true public health crisis.
Dominik Stecuła is Assistant Professor of Communication and Political Science at The Ohio State University; Kristin Lunz Trujillo is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina, and Matt Motta is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston University.
Ed P says
FDR “Only thing we have to fear is fear itself” Disruptors challenge status quo. Naysayers don’t believe Americans are capable of personal choice anymore. Family doctors can’t be trusted. Bureaucrats know better. Why challenge conventional wisdom, Americans are some of the most unhealthy people on earth. Obesity reigns supreme.
Yep, feed us more of the same, it’s working so well.
More gruel please.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Dems will still vote to confirm because it’s all a big club and this is just the initiation hazing
Jim says
Anyone who watched Kennedy’s confirmation hearing and still sees him as a disruptor who is going to lead the US to a more healthy lifestyle should have both their hearing and their IQ checked. I’ve never seen so much ducking and dodging outside of a sports event. He doesn’t remember things he’s been quoted as saying, he’s taken opposite positions from what he’s preached for years and he just plain flat out lied. He talks about his kids being vaccinated like that shows him in the mainstream. Yet, a simple Google search will show him saying that if he had a time machine and go back in time, he’d not let his kids be vaccinated. What a great guy.
It will be interesting to watch what happens if/when this country gets hit with another pandemic (bird flu, perhaps?) with Kennedy in charge. Personally, I think it’s going to be very hard to trust anything he says. And since he’ll be in charge of our health system, it’s going to be hard to believe what they say. (I haven’t forgotten Trump taking a Sharpie to a weather map to “prove” that a hurricane hit Alabama when it did not.)
You really have to be on the extreme edge of credibility to promote Kennedy as a benefit to this country in this position. And by doing so, I just can’t take your comments seriously.
justbob says
Yep, the dumbing down of America is in full bloom.
Pogo says
@Or maybe it’s something else
This article is more than 7 years old (and more important now)
The new age of Ayn Rand: how she won over Trump and Silicon Valley
Her novel The Fountainhead is one of the few works of fiction that Donald Trump likes and she has long been the darling of the US right. But only now do her devotees hold sway around the world
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/10/new-age-ayn-rand-conquered-trump-white-house-silicon-valley
Lethal half-life doesn’t matter to the dead
https://www.google.com/search?q=ayn+rand+Republicans
Bob says
The anti-science mindset is built on emotion and thus relatively immune to reason. Consequently, the only remedy may be self-correction. Things like H1N9 are waiting in the wings to emotionally clarify the value of the scientific method. But would be nice if reason could prevail instead.
Deborah Coffey says
As far as RFK Jr. is concerned:
Chronic heroin use disorder and the brain: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278584620304644
Add a worm…and voila!
john says
Trump is appointing all unquailed individuals like himself. He is out to destroy the USA. And the MAGA Republican party are being threatened by Trump if they don’t go a long with his appointments. He rules on threats and people need to start standing up to these kind of threats. Trump is a bully not a positive leader.
Laurel says
So if Trump supporters hate the coastal elites, why would they vote for a rich man, who owns an ultra-mansion on the beach, who appoints the ultra-wealthy to made up positions and dramatically cuts their taxes to make them richer?
If the corporations are the elite, why would Trump supporters vote for a man who cuts taxes for the corporations while cutting income for the middle class?
Is this more far right “common sense”?
Judith G. Michaud says
Your right on target John! We are watching the dismantling of our country on a daily basis, and no one is standing up to the Felon! RFK should be nowhere near anything to do with the health of America. He has no medical or science background and is one scary guy! Right now, we have Bird Flu and TB affecting people and no WHO to keep us informed of the spread! We are on another deadly route and RFK would only heighten it! COVID all over again! Lord helps us all!
Laurel says
Oh, and I forgot to mention, RFK’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, who is NOT controversial, who grew up with him, stated that RFK is a “predator.” She also stated he has birds of prey, and that he puts live mice and live baby chickens in the blender to feed his birds.
Now, there’s a guy who cares. Maybe he and Kristi Noem should hang together.
Great people.
protonbeam says
As Muggeridge said ” We have educated ourselves to the point of imbecility” nigh on hundreds of the years on from the enlightenment and the human condition is no better – so much for educated elite
Jake from state farm says
The melt down here is epic. I absolutely love it. Really surprised that FL let’s people post that they wish more people on the right would have died from covid. Seems a little extreme but the loving peaceful left seems to be well represented here. You do realize that questioning the “experts” is a good thing. Putting in people who are not politicians is a good thing. All you have to do is watch the hearings and listen to the questions. They question Kennedy about taking money from law firms who sue big Pharma… yet those same people are taking millions from big Pharma. It laughable. That is what you people should be upset with. If you would sit and listen and read Kennedy’s stuff and not take bits and peaces out of context you would realize he is not as the wack job that the press makes him out to be. But the left has proven over and over again that they are unable to open their eyes and mind and think on their own. You act like sheep here with your responses.
There are no goose stepping Nazi’s down heading down Pennsylvania avenue, there are no internment camps, Democracy and our Republic are not dead or dying. Grow up,, get a life and take a pill. You will be ok…. the sun will come out tomorrow,
You all are going to have a long 4 years….. and just remember it’s all your fault because you did not put up a better candidate. But at least we are not burdened by what has been any longer.
FlaglerLive says
That comment on Covid was inadmissible and has been removed. Thanks for flagging it.
Atwp says
We complain all we want to, but millions cast their vote for Trump. We got who they voted for. We need to get ready for complete chaos and regression.
Charles says
An incompetent is appointing another incompetent.
Kennan says
Couple of things we need to look at. What is truth? We don’t know anymore. There is truth, then there is “MY TRUTH “. We are less interested in the truth.
“MY TRUTH”. It’s “MY TRUTH”. Yes the science is there and we know what we know. We live in an echo chamber that seems to say, “think for yourself”,but nullifies facts. Facts are too painful because it shoots holes in “MY TRUTH”.
We live in a country where water is no longer wet depending on who you talk to.
The earth is flat and the world’s about 6,000 years old. This all used to sound insane. Now it’s all just “MY TRUTH”.
Our political affirmations, justifications, and tribalisms have lulled us to sleep and created a sort of “Truth illusion”. All at the expense of facts.
The wonderful thing about facts is that they don’t care what you think. Every decade or so we know a lot more than we knew before. That’s how science works.
A more humanistic approach to our existence is in order. I’d much rather be a “good human” than a “good American”, because being an American is about whether you are a Democrat or a Republican.
The Republican party is the party of really really really bad ideas. Ideas that hurt people and take away basic human rights as well as dignity in many cases.
Let’s gut The Department of Education.
Let’s end Social Security.
Let’s continue to support a “pay if you want to live” healthcare system that is the worst and most inhumane in the world.
Democrats? The party of no ideas. The “status quo people”. Pander to everyone. no matter what. We own language! Yes, everyone has rights! That’s where it should begin and end. Stop”Fine tooth combing” everything. Not so many labels. You lose people.
This is an American phenomenon. I’ll let everyone argue with the better party is, but while we do that people’s hopes, aspirations wants and needs are completely ignored.
The shining city on the hill?
American exceptionalism? Are you kidding? Virtue signaling! We can’t continue to do nothing while simultaneously telling everyone with an earshot how great we are. If this is America first.???? WE ARE FUCKED.