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| By Natalie Fertig |
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 Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks before Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan on Nov. 1, 2024,. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP |
RAW MILK REVOLT — When Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recently posted on X in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s opposition to vaccine mandates and willingness to “take on big pharma and corporate ag,” the backlash was swift. Even Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a physician and fellow Democrat, said he was “disappointed” in Polis. An hour later, Polis clarified his first statement — but did not back down. “If as a country we follow the science we would also be far more concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health, ag policy on nutrition, and the lack of access to prescription drugs due to drug high prices,” Polis wrote on November 14. “I am for a major shake-up in institutions like the [Food and Drug Administration] that have been barriers to lowering drug costs and promoting healthy food choices.” Turns out, Polis isn’t the only politician who shares some health policy views with RFK: So does Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who posted a video about reforming the food system on Monday. What was poised to be a Polis pile-on became a social media lovefest — Kennedy reposted Booker’s video and Polis retweeted Kennedy. In supporting these policies, Polis and Booker helped mainstream Kennedy, who’s been criticized for promoting disinformation about vaccines. But they’ve also harkened back a Democratic Party of old which challenged corporate agriculture and pharmaceutical companies, questioned government mandates, popularized organic foods and encouraged exploring medical marijuana and acupuncture. It’s a party that shows up less and less these days.
“Eastern liberals have backed themselves into a position of defending institutions that they would have once seen as dubious, like [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] or the FDA,” said Joe Lowndes, a lecturer of political science at Hunter College with a focus on right-wing politics and populism. “Many people who kind of come more directly from more counter-cultural-friendly environments see that differently, and saw RFK differently.”
The West is a fertile ground for those who question the status quo on healthcare policy. Nine of the 16 states allowing the sale of raw milk in grocery stores, for example, are in the West. Oregon voters routinely reject fluoride in their water (and did so again in 2024), with only 26 percent of public water systems utilizing fluoride in 2020, according to the CDC. “The West is a more open political dynamic,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), pointing out the prevalence of ballot measures in western states like his own. Blumenauer himself supports vaccines, and fluoridating water. He disagrees vehemently with many of Kennedy’s positions. But the Oregonian is a strong proponent of marijuana legalization, and even says that people should be able to drink raw milk if they want to.
“Raw milk, I think, is not a place where progressives should draw the line,” said Blumenauer, who is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “It is an area of legitimate policy dispute, and as long as people know what they're doing, yeah, I don't have a problem with it.” Anti-establishment health policy has roots in the “pioneer mentality” of the West, says Lowndes, as well as the hippie movement of the 1960s.
It also has deep ties to the labor movement, says Steven Beda, a professor of history at the University of Oregon. The West Coast in the 20th century was controlled by timber, mining and railroad corporations, said Beda, and “a lot of government policies were interpreted as doing the bidding of capitalism, rather than representing the people.”
A vocal opposition to the smallpox vaccine in the first half of the 20th century originated in some of Oregon’s working and middle class workers movements — the same movements that also pushed for direct election of senators, a ballot initiative process, tax reform, and women’s suffrage. Those workers movements, however, pushed for fluoride in Oregon in the 1950s and were stymied by the environmental movement, another classic bastion of the political left.
The Democratic Party is still embraced by environmentalists, but today it is bleeding working class voters and losing its reputation as a party willing to question corporate interests. Many voters in 2024 said they viewed Trump as willing to take on the establishment, while Harris was seen as maintaining the status quo.
Trump’s choice of Kennedy as health secretary catered directly to that anti-establishment sentiment, another way in which the political right has attracted more voters by being flexible and willing to embrace ideas and groups that wouldn’t have historically fit in the Republican Party. “We're in the middle of potential realignment, even around these things,” Lowndes said. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at nfertig@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @natsfert.
| | | | A message from AARP: America’s 48 million family caregivers spend over $7,000 a year to care for older parents, spouses and other loved ones. They need a tax credit. With a new Congress, it’s time to act on the Credit for Caring tax credit. | | | | | — Manhattan DA will fight Trump’s effort to get his hush money case dismissed: Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said today they oppose Donald Trump’s bid to throw out the Manhattan hush money case now that he is president-elect, but do not object to an indefinite delay of the sentencing for his criminal conviction. They appeared to concede the possibility, if not the likelihood, that Trump’s sentencing would have to be delayed until after he leaves office in January 2029. — House GOP lays out legislative priorities: Border wall, tax cuts, cutting Biden programs: House Republican leaders laid out their biggest legislative priorities for next year in a closed-door meeting this afternoon, including funding the U.S.-Mexico border wall, cutting various Democratic policies and spending programs enacted under Joe Biden, and locking in Donald Trump’s tax cuts.
In their weekly conference meeting, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) highlighted the various pillars they aim to pass using a so-called reconciliation bill, a procedural tool they can use to pass legislation without Democratic support when they control both the Senate and House majorities next year. Priorities also included easing energy costs for consumers by reducing regulations and cutting down on the size and scope of the administrative state. — Embattled FDIC Chair Gruenberg says he will resign Jan. 19: Martin Gruenberg, the longtime head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said today he plans to resign at the end of the Biden administration, clearing the way for President-elect Donald Trump to appoint a new head of the banking regulator. Gruenberg, a Democrat, said he would resign effective Jan. 19, the day before Trump’s inauguration. The decision averts what could have been a potential legal fight if Gruenberg were to stay and be immediately fired by Trump next year. Gruenberg has been under pressure from lawmakers to step down in the wake of an external investigation that earlier this year found the FDIC fostered a toxic workplace culture that subjected employees to pervasive sexual harassment and other misconduct.
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‘PLANDEMIC’ — In August 2020, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, said during a speech that he was open to the possibility that the COVID outbreak was a “plandemic,” an infectious disease spread on purpose by the government. “Many people argue that this pandemic was a ‘plandemic,’ that it was planned from the outset, it’s part of a sinister scheme. I can’t tell you the answer to that. I don’t have enough evidence. A lot of it feels very planned to me,” Kennedy said according to The Bulwark. TARIFF CZAR — President-elect Donald Trump has picked Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend and chief executive of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, as his nominee for Commerce secretary, he announced on Truth Social this afternoon. As head of the Commerce Department, Lutnick “will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said. OZ TO CMS — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician and TV personality known as Dr. Oz, to be administrator of CMS. During the pandemic, Dr. Oz, 64, pushed unproven theories about Covid-19 cures, including hydroxychloroquine, that caught Trump’s eye. In 2022, Oz ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, losing to now-Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). Oz has been a major supporter of Medicare Advantage, the program’s private sector alternative that has grown in popularity but have come under intense scrutiny for care denials and alleged overbilling.
VOUCHING FOR GAETZ — Vice President-elect JD Vance will be on Capitol Hill this week arranging meetings between some of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks and key Republican senators who could determine their confirmations, according to two people familiar who were granted anonymity to discuss the plans. Vance will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and Thursday, sitting in on some meetings with former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s picks for attorney general and Defense secretary respectively, and key senators. Some Republican senators have already expressed scrutiny over the two controversial Cabinet nominations. CNN was first to report the plans.
WILDING — President-elect Donald Trump wasn’t kidding when he said he’d let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild” on health care. The transition team has accelerated efforts to fill several high-profile health jobs, eying a shortlist of controversial Kennedy allies and public health contrarians to lead the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other key elements of the nation’s sprawling health department, according to five people briefed on the discussions and granted anonymity to describe the internal deliberations. OMB RERUN — President-elect Donald Trump is considering giving Russell Vought, his previous Office of Management and Budget director, his old job back. If tapped for the role, Vought would lead the powerful office tasked with reviewing federal regulations and developing the president’s budget. Vought, a prominent contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 initiative to draft proposals for a second Trump administration, is among the people being seriously considered for the post, according to three people familiar with the transition effort granted anonymity to discuss the considerations. AG FINALISTS EMERGE — President-elect Donald Trump is considering a former GOP lieutenant governor of California and a former USDA official from his first term to serve as his next agriculture secretary, according to four people familiar with the transition conversations. Abel Maldonado served as former California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lieutenant governor before stepping down to mount an unsuccessful run for Congress. Maldonado is the son of immigrant farmworkers, a winery owner, one-time mayor and former California state lawmaker. Former Trump White House and USDA official Ray Starling’s name has been in the mix for some time, but his stock is rising among some Trump officials.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, on Nov. 8, 2024. | Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP | REVISED NUKE DOCTRINE — Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed a revised national nuclear doctrine that expands the conditions under which Moscow may use its nuclear weapons, making it easier to justify retaliation against a NATO member for helping Ukraine. The updated doctrine now states that Russia will consider as a joint attack any attack from a nonnuclear country backed by a nuclear power. It also noted that the country could retaliate with nuclear force to a conventional weapons attack that threatens its sovereignty.
“Russia’s new nuclear doctrine means NATO missiles fired against our country could be deemed an attack by the bloc on Russia. Russia could retaliate with WMD [weapons of mass destruction] against Kiev and key NATO facilities, wherever they’re located. That means World War III,” Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, wrote in a post on X.
The news came shortly after United States President Joe Biden on Monday decided to allow Ukraine to use American long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said will lead to a “new round of tensions.” The Kremlin has previously warned that lifting such restrictions would be considered “an act of war.” UNDERSEA EXPOSURE — Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said today that NATO and the European Union must raise their game to protect themselves from hybrid threats and defend undersea cables from attack. Häkkänen’s remarks follow a Monday announcement by Finnish network company Cinia that it is investigating damage to an undersea internet cable connecting Santahamina, near Helsinki, to Rostock, Germany. The incident sparked political concern in both Berlin and Helsinki. Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius today referred to the damage as “sabotage.”
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| A message from AARP:   | | | | | |
| $8.5 billion The value of urns, sarcophagi and other artifacts from an Etruscan burial site, intended for sale on the black market, that Italian authorities seized today in the central Umbria region.
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SEEING DOUBLE — In October, a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest sprouted up in New York’s Washington Square Park, near where the actor grew up. As the lookalikes streamed in, Chalamet himself showed up to a good deal of fanfare. And since the success of the contest in New York, similar competitions with different actors and celebrities are sprouting up around the world. The contest of celebrity doubles has continued with Zayn Malik, Jeremy Allen White, Harry Styles and Jack Schlossberg. For NPR, Rachel Treisman writes about the new trend, why it’s only men thus far, and what’s next for this strange fad.
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On this date in 1988: Then President Ronald Reagan takes part in the annual White House Thanksgiving turkey presentation in the Rose Garden. | AP | | | |
| A message from AARP: America needs family caregivers. And they need a tax credit.
Family caregivers struggle to balance the demands of their jobs with caring for their older parents, spouses and other loved ones, leading too many to quit or reduce their hours at work.
Added to that stress, family caregivers spend over $7,000 a year on out-of-pocket expenses to provide this care. They can’t afford it. And we can’t afford to ignore them.
Family caregivers cover the costs to help older loved ones with:
- Transportation
- Adult day care
- Home modifications
- Home care aides
- Respite care
- And MUCH more.
That’s why AARP is calling on the new Congress to act on the Credit for Caring tax credit--so America’s family caregivers can get some financial relief. | | | Samantha Latson contributed to this newsletter. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us
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