Despite their attempts to rewrite history, Trump’s track record proves that he will make it easier for corporations to pollute our air, poison our water, and allow toxic chemicals into our food.
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is greeted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on stage during a campaign event at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona on August 23, 2024.
(Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
At his terrifying Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, Donald Trump said he would let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “walk the talk” on health and nutrition. Kennedy has been promoting Donald Trump at his rallies for the past few months since withdrawing from the presidential race and on social media.
The former independent presidential candidate raised important questions about the alarming increase in chronic disease in America and the dangers of corporate capture in our food and drug regulatory agencies. Why aren’t we removing dangerous pesticides from our crops? Why can’t we deal with the chronic disease crisis by making it easier for people to eat fresh, nutritious local food? Why are Americans allowed to eat cancer-causing food additives that are banned in other countries?
Unfortunately, Kennedy’s answer to these very real questions — to make America healthy again by re-electing Donald Trump — is stunningly misguided and absurd, given the former president’s record on these issues:
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- He appointed corporate insiders and lobbyists control our environmental and chemical laws by undermining our watchdog agencies, turning them into extensions of the industries they were supposed to regulate.
In Congress, my colleagues and I have fought to improve nutrition and address the chronic disease crisis, but we have faced continued resistance from Trump and his allies.
When Democrats added the benefits of fruits and vegetables to the Women, Infants and Children program, which helps pregnant women and their young children stay healthy, Republicans wanted to repeal it. While Democrats sought to expand the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps feed hungry people and improve participants’ health outcomes, Republicans wanted cut the program by nearly $30 billion. When Democrats supported universal free school meals in every cafeteria across the country, Republicans wanted to ban free meals and roll back food standardsmaking our children’s school meals less healthy. And when Democrats expanded the child tax credit, ensuring that parents can put food on the table for their children, Republicans are letting these fringe benefits expireexacerbating the child hunger crisis.
Contrary to Kennedy’s revisionist history, Republican policies have made it harder to buy healthy, local, nutritious food, and easier for Trump’s corporate cronies to pollute our air, poison our water, and ignore toxic chemicals in our food.
We cannot afford to go back to the failed policies of the past. If we want a healthier future, we need to look beyond the rhetoric and study the results.
Vice President Kamala Harris convened the second-ever White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. implementation of the new national strategy for “ending hunger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity so that fewer Americans experience diet-related diseases.” Thanks to her, for the first time, we have a comprehensive plan to promote healthy eating and fight chronic disease in this country.
Her leadership helped reverse Trump’s decision to allow the spraying of toxic chemicals such as chlorpyrifos on fruits and vegetables, and her administration has issued new national standards for toxicforever chemicals,” called PFAS to improve the safety of drinking water for millions of people.
She worked for security children have access to nutritious meals during the summer when school is not in session. And she supported the bill that I wrote, and President Biden signed it into law Food Donation Improvement Actwhich facilitates the donation of nutritious food to underprivileged families.
We can and should do more, but the truth is that only one candidate has a track record of results when it comes to these issues, and that’s Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kennedy is right: this country has a chronic disease crisis. But even a broken clock is correct twice a day. Perhaps his strange belief that tap water makes kids gay perhaps that was our first clue that he was not to be trusted when it came to public health.
America deserves a leader who takes hunger, nutrition and health seriously. One who works to address the underlying issues that contribute to chronic illness. Someone who doesn’t just complain about things, but who promotes real solutions.
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Someone like Vice President Kamala Harris, who has already proven during her tenure that she will address these issues and fight to increase access to healthy, wholesome food for all.
The choice is obvious. Donald Trump had a chance to make America healthy again, but he failed. A Harris administration would take the bold action we need—to create a stronger, safer, and healthier future for all Americans.
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The future elections will decide the fate of our democracy and basic civil rights. The conservative architects of Project 2025 plan to institutionalize Donald Trump’s authoritarian vision at all levels of government if he wins.
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