Yes, they really do want to kill you

 As we noted recently, the depraved lunatic who 100% of Republican senators voted to confirm as secretary of HHS said publicly that he does not believe in the germ theory of disease, that healthy people don't die of infections, and that he intends to shift the focus of his department to chronic disease under the label of "Make America Healthy Again." Ha ha, funny thing.

 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, has said that tackling a chronic disease “epidemic” would be a cornerstone of his Make America Healthy Again agenda, often invoking alarming statistics as an urgent reason for reforming public health in this country.

On Friday, President Trump released a proposed budget that called for cutting the funding of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by almost half. Its chronic disease center was slated for elimination entirely, a proposal that came as a shock to many state and city health officials. . . .

The federal health department last month cut 2,400 jobs from the C.D.C., whose National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion runs on the largest budget within the agency.
Programs on lead poisoning, smoking cessation and reproductive health were jettisoned in a reorganization last month.

The budget blueprint makes no mention of the Prevention and Public Health Fund, a $1.2 billion program. If that figure is taken into account, the cut may be even larger than Mr. Trump’s proposal indicates. The agency would also lose a center focused on preventing injuries, including those caused by firearms, as well as programs for H.I.V. surveillance and prevention, and grants to help states prepare for public health emergencies.

 

Hmm. Do I detect any inconsistency here?  What's really going on? You might have noticed Kennedy's recent remarks about people with autism.

 

Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. They'll never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. 

 We'll have to note in passing that most people who are diagnosed on the autism spectrum will in fact hold a job, pay taxes, and go on dates. Fewer than half are diagnosed with any intellectual disability and maybe 25% require intensive supportive services. Actually it's probably an umbrella term for several different conditions, but that's not the main point here. I'll turn it over to Derek Beres in The Guardian:

 

English polymath Francis Galton formulated the concept of eugenics in 1883. Inspired by animal breeding, Galton encouraged people with “desirable” traits to procreate while discouraging or preventing those with “undesirable” traits from doing the same. As social and intellectual qualities were hereditarily “fixed”, he thought some groups were naturally superior. Galton constructed a racial hierarchy, with white Europeans at the top.

Eugenics has since played out in varying, always tragic ways. Attempted genocides and forced sterilization are first to mind, though the 20th century brought about the concept of soft eugenics: non-coercive methods of reducing certain conditions through individual choice and medical advice. Popularized in Nancy Stepan’s 1991 book, The Hour of Eugenics, “soft” eugenics is accomplished by indirect, environmental, and educational interventions while “hard” eugenics is marked by direct biological interventions (such as sterilization). The term has since been expanded in discussions of genetic technologies, prenatal screenings, and physical fitness.

Enter Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US secretary of health, who regularly laments over the “back then” of his youth when he says that diabetes and autism was almost unheard of and obesity rates were far lower. (In his campaign videos he would often do this over vintage footage of white bodies splayed on a beach.) Kennedy champions living harmoniously with nature, free from the burdens of “poisonous” food additives, fertilizers, cooking oils and the most toxic chemistry of all: vaccines.

Kennedy’s myopic emphasis on personal responsibility as the main driver of health means he’s at best indifferent, and at worst welcoming, of the idea that those that don’t heed his counsel might die.

In fact the most powerful determinants of health are social. Rich people live longer than poor people, and they are healthier. Yes, they tend to have healthier diets, but that's because they can afford them, and they have access to them. They also have better quality housing, breathe cleaner air, are less subject to violence, and of course have better medical care, among other advantages. Oh yeah, they generally have higher rates of vaccination. Beher's argument is a bit too complicated to properly summarize, but it sums up the entire MAGA philosophy. Leave people to their fate (mostly meaning the people who vote for them), let 'em die, and let the wealthy rule the world.