Chuck Todd on Thursday declared that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been “beyond disastrous” in his post before predicting that President Donald Trump could part ways with him following his catastrophic Senate hearing.
The former “Meet the Press” host told CNN’s Kasie Hunt that Kennedy — who Republicans and Democrats grilled on Capitol Hill over his anti-vaccine policies — is “putting lives in danger,” noting that states are rolling out their own vaccine protocols with trust eroding in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There are people at the White House who have been alarmed by Kennedy and it’s Trump that says, you know, he’s afraid of losing the Kennedy constituency, and he’s just been letting Kennedy go, letting Kennedy go,” Todd said.
“At some point, this will break, and I do think he throws Kennedy overboard, but he loves his trophy. And for him, the trophy is ‘I got a Kennedy,’ right? That’s the biggest problem they’re running into.”
Mark Schiefelbein via Associated Press
Todd claimed that there are “plenty of people” in the White House who agree that Kennedy is a “disaster,” as well.
“Not just politically — this guy is a disaster for all the reasons we’ve been laying out here,” he added.
Earlier in his CNN appearance, Todd gave shoutouts to both Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) — the latter of whom is a physician — for their “clever” way of praising the president just before criticizing Kennedy.
“These are people who never want to be seen as going against Trump in any way,” said Todd of the two senators, who both declined to say whether they still backed Kennedy on Thursday.