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Tulsi Gabbard hugs President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 12, 2025.
Gabbard and RFK Jr. confirmed by US Senate
On Thursday, the Senate voted to confirmRobert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary. The vote also went along party lines, 52-48, with McConnell also voting with Democrats against Kennedy.
RFK Jr., like Gabbard, has set off alarm bells. Ian Bremmer, founder and president of Eurasia Group, says Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement is “set to shake up health policy” in the US. MAHA, says Bremmer, is “a worldview that blends concerns about corporate influence on healthcare with skepticism towards mainstream medicine.” It’s also made up, notes Bremmer, of wellness culture, vaccine hesitancy, alternative medicine, and deep state conspiracy – and it crosses ideological divides. It is, in a word, messy, and will almost certainly do what its proponents promise: upset the status quo on health policy in the US.Graphic Truth: Shots across the border
Cases of measles, a highly contagious disease that can linger in the air for up to two hours, are rising in Canada. There have been small outbreaks across Southwestern Ontario since the beginning of the year, prompting public health officials to urge Canadians to ensure they have had both their first and second vaccinations.
Projections from a team at Simon Fraser University show that vaccine coverage below 85% can lead to dozens of cases within small communities — or even hundreds if immunization rates are lower than that. Rates of getting the second vaccine have dropped from 87% in 2017 to 79% in 2023 across Canada. Getting the second dose increases a person’s immunity from 85% to nearly 100%, according to health officials.
Meanwhile, south of the border, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prolific vaccine skeptic, is set to be confirmed this week. He walked back some of his past statements on vaccines during his confirmation process, calling himself cautious rather than skeptical, but has continued to surround himself with influential figures in the anti-vaccine movement.
But neither his rise in influence nor the increase in anti-vaxxer misinformation has affected measles vaccination rates – at least not yet. Vaccination rates are much higher in the US than in Canada, with 95% of the population having received their second vaccine from 2019 onward.
Should we worry about bird flu in the US?
How worried should we be about bird flu spreading to humans in the US? Are rising bird flu numbers the beginning of the next pandemic? On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, New York Times science and global health reporter, Apoorva Mandavalli says that now is the time to start taking bird flu more seriously. The virus, known as H5N1, has been circulating in the US since 2024 in poultry and dairy cattle, but fears are growing about its spread to humans after the first bird flu death was reported in Louisiana last month. One big reason for that is that the flu virus is very good at adapting, picking up characteristics that keep it spreading. With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set to lead the US health department, Mandavilli worries about our ability to deal with a bird flu epidemic, especially given his opposition to mRNA vaccines and endorsement of raw milk, which can harbor bird flu virus, posing serious risks to public health.
“Surveillance has been just really, really poor. We don’t actually know what this virus is doing, how it’s evolving, how widely it’s spread,” Mandavilli says, “That first death was quite a wakeup call.”
Watch the full interview on GZERO World: Trump's health agenda—from RFK Jr. to leaving WHO
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
- Trump's health agenda—from RFK Jr. to leaving WHO ›
- Hard Numbers: Trump’s win certified, First bird flu death, Nippon Steel sues Biden, Venezuela jails foreigners, Congo readies mass execution, Dolphins die after oil spill ›
- How Trump is remaking US public health, with NY Times reporter Apoorva Mandavilli ›
- HARD NUMBERS: Bird flu comes for cows, Alberta wildfire season heats up, Canada grants high-flying sanctions exception, Five Eyes take a hard look at 'Dumping' ›
How Trump is remaking US public health, with NY Times reporter Apoorva Mandavilli
Listen: In President Trump’s short time in office, he’s already made sweeping changes to US public health policy—from RFK Jr.’s nomination to lead the health department to withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization. On the GZERO World Podcast, New York Times science and global health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli joins Ian Bremmer for an in-depth look at health policy in the Trump administration, and what it could mean, not just for the US, but for the rest of the world. President Trump has made it clear: he wants to slash government spending and remake institutions like the CDC, NIH, and FDA. But are those plans a much-needed correction to an overly bureaucratic system or prescription for the next pandemic? What do we need to know about bird flu and changes to USAID? Bremmer and Mandavilli discuss RFK Jr.’s influence in Trump’s second term and what the future of health and medical policy in America could look like.
- The Disinformation Election: Will the wildfire of ... - GZERO Media ›
- Ian Bremmer: American democracy at risk thanks to conspiracy theories ›
- What would it mean for the US to leave the World Health Organization? ›
- What can RFK Jr. do for Donald Trump? ›
- Senate hearings: Gabbard and RFK Jr. make it out of committee ›
- Senate grills RFK Jr. on healthcare policy and vaccine statements ›
- Should we worry about bird flu in the US? - GZERO Media ›
Trump's health agenda—from RFK Jr. to leaving WHO
From RFK Jr.’s nomination to lead the health department to an executive order withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, President Trump has already made sweeping changes to public health policy, and this may be just the beginning. On GZERO World, New York Times Science and Global Health Reporter Apoorva Mandavilli joins Ian Bremmer for an in-depth look at health and medicine in the second Trump administration—and what it could mean, not just for the US, but for the rest of the world. With bird flu numbers rising in the US and a noted vaccine skeptic poised to become the country's most powerful public health official, should we be worried about potential new pandemics or cuts at the CDC and NIH? Will the FDA endorse RFK’s ideas about raw milk and unfluoridated water? RFK gets a lot right about the need to focus on disease prevention and remove toxins fom our food and environment, but many of his ideas are at odds with mainstream medical science, posing a risk to public health. Bremmer and Mandavilli break down the big stories in healthcare right now, and what the future of the US medical establishment could look like.
"We have a huge problem with trust in this country, and that predates RFK Jr.," Mandavilli says, "Now when you have somebody who has made those comments very openly about the CDC not being trustworthy or the FDA not being trustworthy, and that's who's leading the health department, I think we are in real danger of people [not trusting] anything."
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
- Ian Bremmer: American democracy at risk thanks to conspiracy theories ›
- The Disinformation Election: Will the wildfire of ... - GZERO Media ›
- Trump’s rockiest Cabinet picks get spicy hearings ›
- What would it mean for the US to leave the World Health Organization? ›
- What can RFK Jr. do for Donald Trump? ›
- Senate hearings: Gabbard and RFK Jr. make it out of committee ›
- Senate grills RFK Jr. on healthcare policy and vaccine statements ›
- Should we worry about bird flu in the US? - GZERO Media ›
Ian Explains: What's behind RFK Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" movement?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to become the country’s most powerful public health official. What will his “Make America Healthy Again” movement mean for the future of US health policy? On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down RFK Jr.’s MAHA agenda and how it could reshape government agencies, medical institutions, and Big Pharma. The MAHA-verse is sprawling, bringing together people on both sides of the political spectrum who want to take on big medicine, eliminate processed foods, remove toxins from the environment, and curb vaccine mandates. The MAHA worldview blends traditional wellness ideas with deep skepticism towards the mainstream medical establishment, which can often verge on conspiracy and medical advice at odds with established science—like raw milk and unfluoridated water. Why does it matter? Because Donald Trump has embraced it. Just like MAGA remade the GOP, MAHA could remake healthcare, wielding enormous influence over not just the health department, but also the CDC, FDA, NIH, and USDA.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Jan. 30, 2025.
Trump’s rockiest Cabinet picks get spicy hearings
It was a rough few days for Donald Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The day before the confirmation hearings got underway, his cousin, Caroline Kennedy called him a “predator” and said the Senate should reject his nomination.
RFK Jr. went on to struggle through his appearance in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, botching answers to questions on Medicare and raising questions about his chances of being confirmed. In a second appearance on Thursday, this one in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he had another rough go, clashing with Sen. Bernie Sanders over vaccine safety and effectiveness and stumbling over Medicare questions once again.
FBI head nominee Kash Patel had his own raucous hearing on Thursday, though he tried to smooth over some concerns about his fitness to lead by distancing himself from conspiracy theories he’d previously sympathized with, like QAnon. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse tore into Patel, saying “There is an unfathomable difference between a seeming facade being constructed around this nominee here today and what he has actually done and said in real life when left to his own devices.”
Nonetheless, both Kennedy and Patel could squeak through the Senate. If they do, Republicans would still face their biggest confirmation challenge. Director of National Intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard was also put through the wringer on Thursday in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. She faces, perhaps, the longest odds of any Trump Cabinet pick, and the GOP will likely struggle to confirm her in the days to come.
Trump 2.0 cabinet picks: "Loyalty is the currency of the moment"
2020 is not 2016, and when it comes to the second Trump term, the sequel is going to be quite different from the first go-round. Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks already mark a sharp departure from the team he put together during his first term, says New York Times national security and White House Correspondent, David Sanger. Sanger joins Ian Bremmer on the episode of GZERO World.
Based on some of Trump's picks so far, new administration, Sanger explains, Trump's cabinet will likely be filled with a mix of hardline politicians, TV personalities, and some high-profile figures, many of whom have already left Democrats and Republicans in shock. Ideology doesn't matter anymore, Sanger explains, because “loyalty is the currency of the moment” in Trump’s world. And Trump’s "revenge nominees" signal his desire to dismantle government bureaucracy. A change that Sanger says "is exactly what the supporters of President Trump were looking for." Against the backdrop of two global wars and a looming trade war, Trump’s incoming administration could reshape the global world order like never before.
Watch the full episode: Trump foreign policy in a MAGA, MAGA world
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).