Despite their attempts to rewrite history, Trump’s record proves he’ll make it easier for corporations to pollute our air, poison our water, and allow toxic chemicals in our food.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is greeted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on stage during a campaign event at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23, 2024.(Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
At his horrific Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, Donald Trump said he would let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild” on health and food issues. Kennedy has spent the last few months since dropping out of the presidential contest promoting Donald Trump at his rallies and on social media.
The former independent presidential nominee has raised important questions about the troubling increase of chronic disease in America and the dangers of corporate capture at our food and drug regulatory agencies. Why don’t we get dangerous pesticides off our crops? Why can’t we tackle 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 banned in other countries?
Unfortunately, Kennedy’s answer to these very real questions—to make America healthy again by reelecting Donald Trump—is shockingly misguided and absurd, given the former president’s record on these issues:
In Congress, my colleagues and I have fought to improve nutrition and tackle the chronic disease crisis, only to face constant resistance from Trump and his allies.
When the Democrats added a fruit and vegetable benefit to the Women, Infants, and Children program that helps pregnant women and their young kids stay healthy, Republicans wanted to repeal it. When the Democrats sought to expand the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps feed hungry people and improves health outcomes for participants, Republicans wanted to cut the program by nearly $30 billion. When the Democrats supported universal free school meals in every cafeteria across the country, Republicans wanted to ban free meals and roll back nutrition standards, making our kid’s school food less healthy. And when the Democrats expanded the Child Tax Credit, ensuring that parents could put food on the table for their kids, Republicans let those extra benefits expire, worsening 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 the 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 examine the results.
Vice President Kamala Harris convened the second-ever White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, and is implementing a new national strategy for “ending hunger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity so fewer Americans experience diet-related diseases.” Thanks to her, for the first time ever, we have a holistic plan to promote healthy food and address chronic disease in this country.
Her leadership helped reverse Trump’s decision to allow the spraying of toxic chemicals like chlorpyrifos on fruits and vegetables, and her administration issued new national standards on toxic “forever chemicals” called PFAS to improve the safety of drinking water for millions of people.
She worked to ensure children have access to nutritious meals over the summer when school is out. And she supported a bill I wrote, and President Biden signed into law, the Food Donation Improvement Act, which makes it easier to donate nutritious food to needy families.
We can and must do more—but the truth is that only one candidate has a track record of results when it comes to these issues, and it’s Vice President Kamala Harris.
We now confront a second Trump presidency.
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Onwards,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation
Kennedy is right: We have a chronic disease crisis in this country. But even a broken clock is right twice a day. Perhaps his bizarre belief that tap water turns kids gay may have been our first clue that he shouldn’t be trusted when it comes to public health.
America deserves a leader who takes hunger, nutrition, and health seriously. Someone who works to address the underlying issues that contribute to chronic disease. Someone who doesn’t just complain about things, but who advances real solutions.
Someone like Vice President Kamala Harris, who has already proven during her time in office that she will tackle these problems and fight for increased access to healthy, nutritious food for all.
The choice is clear. Donald Trump had his chance to make America healthy again, and he failed. A Harris administration would deliver the bold action we need—delivering a stronger, safer, healthier future for all Americans.
Rep. Jim McGovernCurrently serving his eighth term in Congress, Jim McGovern is a Democrat from Massachusetts. He is a member of the House Rules Committee and the House Agriculture Committee.He also serves as a cochair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.