Summary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s HHS nominee, expressed belief in the “plandemic” conspiracy, suggesting the COVID pandemic was planned by the government.

He also compared COVID efforts to Nazi experiments and accused the government of using bioterrorism to implement social controls.

Kennedy’s statements raise concerns about his understanding of infectious diseases and his potential impact on pandemic response.

  • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    Great to have all the conspiracy theorists back in power. Awesome job, America!

  • Mk23simp@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    115
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 days ago

    Crazy how the people who believe the government planned the pandemic are also on the side of the guy who ran the government at the time.

  • barnaclebutt@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    61
    ·
    4 days ago

    So, Trump’s government? Between the brain worm and heroin abuse, I’m not so sure this guy is thinking correctly.

  • Drusas@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    52
    ·
    4 days ago

    How the fuck did the US government plan to enslave its own citizens by releasing a novel virus in the middle of China?

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      57
      ·
      edit-2
      4 days ago

      There’s strong evidence it was in the USA well before the first cases were reported in China.

      That’s not to say that anything RFK says makes any damn sense. But it’s also not clear that it started in China.

      For people asking for evidence, check the statistics for respiratory-related illnesses and pneumonia in late 2019.

      https://nchsdata.cdc.gov/DQS/#nchs-home_by-primary-diagnosis/diseases-of-the-respiratory-system/age-group/all-time-periods/1

      There was an unexplained spike in respiratory illness across all age groups, and a spike in pneumonia deaths starting in September. Google also tracked a spike in searches related to pneumonia. We didn’t even have COVID tests until January of 2020, which is when the first diagnoses started coming in. None of the deaths in 2019 attributed to pneumonia were tested for COVID.

      That doesn’t mean it was definitely COVID, but it is enough to make me doubt the Trump narrative that China started it.

      You’ll also notice the incidence of scented candle complaints began in the latter quarter of 2019.

      https://www.reviewpartydotcom.com/blog/reviews-as-data-points-yankee-candle-covid-cases

      • djsoren19@yiffit.net
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 days ago

        The problem is that China absolutely lied, obfuscated data, and generally did whatever it took to make it look like their COVID response was better than reality.

        It is very, very, very likely that the COVID-19 virus originated in China, and it is also quite likely that Americans were infected with coronavirus before January 2020. Both of these things can be true without needing to resort to conspiracy.

      • Drusas@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        50
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 days ago

        No, there isn’t. Anyone who was paying attention to news out of China saw that illnesses started being reported there in November 2019. By late December, it was obvious that something was going on.

        There has been zero evidence that the same was true in the States.

        Don’t spread misinformation.

      • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        30
        ·
        edit-2
        4 days ago

        There’s strong evidence it was in the USA well before the first cases were reported in China.

        In fact there is strong evidence against this conclusion. Here is a graph showing reported instances for China and the rest of the world (ROW) starting in January 2020:

        In which you can see that Global Cases match China Cases until the end of February 2020.

        And here is a graph showing cases in Hubei province, the rest of China, and the rest of the world starting in January 2020:

        And here is an animated map showing confirmed cased starting January 2020.

        source

        It is very, very clear that the COVID-19 pandemic started in China, specifically in Hubei province, and that anyone who says otherwise is a liar.

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          18
          ·
          4 days ago

          What you’ve got there is a graph of testing. The slopes are all the same, because that’s when each country received tests, and that’s how quickly they ramped up testing. Covid 19 wasn’t even sequenced until 40 people were extremely ill from the virus. We know now that it is spread through the air, and carriers of the virus can be contagious without being symptomatic. Zero countries were wasting precious tests on deceased people who died in the previous weeks.

          China made for a convenient target for xenophobes and racists to blame. It spread quickly through dense populations, and their government was using (ineffective) draconian methods to contain the spread. Westerners spread the image of indigent communists eating bats and civets, ignoring the growing number of anomalous respiratory illnesses at home.

          Maybe it started in China. Maybe it didn’t. We cannot know for sure, because we deliberately did not collect the data. And anyone trying to convince you differently has an agenda.

          • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            12
            ·
            edit-2
            4 days ago

            If you have some contradictory evidence from a reliable source to present to substantiate your claims, please present it now. If not, then your

            Maybe it started in China. Maybe it didn’t.

            is a super weak and transparent attempt to spread doubt of the actual research. Your claims, made without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

            Westerners spread the image of indigent communists eating bats and civets, ignoring the growing number of anomalous respiratory illnesses at home.

            We can tell the difference between SARS-CoV-2 and other sources of viral respiratory illness because we can test that shit, so again your attempt to spread doubt is super weak and transparent. There is research, there is data, there is corroboration from multiple sources. You haven’t presented any sources.

            Science works. Denialism is stupid. Nobody with any brain cells is buying your garbage. Go home.

        • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          4 days ago

          Trust me, bro, my sino-ruskie special sources beamed them directly to the remaining parts of my brain.

      • Rhaedas@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 days ago

        The Trump narrative was that China purposefully started it. Not that it was the origin. That is the “narrative” of the science. That you claimed “strong evidence” and then cite something you say may not definitely mean COVID but seems suspicious…that’s not very strong. That’s literal “trust me, I feel it’s true”.

  • officermike@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    36
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 days ago

    Trump’s first administration may not have planned it, but sure as hell wanted to let it ravage large metropolitan population centers for political gain.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    28
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 days ago

    Possibly, we should start by investigating the President who was in charge at the time.

      • islands@lemmy.cafe
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        4 days ago

        Do you remember when Obama was asleep at the wheel (as usual) and the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor? How this guy managed to get reelected always mystifies me.

        • Cort@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          And he did nothing to stop the Redcoats from burning down the Whitehouse back in the day

  • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    edit-2
    3 days ago

    Kennedy’s statements also raise the remarkable specter that the man who could soon lead the Department of Health and Human Services believes that the department may have carried out a “sinister” scheme to “enslave” its own citizens—and that this scheme was implemented under the leadership of Donald Trump, the very person who has now chosen Kennedy for the HHS post.

    I guess the only problem Kennedy really had with the claim is that he wasn’t in on it.

    • Sludgehammer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      4 days ago

      That’s true about most of the conspiracy crowd. If you look at their ramblings there’s a thick streak of envy running through them. They don’t want to stop the shadowy individuals they believe run the world, they’re angry that they’re not one of them.

      • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        4 days ago

        Shit, I’m angry I wasn’t chosen for Hogwarts or the Jedi Academy. That doesn’t make any of this bullshit real.

  • Deello@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    4 days ago

    We are about to find out what happens when conspiracy theorists get into the federal government. Will he get arrested for leaking government secrets?