Politics
The LA Times’ owner cited his op-ed to boost RFK Jr. He says they got it all wrong.
A writer who recently published an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times that warned of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary says the paper gave the piece a misleading headline and omitted portions of his argument in order to promote Kennedy.
The paper’s billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, posted the piece on social media, which was headlined “Trump’s healthcare disruption could pay off — if he pushes real reform.” Soon-Shiong added his own commentary as part of a string of pro-Kennedy posts, saying the president’s pick “is our best chance of doing so.”
The author of the piece, Eric Reinhart, said in an interview with Blue Light News that he was advocating for a “populist” approach to health care — but clearly not arguing for Kennedy’s confirmation. He added that late changes to the piece — in particular the choice of headline and photo, which he said he did not see or approve prior to publication — happened “in such a way that it distorts and changes the intended meaning” of his story.
“My suggested title, which reflects the content I expected to go to press, was ‘RFK Jr’s Wrecking Ball Won’t Fix Public Health,’” Reinhart wrote on X, in response to Soon-Shiong. “A vote for RFK Jr. is a vote for nothing but chaos, the opposite of the essential public-systems building I argue for in the OpEd, and mass death.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Times pushed back on Reinhart’s assertion that he did not approve of the piece before it was published.
“Our editors in Opinion work with op-ed contributors to edit pieces for length, clarity and accuracy, among other things,” vice president of communications Hillary Manning said in a statement. “No op-ed pieces are published, as edited, without the permission of the author. That includes the op-ed written by Eric Reinhart.”
Reinhart, a political anthropologist who is also a psychoanalytic clinician and social psychiatrist and has written for a number of other media organizations, said that he is very familiar with the publishing process and understands that an editor has final say on what goes to print and ultimately controls the headline and photo.
Some of the changes to the piece, which he said included cuts to portions in which he made clear Kennedy was the wrong choice to lead HHS, would have been fine with him if the piece ran with his suggested headline.
But instead, left with a headline that was more ambiguous and a photo of Kennedy at his confirmation hearing, Reinhart feels “quite concerned that this was actually a deliberate manipulation.”
These changes, Reinhart said, left open the possibility that he was actually endorsing Kennedy rather than warning of the threat he poses while calling for a new public health care model in the U.S.
“What makes it concerning to me is the background of the owner’s politics and known record of interference and editorial processes of the newspaper,” Reinhart said, referencing Soon-Shiong’s recent interventions in editorial decision-making. Tension has been building among staffers over his ownership of the paper for years.
Soon-Shiong on Tuesday gave his total support to Kennedy, saying on X, “I truly believe he has the American public’s best interests at heart.”
“I have worried about toxins and the cause of cancer my entire career,” he added. “As a physician scientist I really hope he is confirmed tomorrow.”
Reinhart made clear that he believed no contracts or agreements were violated by the processes of his op-ed, but said the entire situation was “not consistent with the spirit of editing” given the proximity of the publishing time to Kennedy’s hearing.
“The depressing public health issue that was unfolding just as the op-ed was published,” he said, “which is, ‘are we or are we not going to confirm RFK Jr. for this incredibly important position for which he is massively and dangerously under qualified?’”
Byron Donalds says he is not a ‘yes man’ to Trump
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The progressive political action committee Justice Democrats has appointed Rev. Hodari Williams as its new executive director. The change sets the organization up to hone a civil rights message ahead of the 2028 election cycle, Williams told Blue Light News.
His appointment, shared first with Blue Light News, comes at a time when self-proclaimed progressives (and socialists) are flooding the scene. The PAC has had its most successful election cycle ever, helping seven candidates — including Donavan McKinney in Michigan, Melat Kiros in Colorado and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York — defeat incumbents in the primaries. While those candidates are heavily favored to win on Election Day, the fates of three other Justice Democrats candidates, including Tennessee’s state Rep. Justin Pearson, remain less certain going into November.
At one point, the group tried to get Williams to run for office. Though he declined, Williams said now is the right time to force change.
“America and its present-day politicians, from my experience, have a high blood pressure of promises and anemia of political courage,” Williams said in an interview, using a common Kenyan political expression. “Right now, JD is producing candidates who have the political courage to deal with the crises that are existing in marginalized and disenfranchised communities, and I want to be a part of that.”
Williams, 46, was born and raised in Lakewood, New Jersey. His parents were activists and community organizers who raised him on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. After graduating from Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, with his bachelor’s degree, he joined the NAACP as a field organizer for voter rights and empowerment while pursuing his Master’s of Divinity at the Interdenominational Theological Center. In his time with the NAACP, Williams traveled across the Black Belt, where he said he witnessed poverty and inequity up close.
“Civil rights traditionally has been something that people have tried to separate from progressivism … but these movements are inseparable,” said Williams. “What I witnessed in the South as a worker in voter rights and voter empowerment and education, and as a regional representative for the NAACP, was that the conditions that created inequity still existed and needed to be confronted and challenged.”
His work took him to Kenya, where he served as a program coordinator with the Presbyterian Church USA. In Nairobi, he supported the Green Belt Movement’s work against deforestation and its mission to highlight environmental justice as a tool for economic empowerment and self-determination.
Now, as some Black and brown voters express concerns of being tokenized by traditional Democratic candidates, Williams plans to bring his experience working in racial justice circles to his new role.
“I have worked in communities that have borne the brunt of failed promises from the current Democratic leadership,” Williams said. “I have opened the doors of my congregations to politicians and have experienced the absence of those politicians after the elections.”
He continued: “Black communities have become destinations for environmental hazards and data centers. Unemployment has risen. Black federal employees have been targeted. The list goes on. I’ve pastored these people. I’ve prayed with them. I’ve listened to them as they’ve shed tears. Now I’ve decided I want to move from triage work to really transformational work.”
Some of that work will require challenging other Black leaders.
“Unfortunately, many of our Black politicians have become victims of corporate capture, and their voices have been taken by entities like AIPAC,” said Williams, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “They have not really been able to stand for the issues that are affecting the communities that that many of us are fighting for, and JD candidates are free from that, and they’re free to take bold and significant action to move forward legislation.”
But with the 2026 election cycle nearly over, the PAC is already brainstorming how to establish a strong progressive coalition for the 2028 presidential election. That will mean convincing the mainstream Democratic party that Justice Democrats have built a lasting coalition of the party’s base, said Williams.
“We hope that the Democratic Party would see that we’re developing a blueprint to show them how the base is being energized around the issues that are kitchen table issues that people want us to deal with,” said Williams.
“It’s not enough for us just to have a call to defeat a fascist president. We don’t want a fascist president. We want him out, but we also want a vision of what America could look like when affordability, healthcare, civil rights, housing, and livable wages — all of those things are at the top of the political agenda,” he added.
Williams succeeds current executive director and co-founder Alexandra Rojas, who will become president of Justice Democrats’ board and will support Williams as a senior adviser.
Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson took a swipe at the savings habits of millennials as she fielded a question Wednesday about Social Security during a Senate campaign debate.
Hinson, the Republican candidate facing off against Democrat state Rep. Josh Turek, was asked about ensuring the solvency of Social Security when she raised the broader prospect of savings by millennials, the demographic consisting of people born from 1981-1996.
She said the country needed to have a “serious conversation” about “how young people are saving money,” as part of the discussion about the future of Social Security.
“We also need to be talking about millennials saving money,” she later added. “Millennials are the worst group of savers in the country right now and have the least amount of savings. So those are ways where I think we can help have a bigger conversation around saving in general, planning for retirement, and making sure we’re all able to experience a robust retirement.”
Hinson faces a tough race in Iowa against Turek amid a difficult political environment for Republicans. Voters are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the state of the economy and their own personal finances, and they support Social Security while being concerned about the program’s future.
Hinson said she would not support cutting benefits and suggested creating a bipartisan commission to present suggestions to Congress to save the program. When pushed on her statement that “all options should be on the table,” she turned her attention to young people.
“I think my dad and I had this discussion when I was in sixth grade, looking at a ledger book and trying to figure out, hey, how are we going to make sure you’re set up for your life?” she said. “So we need to be having a conversation simultaneously to all solutions on the table, to make sure that it can stay solvent, while we’re also talking about, how do we get more young people to save?”
Hinson’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
Turek, when asked about Social Security, said he supports removing the payroll tax cap.
“The best way we can keep this solvent is by taking off the cap,” Turek said. “Let’s make sure that billionaires and large corporations are paying their fair share. That will move the needle in a very serious way to keep Social Security solvent.”
Hinson disagreed. “The only thing I’m hearing from him is that the only solution to everything is to raise taxes,” she said.
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