The Dictatorship
I’m a pediatrician. When parents attack me for suggesting vaccines, I fume at RFK Jr.
So many parents refusing vaccines for the children I see in my examination room have been encouraged to do so by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the charlatan President Donald Trump has picked to take the reins of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Senate Finance Committee will vote on Kennedy’s nomination Tuesday and, we should all hope, reject it.
I was raised by Depression-era blue-collar parents who knew firsthand the devastating diseases few of today’s parents would recognize. For them, each new vaccine increased the chance that theirs would be the first generation that didn’t expect to bury a child. I still remember how proud my mom was taking me to the pediatrician for vaccines. She was doing her job, keeping us safe. As a pediatrician, I see vaccines as a force field that we and parents use to protect young lives.
As a pediatrician, I see vaccines as a force field that we and parents use to protect young lives.
During medical school and then a residency at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, I cared for countless infants and children hospitalized with bacterial meningitis and invasive diseases caused by pathogens like Hemophilus, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria. These infections often resulted in devastating damage, such as hearing and vision loss — a fate Helen Keller tragically suffered. Then, a spinal tap was a necessary and routine part of the workup of infant fever. The high-pitched, painful cries of infants with meningitis will forever reverberate in my mind, along with the coughs of infants with pertussis drowning in their own secretions.
During my 30 years as a physician, I have seen how our carefully studied vaccines have revolutionized pediatric care. Because the vast majority of young Americans are vaccinated, bacterial meningitis and its devastating effects have become so rare that only the youngest infants now require invasive procedures like spinal taps during fever workups. In the vaccinated, Pneumococcus rarely causes bloodstream infections or the deadly pneumonia for which it is named. We no longer see the chickenpox infections that result in weeks of missed school and work. Hemophilus isn’t causing the loss of limbs, eyes and airways.
This progress, however, is being threatened by vaccine refusal. As Kennedy sat before a confirmation hearing with the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesdayphysicians like me, who’ve dedicated our lives to the health and welfare of children, watched with outrage and exhaustion. And disgust that Kennedy refused to own his anti-vaccine advocacy.
“I support the measles vaccine,” he told senators. “I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking anything.” But the fact is that he has built a name for himself by discouraging parents from getting their children vaccinated.
As Kennedy sat for a confirmation hearing, physicians who’ve dedicated our lives to the health and welfare of children, watched with outrage.
Listening, I thought about the father who recently became angry with me for “insinuating” that his sick, unvaccinated infant needed a workup and hospitalization for his high fever without an obvious source. He accused me of making up concerns to make money for the hospital. As familiar as I am with this particular conspiracy theory, it hits me hard every time I hear it. And we are hearing it more and more often.
Instead of becoming defensive and judgmental, I treat these bedside conversations as a collaboration that has as its common goal a healthy child. I talk about my own experience, painting a picture of the wards from as recently as the 1990s. I told this father that I understood he was acting as an advocate for his child the best way he knew how. Ultimately, his wife heard me and agreed to the workup. By the time their child’s blood culture grew Pneumococcus the next day, their child was already getting his third dose of intravenous antibiotics.
After he was recovered, the mother described the near-tragedy on social media. She shared how worried they’d been and how they initially hadn’t sought care because they didn’t trust hospitals. She added that if her children had received their routine vaccines, then their infant son probably would have experienced Pneumococcus as nothing more than a mild fever or ear infection. And they’d have been spared a hospital bill.
The flames of vaccine hesitancy have been stoked to a bonfire by fictitious stories by self-serving individuals. When Andrew Wakefield first theorized that the measles vaccine caused autism, he may have truly believed that. But by the time more complete and accurate research showed no connection, his taste of fame and the power of sensationalism had seemingly overpowered integrity, and he stuck to his position.
Enter RFK Jr., who, along with his Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit group, preyed on the parents of children with autism who were searching for someone to blame. Research again and again has shown his assertions to be false. But repeating and funding independent vaccine studies took precious time. Time during which careers were made sowing fear and mistrust by discrediting the very physicians who’d dedicated their lives to defending their patients’ and the public’s health.
The people who accuse pediatricians of profiting from vaccines, Kennedy included, have ironically amassed fortunes doing so.
The people who accuse pediatricians of profiting from vaccines, Kennedy included, have ironically amassed fortunes doing so.
Parents who are vaccine hesitant are, of course, doing what they think is best for their children. They come to us having “done my research,” fueled by algorithms built to lead concerned parents down a rabbit hole of misinformation. Because they have little firsthand experience with bacterial meningitis, limb-threatening cellulitis, the devastation of measles or the infertility of mumps, they are easily convinced that vaccines are unnecessary — and even harmful.
When parents come in convinced of the deep state conspiracy, it is difficult to heal the partnership that we pediatricians seek to have with them. These conversations have stolen so much time from our ability to care for patients that many practices have chosen to exclude those who refuse vaccines for their children.
Many parents, though, seek our advice — even when they have misgivings. When we are able to have open conversations built on appreciation and partnership, parents often gratefully follow the well-studied vaccine schedule to protect their children.
One of my young parents was unvaccinated as a child and resents that her parents fell for the conspiracy theories. When she first brought her adorable children in, we had lots of conversations, including about immunizations. Like my mom, she sees herself as a fierce advocate for her children when they come in for their well visits and shots. Each visit, when I explain the shots they will receive, we both laugh when she says, “Lock and Load, Dr. Pat, Lock and Load!”
If Kennedy is confirmed as HHS secretary, he will have the ability to submit a generation of children to the experiment he has long hoped would finally prove his misbegotten theories promoting supplements and other measures as preferable to vaccines. Americans need only to look at Samoa for predictions of that outcome. There, in 2018, a nurse tragically used a vial of paralyzing muscle relaxant to dilute a vial of measles vaccine. That mistake resulted in the deaths of two infants. This caused Samoa to suspend the measles vaccination program. Kennedy visited the island, he later wrotebecause “government officials, including the Prime Minister were curious to measure health outcomes following the ‘natural experiment’ created by the respite from vaccines.”
One of my young parents was unvaccinated as a child and resents that her parents fell for the conspiracy theories.
The health outcomes included a measles outbreak that occurred months after Kennedy’s visit, which included thousands of infections and the deaths of 83 people, most of them small children. Kennedy reportedly told Samoa’s prime minister that the deaths were caused not by measles but by the vaccine used to prevent measles.
“I never gave any public statement about vaccines. You cannot find a single Samoan who will say, ‘I didn’t get a vaccine because of Bobby Kennedy,’” Kennedy told senators Wednesday.
Despite his claims that he wouldn’t discourage vaccinations, we have every reason to believe that Kennedy, if he’s put in charge of HHS, would discourage and even defund them. Defunding vaccines would mean even the parents who are steadfast in protecting their children may not be able to afford the vaccines needed to shield them. And that would put the patients I see at increased risk of disabling disease and death.
And then, incomprehensibly, we might owe declining vaccine rates and the return of long-forgotten infectious diseases not to some internet rabbit hole but to a U.S. Cabinet official charged with protecting the health of the nation.
Senators, the pediatricians who kept your children safe implore you to stand with them and with children in opposing the appointment of Mr. Kennedy to the Cabinet.
Dr. Patricia Wells
Dr. Patricia Wells, medical director at The Corner Health Center in Ypsilanti, Mich., leads a multidisciplinary team providing comprehensive, judgment-free healthcare for young people aged 12–25 and their children. There, and in a local emergency center, she witnesses firsthand the effects of gaps in care access and remains vigilant for the emergence of vaccine preventable illnesses.
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, as two retiring Republicans on the panel dug in over President Donald Trump’s personal “anti-weaponization” deal with the government he runs.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s decision to delay the committee vote that had been set for Thursday marks a setback for one of Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet nominees, at the hands of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a pair of Republicans set to leave the chamber next year.
“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure. Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement,” the committee spokesperson said.
Blanche’s nomination to permanently head the Department of Justice needs the support of either Cornyn or Tillis to make it out of the committee to a vote by the full Senate, assuming all Democrats remain opposed.
“Why don’t you call over the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon amid the hardening standoff over his demand that Blanche and the DOJ put in writing a commitment never to pursue the president’s prized “anti-weaponization” fund, and to clarify the terms of Trump’s personal deal with the Internal Revenue Service.
Tillis told MS NOW that the conversations were complicated by the need for the Justice Department to get “several parties” to agree on the language of the statement Cornyn and Tillis are seeking.
“What I’ve advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we’re not prepared to vote yes yet,” he added.
“The Department has been in regular communication with Committee members for weeks, and we look forward to continuing to work productively with Senators to address any concerns,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in response to the decision to postpone the committee vote.
Cornyn was set to meet with Blanche on Wednesday morning, but the meeting was called off after Blanche failed to meet the senator’s demand for written proposals to modify the controversial settlement agreement he brokered between Trump and the IRS. The Republican senator is set to leave Congress when his term ends in January after a bruising May primary loss to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s chosen candidate.
“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office. “I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem. I heard (Blanche) is going through quite nicely.”
Cornyn made clear to Blanche during his confirmation hearing that he will not get his support until he agrees to reopen and modify the settlement. Due to the committee’s narrow Republican majority, one GOP “no” vote is enough to sink Blanche’s nomination.
The senator has asked Blanche to provide proof that the proposed nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund established as part of the deal between Trump and the IRS is formally dead, and he has also demanded Blanche narrow the tax audit immunity provisions the settlement afforded to Trump and his family.
Blanche has publicly stated that his department has dropped the fund, but he and the DOJ have dodged requests from Cornyn and a federal judge to put that in writing.
After announcing his meeting with Blanche would not take place Wednesday morning, Cornyn told reporters that changes from Blanche “in a modified release form” would be acceptable, but that “for some reason … they simply refuse to do it,” referring to the DOJ.
Shortly after the meeting was called off, a Justice Department official told MS NOW that the department “provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn’s staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator’s office.”
Cornyn said that proposal was “not responsive” to his demands because it did not address the tax audit immunity provisions in the settlement, one of his key demands.
In May, Blanche signed an addendum as part of the deal that granted Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from pending IRS tax audits. That agreement, which has been decried by former IRS officials and legal experts as unlawful self-dealing, is being contested in federal court.
Cornyn noted that Blanche testified under oath that he could meet the request during his confirmation hearing.
“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” Cornyn said when asked why he thinks the DOJ could be slow-walking his request.
Kevin Frey contributed to this report.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived this week for his tour of Washington, he may have had a mission in mind.
Netanyahu needed to overcome his newly diminished stature and waning influence over his once close friend President Donald Trump as both leaders grapple with the unpopularity of a war they started together and is escaping their control.
His meeting at the White House with Trump on Tuesday, which was closed to the press, was the first face-to-face encounter between the two allies since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump gave him a muted welcome and afterwards simply described the meeting as “very good.” “Obviously, many important subjects were discussed,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Rather than an intimate one-on-one setting, the Oval Office was full of top U.S. officials — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
But Netanyahu continued the full court press on the Trump administration.
Over the course of two days, in addition to seeing Trump and attending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral at the Capitol, Netanyahu also met separately with Vance, Hegseth, and Rubio, White House and Israeli officials confirmed to MS NOW.
The Israeli prime minister’s slate of meetings with key U.S. national security officials comes at a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict as tensions escalate in the region and Americans increasingly sour on the war. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows 60% of American voters opposing U.S. military action against Iran and 74% against sending U.S. ground troops into Iran.
Not only does Trump face pressure as Republicans face an uphill battle to retain congressional control in this fall’s midterms, Netanyahu’s fate as prime minister is at stake in Israel’s upcoming September elections – and he can’t afford to lose Trump’s favor.
The talks largely focused on what to do next as Iran continues to menace shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliate against American bases in the region and launch attacks on Gulf allies.
According to a senior Israeli official who was granted anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not come to a final decision after discussing three paths forward: get a “good deal” focused on Iran’s nuclear program and enriched material, have no deal and instead continue the blockade and economic pressure, or take escalated military action.
But Netanyahu did not tell Trump what he should do – nor did he express a preference.
The senior Israeli official noted Netanyahu has not ruled out diplomacy – as long as it is coupled with “very strong pressures,” calling the push to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program “a contest of will and a contest of force.”
“There are ways of squeezing them and squeezing them and squeezing them and negotiating at the same time,” the official said.
Netanyahu did not present President Trump with new intelligence regarding the underground Iranian nuclear facility Pickaxe Mountain, per the senior Israeli official, noting the U.S. and Israel already are constantly sharing intelligence – and know where Iran’s highly enriched material is. “We don’t think it’s moved, and I think we have a pretty good grasp on that,” the official said.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Trump and Netanyahu discussed ways Israel and the U.S. can work together to stop Iran’s nuclear program and get the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime trade, the senior Israeli official said.
The two leaders also discussed a third goal: to continue to undermine the Iranian regime and “possibly create future conditions for a change in that area.” U.S. officials have backed away from pursuing paths that would overthrow the current leadership, but Netanyahu still believes that could happen.
“The chasm that has been created between the people and the regime is not about to be closed,” the senior Israeli official said of Netanyahu’s thinking.
Netanyahu advised Trump in February that Israeli intelligence indicated launching strikes against Iran would lead to the toppling of the Islamic Republic’s regime – and five months later, the slain ayatollah’s son retains power with a close circle of hardliners, calling into question the accuracy of Israel’s intelligence apparatus.
But the senior Israeli official said at the time, Netanyahu did not promise the Iranian people would take fate into their own hands following a coordinated attack. Rather, he chose his words carefully and said that an attack could create conditions to “advance the probability or the possibility that that would happen.”
The conditions needed for the Iranian regime to fall, “did not materialize,” the official told MS NOW, adding, “not for lack of insight, but for either operational failure or decisions that were made.”
Despite Netanyahu insisting Israel and the U.S. are on the same page, differences still remain: the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and the Saudi nuclear arrangement did not come up during Wednesday’s White House meeting, according to a second Israeli official granted anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues to spread, with an Iranian drone attacking a U.S. gas storage tanker off the coast of Egypt on Wednesday.
Trump indicated he would not let Iran’s latest action slide, telling reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. would retaliate against Iran even as he leaves room for diplomatic talks to resume.
“It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point,” Trump said. “But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
As for what it would take for Israel to join the U.S. strikes, the senior Israeli official said that if Israel is attacked by Iran, “We will respond very, very forcefully and very quickly. And I think Iran would make a great mistake.”
Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, D.C.
International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)
Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.
FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.
Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.
A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.
But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)
Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”
FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!
Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.
But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.
And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.
This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.
Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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