Trump picks man with worm in his brain to run health department

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a man who had a worm in his brain as his Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Trump on Thursday afternoon wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he was ‘thrilled to announce’ Robert F Kennedy Jr to head up the HHS.

‘For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,’ wrote Trump.

The president-elect said the HHS will ‘play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country’.

‘Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!’ Trump concluded.

Kennedy, who is former US president John F Kennedy’s nephew, last year ended his Democratic bid for the presidency and ran as an independent. As the race narrowed to Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Kennedy suspended his campaign and threw his support to Trump.

His 2024 campaign was marked by strange moments involving a worm, a dead bear cub and rumors that he ate a dog.

In April, Kennedy’s 2012 deposition for his divorce surfaced, in which he said: ‘I have cognitive problems, clearly. I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.’

Kennedy said that his brain scans showed that the issues were ‘caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died’, according to The New York Times.

Over the summer, Kennedy admitted to dumping a dead young bear at Central Park in New York City after an old photo emerged of him with his hand stuffed in the animal’s mouth.

Shortly before that, Kennedy rejected claims that he ate a barbecued dog after a photo surfaced of him holding an animal carcass. Kennedy insisted that it was a goat, despite some experts saying it appeared to be a dog.

On Thursday evening, Kennedy thanked Trump for the appointment.

‘I’m committed to advancing your vision to Make America Healthy Again,’ Kennedy wrote on X.

‘We have a generational opportunity to bring together the greatest minds in science, medicine, industry, and government to put an end to the chronic disease epidemic.’

Kennedy said he looked forward to working with more than 80,000 employees in the agency to ‘free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture’.

‘Together we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science,’ Kennedy wrote.

‘I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families.’

Kennedy’s appointment is not the only one to Trump’s Cabinet that has raised some eyebrows.

A day earlier, Trump shocked the Pentagon and some Americans by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary. While a military veteran, Hegseth’s experience and ability to lead the world’s most powerful military on the global stage has been questioned.

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