Trump administration Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says that he walks through airports and diagnoses children with “mitochondrial challenges and inflammation” based on their looks.
I’m looking at kids while I walk through the airports today, as I walk down the street, and I see these kids that are just overburdened with mitochondrial challenges, inflammation, you can tell it from their faces, from their body movement, and from their lack of social connection.
@cspanofficial Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday bemoaned the health of children in America, claiming he could see "mitochondrial issues" just by looking at them. "I'm looking at kids as I walk through the airports today, as I walk down the street and I see these kids that are just overburdened with mitochondrial challenges, with inflammation, you can tell from their faces, from their body movements, and from their lack of social connection, and I know that that's not how our children are supposed to look," he said. The secretary made the comments during a bill signing ceremony with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who inked three bills into law to implement higher fitness and nutrition standards in public schools and introduce warning labels on food products containing additives. Watch more by tapping the link in our bio. #rfk #health #cspan ♬ original sound – C-SPAN
Kennedy’s own health practices when traveling are questionable, at best. Flying American Airlines from Portland to Dallas he famously walked down the first class aisle to the lavatory and back barefoot.
DISGUSTING!! What sort of person walks BAREFOOT down a plane aisle — in first class, no less. Even worse, it was on his way to the toilet!
RFK Jr is a really strange dude. pic.twitter.com/tQXdYUtGfz
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) November 13, 2023
He’s also been known to add methylene blue to his drink on American. That’s used as a stain for medical diagnostic procedures, coloring tissues or fluids to make them more visible during lymph node mapping or leak detection.
What is RFK Jr. putting in his drink…?? pic.twitter.com/R9ZXmwmfVC
— American AF (@iAnonPatriot) February 5, 2025
At lower doses, some studies suggest medical benefits – for treating neurodegenerative disorders, psychiatric conditions, and as an “anti-aging” protocol – but those are largely ‘pre-clinical’ to put it… generously. In higher doses, methylene blue can be neurotoxic and may interfere with mitochondrial function. And homeboy is pumping the gas.
The most common side effect of methylene blue is that you’ll pee blue. It can also turn skin blue, and cause headaches and dizziness. When combined with serotonergic medications, such as SSRI, it can cause excess serotonin which can be life-threatening.
But to be clear, “mitochondrial challenges” isn’t a diagnosis. Primary mitochondrial diseases are genetically and clinically heterogeneous and cannot be diagnosed by a glance. Diagnosis involves a history workup, exam, and lab tests.
Furthermore, systemic inflammation isn’t visible to the naked eye. Being in an airport doesn’t change this. It’s inferred from biomarkers and from specialized imaging and not from someone’s face while walking past them. A person’s redness and swelling may visible but that’s not a diagnosis of whole‑body inflammation.
Finally, “lack of social connection” isn’t diagnosable walking past someone in an airport and isn’t a test for autism or anything else.
If you wanted to defend the airport doctor, despite his lack of medical training, you’d say that there are a few rare mitochondrial syndromes with recognizable features where a trained clinician might then want to test for a mitochondrial disorder.
Even if you find yourself broadly liking his crackdown on medical research and innovation, drive to raise the cost of vaccination and limit availability of Covid-19 vaccines, or his pushing experts out of government service you really shouldn’t take his airport observations seriously – or mirror his inflight behaviors. Now, if he could get appointed DHS Secretary or TSA Administrator, he’d gain access to the body scanners…
So a heroin addict with a brain worm and without a medical degree is diagnosing children. makes as much sense as an alcoholic rapist running department of defense and a drunk frat boy in charge of FAA. As a country we are beyond fuc*ed.
Hard to expect anything else from abhorrent conspiracy nut PI ambulance-chaser, who sued everyone around for 30 yrs.
Thank you, RD, I couldn’t have said it better.
Practicing medicine without a license used to be criminal. But in these times , nothing is off limits, and they all carry pocket pardons anyway. My driver commented yesterday that at least we will be dead before the worst comes. This was not comforting to me.
I see dumb people. They walk through airports and then don’t even know they’re dumb.
Echo chambers are nice and comforting
A stable medical genius
Heaven help our newly destroyed nation and medical well being
What a mess 🙁
It’s a good thing he wasn’t the biggest coke dealer and user on campus while a student at Harvard in the 1970s. Oh, wait…
Every circus needs a clown.
It just defies comprehension that Donald Trump’s approval rating is still in the double digits.
RFK Jr. is so odd looking, I think he is sick. Pick any politician, say Kamala Harris, Speaker Mike Johnson, Nancy Pelosi, VP JD Vance, and none of them look as sickly as RFK Jr.
According to RFK Jr.’s criteria, about 85% of American adults should have the Covid vaccine that is coming out in September!!!! People think he is discouraging it and he is but his criteria is for people to get it.
73% of Americans are overweight or obese with a BMI of 25. That is a risk factor and a CDC RFK reason to get a Covid shot next month.
Add to that those with sedentary desk job, depression, probably hypertension, heart disease including atherosclerosis, as well as esoteric things like cancer, liver disease, HIV, etc. and about 85+% should get the Covid vaccine next month by RFK’s anti-vaxxer criteria!
@drrichard — And, ‘elect a clown, expect a circus…’
RFK, Jr. is the face of American stupidity.
Only the best people…
“…about 85% of American adults should have the Covid vaccine that is coming out in September!”
No one in their right mind should get that jab. Of course, I was saying the same thing in 2021.
@Mike P – unless you are a physician I would kindly ask you to shut your pie hole and leave the medical advise to medical professionals. If you are a physician please provide the evidence you think is more sound than the evidence groups like the AMA are using to make their recommendations based on scientific evidence.
The literature I read tells me you have no idea what you’re talking about.
You probably also believe airplanes are using their exhaust to modify the weather.
You don’t need to be a physician to know that the jabs were ineffective and unsafe. Also, I’m not offering “medical advice”, I’m encouraging people to avoid injecting themselves with a basically worthless product. Or, have you not figured that out yet?
@Mike P
Most of us try not to figure out things that aren’t true.
But you do you.
SOUNDS VERY SCIENTIFIC FROM THE MAN HOW PLAYS PRANKS BY LEAVING DEAD BEAR CUBS IN PARKS.
THIS IS WHAT YOU ASKED FOR WHEN YOU ELECTED TRUMP SO DON’T COMPLAIN. IT’S YOUR BED NOW LIE IN IT.
@Mike P what I have figured out is that you are dangerous. You go around spouting off about things you know NOTHING about. You seem to think you know more than trained professionals that have dedicated their lives to saving lives.
You base your arguments on hogwash coming from unreliable and politically motivated new outlets looking for viewers and hack politicians in search of votes.
People like you are why thousands are dead. I and my colleagues watched dozens of patients regret their refusal to get the vaccine as we were about to intubate them and place them on the ventilator only to watch them die. I watched kids, young adults, parents and grandparents die. I watched colleagues die.
You know didn’t die? People who were vaccinated.
You are entitled to your ill-informed, erroneous, dangerous opinion. You cross the line when you claim to know more than the professionals. The people who believe you are as foolish as you are. I pity you, to be tricked so easily by people who care nothing for you our your life. But, hey, you do you.
I don’t believe him. It is physically impossible to see anything when your head is shoved so far up
Donald Trump’s sphincter that you can taste his large intestines (and small hands)
I did not expect to see these kind of comments, but then again the way the article is written it is set up for a solid like like a Tee ball.
To all above, save Mike P, keep taking your statins, keep getting your booster shots, keep cooking with industrial seed oils, and especially, never, ever question the experts who know best.
@MikeP
Your post are AGAINST RFK Jr and MAHA. RFK’s criteria are that about 85% of American adults are recommended to get the Covid vaccine when it comes out in September.
RFK Jr.’s reputation is anti-vax.
RFK Jr.’s published criteria are nearly all American adults should get the Covid vaccine next month (maybe out in a week?)
I agree that RFK Jr. hasn’t made a statement that says “y’all get the shot in September” but his published criteria are such that very few American adults shouldn’t get it.
I’m fascinated that there are still those individuals who continue to support the narrative that was promulgated over the past five years. I can almost forgive those who fell for the scam initially, but to still be unable to figure it out at this point is both shocking and sad.
Those who still think the Covid response was appropriate and effective likely share a fearful worldview, a deficit of knowledge regarding biology, humanistic delusions about control over the belief that the government, media and Med/Pharma personnel are truthful, earnest, competent public servants. Ignorance, whether from lack of inquiry or by affirmatively closing one’s eyes and ears, is bliss.
What RFK Jr did is take away the recommendation that all American adults get the Covid vaccine to all Americans 65 and over and all American adults under 65 that meet the criteria for at risk to Covid and that is roughly 85% of American adults.
Even sedentary desk job, former smoker, have depression or overweight (BMI 25 or more) means you should get the Covid shot according to RFK.
What country benefits from this clown car administration dismantling government response to national disasters; destroying the scientific community; locking up and deporting hard working people picking crops; working at dairy farms and meatpacking facilities? What country benefits from our country being run by alcoholics, sexual predators, drug addicts and racist crackers? Putin thanks you for not paying attention!
RFK is an odd duck. But I do support his stand against govt mandated vaccination.
It’s soul-crushing. The Trump Administration pushed “Operation Warp Speed” for the COVID-19 vaccine. And–to the Administration’s credit–it saved countless lives.
Now they’re back on the absurd notion that the COVID-19 vaccine was some sort of hoax.
I still get to hear patients every day tell me how they’re glad they’re kids DIDN’T get vaccinated, or how proud they are that they survived the pandemic without a vaccine.
Really? These people think they’re brave. They stood up to authority. They have information that the general public (sheep) has failed to notice. And–above all–they’re “just asking questions.”
I have news. I have four degrees and 23 years in practice. My career is devoted to “just asking questions.” Yep, I DO know better than RFK, Joe Rogan, and other “real men” who don’t need a vaccine to stay healthy. They can just “eat right” and go to the gym. By which I mean, “shoot up steroids.”
Unfortunately, once the ship has sailed, there is NO turning back. Once someone believes the earth is flat, you can’t talk them out of it. I’m just some Ivy League, Ivory Tower, condescending scientist. Isn’t there something we don’t know about micronutrients or micro-dosing shrooms and CBD?
Nope. That’s snake oil. Nobody wants to be a sucker, but these people are absolute suckers.
It isn’t just sad; it’s murderous. It leads people to believe that they don’t need the protection of a vaccine. We lost ONE MILLION Americans during the pandemic. But I suppose that was a hoax as well.
When you’re on a ventilator, cannot speak, and your vital signs plummet, do you think it was really worth it to “sock it to those liberal science people?” Was that the hill you wanted to die on? I guess it was.
Gary, thanks for posting the sad reality. The United States has become a laughing stock. And soon we could face another deadly pandemic. If you don’t like lockdowns and masks, roll up your @#$! sleeve and get a vaccine like a normal person. You don’t even have to tell anyone you did it.
Since he can magically diagnose people maybe he should use that magic to cure these poor souls he diagnoses. What a raging nutbag. He’d be lucky to be able to spell science, let alone adhere to it.
Don’t forget, he’s a democrat, pushed out of the way by the blob. He’s not suddenly a conservative. I don’t believe in anything he says, but I do share his disdain for big pharma.
@Parker — Thank you for trying. Don’t worry too much about @Mike P; he’s nearly always like this (though, recently he has shared more travel ideas on other posts, which I do appreciate). Yet, bring up anything about economics… geopolitics… you name it… he’ll basically call you silly names (fool, dumb, stupid, idiot, etc., fairly tame, honestly, but, still ‘not cool’ because it’s a cop out, ad hominem), maybe provide a quote (his Twain is good, his Sowell is not so good), and often take a right-wing or anarcho-libertarian viewpoint *sigh*. So, yeah, not great, but also not as terrible as @Walter Barry (and @Andy S) who literally promote Russian disinformation on here and elsewhere. After a while, we start to pick up on who’s who… oh, and my favorite Mike P-ism is when he says ‘I accept your surrender.’ Whata guy!
@1990 – I can’t fix stupid, but I’m not about to sit back and let liars push a false narrative that has been disproven by all reputable scientists.
Rfk is not even a fully qualified goofball, let alone having a shred of medical knowledge. He is the person after the last person anyone should ask for medical advice.
@Parker — Keep fighting the good fight on here and out there; most people are rational, still trust experts, and want healthy, safe communities; that often involves trusting our medical professionals, getting vaccinated, and adapting to changing circumstances. I’m also alarmed by the recent retaliatory firing and resignations of top scientists and doctors at the CDC over RFK’s unfounded anti-vax policies. When (not if) we have another public health crisis, if these partisan hacks are still running the show, we’re pretty much doomed. Feel like we only learn lessons any more when the worst happens, and maybe not even then. (At least in the film Idiocracy, President Camacho actually listens to the ‘world’s smartest man’…)
“I can’t fix stupid, but I’m not about to sit back and let liars push a false narrative that has been disproven by all reputable scientists.”
Sorry, Parker, but you’re delusional. The proof is obvious to anyone willing to open their minds. The evidence is overwhelming, covid was a scam, and every mitigation “solution” was a failure. It’s very easy for anyone, other than the true believers, to look at the evidence and realize that.
” he’ll basically call you silly names (fool, dumb, stupid, idiot, etc.”
Let’s see your evidence. Ironically, that describes you much better than me. I don’t do that.
I might not be a doctor but when I see a child totally out of control in an airline club while the parents are getting sloshed on the freeze booze I see a child with a very troubled future.
@Mike P — I see you’re doing the ‘SOURCE?!’ meme on here yet again, as if anyone needs to ‘show their work’ on this ‘test’ in order to get the ‘points.’ Then, inevitably, when someone does in-fact show you, you’ll find some way to discredit, distract, or ignore it. Seen it too many times by you before… Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of Herman Cain Awards to go around during the next pandemic.
When the king is a clown, the palace is a circus. The jesters — RFK Jr included — take their signals from the clown at the top. The big clown doesn’t want people to focus on his being the main living male unindicted co-conspirator in the Epstein child sex abuse scandal and noting even more how the big clown was “checking out” tween and teenage girls anywhere and everywhere he could. He and Epstein loved those teenage girl beauty pageants for a reason and would be at them together.
It’s sad to see how many people commenting here support the status quo. Americans are some of the most unhealthy people on the planet and when someone tries to do something you people complain. The path we’ve been on does not work! There is not a single person reading this that could keep up with RFK physically or mentally for 1 day. Any attorney that can win cases like he has done deserves respect and anyone who feels otherwise is living a fantasy and part of the problem. Autism affects 1 in 20 kids and some of the commenters here seem to feel that’s okay. I shake my head that the sad stupidity here. I don’t care if he’s snorting crack and taking methyl blue every day, if it doesn’t appear to be hurting his performance, I’ll support any government official that tries to make the country heathier, particularly the children. For god’s sake what is wrong with you people?
@David — Ah, yes, make ‘healthier’ by… vilifying doctors and scientists.
Something, something… Big Pharma! (Ahh! Boogeyman!) vAcCiNeS.. DEI. AuTiSm.. chemtrails! Woke! Autopen!
We’re doin’ ‘greatest hits’ of the anti-intellectual tropes on here, it seems. Who’s got another? Flat earth? Psh.
Being hostile to the medical and scientific establishment is not making America healthier. It’s doing what it is designed to do: be a eugenics program where the relatively poorer, ignorant, and gullible die faster than the wealthiest who are hostile to democracy and don’t like it that the poor corner drunk has an equal vote in a democracy as a drug-hooked person who paid $10+ million in federal taxes.
@GUWonder — Yet, it’s those fanatics who often call others ‘sheep’… when those fellas are more like lemmings following Dear Leader and his minions off a cliff. Speaking of, what’s the deal with that guy’s hand, and, like, he also cancelled golf for the weekend, also nothing on the schedule for next week (might he be already dead, medical emergency, new war, or Epstein stuff).
Mike P
You are one dumb f’ing c*unt.
You and your orange, scrotum faced douchebag, RFK. Both you asshats are just looking for attention because you are self-absorbed losers who know the square root of jack shit.
Take a dirt nap, Boomer. You are as worthless as balls on a Pope
@K Helldoge — Woah there. Hold your horses. I may also oppose most of @Mike P’s positions on here, but, wishing for harm against your fellow commenters is a line-crossed. Not cool.
Gary, thanks for posting this. How sad that RFK’s crazy airport comment doesn’t even rank among the 50 stupidest things said by the guy who’s in overall charge of our public health. Big kudos to the CDC officials who’ve resigned in protest over his dangerous craziness.
@Parker, thanks for your articulate and well-informed comment. Keep up the good work. We need such voices of rationality and expertise to combat the dangerously irrational and ignorant in our society.
@Parker—we all thank you (x MikeP) for your sound commentary.
RFK Jr is basically an idiot.