According to one source, on February 13, 2025, “Despite millions of dollars spent by groups opposed to his nomination, the Senate voted to install Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [RFK Jr.] at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS].”
I’m pleased with this confirmation, as I wasn’t convinced that President of the United States (U.S.) Donald Trump would choose wisely candidates to inform him when serving his second term. For context, I stated in a February 28, 2024 blogpost entitled Time to Make Burgers:
On the topic of COVID-19, it was Trump who paved way for Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx to arguably mismanage the pandemic response. Among his many other foibles, Fauci has ostensibly admitted that social distancing measures weren’t based on science.
Perhaps you’ve also forgotten that Birx stated in April 2020:
There are other countries that if you had a pre-existing condition, and let’s say the virus caused you to go to the ICU [intensive care unit] and then have a heart or kidney problem, some countries are recording that as a heart issue or a kidney issue and not a COVID-19 death. Right now, we’re still recording it […] The intent is ... if someone dies with COVID-19 we are counting that as a COVID-19 death.
Trump’s representative apparently verified that miscalculation of deaths attributed to the virus was the intent. What did Trump do to intervene as a measure of preventing this sort of negligence? Nothing.
In all fairness, after he was out of office, Birx ostensibly admitted that Trump tried to course-correct when he realized the issue of counting deaths from versus deaths with COVID-19. According to one June 23, 2022 source:
Dr. Deborah L. Birx, President Donald J. Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, told a congressional committee investigating the federal pandemic response that Trump White House officials asked her to change or delete parts of the weekly guidance she sent state and local health officials, in what she described as a consistent effort to stifle information as virus cases surged in the second half of 2020 […]
The push to downplay the threat was so pervasive, Dr. Birx told committee investigators, that she developed techniques to avoid attention from White House officials who might have objected to her public health recommendations. In reports she prepared for local health officials, she said, she would sometimes put ideas at the ends of sentences so colleagues skimming the text would not notice them.
With presumable attempts to undermine Trump’s management of the COVID-19 response, Birx has yet to be held accountable for what may be perceived as subverting the will of the executive office. Although Fauci received a pardon from then-President of the U.S. Joe Biden, Birx didn’t.
One hopes for justice in the matter of those who were oppressed by authoritarian measures from a tyrannical government during the pandemic. Additionally, I further hope that RFK Jr. uses the actual scientific process, and not “the science,” when conducting the business of HHS.
After all, the world has experienced enough needless suffering at the hands of pompous politicians, arrogant so-called experts, deceptive members of the media, defunct academics, cowardly medical providers, and irrationally-motivated citizens who turned on fellow citizens.
Regarding those to whom justice may come, you brought this on yourself. You didn’t have to participate in the lunacy of COVID-19 response measures. You could’ve chosen a small-l libertarian position and simply advocated personal medical practices and procedures.
Although I understand that hope is irrational, as a fallible human being, I remain hopeful that RFK Jr. will help make the U.S. healthy again. This I say, because “Make America Healthy Again” is poor branding, as America is a continent and I’m more concerned about the U.S.
Now, about that justice. Let’s see the receipts. Show who said and did what. Reveal to the world how deep the rot of our system truly went in regard to COVID-19. Let us not echo mistakes of the past. Besides, the scientific process relates to learning from failed experimentation.
Let us learn. Let us be “unburdened by what has been.” And for crying out loud, let us stop worshiping politicians, supposed experts, media members, academics, medical providers, and citizens who are willing to burn at the stake presumed heretics who think critically.
Proverbs 24:24-25: 24 Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations. 25 But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.
You brought this on yourself and hopefully your behavior will be judged accordingly. Ultimately, this is a matter of justice, not revenge. May justice prevail.
If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
Dr Incognito. (2024, December). A virus that just heard RFK Jr is going to head up the US Dept. of health [Image]. NightCafe. Retrieved from https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/ER6JhpNUS9RXbYXJLaPA/a-virus-that-just-heard-rfk-jr-is-going-to-head-up-the-us-dept-of-health
Hollings, D. (2024, November 4). Critical thinking. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/critical-thinking
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Hollings, D. (2024, January 12). Sensitive event. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/sensitive-event
Hollings, D. (2023, September 6). The absence of suffering. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-absence-of-suffering
Hollings, D. (2025, January 2). The distinction between law and justice. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-distinction-between-law-and-justice
Hollings, D. (2023, August 6). The science. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-science
Hollings, D. (2025, January 16). The words we use matter. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-words-we-use-matter
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Hollings, D. (2024, February 28). Time to make burgers. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/time-to-make-burgers
Make Schumer Cry Again. (2020, April 8). Deborah Birx: If someone dies w/ COVID-19, we are counting that as a COVID-19 death [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/blZpgra3XbU?si=3jXirl0YuAvT7vTP
Simmons-Duffin, S. (2025, February 13). RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump’s health secretary, over Democrats’ loud objections. NPR. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/13/nx-s1-5294591/rfk-jr-trump-health-human-services-hhs-vaccines
Weiland, N. (2022, June 23). Deborah Birx says Trump White House asked her to weaken Covid guidance. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/us/birx-trump-covid-guidance.html
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Anthony Fauci. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Fauci
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Deborah Birx. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Birx
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Donald Trump. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Joe Biden. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Public image of Kamala Harris. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_image_of_Kamala_Harris
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr.
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