RFK, Jr. Is The Big Lie
My front porch, February, 2017
I normally stick to State and local issues, but the Trump campaign lies have gotten so outrageous that I must respond, particularly in light of this pledge RFK, Jr. made in his campaign kickoff speech:
to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country.
I was sickened but not surprised by RFK, Jr.’s endorsement of Trump. Even worse, RFK Jr. is now touting his personal commitments to environmental and children’s health issues and Trump’s lead mouthpiece Tucker Carlson is using his platform to expand and support even bigger lies, see:
So, we need to provide the facts on Trump’s environmental record to expose their fraud and hypocrisy.
In January 2017, on his first day in Office Trump issued a sweeping Executive Order (13771) that directed the rollback of hundreds of environmental, climate, energy, public lands, and public health protections, see:
He followed that up with Executive Order (13979) with the darkly cynical Orwellian title: “Ensuring Democratic Accountability in Agency Rulemaking”.
Trump dismantled EPA climate programs.
Trump installed climate denier Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator. He was so bad he was forced to resign under at least 14 investigations after only a year in Office:
On an issue that resonates today with so much criminal conduct, Trump even issued an Executive Order that made it far more difficult if not impossible to criminally prosecute corporate violators. (I’ll bet executives at Boeing, Big Oil/Gas, and railroad corporations were pleased by that).
The Trump record was well documented – for those who like the receipts and to explore the weeds, here are some of the best sources: The NY Times, Brookings, and Columbia Law School, respectively:
Despite all that, both RFK, Jr. and Tucker Carlson’s liars have emphasized commitments to children’s health and, in particular, strong opposition to toxic pesticides. Given this emphasis, perhaps the most egregious and current illustrations of the fraud and hypocrisy is the story of one of the most toxic pesticides on earth, Chlorpyrifos.
This is particularly stunning example given the Tucker Carlson specific emphasis on the alleged Nazi development of organophosphate pesticides.
The story of Chlorpyrifos illustrates all facets of the Trump Project 2025 Agenda:
1) appointments of political loyalists in government agencies;
2) Executive Orders to set policy;
3) deregulation;
4) denial of science;
5) corporate lobbying; and
5) right wing courts to strike down any regulation that makes it through the deregulatory gauntlet.
Here’ the opening of the chlorpyrifos story by the Environmental Working Group, but I suggest you read the whole thing:
Chlorpyrifos is the most widely used organophosphate pesticide in the U.S., with millions of pounds sprayed every year. Scientists have definitively linked it to severe brain damage in children and fetuses, but a scheduled federal ban was scuttled by the Trump administration. Now some states are taking regulation into their own hands.
Did you get that? The Trump EPA killed a proposed BAN.
Let me put a finer point on that, from EWG:
October 2015
Numerous studies found overwhelming evidence showing that even small exposures of chlorpyrifos can cause irreparable damage to the parts of the brain that control language, memory, emotion and behavior, and that exposure during development leads to lower IQ levels. The EPA’s assessment of these studies concluded that current levels of chlorpyrifos found on food and in drinking water are unsafe. Based on this assessment and the FQPA standard, the Obama administration’s EPA proposed a ban of chlorpyrifos on food crops.
Landrigan said of the rule, “Based on the strong consensus of the pediatric and the public health communities, the FQPA stated unequivocally that regulation of toxic pesticides must focus, first and foremost, on protecting infants and children…. When the EPA fails to apply this principle, children may be exposed to levels of chemical pesticides that can profoundly harm their health.”
But look what happened to that Obama EPA ban:
March 2017
Scott Pruitt, the first EPA chief in the Trump administration, ignored the evidence and overruled his own scientists, rescinding the ban just days before it would have taken effect.
The Biden EPA restored the ban:
The Biden administration
Shortly after taking office in January, President Biden used an executive order to direct the EPA to review the decision to reverse the ban on chlorpyrifos.
The EPA under President Joe Biden announced a ban on all uses of chlorpyrifos on food. The move will make it illegal to have trace amounts of chlorpyrifos present on food – something that the agency had previously permitted.
August 2021
The EPA announced on August 18, 2021, that it would ban all uses of chlorpyrifos on food, after decades of allowing its use. EWG applauded the long-overdue move as a vital step toward protecting public health.
But a right wing corporate Federalist Society US Circuit Court struck that rule down –
So the Project 2025 dismantling is proceeding as planned.
Don’t be fooled by liars and frauds like RFK, Jr. and the Tucker Carlson Crew.