2024 election: Trump wins second term as president: NPR

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking at an event in Los Angeles on March 30.

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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking at an event in Los Angeles on March 30.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

This piece originally appeared as part of NPR’s live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network go to our live updates page.

In an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep this morning, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the Trump administration, which he is likely to be a part of, will recommend removing fluoride from the nation’s drinking water.

Kennedy, who endorsed Donald Trump in August, is part of the president-elect’s transition team and has asked for a health care role in the Trump administration. In October, Trump said he would give Kennedy a role in his administration, but that hasn’t been defined yet.

“We don’t need fluoride in our water,” Robert F. Kennedy went on to say Morning edition. “It’s a very poor way to deliver it into our systems.”

Fluoride, a mineral that helps strengthen teeth and reduce cavities, has been added to US drinking water in some areas since 1945, but the decision to add fluoride is made at the local level. The federal government cannot rule on water fluoridation, but can make recommendations for or against its use and at what concentration. About 70% of the US population have access to fluoridated tap water.

Kennedy also said one of his immediate priorities would be to review research on vaccines. Kennedy has long been critical of vaccines and vaccine mandates, once saying it was “criminal medical malpractice” to give a child a COVID-19 vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the COVID-19 vaccine is safe for children. Kennedy has also repeatedly claimed that vaccines cause autism, despite a large body of evidence that vaccines are not to blame.

“Obviously, we’re not going to take vaccines away from anybody,” Kennedy said. “We want to make sure Americans have good information about vaccines and vaccine safety.

Kennedy, who is related to a long line of famous Democrats, said the party is run by millionaires and no longer represents the wishes of workers but an elite class.

“The Republican Party is now the party of the unions, the party of the working people, the party of the American poor,” Kennedy said. “And those are the people who voted for Donald Trump, and those are the people he will keep his promises to.”