RFK Jr. Accidentally Makes a Case for More Army-Ready Kids

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bizarrely called attention to American children’s inability to qualify for military service.

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During a press conference on nutrition education Monday, the health and human services secretary, 72, was announcing what he described as “one of the most important course corrections in modern American medicine” when he broached the unusual topic.

“This is not only a public health challenge, it’s a national security issue. About 77 percent of American children can no longer qualify for military service,” he said. “That’s something that should get everybody’s attention.”

In the United States, citizens must be at least 18 years old to serve in the military.

While it was certainly an attention-grabbing statement, it remains unclear exactly what Kennedy meant. The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for clarification.

The Trump appointee’s verbal slip-up comes as rumors swirl that he has become checked out of his highly consequential role.

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On Sunday, The New York Times reported that roughly a dozen people with direct contact with Kennedy, along with Health Department employees, said his leadership—or lack thereof—has driven morale so low that the agency’s ability to respond during a crisis has been called into question.

Other Kennedy insiders told the outlet that the health secretary is laser-focused on vaccines and largely siloed from much of the rest of the agency.

At the same time, President Donald Trump, 79, has reportedly moved to rein in his Health and Human Services secretary’s rhetoric on vaccine conspiracies and other wildly unpopular and controversial health policies ahead of the midterm elections, which are already expected to be difficult for Republicans.

In April, Bloomberg reported on an internal memo that cautioned the secretary and his aides to steer clear of “Red light” issues, including efforts to overhaul vaccine standards.

Instead, Kennedy, a longtime conspiracy theorist with no scientific background, was encouraged to focus on “greenlight” topics, including food quality and fitness, lowering health care costs, cracking down on billing fraud, and promoting “gold standard” science, according to Bloomberg.

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