In Front of Our Noses: This is Just Weird
Really, more under RFK's nose.
So, these are just two news bits joined together by the presence of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Neither is, in the grand miasma of Trumpworld, especially important. But they both underscore how truly weird this administration and this present moment are.
First, let’s just go plain strange. Here we have a shirtless, bejeaned RFK, Jr., and a shirtless Kid Rock working out in a video posted by the federal government of these here United States. It is set to Kid Rock’s song, “Bawitdaba“
Just for kicks, KR flips off the camera.
While I am personally not scandalized by this, it is an extremely odd thing to have in a video ostensibly created as a PSA to promote exercise.
And here is a verse from the song, which was also part of the TPUSA’s alternative halftime show because Bad Bunny was too offensive, or something. (Side note: there is no way that most of the people who were incensed about Bad Bunny singing in Spanish could understand this song, especially since much of it is gibberish, i.e., “Bawitdaba, da-bang, da-bang, diggy-diggy-diggy”).
And this is for the questions that don’t have any answers
The midnight glancers and the topless dancers
The gander freaks, cars packed with speakers
The G’s with the 40’s and the chicks with beepers
The Northern Lights and the Southern Comfort
And it don’t even matter if their veins are punctured
All the crackheads, the critics, the cynics
And all my heroes in the Methadone clinics
All you bastards at the IRS
For the crooked cops and the cluttered desks
For the shots of Jack and the caps of Meth
Half pints of love and the 5th’s of stress
For the hookers all trickin’ out in HollywoodAnd for my hoods of the world misunderstood
I said, “It’s all good, and it’s all in fun
Now get in the pit and try to love someone”
This isn’t exactly the stuff of blue-haired old ladies at Sunday School. But to the point of my previous post, the thing that makes Kid Rock appealing is the color of his skin more than anything else. It isn’t his wholesome demeanor or his high-minded, chaste lyrics.
And setting all that aside, what is the deal with RFK, Jr. working out in jeans? That’s just plain weird.
Second, there’s the statement Kennedy made on a podcast about snorting cocaine off a toilet seat. It was the kind of thing that makes you think you are reading The Onion, but it ends up you’re not.
It isn’t like we didn’t know that Kennedy had substance abuse problems in his past, but there is something so profoundly bizarre to have this kind of statement just tossed out in public. Moreover, the part that really struck me was that he was describing his attitude towards COVID-19: that since he had survived his toilet-seat snorts, he wasn’t afraid of any germ. This is a, well, unhealthy, attitude for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to have had during the recent pandemic, and is yet another red flag waving under our noses about his judgment.
Moreover, Steve Benen at MS Now makes a solid point:
There aren’t many countries where the nation’s health secretary could make such a comment in public and expect to remain in their position. But in 2026, conditions in the United States are rather odd.
In fact, watching Kennedy’s on-air comments, I found myself thinking about one person: Douglas Ginsburg.
In 1987, Ronald Reagan announced that Ginsburg — at the time a federal appeals court judge — was his choice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Two weeks later, Ginsburg felt compelled to withdraw his nomination, not because of concerns related to his qualifications or temperament, but because he had admitted to having smoked marijuana in the past.
Though it seems foolish now, at the time this was a deal-breaker. Almost four decades later, in a different Republican administration, a health secretary saying that he “used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats” barely generated news coverage.
This continues to be a bizarre and disconcerting timeline.
Gee, Jr. Half-Brain, how could you possibly get parasitic worms in your brain?
BTW, Mexico’s in the midst of a massive measles outbreak, far worse than that in the US. I haven’t been able to determine the reason, and I wasn’t aware of such an extensive antivaxx attitude. However, the government has rushed millions of doses of vaccines and is conducting mass vaccination campaigns, mostly among children.
I’m ashamed to admit I’ve always liked “Bawitdaba.” But even back then I found him to be somewhat of a walking embarrassment, like the SNL sketches of grown-ass adults who think they’re cool but aren’t.
I’m not sure why one would snort cocaine off a toilet seat. But, yes, it seems perhaps not the sort of thing a Health Secretary ought valorize.
With all the coke and toilet seat discussion. Got me to remember this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DL1vgRfZwQ&pp=ygUWdG9pbGV0IHNlYXQgY29jYWluZSBhZA%3D%3D
Just say no (to dirt)
@James Joyner:
Ginsberg’s marijuana problem was exacerbated when it was revealed that his wife, Dr. Hallee Morgan, had performed several abortions.
RFK jr has the same grift as the “Liver King” – take a bunch of steroids to look a certain way then pretend it’s the result of whatever ant-science quackery they’re selling.
Besides antivaxxers, there seems to be a growing trend among wingnuts to deny the germ theory of disease.
This is yet another XIX century fight that was settled long ago. Germs, meaning viruses, bacteria, yeasts, parasites, etc., cause disease. They don’t cause all disease, but certainly all infectious disease. For some reason, there are people who don’t accept this. Ergo the nonsense about not being afraid of a germ.
At that, the XIX century scientists had an excuse: germs were not as well understood then. They are far better understood now. As is the immune system. Simply put, if germs didn’t cause disease, why would our bodies, and those of all other animal and plant species, have evolved sophisticated systems to eradicate them?
@Kathy: It’s even more convoluted than that. The “hygiene hypothesis” does have some merit, but unfortunately people with limited scientific vocabularies take it to an extreme. The idea that hyper-clean childhood environments can lead to poorly “tuned” immune systems, leading to autoimmune diseases *feels* like a simple explanation (it is not). Those with established biases see this and extrapolate out “dirt is good!” and “challenging the immune system is beneficial!” without counter-balancing that with yeah, botulism and salmonella are bad and can kill you.
We look at warning labels like “do not use while showering” on a tag on an electric iron and think “who DOES THAT?” A lot of people are just going to absorb the information that confirms what they already think, life, health, and safety be damned.
@Jen:
Ironically, for them, one way to stimulate the immune system in the right direction is through vaccines.