Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rise through the early Democratic primary polls, and the alternative media’s embrace of him, are remarkable. If it feels as if RFK Jr. is everywhere these days, it’s because he is. Kennedy is being buoyed by a minority of Democratic voters eager to listen, at least, to options other than Joe Biden, mostly a part-time president who only engages in softball media allowed by his handlers.
Which brings us to the indignation between Joe Rogan, RFK Jr. and Dr. Peter Hotez. Hotez, the co-director for the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, has made a name for himself by appearing on cable news networks as a professor in pediatrics and molecular virology. To say that Hotez is somewhat of an expert in the field of virology and vaccine development would be an understatement. He rose to prominence during the Covid pandemic not only for his expertise, but for his biased political positions and appearances on MSNBC.
Hotez has made himself the main character of the week after raising his objections to Kennedy’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, particularly as it pertains to Kennedy’s comments on vaccines, a topic he has controversially long championed. RFK Jr. appeared on The Daily Show in 2005 with very little pushback from then-host Jon Stewart. He’s also been a frequent guest on all three major cable news networks: Fox, CNN and MSNBC. After Hotez raised his objections over RFK, though, Rogan upped the ante by offering $100,000 to charity if Hotez would come on the podcast and debate RFK one on one (and one, including Rogan).
Hotez declined and instead chose a safer and familiar media outlet to express his point of view: he appeared on MSNBC with Mehdi Hasan instead.
Hotez proved that he’s not interested in any debate, nor in quashing any of RFK Jr.’s fringe beliefs. He and media allies have argued that he would be legitimizing Kennedy’s beliefs, but I would argue he has already been legitimized by his several appearances on cable networks and his embrace by figures such as Stewart. He also polls around 20 percent — enough to qualify him in the discussion by Democratic voters who may seek an alternative to the Biden establishment.
I have no problem with Hotez turning down Rogan or Kennedy on merit. I do, however, take issue with the fact that he chose a safe media environment instead to voice his displeasure, one where he knows he will simply be able to say whatever he wants with little or no pushback. This resembles the disinformation complex that was created and weaponized during the pandemic that led to the deplatforming of several users on social media at the behest of that complex, the CDC, and, most likely, the Biden White House. This looks more like gatekeeping than it does science.
Hotez and his media allies appear to believe solely in the echo chamber of cable news, and not the unclean alternative media universe that Rogan dominates. The more RFK is censored — as he has been on YouTube recently — the more traction he will gain and the bigger problem he will become for a DNC establishment already sweating a bit over an unpopular eighty-year-old, part-time president.
That Hotez believes RFK and Joe Rogan are conspiracy theorists, but Joy Reid (on whose show he has appeared) is not, is of itself very telling and political in nature. And it’s here that Hotez undermines his own expertise and shows his agenda is more about peddling the same talking points than about debunking disinformation. Hotez and his media allies only have themselves to blame for the prevailing media environment and RFK’s rise.
