Report: Trump Rollbacks Clash with RFK Jr's Health Pledge

A new report finds Trump's environmental policy rollbacks on air and water directly contradict RFK Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" campaign promise.

A new policy analysis from the nonpartisan Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) concludes that former President Donald Trump’s sweeping environmental deregulatory agenda directly contradicts the central “Make America Healthy Again” promise of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The report, released Thursday, details how Trump’s proposed and enacted rollbacks of air, water, and chemical safety rules would increase children’s health environmental exposure to pollutants linked to the very chronic diseases Kennedy’s campaign pledges to eradicate.

The analysis focuses on key Trump-era policies being revived or expanded, including the power plan repeal, loosened Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, reduced enforcement of lead pipe replacement, and the allowance of higher particulate matter (PM2.5) levels. These pollutants are scientifically linked to asthma, neurodevelopmental disorders, childhood cancers, and cardiovascular disease conditions Kennedy frequently cites in his critiques of industrial pollution and pharmaceutical influence.

“Candidate Kennedy promises to ‘end the chronic disease epidemic,’ but aligning with a platform that systematically dismantles the regulatory tools to reduce environmental exposures is a profound contradiction,” stated the report’s lead author. “You cannot make America healthy again while making its air and water dirtier.”

The report places Kennedy in a politically untenable position, caught between his historical identity as an environmental lawyer and his current strategic alliance with Trump, whom he has endorsed for president. The Trump campaign has centered its environmental policy on “energy dominance” and reducing regulatory “burdens” on industry, framing protections as economically damaging.

Public health advocates have seized on the findings, arguing they reveal a fundamental policy incoherence. “This isn't about left or right; it's about cause and effect,” said a representative from the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Weakening air quality standards directly increases pediatric ER visits for asthma. That is the opposite of making America healthy.”

The Kennedy campaign has not directly addressed the report but has reiterated a broad commitment to “removing toxins from our environment.” The analysis suggests voters concerned with health and environmental issues now face a stark choice between competing policy realities, rather than complementary messages.