RFK's loopy approach to vaccines endangers Americans
When it comes to vaccines, President Donald Trump's instincts have sometimes been sound. In May 2020 he launched Operation Warp Speed, which came up with inoculations for covid-19, based on a new mRNA technology, at an unprecedented pace and scale. By one estimate, covid vaccines averted 18.5m hospitalisations and 3.2m deaths in America in two years. And Mr Trump wisely got himself jabbed. So why is he now letting his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy junior, dismantle the country's vaccine-making ecosystem?
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump FINALLY gets a question he respects as president grins from ear-to-ear after big week on Wall Street
Donald Trump gushed over a reporter's question about whether he 'outsmarted' the financial markets with his industry-shaking tariffs. The president grinned from ear-to-ear as a reporter asked him for his reaction to Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Sløk saying Trump may have 'outsmarted everyone' with his tariffs. 'Mr. President, a leading global economist just did a one-eighty and says your tariff plan, you may have outsmarted everybody with it. What is your message?' the reporter asked. Trump smiled as he responded: 'I love this. I love this question. This is the favorite. This is the best question I've ever been asked because I've been going through abuse for years on this. 'Because, as you know, we're taking in hundreds of billions of dollars, no inflation whatsoever.' The reporter added in a follow-up question for Trump's 'message to critics who think your tariff plan caused a recession?' 'I think they should go back to business school,' Trump responded. 'It's so obvious. It's so obvious. I mean, we're taking in billions and billions of dollars from China and a lot of other countries.' It came as Wall Street continued its recent rally this week, with the S&P500 and Nasdaq hitting all-time closing highs on Friday. In Sløk's report that Trump appeared to enjoy, the economist speculated that Trump would keep tariffs below his most aggressive rates to ease market uncertainty while using them as leverage to get better trade deals. 'Maybe the strategy is to maintain 30% tariffs on China and 10% tariffs on all other countries and then give all countries 12 months to lower nontariff barriers and open up their economies to trade,' he wrote. The report came as Trump's 90-day pause on 'reciprocal tariffs' is set to come to an end early next month. Sløk said that Trump should consider extending the deadline to a whole year, which he said would give the global markets time to adjust to a 'new world with permanently higher tariffs.' 'This would seem like a victory for the world and yet would produce $400 billion of annual revenue for US taxpayers,' he said. 'Trade partners will be happy with only 10% tariffs and U.S. tax revenue will go up. 'Maybe the administration has outsmarted all of us.' Trump shocked the global markets in April as he introduced a raft of 'Liberation Day' tariffs, but the gamble may have paid off as markets soared in recent weeks and the US signed a number of trade deals with foreign nations The soaring stock market numbers came as trade deal hopes fueled investor risk appetite and economic data helped solidify expectations for rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The rise came even after Trump terminated trade negotiations with Canada in response to its digital tax on technology companies. 'This market's been pretty resilient,' said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. 'Investors are riding momentum and looking for breakouts.' 'They don't want to get caught on the wrong side of this thing,' Carlson added. 'Many investors already have missed out. And now you have the S&P flirting with an all-time high.' While tariffs have yet to affect price growth, inflation continues to hover above the Fed's 2% annual inflation target. A separate report from the University of Michigan confirmed consumer sentiment has improved this month, but remains well below December's post-election bounce. Financial markets have priced in a 72% likelihood that the Fed will implement its first rate cut of the year in September, with a smaller, 21% probability of a rate cut coming as soon as July, according to CME's FedWatch tool. Washington and Beijing reached an agreement to expedite rare-earth shipments to the U.S., a White House official said, well ahead of the July 9 expiration of the 90-day postponement of U.S. President Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs. Additionally, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration's trade deals with 18 of the main U.S. trading partners could be done by the September 1 Labor Day holiday.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Eric Trump drops big time hint about possible successor to father's presidency in 2028
Donald Trump 's second son has fueled speculation that his family is seeking to establish a multi-generational political dynasty, saying he and other relatives may run for public office. Eric Trump told the Financial Times that a political career would be 'would be an easy one' for family members, as they look beyond President Trump's second term that ends in 2029. Eric, 41, is a fierce defender of his father on television networks, while older brother Don Jr. is a key player in the Trump inner circle, using his podcast and social media presence to fire up the president's base. 'The real question is: "Do you want to drag other members of your family into it?"' Eric Trump said in an interview. 'Would I want my kids to live the same experience over the last decade that I've lived? 'If the answer was yes, I think the political path would be an easy one, meaning, I think I could do it,' he said. 'And by the way, I think other members of our family could do it too.' Trump's children and his close family have long been involved in his business life, and have also taken major roles as he moved into politics and took the White House in 2017. In Trump's first term, his daughter Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner held senior administration posts, though they have retreated from the political frontlines for now. Donald Trump Jr., 47, has been at the forefront of his father's political operation for many years with conservative candidates coveting his endorsements. Eric's wife Lara Trump co-led the national Republican Party during the last election campaign receiving lavish praise from the candidate, and she now has her own show on Fox News. Barron Trump, the president's only child with wife Melania, is aged 19, but his father says he is interested in politics and helped him to draw in young male voters via podcasts and TikTok. Kai Trump, 18, daughter of Don Jr. and ex-wife Vanessa Trump, spoke at last year's Republican National Convention and is a competitive junior golfer. Eric Trump told the Financial Times he was 'wholly unimpressed by half the politicians I see' adding 'I could do it very effectively.' Asked if a Trump would stand for election in future, he replied 'I don´t know... Time will tell. But there's more people than just me.' Eric and Don Jr. run the Trump family business, which now includes a growing cryptocurrency portfolio. Eric Trump denied any conflicts of interest, saying 'if there's one family that hasn't profited off politics, it's the Trump family. Eric's wife Lara Trump co-led the national Republican Party during the last election campaign receiving lavish praise from the candidate, and she now has her own show on Fox News Trump family members including Kai, Don Jr, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump, Eric and his wife Lara Trump, surround the family patriarch to close out last year's convention 'The opportunity cost, the legal cost, the toll it's taken on our family has been astronomical.' The Trumps are widely believed to have taken the monetizing of their powerful status to unprecedented levels for US first families. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has agreed to finance a film about Melania Trump, reportedly netting her $28 million. Other close family are involved in multi-billion-dollar real estate deals abroad, and Don Jr. is launching a Washington club where membership reportedly costs more than half a million dollars. In May, President Trump hosted a dinner at one of his golf clubs for investors in his $TRUMP cryptocurrency, which he launched shortly before reentering the White House.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Israeli strikes kill more than 60 people in Gaza, health officials say
At least 62 people have been killed in Gaza by overnight Israeli strikes, according to health officials, as the humanitarian situation worsens in the besieged strip despite renewed hope for a ceasefire. Airstrikes began overnight on Friday and continued into Saturday morning, killing a dozen people near a displacement shelter near Palestine Stadium in Gaza City. A strike at midday on Saturday killed at least 11 people. A displaced family in a tent was killed in an Israeli strike in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, while they were sleeping. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 56,000 people, half of whom are women and children, local health authorities say. Famine-like conditions reign in Gaza after a two-and-a-half month blockade imposed by Israel on all food until late May, since when Israel has allowed only a dribble of humanitarian aid into the strip. Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 people hostage. The latest killings come as a ceasefire in Gaza seems within reach, with Donald Trump saying on Friday that an agreement could come within a week. 'I think it's close,' the US president said. 'I just spoke to some of the people involved. We think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire.' Reports say Israel's minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, will visit Washington next week to discuss the ceasefire, among other topics. The recent ceasefire with Iran, which ended a 12-day conflict that Israel perceived to be a great success, might provide breathing room for long-stalled peace talks. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on Thursday: 'Along with releasing our hostages and defeating Hamas, there is an opportunity, a window of opportunity has opened and it can't be missed. Not even a single day can be wasted.' Fighting started anew in Gaza in March, when Israel restarted its war after refusing to move to a second phase of a January ceasefire that could have led to a more permanent truce. Negotiations since then have so far been fruitless, with Hamas insisting on a total end to the war in Gaza – a demand Israel has rejected. Since the breakdown of the March ceasefire, more than 6,000 people have been killed in Gaza. Israel, for its part, says its aim for continuing the war is to return about 50 hostages who remain in Gaza, 30 of whom are presumed to be dead. Hamas has said it is willing to free all the hostages if there is a permanent truce, but Netanyahu wants the militant group to be completely dismantled in Gaza. The most recent US proposal for a ceasefire involved a 60-day pause in fighting and renewed talks to achieve long-term peace, in addition to the release of half of all living hostages and half of the deceased. Hamas previously requested amendments to the proposal to release fewer hostages and for a permanent truce, which was rejected by the US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, at the end of May. As ceasefire talks have languished, humanitarian conditions in Gaza have sharply deteriorated. Unicef said last week that 60% of water production facilities in Gaza were out of order and that there was a 50% increase in acute child malnutrition from April to May. Scenes of chaos unfold every day as crowds of hungry Palestinians have had to walk miles and contend with confusing sets of rules to access food, now distributed from set points run by the private American initiative the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). More than 500 people have been shot dead by Israeli forces as they have attempted to get aid from GHF distribution points, with witnesses accusing Israeli soldiers of shooting directly at crowds. The Israeli military said it was investigating such incidents. Fifteen international human rights organisations have called on the GHF to halt its operations in Gaza, saying it risks being complicit in war crimes. The organisations also accused the GHF of violating the principles of neutrality and independence, cornerstones of humanitarian work.
