Photo: Sarah Stierch
Some believe President Trump isn’t smart or skilled. If they had watched 60 Minutes last week, perhaps they would have changed their mind. At one point, 60 Minutes was one of the most trusted news programs in the United States. It has won more Emmy awards than any other primetime broadcast. President Trump sued CBS and received a multi-million dollar settlement. He made it clear that the Federal Communications Commission, under his control, would approve a plan to sell the company to one of President Trump’s allies, billionaire Larry Ellison.
The success of President Trump’s strategy is evident in the 60 Minutes interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. The interview focused on Director Kennedy’s attack on ultra-processed foods. Kennedy continued to call for an end to a 67-year-old government classification program that allowed substances in our food, even if they had never been independently tested. The program has led to an increasing number of chemicals and modified foods being included in our daily diets.
60 Minutes also interviewed Dr. David Kessler, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who made it clear that while he does not support Kennedy’s vaccination position, he does support his goal of removing untested substances from our food. There was nothing wrong with the news program’s question. It was what it didn’t ask that showed how easy it is for a president who appoints people to serve him rather than the public to control the corporate media.
Kennedy — who has rightly pointed out that many industries have captured their regulators with campaign contributions, jobs after leaving government, or other means — was not asked about the appointment of former American Soybean Association lobbyist Kyle Kunkler as the deputy assistant administrator for pesticides at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Nor was Kennedy asked about Administrator Kunkler’s decision to allow the pesticide Dicamba to be reinstated for use. Years ago, courts outlawed the use of Dicamba, finding it “drifts” from where it is sprayed to other crops. Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, modified soybean genes to protect the crop from the poison as it has done with other crops. This is because Dicamba vaporizes during spraying and evaporates from plant surfaces and soil days after spraying. It forms clouds that drift to other farms where crops are not genetically modified to withstand the poison.
Kennedy was not asked about the Trump Administration siding with Bayer in an effort to stop lawsuits against its weed killer Roundup. Courts have found Roundup to be carcinogenic and have awarded people millions of dollars who have been poisoned and developed cancer because of exposure.
The United States Supreme Court is hearing a case that, if Bayer wins, would block thousands of state lawsuits. Unlike President Biden, President Trump is trying to help Bayer escape liability for Roundup.
Most people familiar with Secretary Kennedy’s background know that he has bragged about exposing Roundup as a carcinogen. In a YouTube video posted by Kennedy, it touts “How I got Monsanto to pay billions” in the title. 60 Minutes didn’t ask Kennedy how changing what one eats prevents Roundup from being carcinogenic.
Similarly, when he was an environmental lawyer and an independent candidate for President, Kennedy said the following: “I have a personal belief that the climate crisis is real . . . We have poisoned every freshwater fish in North America through mercury discharges from coal-burning power plants. . . The high peaks of the forest are gone because of acid rain.”
60 Minutes never asked Kennedy if President Trump’s decision to revoke the 2009 “endangerment finding” — which determined that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare — harms the health of Americans. The repeal undermines the EPA’s ability to regulate emissions from vehicles and power plants, which are major sources of climate pollution.
Why didn’t 60 Minutes ask if pollution and carcinogens in our food affect our health as much as processed foods? If we can eat healthier but can’t escape acid rain and carcinogens, shouldn’t we focus on the environment as much as on the food supply?
Kennedy may believe ending the consumption of highly processed foods is more important than protecting people from pesticide poisoning and air and water pollution. Or perhaps he believes that eating differently protects against these environmental poisons. There’s also possibly another explanation. We will never know because 60 Minutes chose to protect rather than challenge the Trump Administration.
The interview shows that Trump’s threat to strip billionaires of a small percentage of their wealth has been very successful. He has bought protection from 60 Minutes and CBS’s real journalism, making it easier for him to mislead the public. Of course, the real losers are all of us who will be exposed to the deadly pesticides and see our lakes, rivers, and forests die. We will have to hope that eating non-processed food will fight off the environmental poisons.
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