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Trump’s appointments are coming thick and fast, and there is probably no reason to comment on all of them. But here are a few thoughts on some of the recent ones.

* Robert Kennedy, Jr. is Trump’s choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. The appointment is of course massively controversial, but how important it will be remains to be seen.

I have long regarded Kennedy as a crackpot anti-vaxxer. I am not sure to what extent he retains those views; the alleged link between vaccinations and autism, for example, has been thoroughly refuted, although there is more to the controversy over vaccines. But to the extent that he stands for health freedom, he could be a bulwark against any repetition of the covid fiasco.

To the extent that Kennedy is anti-pharmaceutical company, I think he is dead wrong. The pharmaceutical companies rank high among the greatest benefactors of humanity in all of history. But perhaps there are ways in which patent laws relating to drugs and devices could be tweaked to benefit consumers without doing undue harm to medical research.

During the presidential campaign, I was struck by the potency of the “Make America Healthy Again” theme. A number of people I know or follow on social media were enthusiastic (and sometimes surprising) supporters. I am not sure what to make of the observation that Americans suffer from lots of chronic diseases. In considerable part, that is due to our aging population. But it is also true that many American are obese and out of condition. The question is, what is the government going to do about it?

When I was a kid, there was a major federal move to encourage physical fitness. Physical education classes in public schools were expanded, and sports for girls followed not far behind. Maybe Kennedy can use the bully pulpit to encourage a similar renaissance in physical activity. If so, great.

* To return to the Matt Gaetz nomination, a number of theories are circulating in Washington. My favorite, relayed by a DC insider, begins with the claim that DOJ employees were surveyed about what they would do if various figures were installed as Attorney General. Supposedly, most said they would quit if Gaetz were the new AG. So nominating Gaetz, the theory goes, is a clever way to get many left-wing DOJ employees, who are civil servants and can’t be fired, to “self-deport.”

I would like to believe it, but I think it is more likely that nominating Gaetz was a ploy to get Gaetz out of Congress. And more likely still that, for whatever reason, Trump actually wants Gaetz as his Attorney General. We probably will never know, as it is unlikely that Gaetz can be confirmed.

* Trump has just announced that Karoline Leavitt, his campaign spokeswoman, will be the White House Press Secretary. Awesome. Leavitt is only 27 years old–which is rather shocking in itself–but I want to see much more like this:

Trump isn’t batting 1.000, in my view, but at around .800 he is doing very well.