Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination signals a new era of anti-intellectualism in American politics

Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr., on Capitol Hill on Jan. 9, 2025. Jon Cherry/Getty Images by Dominik Stecuła, The Ohio State University; Kristin Lunz Trujillo, University of South Carolina, and Matt Motta, Boston University The many controversial people appointed to the Trump administration, from Elon Musk to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have at least one thing in common: They dislike and distrust experts. While anti-intellectualism and populism are nothing new in American life, there has hardly been an administration as seemingly committed to these worldviews. Take President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Kennedy, a well-known vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, whose Senate confirmation hearing is Jan. 29, 2025, epitomizes the new American political ethos of populism and anti-intellectualism, or the idea that people hold negative feelings toward not just scientific research but those who produce it. Anti-intellectual attacks on the scientific community have been increasing, and have become more partisan, in recent years. For instance, Trump denigrated scientific experts on the campaign trail and in his first term in office. He called climate science a “hoax” and public health officials in his...