OPINION:
Throughout our nation’s electoral history, major parties have successfully depressed the power of upstart minor parties or movements by adopting some measure of their platforms and absorbing it into their own agendas. Former President Donald Trump has the ability to do this in 2024 with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when it comes to a critical component of the liberal scion’s appeal.
In a race that could come down to a photo finish, with the nation divided and disillusioned, Mr. Trump’s outreach to those who are concerned about chronic health conditions could make a difference. While polling shows that few people are voting primarily on this issue given the inflation and immigration crises, it’s a smart political move for the former president and the right thing to do.
Mr. Kennedy says Americans shouldn’t have to choose between the lesser of two evils. He’s right, of course, but our leadership crisis will be solved only by addressing the needs of Americans who are bucking under unchecked federal power and corporate influence. No one person has a monopoly on good ideas. The man who became famous for “The Art of the Deal” has an opportunity to demonstrate his understanding of that when it comes to our public health crisis.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half the country has a chronic health condition, and more than one-quarter live with two or more. In the 1950s, that percentage was in the single digits.
The most common chronic conditions include heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity. Nearly half the country has high blood pressure.
The costs of cardiovascular disease in terms of health care and productivity loss are projected to top $1 trillion in the coming years. All of these illnesses come with staggering human and financial costs.
Mr. Kennedy has called chronic disease “the worst attack on the middle class in this country” for that very reason. The vast majority of our health care spending goes to treating chronic conditions. Americans continue to spend more annually on health care despite the promises of the Affordable Care Act, while our health outcomes are getting worse.
We are also seeing historic levels of addiction, suicide and depression. Nearly 50,000 people died by suicide last year, and the number of young Americans ending their lives has skyrocketed in recent years. The number of drug overdose deaths topped 107,000 in 2023.
Mr. Kennedy is also rightly concerned about the sharp rises in allergies, autism, ADHD and other conditions that plague our society that 50 years ago barely existed.
We should all be asking why this is happening and resolve to do something about it. Mr. Trump should discuss how these conditions require study, increased funding and concrete action to address the overwhelming human health costs.
Mr. Trump should also openly embrace President John F. Kennedy’s call to ensure that we do all we can to fight obesity by committing to new physical education and health education standards. The 35th president certainly understood the critical importance of raising a healthy generation, as President Dwight D. Eisenhower did before him. Physical health was important at an early age for many obvious reasons, but in particular, as America remained on alert during the Cold War.
Today, around 25% of our nation’s youth are too overweight to join the military. A recent class of Marine Corps recruits had to be put into a special program before boot camp to meet weight and physical standards.
Schoolchildren in the 1950s were subject to a series of physical evaluations. Some 60% of kids failed at least one of the tests. President Eisenhower sought to address that problem, and his successor would pick up the mantle with his President’s Council on Youth Fitness, telling Sports Illustrated in 1960: “For physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body; it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. … Intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong.”
Today, as Mr. Kennedy points out, the CDC is taking a page from the education complex and revising the standards for youth physical fitness downward, making the situation even worse.
Mr. Trump needs to tell voters that we need to stop talking about transgenderism, pronouns, and how “fat is fabulous,” and start getting our kids in shape.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign rhetoric is about disruption. It’s about upending what we have come to accept as normal — America’s slow, managed decline. Mr. Trump, many Republicans, conservatives and independents see that as well.
Mr. Trump has proved pragmatic and surprisingly measured during his time in political life. It is precisely for that reason that Democrats paint him as a petulant dictator salivating at stripping away the rights from huge swaths of the American mosaic.
Raising the volume on chronic health crises and committing to do something about them will allow Mr. Trump to better connect with voters on both a rational and emotional level while demonstrating the kind of leadership the nation desperately needs.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax TV and a columnist with The Washington Times.
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