Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s proposal to remove fluoride from the U.S. water system “sounds fine” to him, a position that contradicts the recommendation of health officials.
“Well, I haven't talked to him about it yet, but it sounds okay to me. “You know it’s possible,” Trump said in a press release interview with NBC News' Dasha Burns when asked about Kennedy's proposal.
kennedy posted on X-Saturday: “On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.”
Trump also said Kennedy would play a giant role Shaping public health policy in every Trump administration.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fluoride occurs naturally in just about all water sources and a few is added to public water to stop tooth decay.
“The safety and benefits of fluoride are well documented and have been extensively reviewed by multiple scientific and public health organizations,” it said in a press release post on the CDC website.
The American Dental Association says that 70 years of research demonstrates the security and effectiveness of adding fluoride to water, a process generally known as community water fluoridation.
The Trump campaign didn’t immediately reply to CNBC's request for comment on the fluoride remark.
Kennedy can be a known vaccine skeptic who has helped spread false conspiracy theories about public health. When asked by NBC News whether a “ban on certain vaccines would be considered” if Trump were president and Kennedy was in his administration, Trump left the door open.
“Well, I'll talk to him and other people and make a decision, but he's a very talented guy and has strong views,” Trump said.
The science on fluoride and water fluoridation is evident. But Trump's doubts and the questions they may raise amongst voters about what public health might appear to be in a Trump White House underscore a serious challenge for the Trump campaign in its final days: staying on message.
Last weekend, insult comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash,” something the Trump campaign distanced itself from.
Those comments dominated the news cycle for several days until President Joe Biden appeared to call Trump supporters “trash” before later saying that wasn't what he meant.
Republicans argue that voters usually are not taking note of every controversial statement from Trump and his allies this week and are as a substitute specializing in the larger issues within the race.
“Voters in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina are all talking about crime and unemployment,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“They’re talking about the border. You're talking about 70,000 Americans losing their lives to fentanyl. They don’t talk about fluoride.”
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