All Spectacle, No Contact: RFK Jr.’s Strikeout on Autism
He Promised a Dinger but Delivered a Dud
In April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised the country he’d solve autism in six months. He pointed to the bleachers like the Great Bambino, telling the cameras he’d identify the causes and “eliminate those exposures.” September came and went. What did he deliver? Not science. Not solutions. Just nonsense.
What He Promised
As Trump’s health secretary, RFK Jr. declared that the U.S. government would uncover the “cause” of autism by September. He even hired David Geier, a discredited anti-vaccine activist, to help steer the search. At follow-up meetings, Kennedy doubled down, claiming his team had identified interventions “almost certainly causing autism.”
What Actually Happened
By September, the promise collapsed. The White House’s big reveal devolved into Trump repeating “Don’t take Tylenol” eleven times. Autism wasn’t explained. It was exploited — as a stage prop for political theater.
Why the Frame Was Harmful
The harm wasn’t just in missing the deadline. The harm was in the premise: that autism is a puzzle to solve or a disease to eradicate. Once you adopt that frame, only two outcomes are possible: silence or nonsense. This administration chose nonsense, and in doing so, treated autistic lives as material for a spectacle.
Who Benefited — and Who Paid the Price
A Cabinet-level promise to “eliminate” autism reframed existence as pathology. The beneficiaries were RFK Jr. and Trump, who attempted to harvest political capital from spectacle. The people harmed and missing from the conversation were autistic people themselves, erased and recast as problems awaiting eradication.
The Theater, Not the Science
No real science was attempted here. The method was theater: public boasts, press clips, and the appointment of a long-discredited activist to chase a vaccine-autism link. When September arrived, there was no research to show — only a recycled performance of anti-science talking points.
The Real Questions
Why was “eliminating autism” allowed to pass as a credible government goal? What public resources were diverted into validating myths rather than supporting autistic people? And what happens when credibility itself is spent on reinforcing stigma?
Stee-rike Threeee!!!!
RFK Jr. tried to pull a Great Bambino — pointing to the bleachers, calling his shot, promising to solve autism in six months. But when September came, there was no home run. Not even contact. The strike-three swing was furious — all spectacle, no substance. He wanted the cameras to remember the motion, not the miss. But autistic people will remember the premise: our lives were treated as a ballpark stunt, a shot that was never his to take. Meanwhile, the very parents who need practical support were handed false promises instead of real results. Time to bench this player until he gets some more batting practice.