Of all of Donald Trump’s policy proposals, the one I find most baffling is his endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plan to overhaul our food industry.

The idea that highly processed, high-calorie fast foods are the major cause of the obesity epidemic seems obvious to everyone. And like cigarette smoking and climate change, the only deniers are those making money from keeping the status quo. Trump loves fast food, so it is hard to believe he is the president who is going to solve this monumental problem.

One of the hallmarks of Trump’s and Republicans’ political philosophy is deregulation (except of course when it comes to abortion, gender-affirming care, voting and books you can read), so it is hard to believe they are going to impose a whole new set of regulations to improve the quality of our food.

One of the former mayors of New York tried to tax large sugar drinks in an attempt to discourage their consumption and he was lambasted for it and the plan squashed. The idea that the government is going to take on “Big Ag,” which is now owned by a handful of large corporations, and impose regulations on them to produce healthy food that will be less addictive, less profitable, and more expensive is hard to imagine. During the inflation spike one of the biggest complaints was the cost of going to McDonald’s.

The moment that Trump gave lip service to such a plan I have no doubt that members of Congress were being hounded by lobbyists to kill the RFK Jr. nomination and put an end to these proposals. RFK Jr. supports a lot of crazy and dangerous ideas for which he should not be approved. Ironically, I suspect he will be rejected for the one good idea that he supports.

Barry Hirsch

Northampton