Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) For over 50 years, ever since he created “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, Lorne Michaels has had the field to himself. Nobody came close to his zany take on the news of the week. He has the best nose for what’s begging to be mocked that week and the best instincts for finding the right talent to do so. For decades, Michaels has had no competition. Not until now. Not until Donald Trump.
But today, not even the legendary Lorne Michaels with his weekly SNL skits could top the daily material coming out of the Trump White House. The wannabe Louis XIV covers the walls of the Oval Office in gold. The mighty commander-in-chief starts a war he has no idea how to get out of. The crazed developer turns a beautiful reflecting pool into an algae-covered cesspool, and blames it on vandals. Long lines form outside the Pentagon as 1.3 million men and women in uniform line up for their annual testosterone test. You can’t make this stuff up.
But for SNL-worthy material, nothing could top last week’s big announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. With the blessing of the White House, he launched his own cooking show on HBO. “Hi, I’m Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., your HHS Secretary,” he declared in a promotional video. “Welcome to the Real Food Show…Let’s get cooking.”
In the first episode, Kennedy joins chef Andrew Gruel in Huntington Beach, Calif., to encourage Americans to eat less beef and more seafood. In less than 20 minutes, they prepare wild Alaska salmon cakes — which, Kennedy claims, you can make for less than $5 per serving, especially if you use canned salmon.
Warning. Watching that video is painful. You can’t watch it without at least three things popping into your head. First, it’s obvious that, when it comes to spending time in the kitchen, Kennedy’s a total stranger. For the entire 20 minutes, he either just stands there, watching Gruel do all the work, or, when instructed by Gruel, picks up a spoon and stirs ingredients together. He has no idea, and offers no suggestion, of what ingredients to use or how much of what spices to add. He looks like, and could be replaced by, a robot.
When Kennedy does speak up, he’s almost unintelligible. He brags about “flipping the food pyramid” without explaining what that means. And he insists the administration’s working to lower the cost of beef by making herds of cattle bigger. How? He doesn’t say. Nor does he square what lowering beef prices has to do with eating more seafood, which is ostensibly the message of this first video.
Second observation. Doesn’t the secretary of HHS have more important things to be spending his time on? You bet. In the past week, we’ve heard about several public health crises: an alarming 2,371 cases of measles reported as of July 30; the recall of 1.6 million dozen eggs due to a salmonella outbreak; a massive multi-state outbreak of Cyclospora infections from shredded lettuce; and CDC reports that Covid infections are growing in 41 states. That’s enough to keep any HHS secretary glued to his desk. Not RFK Jr. He was jetting off to California to make wild salmon cakes.
Finally, watching Kennedy wrapped in his apron, you have to ask yourself: Is this really the guy we should be taking food advice from? He admits to once picking up a dead bear from the side of the road to skin and eat — until he ran out of time and, instead, dumped it in Central Park. In his diary, he wrote about cutting the penis off a road-kill raccoon.
In a letter to senators opposing his nomination as HHS secretary, his cousin Caroline Kennedy accused him of blending mice and chickens together. And his daughter earlier described Kennedy’s using a chainsaw to remove the head of a dead whale and strap it to the roof of their car to take home.
HHS doesn’t say how many shows RFK Jr. will air, nor how often. Good. He should stop with this one. It’s embarrassingly bad. As secretary, he has much more important things to do. And as Americans, thanks to the Food Network, we have no shortage of experienced, talented, colorful chefs to watch on TV. My favorite is Ina Garten, the “Barefoot Contessa.” We don’t need any cooking advice from some guy whose idea of a good meal used to be roadkill.
Bill Press is host of The Bill Press Pod. He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Andrew Gruel health and human services Lorne Michaels Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Saturday Night LiveCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Opinions - Healthcare News
See All
Opinions - Healthcare No one failed harder during COVID than our media by Becket Adams, opinion contributor 1 day ago Opinions - Healthcare / 1 day ago 
