Why Kennedy’s Guam comment should not offend us

By Greg Barnes

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. stirred up some emotions a few days ago regarding what he would do with corrupt Department of Health and Human Services workers. “We’re going to fire them on day one. If we can’t fire them, we can ship them to a new HHS headquarters in Guam.”

Acting Governor Josh Tenorio weighed in on the matter, stating that “Obviously, anytime Guam is the brunt of jokes, it’s offensive to all of us.” Such a statement is not surprising coming from a Democrat still reeling from the results of the presidential election just a week ago.

But was the acting governor actually offended? No, of course not; he knows better. He knows RFK Jr. didn’t mention Guam in an offensive or derogatory manner. Immediately after calling RFK’s statements “offensive,” Tenorio continued: “I think what he’s trying to say is that he wants to send the people he opposes in HHS as far away as possible—out of sight and out of mind. That’s how I interpret it.”

If Tenorio knows exactly what RFK meant (and he does), then why did he say he was offended? Because he’s a Democrat, and an upset one at that, nothing more. Kamala lost, and every one of our social media pages is loaded with pitifully angry leftists seething at Trump and anybody close to him. This was just Tenorio doing the same.

Clearly, Tenorio understood that RFK wasn’t deriding Guam in the slightest. Obviously, the reason he mentioned Guam is because it’s far, far away from Washington, D.C. In fact, Guam is not only “Where America’s Day Begins,” but Guam is also the furthest U.S. territory from Washington. Further than Alaska, Hawaii, even further than American Samoa.

RFK knows this. Most people don’t. Most can’t point to Guam on the map, say which nation it’s a part of, or mention a single fact about Guam. But RFK knows enough about Guam to understand that we’re the furthest U.S. territory away from Washington, D.C. If he knows that, then certainly he knows other facts about Guam, including how important Guam is to the national security of the United States.

So Kennedy’s statement about Guam wasn’t made in jest, intended as a joke, or meant to cause any offense to us. A person like him who knows more about Guam than your average person wouldn’t joke at our expense. But if he didn’t say it as a joke, what did he mean?

For decades, health has been one of the issues RFK has been most passionate about. In countless books and interviews, including Joe Rogan’s, he has spoken in depth about our myriad health problems which are too numerous to name here. A big part of his platform as a presidential candidate was that he wanted to help make America a healthy nation again. While his bid for president didn’t last, he will still get the chance to make his mark on our health, since President-elect Trump asked RFK to be part of his administration and do just that.

Problem #1 is that many of the people in Washington who work in our health agencies (including the FDA, CDC, NIH, HHS, and more) are, ironically, complicit in our poor health, RFK says. Rather than make decisions that improve the health of American citizens, they make decisions that improve the thickness of their wallets. Forget our health! If they can improve their own bottom line, that’s what they’ll do. (For RFK’s specific claims on how our health agencies are making us sick, set aside 3 hours to watch or listen to one of his long-form interviews, such as his appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast.) And if RFK’s claims are true, those workers are absolutely corrupt and have zero business making decisions regarding our health.

Problem #2 is that many of those corrupt Washington personnel cannot be fired. (I’m no expert on why, but I suppose it has to do with public-sector labor unions which represent government workers.) RFK’s solution to this is simple: If we can’t fire them, at least we can make them completely ineffective by physically relocating those government agencies far away from Washington.

Would that work? Based on my personal experience, yes. I grew up in New York, where my parents still live. Just this morning I video called them, keeping in mind the time difference. If you’ve ever had to video call or schedule a meeting with someone in the mainland, you know how difficult that can be. And that’s why Guam would be a perfect place to move bad government workers: because it would make it that much harder to communicate effectively with other government agencies. Everything about their job would be less efficient, causing their impact on the entire country to be minimized.

But that would be scary for Guam, right, if Washington moves their worst workers here? I don’t think so. Realistically, many of those workers would rather quit than relocate to the other side of the ocean. And even if they do relocate, the entire point of that move is to make those workers ineffective across the country, including Guam. So, in the highly unlikely situation that Guam receives Washington’s worst, most corrupt health workers, would that mean that the people of Guam would become unhealthier? Well, if you’re a crazed lunatic who wants to delegate your grocery shopping to one of those shamed bureaucrats and have them dictate which medications you take, then I suppose you might become less healthy. But otherwise, no, you’ll be fine.

RFK’s comment about Guam was not a comment about Guam; it was a comment about the failed state of our health agencies and the punishment awaiting them should they not reverse course. RFK’s Guam comment did not offend me, in fact it actually reassured me. It reassured me that RFK is serious about the task he’s been appointed with: making America healthy again. And I look forward to that.

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Greg Barnes is a resident of Barrigada