Accounts such as these gave rise to popular idioms we use today. In this case, if flak lit up the sky, you knew you were over the target. Nobody wasted shells on empty skies; the closer you were to hitting a high-value target, the heavier the fire.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's secretary of health and human services, is facing such intense anti-aircraft flak that he could walk from New York City to Washington, D.C. without his feet touching the ground. Regardless of the party, senators from both parties shredded him; the media turned his strained voice into a punchline, and worst of all for anybody, his own family publicly demanded he resign, immediately, all in unison.
Whenever we see such coordinated verbal assaults, we know Kennedy is circling something explosive, something Washington elites are desperate to keep buried.
A Hearing That Was Never About Questions
The Senate Finance Committee meeting, on paper, was supposed to cover topics that were nothing more than an ordinary meeting.
The reality, however, was (paraphrasing Hillary Clinton) a mass suspension of belief. Kennedy was grilled by senators who definitely felt as though they might be having their career-defining moment in front of the camera.
Kennedy was grilled hard for firing CDC Director Susan Monarez, tearing down the vaccine advisory board, canceling $500 million in mRNA contracts, and restricting shots for children and pregnant women.
Questions dripped with contempt. Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, a doctor, accused Kennedy of denying people vaccines.