RFK Jr hails Trump’s achievements in State of the Union address: 'He did a really great job'

WASHINGTON, DC: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr attended President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 24, and later shared his assessment in an interview.

Kennedy described the address as a thorough overview of the administration’s accomplishments and policy direction during the first year of his second term. Trump speech ran approximately 1 hour and 48 minutes, making it the longest State of the Union delivered before a joint session of Congress in at least six decades.

RFK Jr comments on Trump’s State of the Union address

RFK Jr praised the address and said, “I think he did a really great job at laying out a very, very compelling case for the strongest year that maybe any president’s had, maybe in history, at least since Franklin Roosevelt’s first 100 days. He’s done all the things that he promised to do.”

He said Trump had fulfilled major campaign promises, beginning with border enforcement. According to Kennedy Jr, the administration had “literally closed” the borders after Democrats claimed it could not be done, contrasting this with the previous four years in which, he said, 20 million illegal immigrants entered the country.

On the economic front, RFK Jr stated that inflation had been reduced to its lowest level in five years. He said grocery prices, including eggs, as well as gasoline prices, were down. 

He also pointed to market performance, noting that the "Dow Jones had recorded 50 record weeks and that the NASDAQ stood at 7,000." Kennedy Jr further claimed that the administration had leveraged "$18 trillion in investments in a single year," comparing this to $1 trillion over four years under former president Joe Biden.

Kennedy also attributed several foreign policy outcomes to Trump, stating that he had ended the "nuclear threat from Iran, made peace in the Middle East, and brokered peace in seven other countries."

He further emphasized, "he delivered on MFN, Most Favored Nation."

RFK Jr explains Most Favored Nation medication pricing policy

During the interview, Kennedy was asked to explain the Most Favored Nation (MFN) policy on medication pricing, an issue he said had been overlooked by the media.

He explained that for the past 30 years, "Americans had paid the highest drug prices in the world, despite accounting for only 4.2% of the global population while generating 75% of pharmaceutical revenues."

Kennedy said the United States led in drug development and innovation, while European countries benefited from significantly lower prices.

As an example, he cited a medication that cost $1,350 in the US but could be purchased for $88 in pharmacies in London, even though it was manufactured in the same New Jersey facility. According to Kennedy, Americans often paid "two to fifteen times more than patients abroad."

He said that every president for decades, including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Biden had criticized this disparity but failed to resolve it. Kennedy claimed Trump succeeded within one year by negotiating with pharmaceutical companies, with 16 of 17 agreeing to provide Americans the lowest drug prices globally. 

Kennedy said the policy affects roughly 13% of healthcare costs and would significantly reduce overall healthcare spending.