Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said vaccines are not safe. His support for abortion access has made conservatives uncomfortable. And farmers across the Midwest are nervous over his talk of banning corn syrup and pesticides from America’s food supply. The 71-year-old, whose famous name and family tragedies have put him in the national spotlight since he was a child, has spent years airing his populist — and sometimes extreme — views in podcasts, TV interviews and speeches building his own quixotic brand. A son of a Democratic political dynasty, Kennedy is seeking to become the nation’s top health official under President Donald Trump. To get there, he’s softening those long-held beliefs, hoping to win approval from the Republican Party. At stake is Kennedy’s control of the nation’s sprawling $1.7 trillion U.S. Health and Human Services agency, which oversees food and hospital inspections, health insurance for roughly half of the country and vaccine recommendations. The job would finally give him the kind of political power Kennedys have wielded for decades. He made a long-shot bid for the presidency last year, following uncles John, who won the White House in 1960, and Edward, who lost his bid in 1980, along with his father, Robert, a leading contender who was assassinated after winning the California primary in 1968. With a strong resemblance to his father and lawyer credentials to match, he found ardent followers who embrace the critiques he’s lodged against unhealthy foods, pharmaceutical companies and chemicals. But he couldn’t get Democrats on his side, with some of his relatives shunning him over his vaccine views. His has been a flexible ideological journey, part liberal Democrat, part libertarian, and now, an adherent of the MAGA agenda after dropping out of the race last year to back Trump. The president has since directed him to “go wild” on health. Together, they’ve even hatched a new slogan: “Make America Healthy Again.” Kennedy’s aspirations now rest with the Republican-controlled Senate, where he can lose only three GOP votes if all Democrats oppose him. As Kennedy’s confirmation hearings approach this week, he faces a coordinated effort to stop his nomination. A television and digital ad campaign is highlighting his anti-vaccine work. And former Vice President Mike Pence, a stalwart of the conservative anti-abortion movement, is lobbying against him, too. Kennedy’s closest supporters believe he’ll prevail. He plans to focus on issues that have bipartisan consensus, like reducing food additives and increasing access to healthier foods. When concerns about his views on conservative priorities like abortion come up, he’s promised to follow Trump’s lead. Then there is Kennedy’s biggest advantage — and maybe, too, his biggest liability for someone working under Trump — his star power. “Bobby K. is coming in with a bigger microphone than any HHS Secretary,” said Calley Means, a close adviser to Kennedy. Kennedy’s biggest hurdles: Anti-vaccine statements and tragedy in Samoa Kennedy’s numerous remarks, anti-vaccine nonprofit and lawsuits against immunizations are likely to haunt him. He’s rejected the anti-vaccine label, instead casting himself as a crusader for “medical freedom” who wants more research. He and Trump have vowed not to “take away” vaccines. To defuse criticism, he resigned from the Children’s Health Defense, his nonprofit that has filed dozens of lawsuits against vaccines, including the government authorizations of some of them. But critics […]