Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on faith, recovery and President Trump

PUBLISHED: February 18, 2026 | www.baltimoresun.com

In a wide-ranging interview with The Baltimore Sun, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reflected on his Catholic upbringing, his decades in recovery, enduring public criticism — including from his own family — and his working relationship with President Donald Trump.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Your faith has long been central to your life. How did your Catholic upbringing shape your values?

I was raised in a very pious Catholic milieu. We went to daily Mass in the summers, prayed the rosary every day, read Scripture, and prayed before and after meals. Faith was woven into the rhythm of daily life.

But I became addicted to drugs at 15, a year after my father died. I was addicted for 14 years. Addiction requires you to live against your conscience, and during that time, God became more of a theoretical construct than a daily presence.

I got sober in September 1983 and have been in recovery for 43 years.

Recovery programs are designed to induce a spiritual awakening, but that awakening is a one-day reprieve. You renew it daily through service and humility. I attend meetings every day. I meditate about 40 minutes daily. St. Francis of Assisi said we should turn our lives into a prayer. I try to do that by asking: Am I aligned with Providence? Am I doing the next right thing?

If you did not have those spiritual anchors, would you be alive today?

Oh no. I would definitely be dead now.

Addiction today is exponentially more dangerous than when I was using. Fentanyl saturates the drug supply. You can order drugs online. People take something once and they die.

I’ve had family members die that way. I had a niece who we believe may have taken drugs for the first time, and that was it.

So, yes, if it were not for my faith, I would be dead.

I believe I was biologically hardwired for addiction. The only thing strong enough to overcome that kind of biological drive is spiritual fire.

That awakening has to be renewed every day. If I let anger, pride, envy or resentment into my life, I become ineffective quickly. Those things block the flow of divine energy.

Faith didn’t just improve my life. It saved it.

Did growing up in a family marked by tragedy ever feel like a burden?

I don’t see anything in my life as a burden. I see everything as a gift. Pain is the touchstone of spiritual growth.

If someone insults me, that’s a gift. It forces self-examination. Resentment is like swallowing poison and hoping someone else will die. I can’t afford that.

How do you process criticism from your own family?

The criticism from my family does not bother me.

Every adversity is an opportunity for spiritual advancement. If you look at it as a gift and practice acceptance, you ask: What am I meant to learn?

I’ve lost two brothers. I’ve lost two nieces. In those moments, I tried to bring unity rather than division.

When family members criticize me publicly, I don’t see betrayal. I see adversity. And adversity is instruction.

If you harbor resentment, you destroy yourself. I try to respond to hatred with love. That frees me.

You’ve challenged corporate power for decades. How does that shape your work at Health and Human Services?

In the 1980s, I represented fishermen on the Hudson River. Polluters had captured regulatory agencies and externalized their costs onto the public.

I later saw the same dynamic in pharmaceuticals and processed food. My mission at HHS is to end corporate capture.

We’ve eliminated petroleum-based food dyes. We’re reforming the GRAS [Generally Recognized as Safe] loophole. We’re enforcing price transparency. We’re not banning soda, we’re not a nanny state, but Americans deserve truth.

Did you ever imagine carrying out this mission under President Trump?

I wouldn’t have predicted it, but life is unpredictable.

The caricature of President Trump in the press — the bombast, the narcissism — is not the person I work with daily.

He is extremely detail-oriented. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of business, negotiation, media, architecture, branding. More importantly, he understands power — how to use it, when to apply leverage, when to move boldly.

He expects execution.

Where do you and President Trump align philosophically?

We both see corporate overreach. We both see how entrenched interests distort regulatory agencies. He is pro-business, but he is not pro-corruption.

He understands greed. He understands leverage. And he has no fear of confronting powerful industries, even ones that supported him politically. That matters.

Many reforms in health care were considered politically impossible — lowering drug prices, reforming prior authorization, forcing hospital price transparency. He said: “Do it.” That kind of executive backing changes everything.

How specifically did working with President Trump change drug pricing policy?

Seventy percent of pharmaceutical revenue comes from the United States. We have 4.2% of the world’s population. We were paying the highest drug prices in the world.

Every president promised reform. None achieved it.

President Trump used tariff leverage strategically. He wanted pharmaceutical manufacturing onshored — but he also wanted Americans to stop subsidizing the rest of the world.

We brought 16 of the 17 major pharmaceutical companies to the table. Americans will now receive Most Favored Nation pricing, the lowest price globally. That required boldness.

What is it like working with him inside the White House?

He moves fast. He expects results. He challenges assumptions.

He doesn’t accept “it can’t be done.” That mentality permeates the administration.

We’ve ended many abusive prior authorization practices. We’re implementing real price transparency. We’ve secured commitments on food reform and rural hospital funding.

The bureaucracy often resists change. You need a president willing to push.

When President Trump added his name to the Kennedy Center, did he consult you?

No, he didn’t.

I wouldn’t have advised him on it. I have bigger fish to fry.

If I save one child, that’s more important than any building name.

I understand his rationale. He’s investing heavily in that institution. The Kennedy Center was created to project American culture globally. President Trump wants America [to be] central culturally as well as economically and militarily.

So I’m fine with it. My focus is public health.

Talk about the $50 billion rural health commitment.

Rural hospitals are economic anchors. When they collapse, communities collapse.

President Trump committed $50 billion over five years — a one-third increase in federal rural health funding. That allows modernization, AI integration, workforce retention. That kind of investment requires presidential resolve.

You’ve said you haven’t had an honest mainstream profile in decades. Why?

Some of it is intentional. Some is tribal. Some misinformation has simply calcified over time.

We’re polarized. Social media algorithms amplify division.

But alternative platforms allow direct communication. Ultimately, Americans will judge based on outcomes.

How do you balance the job with family?

Like on an airplane: Put your oxygen mask on first.

My recovery and my family are my foundation. Without that, I’m ineffective.

What is happiness to you?

Peace of mind. Being at ease with my conscience. Gratitude is a choice.

Nobody on their deathbed says, “I wish I worried more.”

What do you want your legacy to be?

Ending the chronic disease epidemic in children. We’ve started down that road.

Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.

Originally Published: February 18, 2026 at 12:37 PM ET

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