• RFK Jr. was spotted wearing jeans and hiking boots in one of America's most exclusive gyms.
• His unusual workout gear reflects the contradictory nature of his persona and views, historians said.
• Showcasing his fitness at 70 helps to signal that his controversial views on health are legitimate.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants you to know that he's healthy, rugged, and has an Equinox membership.

Donald Trump's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services was spotted working out at the elite gym in Manhattan's swanky Hudson Yards wearing jeans and hiking boots, Page Six reported Sunday.

The 60,000-square-foot fitness complex contains both a saltwater lap pool and a heated outdoor pool, a sundeck, a restaurant, Pilates studios, and saunas. Membership costs $405 a month.

We can't know for sure why Kennedy chose that outfit, but consciously or not, it sends a certain message. The combination of denim and sturdy outdoor footwear against the backdrop of a luxury gym encapsulates his "insider-outsider vibe," which helps him to appeal to his varied audience, historians told Business Insider.

Many find it curious that Kennedy is aligned with discredited causes such as the link between the MMR vaccine and autism, while his assessment of certain health issues, such as the link between chronic disease and ultra-processed foods, seems sound. His gym clothing reflects this dichotomy.

Since the COVID pandemic, groups of people with seemingly opposing political stances have converged in unexpected ways. This includes libertarian conspiracy theorists, "crunchy" moms, and "manosphere" figures like Joe Rogan, whose views on some healthcare issues now align, Peter Knight, a professor of American Studies at the University of Manchester, in the UK, said. Kennedy, who is against fluoridated water, has promoted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and believes the Food and Drug Administration undermines public health, taps into all of these audiences, he said.

"This is the world that he's been moving in for a long time, and a lot of it is not preplanned, but there is an awareness of appealing to these different kinds of groups that have really come together since the pandemic," Knight said.

The 70-year-old is signaling that his brand of wellness works

Earlier this month, the swole 70-year-old shared a video in which he wore the same jeans-and-boot combo but was shirtless and flexing his muscles in an iconic body-building gym in Venice, California.

Promoting exercise — and showing off his own personal strength — is "absolutely" part of his political identity, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a history professor at The New School in New York City, said. It implicitly signals "the efficacy of his own unconventional ideas about health."

Other politicians, including Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter, used their personal exercise routines to convey their fitness for office, Mehlman Petrzela said.

"But in doing so at the age of 70, and so clearly to show off his looks as much as his health, he is almost painting himself as superhuman, able to transcend the traditional rules of aging," she said of Kennedy.

Sonya Abrego, a design historian specializing in the history of American fashion and an assistant professor at the Parsons School of Design, said the image of Kennedy working out shirtless was reminiscent of a 1980s or '90s action-movie hero.

"Like someone who just sprung into action, ripped off a shirt, and started lifting weights," Abrego said. "I mean, obviously it's showing off the way his body looks as an older person and promoting his ideas about health and diet."

The outfit evokes traditional, rural American masculinity

While jeans are ubiquitous today, they were historically worn by blue-collar workers and they're reminiscent of the American West when worn with cowboy boots and hats, Abrego said.

For someone of Kennedy's generation, jeans and cowboy boots could still be associated with "the kind of rugged masculinity" they exude, she said: "Something of an outlier, something a little bit rebellious, especially someone coming from an elite background that he comes from."

"He's rich and cool and aspirational enough to have access to elite circles, but still sufficiently a man of the people such that he seems out of place there," Mehlman Petrzela said of Kennedy's Equinox visit.

The choice to wear jeans could be read as him positioning himself as "more of an everyman" or possibly a nod to a more rural, traditional American masculinity, Abrego said. The hiking boots also signal his connection to the outdoors and environmental causes.

"He often just dresses like a typical politician in a suit," Mehlman Petrzela said. "So it does feel like an intentional break from how he presents publicly. It also sort of tracks with his unusual and often kind of inconsistent persona and ideals."

• Bernie Sanders is taking on ultra-processed food in his final weeks leading the Senate health panel.
• Sanders wants the US to catch up with other countries, which have cigarette-style warning labels for food.
• He sees a potential opportunity to work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on this.

In his final weeks leading the Senate health committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking on "big food."

Sanders led a hearing Thursday to interrogate how ultra-processed foods affect our bodies, and how they are regulated. He is campaigning for legislation that would slap warning labels on the front of ultra-processed foods — a step other countries took years ago.

Speaking to Business Insider on Tuesday, Sanders said he sees warning labels as a necessary first step to influence food manufacturers in America to make healthier products, especially for kids.

"When a parent goes out shopping, they need to know that there are products that are just not healthy for their kids," Sanders said. "In the United States, we have not reached that stage. Other countries are doing a lot better than we are."

Obesity has more than tripled among children since the 1970s, per CDC data, and research suggests ultraprocessed foods play a significant role, though it's not clear why. What we do know is that foods high in added sugars, fats, and sodium make up a majority of the calories we consume, and drive us to eat more.

"Our kids are not healthy enough," Sanders said.

Major food companies say new labels would be expensive to produce, and that the cost would be passed onto consumers. Some argue mandatory warning labels would violate their right to free speech. They say we should stick with the current system: a voluntary policy, where companies can put health warnings on the front of products if they see fit.

A shift may be coming, in part driven by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick for HHS secretary who has promised to "make America healthy again" and clean up the US food system. Kennedy's message has resonated with voters as consumer demand grows for healthier food — more natural, more transparent, less processed.

Food giants are nervous about Kennedy's reign, Jerold Mande, CEO of the advocacy group Nourish Science and a senior member of the USDA during the Obama administration, told Business Insider.

"Having worked on this for decades, the level of response from companies has exceeded anything I've seen" since Michelle Obama's campaign, Mande said. "They're deeply concerned that this is going to be a change."

Sanders said he is ready to ride the MAHA wave, if that's what it will take to clean up American diets.

The pitch: Bring the US up to speed with other countries

Sixteen other countries have mandatory, front-of-package warning labels, including most of Latin America, plus Canada, Iran, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.

Sanders looks at the US's southern neighbor, Mexico, as inspiration. During our interview, he pulled up a photo of two bottles of Coca-Cola, one sold in the US and the other in Mexico. The Mexican bottle has big black octagonal boxes that say "excess sugars," "excess calories," and "caffeine warning, not recommended for children."

"That's kind of common sense," Sanders said. "I think if most parents knew that there were 10 or 15 teaspoons of sugar in this drink, I suspect many parents would say, 'Sorry, Joe, you can't have that.' It would put pressure on the industry to start producing healthier products."

The Coca Cola Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the American Beverage Association said the industry has taken voluntary steps to curb sugar for kids, such as not advertising to children and removing full-calorie products from schools.

According to research conducted in these countries, it can work — if the front-of-package labeling is clear.

In Chile, which has similar black boxes to Mexico, people dramatically reduced the amount of sugar-, fat-, and sodium-heavy products they were buying after labels changed. Companies have also reformulated their products in the country to avoid a warning label, cutting sugar, fat, and sodium levels.

How the US can get this done remains a mystery, Katherine Miller, founder of nutrition advocacy group Table 81, told Business Insider.

"I mean, there are 20 different pieces of the federal government that regulate our eggs," Miller said. "How do we really think we're going to get front of the label, the front-of-the-package labeling in a short period of time that will align the scientific community, the food systems community, the health community, and corporations? That doesn't feel realistic."

The US is already testing out new food labels that flag bad ingredients

The Food and Drug Administration has designed two options for what these new labels could look like on the front of food and drinks.

One version would flag a product as "high in" sugar, sodium, or fat, if it exceeds 20% of the daily recommended limit. Another version would use a color-coded system to grade the levels of sugar, sodium, and fat in the product ("low" for under 5%, "high" for over 20%, "medium" for anything in between).

The agency has spent months testing both options in focus groups.

Sanders says it doesn't go far enough.

He proposed legislation that would force food companies to put a stop sign on anything ultra-processed or high-sugar, similar to cigarettes.

Sanders — who says he is "guilty as anybody else" when it comes to eating and snacking — begrudges how difficult it is to make healthy choices and how easy it is to accidentally ingest copious amounts of fat, sodium, or sugar.

"Some years ago, I was thirsty and I picked up a bottle of something, it was a juice, and I gulped it down as usual," Sanders recalled in the interview. "A little while later, my stomach, I really felt very queasy. I looked at the label and I saw the amount of sugar that was in it."

It was a lot higher than he expected from a quick glance at the bottle.

"The industry has done a very good job in selling us products that are cheap to produce, that make us unhealthy. And that's something Congress has got to deal with."

The problem: A game of whack-a-mole with food companies

The argument against front-of-package labeling, from a health perspective, is that it could delay more concrete action.

It could also lead to unexpected consequences, Mande said.

In the '90s, when he helped design the original Nutrition Facts panel, the goal was low fat. A flurry of new research had recently come out showing fat was linked to heart disease.

Food manufacturers complied, cutting fat from their products — but often swapped it for something else. Take Snackwell's, a now defunct diet cookie brand that offered the pleasure of a sweet treat without the consequences. Problem was, the brand replaced fat with refined carbohydrates.

"We didn't anticipate the harm it would cause," Mande said. Three decades later, health advocates are trying to cut refined carbs in food due to the increased risk of diabetes.

Sanders said front-of-package labeling is the best card we have to play right now.

"I think it's one thing that you've got to do," he said. "It would put pressure on the industry to start producing healthier products."

Next step: Teeing up RFK Jr.

The Senate hearing saw more bipartisan agreement than advocates expected.

"Not one Senator defended the food industry. Big food is in big tobacco territory," Mande said.

Still, it comes at an inflection point. FDA Commissioner Rob Califf is on his way out, and there's no knowing whether his nominated successor, Marty Makary, will want to follow through on his plans for front-of-package labels.

Plus, it's unclear if Makary will have the funds to do so, since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he will gut the FDA if he is confirmed as HHS Secretary. (Kennedy did not respond to a request for a comment.)

Sanders hopes this discussion will harness the buzz around Kennedy's MAHA movement to make warning labels a policy priority.

"When Kennedy talks about an unhealthy society, he's right. The amount of chronic illness that we have is just extraordinary," Sanders said.

"Anybody with a brain in his or her head wants to deal with this issue, to get to the cause of the problem. I think processed food and the kind of sugar and salt that we have in products that our kids and adults are ingesting is an important part of addressing that crisis."

In an exclusive interview with Business Insider's Mia de Graaf, Sen. Bernie Sanders talks about his push to improve labels on ultra-processed foods across the US, RFK Jr.'s plans to overhaul the industry, and the obesity epidemic.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders told Business Insider he's reaching across the aisle to find common ground.
• He has no qualms about working with Elon Musk on any good ideas he has about spending.
• Sanders also cited areas of mutual interest with RFK Jr. on health and Trump on credit-card debt.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is extending an olive branch to President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration.

In an interview with Business Insider on Tuesday, the Vermont senator listed areas of common ground with Elon Musk, a cochair of a new extragovernmental body aiming to cut costs, as well as with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on health and Trump on credit debt.

"If somebody on the other side has a good idea, sure, I'll work with them," Sanders, who at 83 is the longest-serving independent in Congress, told BI.

In Musk, Sanders may find an ally to cut defense spending

Sanders made headlines on Sunday when he posted on X his support for Musk's pitch to curb defense spending.

Musk, whom Sanders has previously criticized as a threat to democracy, responded with a laughing emoji and said, "Maybe we can find some common ground."

Sanders told BI he had no qualms about working with Musk on the Department of Defense's spending, or on any other good ideas he has as cochair of DOGE, the new Department of Government Efficiency announced by Trump.

"Many of the things he did during the campaign were really ugly. On the other hand, he's a very smart guy," Sanders said, adding that "he is absolutely right" to call for the first independent audit of the Pentagon in over seven years.

"We need a strong military, but we don't need all the waste and the profiteering and the fraud that exists in the Pentagon right now," he said.

While Musk has yet to outline specific plans to curb defense spending, he has criticized the Department of Defense's F-35 program and cited its $841 billion budget in a Wall Street Journal op-ed about his mission to cut costs. In April, Sanders pushed to cut $88.6 billion, or 10%, from the military budget.

The amendment was outvoted, and Sanders slammed lawmakers, saying they're pouring money into an unaudited department.

In 2021, the Pentagon said that it was trying to learn from each failed audit but that it would take until 2028 to make all the logistical changes necessary to meet standards.

The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Finding connection through Kennedy's MAHA movement

Sanders, a cochair of the Senate health committee, told BI he also saw common ground with Kennedy, particularly when it comes to ultraprocessed food.

Kennedy, Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, faces a tough confirmation hearing, given his opposition to vaccines and plans to take on food giants and industry lobbyists.

If confirmed, he has pledged to "make America healthy again" by tackling chronic disease. He promises to ban processed foods from school meals and remove food dyes from the US food system, among other measures.

Sanders is game for a shake-up of our nutrition system. This week, he's leading a Senate hearing on ultraprocessed foods, interrogating how processed products are regulated and how they affect health.

"When Kennedy talks about an unhealthy society, he's right. The amount of chronic illness that we have is just extraordinary," Sanders told BI.

He cited the millions of people living with obesity and diabetes and the ripple effects across all sectors. Diabetes care now costs the US an estimated $400 billion a year, a GlobalData analysis found. And a recent report said the military was struggling to recruit young people who meet the physical requirements to be enlisted.

"Our kids are not healthy enough. In the long run, you want a healthy society as an end in itself," Sanders said. "We want our people to have long lives, productive lives, happy lives. That's what we want. And if the industry is giving our kids food that's making them overweight, leading to diabetes and other illnesses, clearly that's an issue that we've got to deal with."

Sanders, who has previously criticized Kennedy's views on vaccines, added: "I think a lot of what RFK is saying is kind of crazy and driven by conspiracy theory. Some of what he's saying is not crazy.

"Anybody with a brain in his or her head wants to deal with this issue, to get to the cause of the problem. I think processed food and the kind of sugar and salt that we have in products that our kids and adults are ingesting is an important part of addressing that crisis."

Kennedy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sanders wants Trump to stick to his proposed cap on credit-card interest rates

While Trump and Sanders are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, they may have common ground on credit-card interest rates.

Credit-card debt held by American consumers hit $1.17 trillion in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"Donald Trump came out with an idea during this campaign. He said, you know what, credit-card interest rates, which in some cases right now are 20, 25%, should not be higher than 10%. Well, you know what? I agree with that," Sanders said.

While Trump said a cap would be "temporary" to help Americans "catch up" with payments, the suggestion made a splash. Mark Cuban, a longtime critic of Trump, mocked him for going even further than "self-described socialist Bernie Sanders."

It would be tough to drive through Congress, as Sanders knows. He and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tabled an interest-rate cap of 15% in 2019, which went nowhere.

Now Sanders is challenging Trump to wield his strong mandate to make this a key issue.

"We'll see if Mr. Trump is prepared to keep his word. We're looking forward, and we will work with some Republicans on that issue," Sanders said.

Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Where Trump and Republicans make sense, happy to work with them," Sanders said. "And we will be in vigorous opposition to many of their policies, which to me are extremely distasteful."

• President-elect Trump has tapped Dr. Mehmet Oz, tv celebrity and surgeon, to run the agency.
• Trump said Oz will "cut waste and fraud" in the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid.
• Oz ran for Senate in 2022 and does not have experience leading a large government bureaucracy.

President-elect Donald Trump has named Mehmet Oz, a television personality and surgeon, to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

"He will also cut waste and fraud within our Country's most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation's Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget," Trump said in a statement announcing the pick on Tuesday.

Trump said that in his role, Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom the president-elect has chosen to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Oz unsuccessfully ran for a Pennsylvania Senate seat in 2022 but has no experience leading a large government bureaucracy. The CMS oversees Medicare and Medicaid, among other services.

Dr. Oz demonstrated broad appeal as a TV host

As a cardiothoracic surgeon, Oz gained prominence with prestigious research awards and multiple patents for surgical methods and devices related to heart transplants.

Oz catapulted to fame in 2009, first as an expert voice on Oprah Winfrey's show "Oprah," then as the host of his own Emmy Award-winning "The Dr. Oz Show."

Oz captured millions of viewers with a variety of segments.

He hosted the then-First Lady Michelle Obama in one segment — they learned dances and spoke about her efforts to get America moving — and students of Sandy Hook Elementary School in another.

He also spoke about chemicals in food and natural methods to lose weight and whiten teeth.

Shortly before his show went on air, and became an instant success, Esquire named Oz "the most accomplished and influential celebrity doctor in history."

He has faced criticism in healthcare

Oz has previously come under scrutiny for some of the advice on his TV show, including weight loss supplements and diet plans.

His statements about garcinia cambogia, a supplement derived from the rind of a tropical fruit, led a class action lawsuit alleging that Oz misrepresented the products as a "revolutionary fat busters" and "miracles in a bottle." The suit resulted in a $5.25 million settlement.

Oz attracted a backlash from medical professionals during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when he appeared to suggest that re-opening schools might be "worth the trade-off" if it increased mortality by 2-3%, or a few thousand deaths according to one estimate. He later walked back the comments, saying he misspoke.

Also during 2020, Oz promoted the anti-malaria medicine hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, attracting the attention of then-President Trump. Studies at the time the drug was effective in coronavirus patients.

Oz continued encouraging the White House to push the treatment. Financial disclosures later showed he had a financial stake in two companies that supply hydroxychloroquine (worth at least $615,000 in one company and between $15,001 and $50,000 in the other, according to the disclosures).

During his Senate run in 2022 against stroke survivor John Fetterman, Oz said his opponent would never have had a stroke had he "ever eaten a vegetable in his life," prompting more than 100 doctors to organize against his political campaign.

Columbia University, where Oz previously served as a vice chair of surgery among other roles, removed him from its website and cut ties in 2022.