Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong, executive chairman of the Los Angeles Times, is amplifying the publication’s new op-ed titled “Trump’s Healthcare Disruption Could Pay Off — If He Pushes Real Reform” with a photo of Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
[Note: Soon-Shiong came under fire during the presidential election when he stopped the LA Times editorial board from publishing an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. The move that resulted in the resignation of the paper’s editorials editor Mariel Garza.]
The author of the current op-ed, Eric Reinhart (a political anthropologist, social psychiatrist, and psychoanalytic clinician based in Chicago), voiced his disapproval of the final version of his work as it appeared in the Times.
Reinhart says his op-ed was “given a misleading title” and that “key lines were cut–lines that made very clear that RFK Jr is dangerously ignorant, has absolutely no business near the HHS, and is effectively a mass murderer in the waiting.”
I am the author of this OpEd, which was given a misleading title and from which key lines were cut—lines that made very clear that RFK Jr is dangerously ignorant, has absolutely no business near HHS, and is effectively a mass murderer in waiting. https://t.co/3OyWQN3JkX
— Eric Reinhart (@_Eric_Reinhart) January 31, 2025
Reinhart wrote: “I’d have refused the editors’ chosen title had they told me it in advance.”
Trump’s healthcare disruption could pay off — if he pushes real reform @latimes @RobertKennedyJr.He is our best chance of doing so https://t.co/PYKRJsSbfE
— Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong (@DrPatSoonShiong) January 31, 2025
Reinhart added: “My first and definitely last time working with the Los Angeles Times. Editing out the most urgent point of an OpEd in the minutes before sending to press while then also assigning a title and image that suggest an argument entirely opposite to the author’s clear intent is pretty [expletive].”
Reinhart provided a link to his op-ed before the LA Times changed it. It is titled ‘RFK Jr’s Wrecking Ball Won’t Fix Public Health,’ and has a subtitle: “Trump’s health officials should pursue fundamental transformations of U.S. health systems, but destruction alone won’t deliver what we need. We should demand a genuinely populist solution.”
Reinhart noted: “People criticize the NYTimes for their heavy-handed editing and propensity to both-sides everything, but I’ve not seen [them] pull this kind of [expletive] before.”
My opening and closing lines do not leave my stance on RFK Jr remotely ambiguous. pic.twitter.com/cktsXISqhA
— Eric Reinhart (@_Eric_Reinhart) January 31, 2025