What happens when a man who has spent much of his life attacking institutions is finally given the authority to run one?

In Part 4 — the conclusion of The Rise of RFK Jr. — host Raney Aronson-Rath speaks with filmmaker Michael Kirk about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s alliance with President Donald Trump and his ascent to secretary of Health and Human Services. Once a figure synonymous with Democratic politics, RFK Jr. joins the MAGA movement and assumes control over agencies he has long portrayed as corrupt, dangerous, and dishonest.

From the CDC to the FDA and NIH, Kennedy moves quickly to reshape institutional culture, arguing that only disruption can restore public trust. Layoffs, public attacks on scientific leadership, and sweeping changes to vaccination policy reflect not a break from Kennedy’s past, but its culmination. Supporters frame his actions as long-overdue reform; critics warn that dismantling public-health systems will cost lives.

This episode concludes FRONTLINE’s serialized audio adaptation of The Rise of RFK Jr., tracing how a path shaped by loss, belief and contradiction ultimately led to power — and forced a reckoning over what happens when conviction hardens into policy.

You can watch The Rise of RFK Jr. on FRONTLINE’s website, on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel and on the PBS App. Want to be notified whenever a new episode of the podcast is released? Sign up for The FRONTLINE Dispatch newsletter.