Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set social media ablaze at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday with effusive praise for President Donald Trump, claiming the commander-in-chief possesses “encyclopedic, molecular knowledge” across a “wide range of very, very eclectic interests.”
Speaking at the annual conservative gathering held at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas, Kennedy recounted a campaign anecdote that quickly went viral—though not for the reasons he may have intended. According to Kennedy, the two were eating McDonald’s aboard Trump’s plane during the 2024 campaign when conversation turned to Syria.
“He got a placemat and he turned it on its back and then he took a Sharpie and drew a perfect map of the Middle East,” Kennedy told the CPAC crowd. He claimed Trump then marked “the troop strength of every country along each border on that map.”
The HHS secretary didn’t stop there. Kennedy declared that Trump “understands the use of power better than probably any president that we’ve had, maybe in American history.” He also called Trump an “empath”—a characterization that drew particular ridicule online, given Trump’s reputation for combativeness.
Kennedy’s transformation from vaccine-skeptic Democratic presidential candidate to Trump’s top health official has been one of the more remarkable political evolutions of recent years. The nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, he was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote on February 13, 2025. Senator Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to vote against him.
“President Trump is exactly the opposite of everything that I believed him to be,” Kennedy told the crowd on March 28. “I basically drank the Kool-Aid that he was this malignant narcissist, who didn’t read books, and was ill-informed. And then, you know, now I know exactly the opposite.”
Critics seized on Kennedy’s claims with mockery that spread rapidly across social media. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office joined the pile-on, posting a meme comparing Kennedy’s story to North Korean propaganda. Others pointed to Trump’s well-documented history of geographic confusion, including past instances where he appeared to mix up the Baltics and the Balkans during meetings with European leaders.
The Sharpie reference also struck observers as ironic. When Trump was previously confronted about allegedly signing a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein, he claimed he “never wrote a picture” in his life—a defense that seemed at odds with Kennedy’s portrait of a president casually sketching geopolitical maps.
CPAC 2026, held March 25-28, marked the first major conservative gathering since Trump’s return to the White House following his January inauguration. The conference drew thousands of activists to the Dallas suburb, with Kennedy’s Saturday appearance generating the most viral moment of the event. According to conference organizers, HHS Secretary Kennedy joined CPAC senior fellow Mercedes Schlapp for a discussion on the administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
Kennedy also used his CPAC platform to tout policy wins, including new hospital price transparency regulations and changes to military base food service. He credited Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with bringing in celebrity chef Robert Irvine to overhaul food offerings at military installations. “Only a third of the food was getting eaten because it was so appalling,” Kennedy claimed of the previous state of military cuisine.
President Trump did not attend CPAC 2026, though Vice President JD Vance was expected at the conference. Other notable speakers included Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who delivered remarks at the Ronald Reagan dinner, and Senator Ted Cruz. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, who is now running for governor rather than seeking Senate re-election, also addressed the gathering alongside other Republican lawmakers.
The conference comes at a turbulent moment for the Trump administration. Just weeks earlier, Trump removed Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary following congressional testimony that embarrassed the White House. Noem, who served as South Dakota’s governor before joining Trump’s cabinet, was reassigned to a newly created position as Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas. She became the first cabinet official to leave her post during Trump’s second term.
Kennedy’s appearance at CPAC underscores his evolution from a figure once associated with Democratic politics through his famous family name to one of Trump’s most enthusiastic defenders. His willingness to make sweeping claims about the president’s intellectual prowess—delivered while serving as the nation’s top health official—represents a stark departure from his earlier political positioning, when he compared Trump to Hitler during his own presidential bid.
The “encyclopedic, molecular knowledge” phrase particularly caught fire online, with commentators debating what exactly constitutes molecular-level understanding of Broadway shows and professional wrestling. For Kennedy’s critics, the anecdote joined a long list of what they characterize as sycophantic Trump-era rhetoric. For supporters, it offered proof that the president’s intellect is chronically underestimated by his opponents.