What the Heck Is That Thing Inside RFK’s Mouth?

Image by Kayla Bartkowski / Getty / Futurism

A smiling Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was seen with a strange white thing in his mouth during a recent Congressional hearing — and we’re almost positive we know what it is.

When publishing a story about the Health and Human Services secretary’s worm-brained plan to start approving new drugs with AI, the fine folks at Gizmodo chose as its header image a photo of the political scion baring a wide and menacing smile.

In that photo, a small white rectangle is visible on the gums above RFK Jr.’s teeth in the upper left quadrant of his mouth. Though the story itself is hypocritical at best and nightmarish at worst — because seriously, how can one oppose vaccines while wanting to automate medicine approvals with a technology known for spewing nonsense — eagle-eyed netizens quickly jumped on the thing in his mouth.

“Is it just me,” a commenter on the Gizmodo article noted, “or does the header picture show a nicotine pouch in the upper left side of his mouth?”

Over on Bluesky, others proffered the same explanation.

“Does he have a tobacco pouch in his lip???” one startled responder wrote. “What the f*ck.”

There’s no way, of course, to be entirely sure what object the alleged former drug dealer chose to stick into his mouth before making a public appearance before Congress. But given that he was captured on camera popping what seemed to be a nicotine pouch during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this year, it seems likely it’s something similar.

In video from that late January hearing, Kennedy was seen placing his hand over his mouth as if to put something in it before visibly swirling his tongue underneath his bottom lip. Though you never see the actual nicotine pouch in question, anyone who’s ever used a smokeless tobacco product knows that that’s the only way to achieve optimal placement.

If that isn’t enough to convince you, a paparazzi photo from last fall is something of a smoking gun.

In that photo, the former presidential candidate was seen holding the type of circular, disposable case used by the Swedish company Zyn, whose nicotine salt pouches became so popular, there was a shortage of them in the US last year.

With his past history of drug abuse and addiction, it’s no surprise that Kennedy would want a nicotine fix given that cigarettes are about as ubiquitous at 12-step meetings as crappy coffee. It is ironic, however, that someone so concerned with the contents and effects of proven vaccines is fine with putting in his mouth a pouch that could contain trace amounts of ammonia, chromium, and formaldehyde.

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