Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Saturday that a potential Trump White House would advise communities to remove fluoride from drinking water, which would overturn decades of public health guidance. 

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral in water that oral physicians say can help to prevent cavities at the right doses. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes community water fluoridation – the practice of adding fluoride to drinking water to increase its concentration to optimal levels – as a ‘cornerstone strategy’ to prevent cavities and one of the ’10 great public health interventions of the 20th century.’ 

However, health agencies warn long-term ingestion of fluoride in excess doses carries various health risks, and critics like Kennedy have campaigned to end community water fluoridation. The Environmental Protection Agency has established a maximum allowable concentration of fluoride in public drinking water to prevent adverse health effects. 

Kennedy declared the Trump White House would advise bringing that allowable concentration to zero on its first day in power. 

‘On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,’ Kennedy posted on X. ‘Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease,’ he claimed, adding that former President Trump and first lady Melania Trump ‘want to Make America Healthy Again.’ 

His statement provoked a wave of criticism on social media and renewed expert concerns about Kennedy – who has often clashed with the scientific consensus on vaccine safety – being placed in a position of authority over public health. 

‘While President Trump has received a variety of policy ideas, he is focused on Tuesday’s election,’ Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in response to media questions about Kennedy’s statement. 

Currently, more than 200 million Americans, or about 75% of the population, drink fluoridated water.

In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and they continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. In 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first city in the world to fluoridate its water supply. 

Experts have long said that washing teeth with fluoride is not comparable to the risks posed by ingesting fluoride, with the latter potentially triggering harmful neurotoxic effects. 

Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.

In August, a federal agency determined ‘with moderate confidence’ that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.

Then in September, a federal judge in California cited that study in an order requiring the EPA to further regulate fluoride because high levels pose ‘an unreasonable risk’ to children.

‘Indeed, EPA’s own expert agrees that fluoride is hazardous at some level of exposure,’ U.S. District Judge Edward Chen said. ‘And ample evidence establishes that a mother’s exposure to fluoride during pregnancy is associated with IQ decrements in her offspring.’

Even so, the judge said the court ‘does not conclude with certainty that fluoridated water is injurious to public health.’

Since 2015, federal health officials have recommended a fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. For five decades before that, the recommended upper range was 1.2 ‘after evidence increasingly established fluoride’s connection to adverse effects, including severe enamel fluorosis, risk of bone fracture, and potential skeletal fluorosis,’ the judge wrote. Skeletal fluorosis is a potentially crippling disorder which causes weaker bones, stiffness and pain.

The World Health Organization has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5. Separately, the EPA has a longstanding requirement that water systems cannot have more than 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water. 

Kennedy has said that Trump has promised to give him ‘control’ over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), should the former president win the White House on Tuesday.

‘I stand ready to help him rid the public health agencies of their pervasive conflicts and corruption and restore their tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science,’ Kennedy told the New York Times in a statement. 

The Trump campaign has said no decisions have been made about Cabinet-level positions or personnel, including the secretaries of HHS and USDA.   

‘No formal decisions about Cabinet and personnel have been made, however, President Trump has said he will work alongside passionate voices like RFK Jr. to Make America Healthy Again by providing families with safe food and ending the chronic disease epidemic plaguing our children,’ Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. 

‘President Trump will also establish a special Presidential Commission of independent minds and will charge them with investigating what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic illnesses,’ she added.

Trump told supporters at a rally on Saturday that he told Kennedy he ‘can work on food, you can work on anything you want,’ except energy policy.

‘He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,’ Trump said.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan, Alex Nitzberg and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

A new series of polls released Sunday show former President Trump and Vice President Harris are neck and neck in seven battleground states with less than 48 hours to go until Election Day. 

The New York Times/Siena College polls of likely voters show Trump and Harris are tied in Pennsylvania and Michigan. 

In Arizona, Trump is leading Harris 49-45%, while Harris is ahead of Trump 49-46% in Nevada, 49-47% in Wisconsin, 48-46% in North Carolina and 48-47% in Georgia. 

A total of 7,879 likely voters were surveyed across the seven battleground states between Oct. 24 to Nov. 2, with 1,025 in Arizona, 1,004 in Georgia, 998 in Michigan, 1,010 in Nevada, 1,010 in North Carolina, 1,527 in Pennsylvania and 1,305 in Wisconsin, according to The New York Times. The polls have a margin of error of 3.5%.  

Of the 8% of voters who indicated that they only recently decided who they were voting for, 55% said they are backing Harris, compared to 44% for Trump, The New York Times reported. 

The newspaper also reported that 11% of voters still remain undecided or persuadable, down from 16% a month ago. 

Across all the battleground states, 24% of the likely voters said the economy – which includes jobs and the stock market – is their top issue, followed by abortion with 18% and immigration with 15%.  

Harris is underperforming compared to President Biden in 2020 among younger voters, Black voters and Latino voters, according to The New York Times. 

In Pennsylvania, incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, is leading challenger David McCormick 50-45%, which is down from nine points in September, the newspaper says. 

In Wisconsin, the polls show incumbent Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s lead over Republican Eric Hovde is narrowing as well, as it’s currently 50-46%, which is down from eight points around a month ago, The New York Times adds. 

The race for Michigan’s open Senate seat is also closely contested, with Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin leading Republican challenger Mike Rogers 48-46%, the polls show.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ cameo on the final episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’ before Tuesday’s presidential election has some viewers on social media pointing out the skit appeared to mirror one former President Trump performed with Jimmy Fallon in 2015.

Harris appeared in the sketch alongside her impersonator, Maya Rudolph, at the end of the cold open. In the sketch, Harris appears as a reflection in a mirror to offer advice to Rudolph’s Harris.

‘I wish I could talk to someone who’s been in my shoes. You know, a Black, south Asian woman running for president. Preferably from the Bay Area,’ Rudolph’s Harris wondered to herself in an empty dressing room.

The vice president, who was then revealed to be on the other side of the dressing room mirror, responded, ‘You and me both, sister.’

While some took to social media to praise the sketch, others claimed the skit copied one that former President Trump performed with Jimmy Fallon on ‘The Tonight Show’ in September 2015 when Trump was running for president.

‘I knew that SNL sketch with Kamala Harris looked familiar…,’ KVI Seattle radio host Ari Hoffman wrote on X. ‘Kamala continues her pattern of ripping off Trump.’

Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, have previously accused Harris of plagiarizing the policies of Trump, such as no taxes on tips, raising the child tax credit, while flip-flopping on other policies to take positions more in line with Trump’s than what she previously held.

Another social media user argued the sketch was ’embarrassing’ for Harris.

Others took to social media claiming the sketch ‘directly copied’ the bit between Trump and Fallon from nine years earlier.

Despite the criticism, both the Harris and Trump sketches have followed other ‘in the mirror’ sketches Fallon also performed with famous partners.

Fallon performed the ‘in the mirror’ sketch with The Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger in 2001 on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ 

In March 2015, Fallon performed the bit again with Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor, presidential candidate and current Utah senator, before the politician’s interview on ‘The Tonight Show.’

The Trump campaign, however, disparaged Harris’ appearance on the show when reports of her ‘surprise’ cameo surfaced on Saturday.

‘Kamala Harris has nothing substantive to offer the American people, so that’s why she’s living out her warped fantasy cosplaying with her elitist friends on Saturday Night Leftists as her campaign spirals down the drain into obscurity. For the last four years, Kamala’s destructive policies have led to untold misery and hurt for all Americans. She broke it, and President Trump will fix it,’ spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.

Brendan Carr, a Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, called the appearance a ‘clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.

Fox News Digital’s David Rutz and Michael Lee contributed to this report.

Presidential campaigns are first and foremost about messaging. In any race, the campaigns and the media push the importance of certain ideas or moments in the hopes that they will saturate the public consciousness. But out of hundreds of attempts at this, only a handful succeed.

In 2024, during my travels to over two dozen towns and cities, there were five moments that stand out for capturing the imagination of the electorate, and shaping voting preferences of Americans. Each changed the narrative of the race and carved out a new direction for it. 

No matter who wins, these are the stories that got us here.

The Butler Assassination Attempt

In an echo of the original shot heard round the world, Donald Trump’s near miss in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left a defiant former president shot, bleeding and pumping his fist to the crowd is the most iconic moment of this election. For Trump supporters, the shooting reinforced what they already felt about him: that he was strong, courageous, and maybe even a bit obstinate.

For independents and even some Democrats I spoke with, Trump’s brush with death sent a clear signal that it was time for the dangerous rhetoric of calling him ‘Hitler’ to stop, and for a while, it did. But not for long. 

Also, at that moment, many people, including two ship workers I spoke with in Toledo, Ohio, thought the race was over. One of them looked at the TV, then at me, and said, ‘That’s it, he’s gonna win.’ And that brings us directly to our second moment.

Biden’s Timing Dropping Out

Easily the most important, historic and consequential event in the 2024 race was President Joe Biden’s decision to exit the contest. And it wasn’t just the choice, it was very much the timing. 

Nobody knows what role the attempt on Trump’s life played in Biden’s decision, but for weeks before, he and his allies insisted he wasn’t going anywhere despite his bizarre and troubling debate performance against Trump. It was only after the shooting, and a triumphant Republican National Convention that celebrated Trump’s survival, that the pressure on Biden became too much to bear.

Had Biden chosen to drop out in March, Kamala Harris may or may not have won a contested Democratic primary, but she would have had to go through that gauntlet, answering questions and doing interviews. Biden left no time for that.

The comment I heard most commonly from voters on the ground, especially after she disavowed a dozen of her previous progressive positions, was ‘I just don’t know who she is.’ But that was going to change.

Harris Starts Doing Interviews

In late August, after weeks of running a ‘Hidin’ Harris’ 2024 campaign in which she refused to do any interviews, the vice president finally sat down for a friendly exchange with NBC News’ Lester Holt, bringing her running mate Tim Walz along. It did not go well. Trying to address her flip-flopping, she said, ‘My values have not changed,’ which did not answer the question.

It got worse weeks later when Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier grilled the veep, who at one point, exasperated, said to the newsman, ‘You and I both know what I’m talking about,’ to which Baier, speaking for millions of Americans, replied, ‘I actually don’t. What are you talking about?’

After that, the most common comment I heard from voters was no longer, ‘I don’t know who she is,’ but, ‘Why can’t she answer any questions?’ I even heard this from union guys stumping for Harris in Pennsylvania. If she loses, this will likely be why.

Springfield, Ohio

‘They’re eating the cats, They’re eating dogs,’ Trump said at the presidential debate, to howling accusations of racism from Democrats and the media who argued Trump was endangering the 15,000 Haitian migrants in Springfield, a city of a mere 60,000 residents. 

It was classic Trump. First he made the story about himself, picking up on running mate JD Vance’s suggestion that pets were becoming meat, but then, when the dust settled, the story became Springfield itself, and the obvious mismanagement of the migrant asylum program there, which had previously been ignored.

In Springfield, I heard from grateful citizens who were finally being listened to, and it resonated more broadly. One woman in Bedford, Pa., told me, ‘I don’t care about the cats and dogs, but I am worried about 10,000 migrants being dropped on our doorstep.’

The Teamsters Snub

When the Teamsters refused to endorse Harris for president in late September, it was actually two bombshells in one. First, was the snub itself, and then internal polling that showed Biden had been beating Trump by double digits, but Trump was beating Harris by double digits.

This was an earthquake for Democrats who rely heavily on not just the votes of private sector union members, but their organization. In Washington, Pa., around that time, I met a former Teamsters official whose disdain for Harris was so vivid and audible that a waiter had to tell us to quiet down.

This was the first major chink in Harris’ armor. From that point on, the joy and optimism that had permeated her campaign turned into a darker, more fearful message that culminated in words like ‘Hitler’ and ‘fascist’ making their dangerous return to the trail. 

Over the coming days or weeks we will know the outcome of this election, but whatever it is, it will have been shaped by unexpected moments that shook the campaign and seized the attention of America’s voters. 

Politics can bring the horse of voter interest to water, but can’t make voters drink. These five events did make them drink. And for one side or the other, a bad hangover is soon on its way.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have spent months traveling the country on the 2024 presidential election campaign trail, vying for America’s vote to move into the White House.

With every new presidential election cycle, U.S. citizens ask themselves the same question, keeping in mind the power of the Electoral College: ‘Does my vote count?’

Local and state officials elected into office in the U.S. are able to do so by winning the popular vote. However, the President of the United States is selected with the help of the Electoral College and the popular vote.

Most often, the popular vote and the electoral vote mirror each other, but there are few instances in history when the two have differed. Most recently, in 2016, Trump won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.

What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College is the formal process in which the President and Vice President of the United States are elected into office.

‘The Electoral College, as we know it, was created by the 12th Amendment of the Constitution, which was ratified in 1804. Today, there are a total of 538 electoral votes, and a candidate needs at least 270 to win,’ Fox News’ Todd Piro explained on ‘Fox and Friends’ in November 2020. 

In the Electoral College, Washington D.C. has its own three electors. 

In 48 states, plus Washington D.C., the winner of the popular vote gets all the electoral votes for that state, according to USA.gov. This is apart from Maine and Nebraska, where a proportional system is used, per the source.

How does the Electoral College work?

While the popular vote takes place in November, the electoral vote doesn’t take place until about a month later, in mid-December. 

Who is chosen as a state’s electors, how they are chosen and when they are picked vary state-by-state, but there is a two-part system in place, according to the National Archive’s website.

Slates of electors are chosen at state party conventions, or they are voted on by the party’s central committee based on state or national party rules.

During a general election, voters across the states cast their ballots to select their electors who will represent their decesion in the presidential election. The names of electors may or may not appear on the ballots.

Electors pledge to vote for specific candidates, though they are not legally obligated to do so. While there is no federal law in place for electors to vote a certain way, penalties, like being disqualified from future ballots, are in place.

Through the years, there have been many calls made to change the Electoral College as we know it. 

‘Over the years, there have been hundreds of proposed amendments to change the Electoral College, but only one has gotten remotely close to being passed after the 1968 presidential election saw Richard Nixon win against Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace,’ Piro said. ‘A 1969 bill to replace the Electoral College with the popular vote passed in the House of Representatives, and though it was endorsed by Nixon, the bill eventually died in the Senate after it was filibustered, and it still stands today.’

Recently, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called for the elimination of the Electoral College altogether. 

‘I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go,’ he said at a California fundraising event in October, according to a pool report at the event, Bloomberg reported. ‘We need a national popular vote, but that’s not the world we live in.’

In order to do away with the system created by the Founding Fathers, a major constitutional change would need to be made.