> At a Glance
> – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s phone quacked loudly during a Jan. 7 press conference unveiling Trump’s inverted food pyramid.
> – Dr. Oz stepped in to help while Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins joked, “Duck is high in protein.”
> – The incident occurred hours after RFK Jr. faced family backlash over vaccine-policy timing.
> – Why it matters: The lighthearted moment briefly interrupted a major policy shift affecting federal nutrition guidelines.
A press conference meant to tout President Donald Trump’s plan to flip the food pyramid turned into an unexpected comedy when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was upstaged by his own ringtone.
The Quacking Interruption
While Kennedy, 71, declared “protein and healthy fats are essential” and vowed to “end the war on saturated fats,” a duck-quack ringtone blared from his pocket. Cameras captured Dr. Mehmet Oz retrieving the phone and promising the caller they’d “call back.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins seized the moment:
> “Duck is high in protein, that’s also interesting. Duck is a good thing to eat, everybody.”
Kennedy had just finished stating that “diets rich in vegetables and fruits reduce disease risk more effectively than any drugs” and urged Americans to “eat real food.”
Family Tensions Linger
The awkward timing followed a bruising week for Kennedy. On Jan. 5, his Department of Health and Human Services announced major child-vaccine-mandate changes just hours before the funeral of his cousin Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy.
In a New Yorker essay published days before her death on Dec. 30, the 35-year-old environmental journalist had called her Trump-aligned cousin an “embarrassment” and warned his vaccine skepticism could leave immunocompromised patients like herself without life-saving shots.
Attendees at Tatiana’s service-her parents, siblings, husband George Moran, their two children, and Kennedy relatives including Maria Shriver and Joe Kennedy III-did not include RFK Jr.
Key Takeaways
- The inverted food pyramid prioritizes protein and healthy fats over grains.
- Kennedy’s quacking phone briefly derailed the policy rollout.
- The episode highlighted ongoing family friction over his health-policy stance.
Despite the quack attack, the administration pressed ahead with its nutrition overhaul, promising a new federal standard that could reshape school lunches and food-label guidelines nationwide.
