RFK Jr. BLAMES Circumcision for Autism?!

Summary

Bulwark Takes — "RFK Jr. BLAMES Circumcision for Autism?!"

Date: October 10, 2025
Host: Sam Stein (Bulwark), guest Will Sommer (author of False Flag)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into a controversial and bizarre statement made by RFK Jr. during a recent Cabinet meeting, where he suggested a link between early childhood circumcision and autism—possibly mediated by Tylenol use. Host Sam Stein and guest Will Sommer break down the science, discuss the dangers of such pronouncements from public figures, and spotlight the confusion and misinformation amplified in political and social media spheres.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. RFK Jr.’s Claim at the Cabinet Meeting

• Topic: RFK Jr. alleged that circumcision in early childhood is linked to higher autism rates, citing two studies.
• Claim Details: Suggested the real culprit might be post-circumcision Tylenol, emphasizing these claims aren’t definitive but warrant “paying attention to.”
• Cabinet Room Reaction: Members appeared uncomfortable or bewildered as RFK Jr. spoke.

RFK Jr. (clip): "There's two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. Oh, you know, none of this is positive, but all of it is stuff that we should be paying attention to." (01:58)

Notable Moment: The hosts replay the clip to note Cabinet members' reactions:

Sam Stein: "Half of the Cabinet members aren't looking at him. They're just like, stare straight ahead. Don't, don't look, don't look. I would…say that's the first time circumcision has been brought up in a Cabinet meeting." (02:41)

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2. Reactions to the Announcement

• The hosts are simultaneously bemused and alarmed by the setting and seriousness ascribed to the claim.
• They question the prudence and accuracy of a top health official speculating dispassionately about such high-stakes topics in a public forum.

Will Sommer: "It's kind of, you know, it's the RFK war on Tylenol...The science on this is very mixed, and we can get into it, but he's just like, you know, there it is. It's the circumcisions. That's what's causing autism." (03:00)

Sam Stein: "If it's not dispositive, then don't say it...Chief medical officer...if you're not 100% sure...then you might as well just not say it, or at least let someone with more credibility say it." (03:27)

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3. The Scientific Evidence (Or Lack Thereof)

• Host Discussion: They examine the alleged basis for the claim, referring to a Danish study with disputed methodology.
• Key Points:
  • The study was criticized for conflating circumcision with pain or other confounding factors, such as urinary tract infections.
  • Tylenol was suggested as a mediator, but no determinative or causal link has been established.
  • The two cited studies are regarded as “random,” “not dispositive,” and have been challenged by subsequent research.

Sam Stein: "There was a Danish study that appears to be what RFK is referencing...the methodology of that study was sharply disputed..." (05:02)

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4. Broader Context: RFK, Trump, and Medical Populism

• The hosts compare RFK's ad hoc Cabinet statements to Trump's past announcements about Tylenol and autism.
• Mention that Trump once declared, without evidence, that there was “zero autism” in Cuba.
• They critique the tendency for politicians to bypass scientific rigor for attention-grabbing assertions—potentially causing real-world harm.

Will Sommer: "Now these guys seem to sort of just shoot off whatever they want, and they're just saying, I don't know, I could just be making. I could be wrong, though. You know, who cares?" (04:21)

Will Sommer: "If this circumcision thing is real, if RFK thinks it's real, let's do a press conference...rather than, oh, you didn't hear about the circumcision thing. Maybe you should have been watching the Trump Cabinet meeting." (06:06)

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5. Viral Reactions and Misinformation

• Viral Response: After the earlier Tylenol press conference, viral videos surfaced of pregnant women ostentatiously taking Tylenol in defiance (or parody) of RFK/Trump’s pronouncements.
• Online Rumors: Stories, often dubious, circulated about women “guzzling” Tylenol to spite politicians, with some Republicans treating them as fact.
• Skepticism: Both hosts express disbelief at the logic of viral antagonism and the lack of empirical evidence in narratives about places like Cuba or Amish communities having no autism.

Will Sommer: "It was kind of like the Tide Pod challenge...And then Republicans acted like it was totally real...Wow, liberals are truly sick." (08:19)

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6. The Cuba and Amish Examples

• The episode notes how both RFK Jr. and Trump cited outlier populations like Cubans and Amish as having uniquely low (or no) rates of autism.
• The hosts point out that detection and reporting of autism in these groups is likely inadequate, making such claims untrustworthy.

Will Sommer: "There's a lot of focus on societies where I think it's fair to say the detection may not be so good...there is an incentive to not be...mass identifying everyone with autism..." (09:09)

Sam Stein: "I will just note that Cuban doctors have come forward since then to refute the idea that there is no autism on the island." (10:03)

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7. Medical Reality vs. Political Theater

• Most children are not given Tylenol post-circumcision, contradicting the cornerstone of RFK Jr.’s theory.
• Doctors have vocally disputed RFK’s characterization, but the hosts lament that such high-level “medical” discourse is now a reality in U.S. politics.

Sam Stein: "Kids aren't often given Tylenol post-circumcision. It's true that there's doctors in my feed. Being like, this just doesn't comport with reality, but this is our reality." (10:03)

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8. Closing & Broader Cultural Footnotes

• Briefly reminisce about Andrew Yang’s anti-circumcision remarks during his presidential run.
• Final Advice: Do not take medical advice from politicians or podcasters—consult your healthcare provider.

Sam Stein: "Please do not take your circumcision advice from us or from RFK Jr. Talk to your doctors." (11:10)

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Notable Quotes

• RFK Jr. (clip): "There's two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It's highly likely because they're given Tylenol..." (01:58, repeated at 02:27)
• Sam Stein: "Half of the Cabinet members aren't looking at him. They're just like, stare straight ahead. Don't, don't look, don't look..." (02:41)
• Will Sommer: "Now these guys seem to sort of just shoot off whatever they want, and they're just saying, I don't know, I could just be making. I could be wrong, though. You know, who cares?" (04:21)
• Sam Stein: "If it's not dispositive, then don't say it..." (03:27)
• Will Sommer: "It was kind of like the Tide Pod challenge...And then Republicans acted like it was totally real..." (08:19)
• Sam Stein: "Kids aren't often given Tylenol post-circumcision. It's true that there's doctors in my feed. Being like, this just doesn't comport with reality, but this is our reality." (10:03)
• Sam Stein: "Please do not take your circumcision advice from us or from RFK Jr. Talk to your doctors." (11:10)

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Timeline of Key Segments

• 01:58–02:41 — RFK Jr.’s Cabinet comments on circumcision, Tylenol, and autism; reactions in the room.
• 03:00–04:21 — Discussion on why such off-the-cuff pronouncements from officials are dangerous.
• 05:02–06:06 — Breakdown of the Danish study RFK referenced and the flaws in its methodology.
• 07:50–09:00 — Viral videos, urban legends about Tylenol, and online responses.
• 09:00–10:03 — Critique of using Cuba and Amish community stats as evidence; lack of empirical support.
• 10:03–11:10 — Doctors push back; reality check on Tylenol use post-circumcision; episode wrap-up.

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Final Takeaway:
The episode is a sharp, humorous but serious dissection of RFK Jr.’s scientifically flimsy claims linking circumcision, Tylenol, and autism—and a warning against the dangers of politicized medical misinformation. The hosts urge listeners to trust medical professionals over political grandstanders.

Transcript

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[D]

Hey guys. Me Sam Stein, managing under at the Bulwark. I am here with Will Sommer, who is the author of False Flag. The reason Will's with us is because every other person on staff refused to talk about this topic that we're going to talk about. It was just too hot an issue, too uncomfortable a topic of conversation for anyone other than me and Will. I speak of RFKJR's latest discourse around autism, this time that there may be a correlation between early circumcision and autism. This was during a Cabinet meeting today. I'm not going to be totally dismissive. He's not, you know, he's not speaking completely out of his ass. There are some studies, but as usual, it's incredibly complicated and he's distilling it into something that is wildly misleading. But Will, let's play the video of it and I don't know, let's just talk about it after the fact. Let's roll the tape of RFK talking about circumcision at the Cabinet meeting.

[A]

There's two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. Oh, you know, none of this is positive, but all of it is stuff that we should be paying attention to.

[B]

Doug Burgum sitting next to him, like, I don't know.

[D]

Did he say I missed that? Can we play that again? I want to see Bergam.

[B]

No, no, he's just Sort of looking like, what's this guy talking about?

[D]

Yeah, I want to play it again. Let's play it again if we can. I want to actually look for the.

[A]

There's two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism. It's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. You know, none of this is positive, but all of it is stuff that we should be paying attention to.

[D]

Oh, my God. Half of the Cabinet members aren't looking at him. They're just like, stare straight ahead. Don't, don't look, don't look. I would. I'm going to go on a limb and say that's the first time circumcision has been brought up in a Cabinet meeting. Unless I'm missing something. But what did you make of rfk? Just going for it.

[B]

Well, you know, it is a lot to bring up in a Cabinet meeting, as you said. I mean, it's kind of, you know, it's the RFK war on Tylenol. I mean, clearly he. He made this promise that they were going to get to the bottom of autism by, I think, September. They made the big announcement about women, pregnant women, taking Tylenol. And now he's. I mean, it's sort of a part of this where, you know, the science on this is very mixed, and we can get into it, but he's just like, you know, there it is. It's the circumcisions. That's what's causing autism.

[D]

Yeah, I think that's what gets me a bit. And we will get into the science because. Well, I'm not a scientist, but I did actually do a little research on this. But it's like the idea that the top health official in the country would just kind of riff out in a Cabinet meeting about, like, very important things like childhood autism and circumcision and. And then, of course, the qualifier, it's not dispositive. He said that twice, actually, about whether Tylenol is linked to autism. Well, if it's not dispositive, then don't say it. Like, just don't say it, because people are going to look to you as a person of authority and the chief medical officer in the country, and they're going to take your lead. And if you're not 100% sure of what you're about to say, then you might as well just not say it, or at least let someone with more credibility say it. But that's not how these people roll. So, you know, you Get RFK saying things like this in front of a cab meeting, and it's going to cause real harm.

[B]

You know, it is funny. You take. You think about RFK and a lot of the sort of COVID People's grievances with the way HHS and the CDC was run during the pandemic. And a lot of it was, you know, they would. Well, Dr. Fauci told us to wear cloth masks, but really that wasn't so effective or that the vaccines would stop the spread. And maybe they didn't. And then. But now these guys seem to sort of just shoot off whatever they want, and they're just saying, I don't know, I could just be making. I could be wrong, though. You know, who cares?

[D]

Yeah, don't. Don't snip your kid's dick and give them Tylenol. Like, let's just, you know, let's. Let's just, you know, not do that as opposed to, you know, wear a cloth mask. It's a good point, Will. It's very. It's very interesting.

[B]

Thank you. I come with the transient analysis. Absolutely.

[D]

I. Yeah. Well, this is why we got you on whenever the topic is male circumcision. So what is the science? Okay, so look, I'm not gonna pretend like I'm the authority here, but there was a Danish study that appears to be what RFK is referencing among two studies, and it looked at whether rates of autism for kids who were circumcised was higher, more elevated. And, you know, the methodology of that study was sharply disputed, in part because it wasn't clear if they were looking at whether circumcision was responsible or pain in general was responsible, because it's possible that, for instance, UTI urinary tract infection infections were, you know, if by their methodology, related as well. In that study, there was suggestion that perhaps it was the use of Tylenol that was related to autism, but they never made determinative links between that and autism. In fact, several studies since then have questioned whether the study was accurate or not. But that's what we're going on. It's like two random studies that are not dispositive, and RFK Jr just jumps in and says, yeah, this could be it.

[B]

I mean, it really does take you back to the initial Tylenol press conference that him and Trump held, where they would say, well, you know, there's mixed science. Maybe let's hold off on doing Tylenol. And Trump would just say, stop taking Tylenol right now. If you're Pregnant. If you might become pregnant, don't do it. There's nothing else for it. But too bad. I mean, the idea is, and you know, the cdc, the hhs, the fda, we expect these, I mean, this is like life or death decisions here. And you would expect them to really, if they're going to make a pronouncement, really sort of mull it over. But instead you have RFK kind of just spouting off you whatever he wants. And in weird forums, too, right? I mean, if this circumcision thing is real, if RFK thinks it's real, let's do a press conference. Let's. Let's issue some white papers or what have you, rather than, oh, you didn't hear about the circumcision thing. Maybe you should have been watching the Trump Cabinet meeting.

[D]

Exactly. It's the Cabinet meeting where Donald Trump pontificates alongside rfk. The other thing that's notable is. So that was just a snippet of what we played, no pun intended, by RFK in the Cabinet meeting. Earlier in the same meeting, he was talking about Cuba and autism rates on the island. And I did notice something. He was like, well, you know, the rates of autism in Cuba are much lower, lowest in the world, and they have much less use of Tylenol in Cuba than anywhere else in the world, therefore these two must be correlated. And I remember Trump. Actually, this is, you know, this is different than what Trump said. Trump said there was no autism at all in Cuba. He was definitive zero autism at all in Cuba. So, you know, there's just not real much consistency there. Um, the other thing that RFK complained about was that there's some. Apparently some viral video of some Columbia professor or something like that, like, pregnant, eight months pregnant, just like downing Tylenol.

[B]

Oh, yeah, can we, can we talk about that, by the way? Can we talk about that? Yeah.

[D]

What is that?

[B]

So I. So I was shocked when I heard it, but it was this is the World diet. This is the world I live in. So did you. So, right. So. So after the press conference in September saying, you know, pregnant women stop taking Tylenol, then you would have videos of pregnant women saying, you know, F U R F K and taking a Tylenol because. Because they were in pain or in some cases, I think it's kind of like the Tide Pod challenge. I think people were. They would take the bottle and go.

[D]

Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug.

[B]

I don't think people were really eating all of these Tylenols but then Republicans acted like it was totally real. And they would say, oh, my God, these. These liberal women, they're on a death mission, just despite Trump incision. There is this one that got, like, a ton of attention where one of the women who was very opposed to pregnant women taking Tylenol, said, I just got a call from a man whose wife guzzled a whole thing of Tylenol to spike Trump. And now they're in the er and. And it's like, why would you. What? Like, okay, my wife's in the ER because of this TikTok stuck gone wrong now. Now let me find this MAGA person on Twitter and give her a call. I mean, people are saying, wow, liberals are truly sick.

[D]

Yeah, well, it did seem a little bit too ridiculous to be true, honestly, that someone would just be on the street videoing themselves being like.

[B]

Can I also just jump off the Cuba thing? We're seeing a lot of sort of an abandonment of what we might call empirical evidence in favor of, like, I heard it from someone, or. There's a lot. There's a lot of focus on societies where I think it's fair to say the detection may not be so good. You know, I think in Cuba. I'm not an expert on autism in Cuba, but I think it's fair to say that they probably don't have the most rigorous testing. And also, I think there's an incentive to not be, you know, because it's a government healthcare system to not be maybe mass identifying everyone with autism, because that would mean more money has to be spent. This. This recalls in the September press conference when Trump said the Amish have no rates of autism, and that. Where did that come from? An Amish guy who was on the Theo Vaughn show and said, we don't have. We don't know what ADHD is. Now, this guy was not really a medical expert in any way, but this is. This is. Our medical policy is getting shaped.

[D]

I will just note that Cuban doctors have come forward since then to refute the idea that there is no autism on the island. So there is autism on the island. Yeah, it's just the world we live in. And on. On the issue of circumcision. The other thing to note is, like, kids aren't often given Tylenol post circumcision. It's. It's true that there's doctors in my feed. Being like, this is just doesn't comport with reality, but this is our reality. So, yeah, we got to watch these cabinet meetings for big scientific breakthroughs from RFK Jr. Well, thank you for.

[B]

He is in the lab. He's like, I've emerged.

[D]

Yeah, seriously. It's unbelievable. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate this. It wasn't that bad talking for what, 11 minutes about circumcision, was it?

[B]

It reminds me of when we worked together at a previous publication and Andrew Yang came out against circumcision. Oh, and related every. He said, you know, my first kid was circumcised, second kid wasn't. And it was like, well, okay, all right.

[D]

I forgot about that Yang. That's a good recall. Why did he. He like ran on a weirdly anti circumcision someone.

[B]

Someone on Twitter or Reddit asked him, what's your take on circumcision? He said, well, let me tell.

[D]

Remember that? And then I called him up and we talked about it. So funny. Those are the good old days. All right, man. Take care, buddy. Thank you guys for watching this. I'm sure this was illuminating. Please do not take your circumcision advice from us or from RFK Jr. Talk to your doctors. Subscribe to the feedback.