Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a prominent public health leader, has publicly criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for replacing science with ideology and turning public health into a performance of quackery. He accused Kennedy of defending President Trump's claim that prescription drug prices had fallen by "600 percent" and Hegsetsh's decision to end the long-standing annual flu shot requirement. This comes after a week of controversies involving science, medicine, and what critics describe as an increasingly performative display of toughness. Both men have been criticized for their public fitness stunts, including the "Pete and Bobby Challenge" at the Pentagon.