Donald Trump's long history of troubling statements about vaccines and autism

The world discovered on Tuesday that Donald Trump was exploring the idea of a new commission on vaccine safety, and that the president-elect met to discuss the issue with one Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy is, worryingly, a man well-known for believing vaccines cause autism -- even though scientists have constantly debunked the claim.

It may not surprise you even the tiniest amount to discover that Trump seemingly shares this belief, and has done for some time.

While Kennedy and Trump's claims have little to no evidence to back them up, we have the following exhibits:

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All caps for the people in the back, we guess.

If those tweets, ranging from summer 2012 to 2014, are too dated for you, here's Trump during a 2015 presidential debate on the issue.

He says "autism has become an epidemic" and links that epidemic to vaccinations administered in early childhood.

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement in response at the time, calling Trump's claims "disproven" and "dangerous to public health."

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Who knows what kind of power this new committee, if established, will wield over public policy. But if it does amass significant bureaucratic weight, we know what direction public policy could be headed.