Things are a little off-kilter in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) sphere these days, according to multiple reports. This month has brought both the departure of one of the MAHA leaders in the government and controversy around comments U.S. Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy made about Muslims.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and member of the famous Kennedy family, is the main face of the MAHA movement. Even before he left the Democratic party and endorsed current President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, Kennedy had been vocal about health issues. Prior to joining the Trump administration, he was probably most well-known for his vaccine skepticism, an issue that has put him at odds with experts and lawmakers.
However, those views were also shared by a good number of voters. When Kennedy ended his 2024 presidential campaign and endorsed Trump, he was polling at around 4.6% of the vote, a considerable amount for a third-party candidate. Much of his campaign focus was on health issues.
Calley Means’ name isn’t as well-known of a name as Kennedy’s, but it had weight in the MAHA community. POLITICO said that he is a wellness entrepreneur who worked on Kennedy’s 2024 campaign and that Means’ helped pave the way for Kennedy aligning with Trump, a move that helped secure the election.
According to POLITICO, Means – who resigned this month from his position as a senior advisor to Kennedy – was “one of the most fervent MAHA allies” in the White House. While Kennedy has been able to push through some MAHA initiatives, Means’ resignation is significant because it is a sign of the broader goals of MAHA stalling in the White House.
Since the start of Trump’s second term, Means has been “heavily involved,” in “wins on food policy, including revamping the dietary guidelines, getting a smattering of big candy and food companies to voluntarily remove artificial dyes from their products and restricting unhealthy drinks from food stamp coverage in 17 states,” POLTICO said. Means “also worked on an executive order that directed federal agencies to boost research efforts into psychedelic medicine and on efforts to increase nutrition courses taught in medical schools,” the outlet added.
POLITICO reported that “Means’ departure came amid his growing frustration with what he saw as a lack of progress on other MAHA priorities, according to two administration officials, both granted anonymity to describe his thinking.”
Those unnamed officials said that Means left after a scheduled meeting with Kennedy at the White House to discuss defining ultra-processed foods, “a MAHA priority,” per POLITICO, was postponed.
“Calley’s been pushing very, very hard for this, but it’s been a very opaque process and has been just continuously stonewalled,” said one of the administration officials.
Another big issue for MAHA is the use of glyphosate, an ingredient in the weed killer Roundup. Some studies have linked exposure to glyphosate with cancer, while other research has indicated it is not carcinogenic, according to Oregon State University’s National Pesticide Information Center. In February, Trump signed an executive order to increase production glyphosate, POLITICO noted.
“Bayer, the producer of Roundup, had warned the Trump administration it could halt U.S. production of the widely used weedkiller because of mounting lawsuits claiming the product caused cance,” said the outlet. “Bayer had also raised concerns over regulatory uncertainty brought on by MAHA demands. The Trump administration argued that glyphosate was needed to secure the food supply chain, invoking national security risks.”
MAHA protestors were even out on court steps when the Trump administration supported Bayer in a Supreme Court case to protect the company from further lawsuits, POLITICO added. It said Means told Kennedy that he was very disappointed and that his disappointment has continued to increase.
Before Means left the White House, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary resigned in May. Vinay Prasad, the chief FDA regulator for vaccines, left in April.
This Monday, Kennedy was out in Michigan to support Mike Rogers, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate. Rogers is polling behind Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim.
“There’s 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they don’t produce science, they don’t win the Nobel prize, they don’t win the Fields prize, they don’t win the Wolf prize, they don’t produce literature,” Kennedy said at the Grand Rapids event.
His comments were met swiftly by a factcheck article published from the Associated Press and other backlash, per The Guardian.
“To stand on a public stage as a sitting U.S. cabinet official and dehumanize half a billion people – and millions of Muslim and Christian Arab Americans – with fabricated, white supremacist talking points is utterly disqualifying for public office,” said the Council on American-Islamic Relations in a press release demanding Kennedy’s resignation.
Kennedy’s own sister, Kerry Kennedy, also denounced her brother’s comments.
“There was a day when I completely agreed with my brother. Today, I am ashamed of him,” she said in an Instagram post. “Arab and Muslim people alike have made extraordinary contributions to the world across literature, science, mathematics, medicine and countless other fields. To name a few, Omar M. Yaghi won the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2018 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2025. Ahmed Zewail won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988.”
Kerry Kennedy also quoted their father, the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Sr., on the dangers of xenophobia.
“Other Trump administration officials have tried to paint El-Sayed as a supporter of Islamic radicalism, including the president himself,” The Guardian noted. It also said that Vice President JD Vance “sought to connect El-Sayed’s politics to violent leftwing protests in Paris that saw thousands arrested,” this week.
Trump himself has an approval rating lower than this point in his first term as the midterm elections are fast approaching, according to the Silver Bulletin. Polling and betting market data indicate that Democrats could flip the GOP’s majorities in the House and Senate.
Axios reported this week that Democrats might also be looking into flipping MAHA itself from a red to blue cause.
“Some Democrats are making a play for segments of the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ base, hoping pitches about food safety and environmental health will attract voters disillusioned with the Trump administration's lack of progress on those fronts,” said the outlet.
It cited the fact that The Center for American Progress, an influential progressive think tank, recently released a proposal focused on healthier foods and reducing harmful chemicals. According to Axios, nonpartisan polling from the Annenberg Public Policy Center has also found that much higher percentages of the public support MAHA-aligned policies than identify as MAHA supporters.
Dems are even making a play for MAHA voters, one report says
Dems are even making a play for MAHA voters, one report says
