You wouldn’t think that health advocates who favor organic produce and skim milk would have much in common with President-elect Donald Trump, whose usual diet includes Big Macs, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and Diet Coke.
However, since Trump’s election victory, more and more activists identify themselves as followers of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement – or the friendly cult of the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) brand.
“So yesterday was the happiest day in America,” said one health advocate after the election, celebrating the announcement that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was chosen by Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Another added, “Having people in power like Robert F Kennedy Jr, making America healthy again, this makes me happy more than anything else.”
MAHA’s campaign against Big Pharma and the alleged corruption of the Food and Drug Administration is the brainchild of RFK Jr., who vowed, “We will be, once again, the healthiest nation on Earth. That’s what we mean by MAHA. ” After Kennedy stepped down as a third-party president and endorsed Trump in August, many of his supporters followed him, while adapting MAGA’s messaging to something more palatable to suit the public.
These messages tap into growing public frustration. Nearly three in four American adults say the country’s medical system is failing them in some way, according to a 2023 survey from the American Academy of Physician Associates. After the election, Vani Hari, a health industry entrepreneur and activist known as the Food Babe, echoed this frustration, writing, “No matter who you voted for, I think we can all agree, it’s time to make America healthy again. .” A food activist with over 2 million followers on Instagram recently testified before the US Senate, saying “America’s food companies are making us stupid. They poisoned us on purpose. It is time for this to stop.”
Activists and companies in the health space have capitalized on this distrust of the public health establishment, flooding the market with supplements and other treatments. Alex Clark, spokesperson for Turning Point USA and host of Apothecary tradition podcast, used the organization to promote raw milk and other unregulated lifestyles, supported by Kennedy. A recent report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that those involved Apothecary tradition or searching for politically neutral words like “women’s exercise” or “#fitspo” are often translated into right-wing political accounts, including those of Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson, that further the conflict between alternative health and conservative ideologies.
Although MAHA’s main complaint about food-based diseases is legitimate, supporters insist that only a major shake-up can correct America’s unhealthy lifestyle. Trump himself seems ready to give RFK Jr. free energy: “I’ll let him digest life. I’ll let him eat. I’ll let him take medicine.” Raw milk, I think I’ll pass on it.
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