From contained in the room, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s affirmation hearings felt at occasions extra like an awards present than a job interview. Whereas the health-secretary nominee testified, his followers within the viewers hooted and hollered in help. Even a five-minute toilet break was punctuated by a standing ovation from spectators and cheers of “We love you, Bobby!” There have been some detractors as nicely—one protester was ushered out after screaming “He lies!” and interrupting the proceedings—however they have been dramatically outnumbered by individuals sporting Make America Wholesome Once more T-shirts and Verify RFK Jr. hats.
The MAHA devoted have loads of purpose to be excited. If confirmed, RFK Jr. would oversee an company that manages almost $2 trillion, with the authority to remake public well being in his picture. “He simply represents the precise reverse of all these institution companies,” Brandon Matlack, a 34-year-old who labored on Kennedy’s presidential marketing campaign, instructed me on Wednesday. We chatted as he waited in a line of greater than 150 people who snaked down a flight of stairs—all of whom have been hoping to get a seat for the listening to. Lots of them have been relegated to an overflow room.
In fact, Matlack and different RFK Jr. followers might be in for a letdown. Whether or not Kennedy will really be confirmed as well being secretary remains to be up within the air. There was much less raucous cheering throughout the listening to on Thursday, as Kennedy confronted robust questions from Republican Senator Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, whose vote might be decisive in figuring out whether or not Kennedy will get confirmed. However the realization of RFK Jr.’s imaginative and prescient for well being care in America might not hinge on his affirmation. The MAHA motion has turned the problem of continual illness into such a potent political speaking level that folks like Matlack are prepared to trek from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., simply to help Kennedy. Politicians throughout the nation are listening to from self-proclaimed “MAHA mothers” (and sure some dads too) urging them to enact reforms. They’re beginning to hear.
Kennedy is greatest often known as an anti-vaccine activist who spreads conspiracy theories. His extra outlandish concepts are shared by some MAHA supporters, however the motion itself is primarily oriented round enhancing America’s weight loss program and the well being issues it causes us. A few of the methods MAHA needs to go about that, similar to pressuring meals corporations to not use seed oils, are usually not precisely scientific; others do have some analysis behind them. Contemplate synthetic meals dyes, a serious MAHA rallying cry. A number of meals dyes have been proven in animal research to be carcinogenic. And though a candy-corn aficionado possible isn’t going to die from the product’s crimson dye, the additive is successfully banned within the European Union. (Kennedy claims that meals dyes are driving down America’s life expectancy. There’s no proof straight linking meals dyes to declining human life expectancy, although one examine did present that they minimize brief the lifetime of fruit flies.)
Till just lately, considerations over meals components, similar to synthetic dyes, have been the area of Democrats. In 2023, California grew to become the primary state within the nation to ban sure meals components: crimson dye 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben. However now food-additive bans are being proposed in Donald Trump nation, together with West Virginia, Arkansas, and Kentucky. A few of the efforts, such because the Make Arkansas Wholesome Once more Act, are an express try and enact Kennedy’s agenda.
In different states, one thing a bit extra Schoolhouse Rock is occurring: The purported risks of meals components are riling up People, who’re then going to their lawmakers searching for change. Eric Brooks, a Republican state legislator in West Virginia, instructed me that he determined to repeat California’s food-additive invoice after being prodded by a constituent. “I stated, Properly, I don’t usually look out West, particularly out to California, for coverage concepts, to be trustworthy with you,” he instructed me. “However as soon as I had finished the analysis and I noticed the validity of the problem, I stated, Okay.” Though his invoice, which was first launched in January 2024, didn’t transfer ahead within the earlier legislative session as a result of, in his phrases, “there have been greater fish to fry,” Brooks hopes the nationwide curiosity coming from the MAHA motion will encourage West Virginia legislators to take one other take a look at the proposal.
Different red-state efforts to comply with California’s lead have equally not but been handed into legislation, however the truth that the payments have been launched in any respect signifies how motivated Republicans are on the subject. The MAHA mothers could also be sufficient to propel Kennedy to the job of well being secretary. One Republican, Senator Jim Banks of Indiana, instructed Kennedy on Thursday that he plans to vote to verify him as a result of doing the rest “could be thumbing my nostril at that motion.” Republicans are usually not solely introducing payments to ban meals components; they’re additionally taking on Kennedy’s different MAHA priorities. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders just lately requested the federal authorities for permission to forbid food-stamp recipients in her state from utilizing their advantages to purchase junk meals—a coverage Kennedy has repeatedly referred to as for.
Over the previous two days, senators appeared shocked at simply how loyal a following Kennedy has amassed. One pejoratively referred to as him a prophet. MAHA believers I spoke with made clear that they need RFK Jr.—and solely RFK Jr.—to guide this motion. Vani Hari, a MAHA influencer who goes by “Meals Babe” on Instagram, instructed me that, if Kennedy fails to be confirmed, there “shall be an rebellion like you might have by no means seen.”
However at this level, evidently the motion might dwell on even with out Kennedy. On Wednesday, the Heritage Basis hosted a press gaggle with MAHA surrogates. Heritage, an mental dwelling of the fashionable conservative motion, is now praising the banning of meals dyes. This is similar pro-business assume tank {that a} decade in the past warned that ought to the FDA ban partially hydrogenated oils, trans fat that have been contributing to coronary heart assaults, the company “could be taking away selections,” “disrespecting” People’ autonomy, and mounting “an assault on dietary selections.”
Republicans have usually been a bulwark for the meals trade in opposition to insurance policies that might damage its backside line. Democrats and Republicans in Washington immediately appear extra aligned on meals points than ever earlier than. “When you might have members on each side of the aisle whose constituencies at the moment are extraordinarily fascinated with understanding absolutely what’s of their meals merchandise, it does shift the sport a bit,” Brandon Lipps, a meals lobbyist and a former USDA official underneath Trump, instructed me. In spite of everything, even Bernie Sanders, regardless of chastising Kennedy a number of occasions throughout this week’s affirmation hearings, professed his help for facets of the MAHA motion. “I agree with you,” Sanders instructed Kennedy on Thursday, that America wants “a revolution within the nature of meals.” Throughout the identical listening to, Cassidy stated that he’s combating Kennedy’s candidacy as a result of, regardless of their deep disagreements on vaccine coverage, on “ultra-processed meals, weight problems, we’re simpatico. We’re utterly aligned.”
Though MAHA has proven itself to be a unifying message, the true take a look at will come all the way down to the brass tacks of any political motion: passing precise laws. How prepared lawmakers—particularly these with pro-business proclivities—shall be to buck the established order stays to be seen. Politicians have proved keen to talk out in opposition to ultra-processed meals; in that sense, MAHA is profitable. However coverage victories should be a methods off.