MAHA moms are losing faith in Trump

MAHA moms are losing faith in Trump
RFK Jr.’s “wellness” movement is collapsing under its own contradictions

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published May 1, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) If there was one single idea uniting the misnamed “Make America Healthy Again” movement, it’s that health is a matter of personal responsibility, and government is in the way. This is presumably why Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abandoned his family’s long allegiance to the Democratic Party to support a Republican for president, Donald Trump, and serve in his administration. He and his army of affluent, white female supporters — dubbed “MAHA moms” — pride themselves in rejecting the federal government’s reliance on medical and scientific expertise to set healthcare policy. They characterize these authorities as an oppressive force, denying individuals the freedom to make their own choices, however unscientific, about healthcare.

“I’m a freedom-of-choice person,” the secretary insisted to Fox News’ Sean Hannity in 2025. In Kennedy’s view, ordinary people, working on the advice of shady online influencers, are just as qualified as medical experts to understand the risks of refusing vaccines, rejecting contraception, drinking raw milk, consuming unregulated supplements or eating saturated fats.



Backed by his MAHA movement, Kennedy has worked at HHS to shift responsibility for health away from public health systems and onto individuals. In his opening statement at his Senate confirmation hearing, Kennedy argued that government healthcare spending has not improved public health. He has since focused on scolding Americans to exercise more and “eat real food,” and criticizing people who use government-funded health services for allegedly not doing enough to take care of themselves. As MAHA influencer Zen Honeycutt argued in 2024, “we won’t even need healthcare” under Kennedy’s leadership, because his and the movement’s recommendations — like consuming foods cooked in beef tallow and rejecting vaccines — will render Americans so healthy “we won’t be going to the doctor’s because we won’t be sick.”

So it was frustrating to see so many of the MAHA movement’s thought-leaders protest in front of the Supreme Court on Monday, angry that the Trump administration is embracing this very “freedom of choice” and “do your own research” approach to the issue of pesticides. The Court was hearing oral arguments in Monsanto Company v. Durnell, a case centered on whether individuals can sue the pesticide manufacturer over claims that glyphosate, the main ingredient in the popular weed killer Roundup, causes cancer. Under former President Joe Biden, federal lawyers sided with the plaintiff John Durnell, who believes he developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after years of spraying Roundup on the grass in parks near his home in St. Louis, Missouri. The Trump administration is siding with Monsanto, arguing they should not be held liable for consumer health outcomes. .......................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/01/maha-moms-are-losing-faith-in-trump/