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 had been dramatically outnumbered by individuals sporting Make America Wholesome Once more T-shirts and Affirm RFK Jr. hats.
The MAHA trustworthy 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 businesses,” Brandon Matlack, a 34-year-old who labored on Kennedy’s presidential marketing campaign, advised 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 had been hoping to get a seat for the listening to. A lot of them had been relegated to an overflow room.
In fact, Matlack and different RFK Jr. followers may very well 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 in the course of the listening to on Thursday, as Kennedy confronted powerful questions from Republican Senator Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, whose vote may very well 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 could not hinge on his affirmation. The MAHA motion has turned the difficulty of persistent 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 pay attention.
Kennedy is greatest generally 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 plan and the well being issues it causes us. A few of the methods MAHA desires to go about that, equivalent to pressuring meals firms to not use seed oils, will not be precisely scientific; others do have some analysis behind them. Contemplate synthetic meals dyes, a significant MAHA rallying cry. A number of meals dyes have been proven in animal research to be carcinogenic. And though a candy-corn aficionado doubtless isn’t going to die from the product’s pink 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 research did present that they minimize brief the lifetime of fruit flies.)
Till lately, considerations over meals components, equivalent to synthetic dyes, had been the area of Democrats. In 2023, California grew to become the primary state within the nation to ban sure meals components: pink 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 specific try and enact Kennedy’s agenda.
In different states, one thing a bit extra Schoolhouse Rock is occurring: The purported risks of meals substances are riling up People, who’re then going to their lawmakers in search of change. Eric Brooks, a Republican state legislator in West Virginia, advised me that he determined to repeat California’s food-additive invoice after being prodded by a constituent. “I stated, Effectively, I don’t usually look out West, particularly out to California, for coverage concepts, to be sincere with you,” he advised me. “However as soon as I had completed the analysis and I noticed the validity of the difficulty, 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 inspire West Virginia legislators to take one other take a look at the proposal.
Different red-state efforts to observe California’s lead have equally not but been handed into regulation, 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, advised Kennedy on Thursday that he plans to vote to substantiate him as a result of doing the rest “can be thumbing my nostril at that motion.” Republicans will not be solely introducing payments to ban meals components; they’re additionally taking over Kennedy’s different MAHA priorities. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders 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, advised me that, if Kennedy fails to be confirmed, there “will probably be an rebellion like you’ve by no means seen.”
However at this level, it appears that evidently the motion might stay on even with out Kennedy. On Wednesday, the Heritage Basis hosted a press gaggle with MAHA surrogates. Heritage, an mental residence of the trendy conservative motion, is now praising the banning of meals dyes. This is identical pro-business assume tank {that a} decade in the past warned that ought to the FDA ban partially hydrogenated oils, trans fat that had been contributing to coronary heart assaults, the company “can be taking away decisions,” “disrespecting” People’ autonomy, and mounting “an assault on dietary choices.”
Republicans have typically been a bulwark for the meals business towards insurance policies that would harm its backside line. Democrats and Republicans in Washington as we speak appear extra aligned on meals points than ever earlier than. “When you’ve members on each side of the aisle whose constituencies are actually extraordinarily keen on 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 beneath Trump, advised me. In any case, even Bernie Sanders, regardless of chastising Kennedy a number of occasions throughout this week’s affirmation hearings, professed his help for elements of the MAHA motion. “I agree with you,” Sanders advised Kennedy on Thursday, that America wants “a revolution within the nature of meals.” Throughout the identical listening to, Cassidy stated that he’s scuffling with 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 actual take a look at will come right down to the brass tacks of any political motion: passing precise laws. How prepared lawmakers—particularly these with pro-business proclivities—will probably be to buck the established order stays to be seen. Politicians have proved keen to talk out towards ultra-processed meals; in that sense, MAHA is profitable. However coverage victories should be a methods off.