See coverage below; reaction from Kayla Hancock, Director of Public Health Watch, a project of Protect Our Care: “A year ago, Donald Trump made a big show of establishing the ‘Make America Healthy Again Commission’ in a nod to the wellness community that helped elect him. But like so many of his abandoned political allies, Trump clearly considers MAHA disposable when big corporate polluters and poisoners need a favor. Trump gave his giant chemical company donors exactly what they wanted with his Executive Order, bringing back glyphosate, the Roundup herbicide ingredient repeatedly linked to health risks. While it was a finger in the eye of a core MAHA movement tenant, Health Secretary RFK Jr. instantly folded on his years of anti-pesticide advocacy to fully endorse Trump’s move, putting corporate special interests ahead of Americans’ health. RFK Jr. has shown his alleged values are skin deep and his loyalty to Trump is a mile-wide no matter the cost to his reputation and our public health.”
ROUNDUP: MAHA ‘DISGUSTED’ WITH TRUMP MAKING HARMFUL HERBICIDE GREAT AGAIN
The Bulwark: MAHA Meltdown; Why Donald Trump may rue the day he pissed off the MAHA moms:
DONALD TRUMP ISSUED an executive order last week to boost production of glyphosate, a widely used pesticide that’s long been the subject of lawsuits over possible effects on health. And the reaction on social media was exactly what you’d expect to hear from environmentalists on the left.
“Absolutely disgusting and shameful”
“Literally no justification for the way this was done”
“A middle finger to public health”
But these posts didn’t come from Trump’s progressive critics. They came from some of his most enthusiastic supporters: influencers who identify as part of the Make America Healthy Again movement.
New York Times: MAHA Moms Turn Against Trump: ‘Women Feel Like They Were Lied To’:
But the executive order Mr. Trump issued Wednesday to increase domestic production of glyphosate — a widely used weedkiller and possible carcinogen that has been the target of thousands of lawsuits, including one brought by Mr. Kennedy — stunned and infuriated the activists.
It now threatens to turn the brief MAHA-Trump marriage into a divorce.
“Women feel like they were lied to, that MAHA movement is a sham,” said Alex Clark, a health and wellness podcaster for the conservative group Turning Point U.S.A., which is closely allied with the president. “How am I supposed to rally these women to vote red in the midterms? How can we win their trust back? I am unsure if we can.”
Reuters: MAHA activists warn Trump could lose their support over glyphosate order:
MAHA supporters flooded social media with posts and comments about their disappointment, including images with the text, “we do not consent to being poisoned.”
A petition to Trump being circulated by the MAHA group Moms Across America, whose founder Zen Honeycutt is a longtime Kennedy ally, urges him to rescind the order.
“True national security is healthy families and the ability of the next generation to reproduce and thrive, which will not happen for as long as these pervasive, harmful herbicides are being used,” the petition said.
Washington Post: Trump order to promote weedkiller sparks fury in MAHA movement:
Zen Honeycutt, a longtime Kennedy supporter and the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Moms Across America, warned that Trump was alienating voters who helped put him in office — many of them mothers who voted Republican for the first time in 2024 and could be hard-pressed to do so again.
“Without restricting and/or banning glyphosate, we will not make America healthy again,” Honeycutt said. […]
Vani Hari, an author, activist and Kennedy ally who also writes under the name “Food Babe,” described being “speechless” when she saw the executive order Wednesday evening.“We truly were hoping that this administration would put people over corporate power,” she said in an interview, “but this action moves us away from that commitment.”
On X, Hari blamed the chemical lobby and urged the MAHA movement to unify against powerful corporations.
Politico: MAHA unleashes on White House after Trump backs pesticide
“I’m witnessing the bottom falling out on MAHA,” MAHA influencer Kelly Ryerson, who goes by the moniker “Glyphosate Girl” online, said of watching the reaction on X. “People came along on MAHA because of pesticides and foods. It wasn’t because of vaccines.”
[…]
Zen Honeycutt, executive director of the grassroots group Moms Across America, said the electoral consequences will be real.“To put toxic farming and businesses before the health and safety of our children is a betrayal of every voter who voted for him to [Make America Healthy Again],” she said in a statement to POLITICO. “The repercussions are not going to just affect the midterms, but the health of millions of Americans for generations to come.”
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