These pro-RFK Jr. influencers are pushing to ‘Make America Healthy Again’

You wouldn’t think wellness influencers with a passion for organic produce and unpasteurized milk would have much in common with President-elect Donald Trump, whose regular diet consists of Big Macs, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and Diet Coke. 

However, since Trump’s election victory, more and more influencers are declaring themselves supporters of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement—or the more brand-friendly MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) sect.

“So yesterday was a super exciting day for America,” one wellness influencer posted after the election, celebrating the announcement that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Trump’s pick 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 excites me more than anything else.”

The MAHA campaign that rails against Big Pharma and alleged Food and Drug Administration corruption, is the brainchild of RFK Jr., who vowed, “We’re going to become, once again, the healthiest nation on Earth. That’s what we mean by MAHA.” After Kennedy dropped out as a third-party presidential candidate and endorsed Trump in August, many of his supporters followed him, in the process adapting traditional MAGA messaging into something perhaps more palatable to mainstream tastes.

This messaging taps into a growing public frustration. Nearly three out of four U.S. adults say the country’s medical system fails them in some way, according to a 2023 survey from the American Academy of Physician Associates. In the wake of the election, Vani Hari, a wellness industry entrepreneur and influencer 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.” The food activist with more than 2 million followers on Instagram recently testified in front of the U.S. Senate, stating that “American food companies are making a fool out of us. They are knowingly poisoning us. It’s time for this to stop.” 

Influencers and companies in the wellness space have capitalized on this distrust of the nation’s public health establishment, flooding the market with supplements and alternative treatments. Alex Clark, Turning Point USA spokesperson and host of the Culture Apothecary podcast, has leveraged this movement to promote raw milk and other unregulated health trends, backed by Kennedy. A recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that those who engaged with Culture Apothecary or searched for politically neutral terms like “workouts for women” or “#fitspo” are often funneled toward right-wing political accounts, including those of Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson, furthering the crossover between alternative health and conservative ideology.

While MAHA’s core complaint about diet-based diseases is legitimate, supporters insist only a radical shake-up can fix America’s unhealthy lifestyle. Trump himself appears to be prepared to give RFK Jr. free rein: “I’m going to let him go wild on health. I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on medicines.” The raw milk, I think I’ll pass.

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