The RFK Jr x Trump collab is mid. RFK Jr is doing it for the plot, but he's delulu.

If my pre-teen boys asked me about the RFK Jr x Trump ship, I'd tell them it seems like little more than FWB. RFK Jr is skibiti Ohio, and Trump is cappin' as usual, pretending RFK Jr is fire just to woo the wellness base. RFK stans are vibing with the publicity and promise they're getting now.

But after November 5, Trump will throw shade at RFK Jr's cheugy priorities and beige flags. RFK Jr will be a beta with no aura points in the administration. The Silicon Valley sigmas will let everyone know they ate their agenda when Vance replaces Trump as President before 2028, and they burn it all down.

SMH

Ok, boomer. Need a translation?

tl;dr Wellness advocates aligning with Trump's candidacy fundamentally doesn't make sense, and they are being misled.

climate advocates and maha voters have a lot in common

Have you noticed how much climate voters and Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) voters have in common?1 Like climate voters, MAHA voters want to use government agencies to create comprehensive national strategies to reduce chemicals and toxins in our food and the environment. They support sustainable farming, soil health, and biodiversity. They want robust environmental regulations. In a lot of respects, it sounds like a climate plan!

So why are they voting against climate voters at the ballot box? Why are they voting for Trump, a president who:

• consistently acted against the environment and in favor of Big Business like Big Oil and Big Pharma
• nominated three conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the Chevron Doctrine and
• hopes to dismantle federal agencies (notably the EPA!!) and their power through plans laid out in Project 2025

The short answer: MAHA voters are being gaslit. 🔥 They're being lied to by a liar who lies, a man who is allergic to truth (except when he's describing how he will abuse his power for revenge). When we look at who supports Trump and funded his campaign (Silicon Valley billionaires, ultra-conservative Christians, etc...), we see their priorities fundamentally don’t align with the MAHA platform.2​

Let's discuss the details.

any platform will do, thanks

RFK Jr is not a Trump supporter as much as a seeker of any national platform for his agenda around matters of public health. He tried to be a Democrat. They said no thanks, you're pretty cringe. Brain worms, dumping dead bears in Central Park, and driving home a dead whale head, in addition to the myriad conspiracies he promotes, are just strange.

He tried to go out on his own and failed. So he jumped on Trump's coattails and found a platform for the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign he desperately wants to promote.

I think he raises legitimate points about public health in our country. His anti-vaccine stance is excessive and filled with conspiracy theories, but we’re remiss if we can’t admit that people in this country are less healthy than they have been in the past. I wish Democrats would take some of his health messaging more seriously, but he's not qualified to be president on his own.

maha agenda is fundamentally in conflict with Trump funders' agendas

I find it unfortunate, however, that his well-intentioned supporters are being lured into supporting Trump. RFK Jr's platform is functionally at odds with the real money behind Trump's second candidacy and inconsistent with the stated agenda of the Republican Party and Project 2025. Project 2025 is essentially the Trump agenda; he's blatantly lying when he says otherwise. Trump is accepting RFK Jr for now but won't give his policy priorities the time of day after Election Day.

While RFK Jr wants to use liberal (little L) government institutions to regulate organizations and corporations that influence public health, the other more powerful factions of Trump's coalition are pursuing illiberal government schemes. They want to light our government on fire, burn it all down, and lead it themselves. They believe they are uniquely qualified to know what's best for society (because they're rich or white or men or all of the above).

let's define liberalism

In the United States, we've assigned an alternative meaning to the word "liberal" with partisan politics. Ignore that for these purposes.

Liberalism, in a general sense, is a system for governing diverse societies grounded in fundamental principles of equality and the rule of law. It emphasizes the rights of individuals to pursue their own forms of happiness free from government encroachment. However, some government institutions are needed to protect the rights of individuals living under its jurisdiction.

In short, it means we live in a society where people and institutions follow the laws for the benefit of humanity. In the United States, those institutions operate of, by, and for the people and under a system of checks and balances to ensure they do not usurp too much power or become excessively corrupt.

They're not perfect today (at all), but Americans generally like what a liberal government brings to our country: protection of individual freedoms, a semblance of equality and meritocracy, solid infrastructure, social safety nets, and relative law and order. Sure, we have protests and crime, income inequality, and challenging discussions about the intersection of individual freedom and public interest.

But for the most part, people comply with the contracts they sign and follow through on their promises (making the United States one of the best places to do business). We follow the rules and respect each other. Our water systems and roadways function. We have free and fair elections. The fruits of a well-functioning liberal government are good for Americans.

the agenda for maha

In part, RFK Jr wants to use government agencies and regulation to reign in the broken systems around Big Pharma, Big Ag, and Big Food. He wants to replace existing leaders at the EPA, the NIH, and the USDA with leaders who are less tied to corporate donors and more accountable to the public. These are not bad ideas; they are the essence of a classic liberal society.

According to the MAHA website, they want:

• "a comprehensive national strategy to combat the chronic disease epidemic, which includes addressing the root causes such as poor diet, environmental toxins, and inadequate healthcare."
• "policies that incentivize sustainable farming practices, improve soil health, reduce chemical usage, and increase biodiversity."
• "stronger environmental regulations and enforcement to prevent habitat loss and degradation."

These priorities mean increased federal regulation and oversight, tax incentives or regulations (presumably paid for with tax increases and enforced by federal agencies), broad access to affordable healthcare, and stronger environmental regulations from agencies like the EPA. These are cornerstones of liberalism.

trump's previous actions and agenda are not promising

In his previous administration, Trump slashed over 100 EPA environmental protections, many of which directly relate to the chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, and other toxins on RFK Jr's sh*t list. Trump pledged loyalty to Big Oil and promised to"drill, baby, drill," the antithesis of fewer chemicals and clean communities. Oil is more than just emissions. Plastic pollution, PFAS, and other oil byproducts contaminate our bodies and lives.

Trump rolled back the healthy school lunch program created during the Obama administration, reducing access to healthier eating options for schoolchildren.

His conservative Supreme Court justices overturned the Chevron doctrine, a decades-old precedent. This change further hampers the power of agencies like the EPA, the FDA, the FTC, and the USDA to establish and enforce rules that protect consumers from toxins and pollutants.

These actions from his past term and similar actions we can expect to see in a possible second term make it more challenging for Make America Healthy Again to implement its agenda.

trump's funding factions want an illiberal government, and he's in revenge mode

A President can only apply his political capital to a limited number of agenda items. MAHA will be low on the list. Before Trump can advance the MAHA agenda, he'll have allegiance to the Silicon Valley billionaires, ultra-conservative Christians, and Project 2025 advocates who got him elected.

Vance is the perfect intersection of these groups, further cementing the MAHA agenda behind the illiberal priorities of tech bros and evangelicals. And because Trump is always for Trump first, his personal retaliation plans will precede any efforts to build policy around health and wellness for everyone else.

trump's personal agenda

Punishing China with tariffs that hurt Americans, seeking revenge on Americans who hurt his fragile feelings, and trying to win the heart of Vladimir Putin (maybe a surrogate for the father who never loved him?) will be top agenda items for Trump.

tech bros' immature hubris and disillusionment with democracy

Repaying Silicon Valley bros will be next on his list. Musk has federal contracts to protect and companies to insulate from Trump's tariffs on his road to being the first trillionaire. He'll be the head honcho of the unregulated AI and crypto mafia, a group hell-bent on receiving a lush return on their unprecedented investment to get Trump back in the White House.3​

Musk has already announced his plans to slash over 1/3 of total government spending as Trump’s government efficiency czar. This is not a good omen for a "comprehensive national strategy" around wellness or "stronger environmental regulations."

Peter Thiel, the billionaire bankrolling Vance's rise to power, is keen on destroying democracy (he says it's no longer compatible with freedom) and installing an illiberal oligarchy that he believes he and his tech bros should run because they are wildly smarter than the rest of us.4 JD Vance is Thiel's assassin, always thrilled to do the dirty work while striving to stay in Thiel's cool kid inner circle.

courting christian nationalism

The religious right, deeply intertwined with Project 2025, is happy to comply with this illiberal society because they don't believe in equality either. Their male leaders have been granted authority over their congregations and communities through divine intervention. God gifted men the responsibility to lead and women the “privilege” to submit.5​

Project 2025 seeks to consolidate power at the top, giving the President unchecked power. The plan intends to eliminate the EPA, replace agency experts with Trump loyalists, and shrink federal agencies.

​Emily Amick detailed ways that Project 2025 directly opposes MAHA priorities.

Conservative Christian Nationalist men seek to implement regulations to oppress women, something that seems to appeal to Thiel as well because he believes women voters, in particular, support liberal policies and vote against libertarianism. When hubris of billionaire men and religious men collide in the hope of seeking absolute power, does pushback from women surprise anyone?!

Vance is the mouthpiece of the billionaire bro club and a conservative Christian Nationalist. He's happy to advance both of their agendas and make life harder for women in whatever ways keep them barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen. God put us on this earth to be vessels of procreation, after all, right? 🙄 Get out of here, JD.

putting a blow torch to healthcare

While RFK Jr touts the importance of health and wellness, Mike Johnson (Speaker of the House) is behind closed doors touting the Republican plan to put a “blow torch” to the Affordable Care Act, which has expanded healthcare to millions of Americans and protected those with pre-existing conditions. It's been ten years since Trump and Republicans began the discussion to abolish Obamacare, and they still have nothing but a "concept of a plan" to fix it.

Interestingly, Johnson says he wants to:

That doesn't sound like our Washington friends supporting a MAHA "comprehensive national strategy to combat the chronic disease epidemic." 🤢

I also wonder if Johnson thinks this doctor-patient relationship is more effective for everyone or just men because... reproductive rights (!!!). I'd love not to have government bureaucrats in our uteruses, but that type of government interference with the doctor-patient relationship seems to be right up his alley. Give me a break, Mike.

Oh yeah... women with equal rights, especially those not tied down by child care and unpaid domestic labor, are getting in the way of burning down our liberal democracy in favor of an illiberal autocracy run by a handful of divinely endowed men. Ugh... those evil childless cat ladies and wives "undermining their husbands" by voting differently than them. 🙄

silencing the free press (and banning books) advances the anti-MAHA cause

Silencing the free press benefits an illiberal government led by the hubris of billionaires and Bible boys. Words offer a basis for gaining knowledge and questioning an established narrative. A free press ensures society is informed about the truth; democracy dies in darkness.

💉I bet many MAHA supporters found their way to the wellness movement through freedom of speech and a free press because they were “just asking questions.” 🧐

The tech bros and evangelicals are happy to sit back and advance their dismantling of our current institutions behind the scenes. At the same time and as a distraction, Trump draws our attention to his efforts to disparage and threaten media outlets that publish anything other than his propaganda.

The oppression endured under a lack of access to books is precisely the reason we've seen a steep rise in book banning from Christian Nationalists. It's much harder to question societal structures and propaganda from power without access to contradictory evidence or perspectives.

neither the past nor the future under trump holds promise for maha

Neither Trump's history nor his agenda for another term offer anything to accommodate healthier lives for everyday Americans. In many ways, they fundamentally clash with the tools MAHA wants and needs to employ its agenda. When RFK Jr gets a seat at the table, the White House agenda will be packed with everyone else's priorities and stripped of the functions he seeks to employ.

Trump will be busy negotiating bribes with Big Pharma, Big Ag, and Big Food to protect them from his arbitrary tariff schemes. He won't be critiquing the chemicals and toxins they use that lead to questionable quality and unreadable ingredients in our food products. Meanwhile, his administration, comprised of the tech bros and Bible boys, will be implementing Project 2025 and installing themselves as its leaders.

The Trump team has no plans to create federal health and nutrition policy, maintain government agencies large enough to regulate multi-national food and agriculture corporations, or increase taxes to pay for regenerative agriculture incentives. And they certainly aren't strengthening environmental regulations while in bed with Big Oil!

intersection of maha and environmentalism

I commend RFK Jr's energy in bringing attention to our country's widespread public health crisis. We are very unhealthy, and much of it is out of our control.

Many of the problems he highlights intersect with environmental considerations. Environmental advocates have tried to regulate Big Ag and Big Food for climate benefits for decades and have mostly failed. It might behoove him and his crew to join forces (and vote with!! 🎉) climate advocates and work toward solutions that fix both problems. Although, good luck courting Trump with environmentalists at your side; he's confident they're a "hoax" and generating "fake news." 🙄

I wish we could pay more attention to health issues. Fixing it is expensive and complex and will cost big corporations a lot of money. Trump has neither the guts nor the interest to take on this beast. And it's a nuisance to the priorities of his billionaire funders and evangelical disciples.

RFK Jr supporters are being gaslit about the extent to which their top priorities will get political capital. They're being used and misled.

Trump is big business' best friend. And after his followers vote for Trump, RFK Jr will have no recourse to deliver on his promises. Does anyone think an overweight and unhealthy man who famously favors Big Macs and large sodas gives one iota about Make America Healthy Again after they offer him their vote?

Let’s chat in the comments: Do you see a road to public health reform for RFK Jr and his stans? Why aren’t they coalescing with climate advocates when they have so many similar goals? How does his platform find a home in a potential Trump administration laser-focused on retribution, legislating via conservative Christian definitions of morality, and bankrolled by Silicon Valley billionaires betting on unregulated AI, crypto, and humanity living in Earth's orbit?

P.S. Anyone with middle school boys in their lives who understood my intro? Levity is lovely sometimes.