Make America Healthy Again: Restoring the Republic’s Vitality

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump may not have been obvious allies — one hailing from perhaps the most recognizable Democratic dynasty, the other the populist herald of a new Republican coalition — but their partnership has presented one of the most dynamic elements of the Trump 2.0 agenda.

Their joint movement to transform the health of the American people has already produced tangible results and carries the potential to address several of the nation’s monumental challenges.

During last year’s campaign season, Kennedy explained his decision to back Trump by pointing to three areas of core alignment: protecting free speech, ending the war in Ukraine, and, most strikingly, championing the health and well-being of America’s children. Since then, Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services has worked aggressively to combat pharmaceutical industry corruption, curtail ultra-processed foods and food dyes, and recalibrate the department to tackle the chronic disease epidemic.

Trump himself, famously a McDonald’s aficionado, may not be the paradigm of a health enthusiast, but the very name Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) has now become inextricably linked to Trump’s legacy. For his part, the president has wholeheartedly embraced the movement. Addressing his administration’s MAHA Commission earlier this year, Trump declared:

We’ve built an unstoppable coalition of moms and dads, doctors and young people, and citizens of all backgrounds who have come together to protect our children, very importantly, keep the dangerous chemicals out of our food supplies, get toxic substances out of our environment, and deliver the American people the facts.… Unlike other administrations, we will not be silenced or intimidated by the corporate lobbyists or special interests.

Trump recognizes that the MAHA movement has the potential to expand his coalition, including among Trump’s notorious Achilles’ heel: white suburban women. However, the MAHA movement also augments the core of Trump’s agenda. Its mission to reinvigorate Americans’ health and vitality is an integral part of making the country great again.

MAHA’s Early Wins

When Kennedy joined Trump on the 2024 campaign trail, Trump pledged to let him “go wild on health.” Since taking office, Kennedy has set his sights on some of the most damaging forces driving America’s health crisis, such as ultra-processed foods, environmental exposures, sedentary lifestyles, and pharmaceutical corruption.

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One of Kennedy’s boldest moves as health secretary so far was the complete replacement of the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. Kennedy argued that the panel had long served as “little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine” and highlighted that most of the committee’s members “have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies.” In other words, previous administrations have been routinely complicit in the corporate capture of the very government bodies meant to regulate those industries. While reconstituting an advisory panel may not seem groundbreaking, restoring public trust in public health must begin with aggressively rooting out such misconduct.

Kennedy has also notched visible wins in reforming the nation’s food supply. Roughly 35 percent of the food industry has already committed to eliminating artificial dyes from their products, with more expected to follow. While artificial dyes are only one part of the ultraprocessed food problem (seed oils and high-fructose corn syrups are also prime targets), the willingness of major companies to change their products under MAHA’s pressure speaks to the strength of the movement. Ultimately, it’s the pressure from millions of Americans that compels companies to respond.

State governments have also joined the MAHA train. Currently, twelve states have adopted SNAP waivers in order to restrict products like candy and sugary drinks from being purchased with the benefits. This wave of state-level action signals a growing appetite for nutrition-focused reform and reflects the absurdity of taxpayer dollars subsidizing junk foods.

Summing up MAHA’s early reforms in August, Kennedy said, “Americans are tired of toxic food, failed science, and chronic disease becoming the norm. We’re turning the tide through bold federal action at HHS and state-driven reforms. The momentum is real, and we’re just getting started.”

Realizing the Scope of the Problem

As promising as Kennedy’s opening salvo has been, MAHA needs to provide more dramatic shifts if the movement is to meaningfully remedy the nation’s current and looming health catastrophes.

Earlier this year, Kennedy testified that his goal at HHS is to transform the nation’s health system “from a sick care system into a health care system.” And a transformation is certainly necessary. The nation’s current health and food system has enriched Big Pharma and Big Food while sacrificing the well-being of millions of Americans. Despite spending trillions on healthcare, Americans are sicker than ever before. 

By Bill Wilson for The American Spectator

America faces an epidemic of chronic disease, and now over 70 percent of American adults and one-third of children are overweight or obese. Around 60 percent of Americans live with at least one chronic condition, while those with multiple chronic diseases account for 93 percent of Medicare spending. A staggering 90 percent of America’s annual $4.9 trillion health care expenditures are attributed to managing and treating chronic diseases and mental health conditions.

Addressing the crisis is long overdue, not only because the chronic illness epidemic is causing monumental suffering for millions of citizens, but also because our spiraling public healthcare costs are one of the foremost drivers of the nation’s national debt.

Health care costs are the largest category of federal spending, representing roughly one-third of the federal budget. Those costs are only expected to rise as younger generations of unhealthy Americans begin needing medical interventions that further burden the system. In the long run, alleviating the nation’s chronic health epidemic may be the only path to achieve fiscal solvency.

Kennedy has frequently criticized the fact that America’s health institutions have worked valiantly to treat symptoms of chronic illnesses but have remained complacent when it comes to actually discovering the root causes of Americans’ disastrous health situation. Pointing to this lack of action, Kennedy has lamented, “NIH should be telling us: What are seed oils doing to our children? What is corn syrup doing to our children? What are food dyes doing to our children? What is the packaging and microplastics doing to our children? What are pesticides doing to our children?”

The fact that these questions haven’t been satisfactorily addressed is a damning indictment of the nation’s previous health officials.

In contrast, Kennedy’s HHS is confronting the nation’s most urgent health challenges. Its proposed fiscal year 2026 budget aims for its MAHA initiative to tackle “nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, over-reliance on medication and treatments, the effects of new technological habits, environmental impacts, and food and drug quality.” 

These are not abstract issues. They touch the daily lives, longevity, and vitality of every American. Until these deeper problems are confronted, Americans will keep spending staggering sums on pharmaceutical interventions that treat symptoms rather than provide cures.

Beyond Health: Renewing American Freedom

Yet the stakes of MAHA extend even further. Beyond even all the tangible benefits of working toward a healthier America, the movement also carries profound implications for the vitality and freedom of the American people.

Can a nation habituated to being overweight, sedentary, and unvirile really be expected to assert its freedom with firmness and valor? America’s Founders, who won their nation’s freedom in the fires of the Revolution, understood that liberty requires energy, vigilance, and resilience — qualities that wither when a nation’s health deteriorates. A population dulled by preventable disease, dependent on pharmaceuticals, and unaccustomed to physical exertion is ripe for tyranny.

In this sense, MAHA is not merely about diet or exercise or environmental toxins. It also entails renewing the very strength of American republicanism. Only a people strong in body and spirit is truly capable of self-rule.

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