MAHA is stumbling. Will there be a backlash?

The "MAHA moms" behind Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" movement are noted skeptics. They are wary of vaccines, processed foods and pesticides, and President Donald Trump's secretary of Health and Human Services has seemingly been their ally. Now, however, they could be turning that skepticism toward the Trump administration.

MAHA moms have experienced "rapidly intensifying cognitive dissonance" in recent weeks, said The New Yorker. Zen Honeycutt, the founder of Moms Across America, said in December that Kennedy's efforts would mean "we won't even need health care." Now she's "horrified" by the White House's proposed rollbacks of regulations on pesticides and heavy metals. A GOP bill to shield pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits is the "most enormous slap in the face to MAHA," advocate Kelly Ryerson said on the Culture Apothecary podcast.

Divisions between MAHA and MAGA are "continuing to crystallize in Trump world," said Politico. A draft report from the MAHA Commission is "quite friendly to the food and ag industries" and does not do much to rein in the movement's "primary targets," like pesticides and ultraprocessed foods. One source of conflict: The White House wants to "avoid alienating industry groups" that have supported the president. That would "constitute a win" for the agriculture industry and a setback for Kennedy's MAHA allies, said ABC News.

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What did the commentators say?

Trump once promised to "safeguard America's children from pesticides in food," Honeycutt said at the Moms Across America blog. But the draft MAHA Commission report offers no new action and instead recommends working to build the public's "awareness and confidence" in the government's ability to limit the risks from pesticides. That's "beyond laughable," an "insult to the American people and our president," said Honeycutt. "We are calling on President Trump to be the hero that many of us elected him to be."

MAHA moms "don't have the answers to what ails American children," said Jessica Grose at The New York Times. One of the "bitter ironies" is that they favor some policies, on food additives and limiting screen time for children, that could have "broader support" outside the circle of people who like Trump and Kennedy. But those issues "aren't the areas where they have had much success." If the draft MAHA report is any indication, pesticides will be another failure. Instead, the movement has succeeded mostly in discouraging vaccine use. That is doing "irrevocable damage" to America's health.

What next?

Kennedy is working to rally the MAHA movement as a "critical constituency" in next year's midterm elections, said Axios. The movement attracts "slices" of voters who "otherwise might shun MAGA." But keeping their support will be difficult now that some activists "aren't totally happy with how things are going." Kennedy and his allies plan to hit the road and blanket the airwaves with ads. Why? To "bring out every last MAHA mom" to the polls, said MAHA Action President Tony Lyons.