Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to endorse increased production of a chemical herbicide he has previously called a carcinogen has sparked a furious reaction among his followers and stressed the MAGA-MAHA alliance.
The health secretary explained in a post to X on Sunday night he was backing a directive from President Donald Trump to boost manufacturing of agricultural chemicals he says “put Americans at risk” in order to reduce dependence on them from “adversarial nations,” alarming supporters of his Make America Healthy Again movement.
“We can secure supply chains without giving the most evil corporation in the world immunity,” Vani Hari, a social media influencer and Kennedy supporter, wrote on X, referencing Trump’s move to increase production of the herbicide, glyphosate, which is sold as Roundup by the German conglomerate Bayer.
Hari and other MAHA advocates made their displeasure known last week after Trump signed the executive order. It not only calls for more domestic production of phosphorus, an element used in defense products and agricultural weed killers like glyphosate, but also confers legal immunity to manufacturers working to comply. Kennedy’s endorsement of the policy Sunday sparked an existential dilemma for some MAHA devotees who now are wondering if he has abandoned his principles in service of Trump.
