This is The Reason interview with Nick Gillespie.

My guest today is my colleague Elizabeth Nolan Brown, whose recent reason cover story looks into the politics of the Make America Healthy Again movement, the Maha movement spearheaded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Just a decade or so ago, it was Democrats and liberals

and progressives who were pushing healthy eating initiatives, and it was common to see Republicans

and conservatives like Sarah Palin brandished big gulps like AR-15s, and Fox news anchors like

Sean Hannity declare their loyalty to McDonald's Burger King

and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

But now the Trumpian right is embracing wellness and food purity like nobody's business,

and it's using the state to enforce its preferences.

I talked with Liz about how we got here, where it's headed, and whether you've eaten your

last red M&M.

This episode was recorded live in front of an audience in New York.

Go to reason.com slash events to get information about upcoming events, including the

Reason Roundtable live in New York City and Greenwich Village, no less, on July 15th.

Here is the reason interview with Elizabeth Nolan Brown.

Let's start by define Maha.

Like, how does it define itself and what are its constituent parts?

I think Maha is a state of mind because it means so many things. When I was when I was researching

this article, I was like just like search the Maha hashtag on on various social media to see like

what was defined as Maha. Because I think of it as being, you know, about like, you know,

using tallow to cook your fries instead of seed oils or maybe skepticism about vaccines on the other hand.

But when you look at what people are describing as maha, it's everything from like, you know,

...