Why is MAHA mad at Trump?

Consider This from NPR

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🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

President Trump issued an executive order to increase domestic production of glyphosate, commonly used as a weedkiller. It’s the active ingredient in the weedkiller, Roundup.

That order immediately ignited an uproar in the Make America Healthy Again movement. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his supporters have long believed glyphosate is a health risk. But now, Kennedy says he supports Trump’s order.

Helena Bottemiller Evich, founder and editor-in-chief of the Food Fix newsletter, calls MAHA’s response a “marital spat” with the Trump administration, and explains how it could affect Trump’s base going forward.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In one year, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made dramatic changes to the country's public health system. He has cut vaccine funding, reduced the number of federally recommended childhood vaccines, and laid off thousands of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services. It's all part of his Make America Healthy Again mission. I'm proud that President Trump has appointed me to the position of trust to carry out his agenda to make America healthy again.
0:31.1	This is the mission that President Trump and I hold in common, and that has inspired a tectonic outpouring of enthusiasm and support from the
0:43.3	American people.
0:44.5	That is Kennedy speaking in February of last year after his confirmation.
0:49.2	Along with President Trump, he's made promises to their base as well.
0:53.3	Here is Kennedy in September 2024.
0:56.0	With a mass movement behind us, President Trump and I are going to transform our food system.
1:01.0	We're going to get the chemicals out of the water, out of our air, out of the food, and out of the soils.
1:06.0	Kennedy spent much of his career as an environmental lawyer fighting against glyphosate.
1:10.6	That's the pesticide used in Roundup.
1:12.7	In 2018, he won a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the maker of Roundup, arguing that the
1:18.5	weed killer likely caused his client's cancer. Then last week, Trump issued an executive order,
1:24.6	clearing a path for the U.S. to produce more of it domestically. And in a lengthy
1:29.4	response on social media, Kennedy defended the order, saying, quote, President Trump did not
1:35.0	build our current system. He inherited it. I was outraged. I was actually sick to my stomach
1:40.7	when I saw this executive order. It was basically a love letter to glyphosate.
1:46.3	That's Zen Honeycutt, the founder and executive director of moms across America on CNN.
1:51.4	I had hoped because Kennedy was brought into the administration and fought glyphosate and won,
1:56.6	that perhaps glyphosate would be banned as it should be.
2:00.6	Consider this. A herbicide is putting Kennedy and his Maha supporters at odds.
2:11.2	From NPR, I'm Juana Summers.
2:13.9	This message comes from Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe.
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