{"id":824389,"date":"2025-02-04T11:11:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T17:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/the-selfishness-at-the-heart-of-this-trump-centric-wellness-subculture\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T11:11:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T17:11:54","slug":"the-selfishness-at-the-heart-of-this-trump-centric-wellness-subculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/04\/the-selfishness-at-the-heart-of-this-trump-centric-wellness-subculture\/","title":{"rendered":"The selfishness at the heart of this Trump-centric wellness subculture"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Make America Healthy Again<\/a>, or MAHA, movement is a potent and growing Trump-centric subculture<\/a>. MAHA influencers, politicians and followers argue that Americans have been made sick by corporate greed \u2014 which is as close to a unifying principle as MAHA can be said to hold.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to MAHA<\/a>, pharmaceutical, agricultural and food industry giants have poisoned us with red food dye, seed oils, processed food and microplastics. And currently, the movement is obsessed with promoting so-called raw milk, incorrectly claiming that unpasteurized milk provides health benefits, including immunity to E. coli and salmonella. In fact, according to\u00a0a study published in\u00a0Emerging Infectious Diseases<\/a>, those who consume unpasteurized milk are 840 times more likely to contract a foodborne illness than those who drink pasteurized milk.<\/p>\n

The most insidious aspect of MAHA is arguably its most defining feature: anti-vaccine rhetoric. On message boards, subreddits, livestreams and podcasts, many MAHA commentators disseminated anti-vaccine disinformation and false conspiracy theories throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most insidious aspect of MAHA is arguably its most defining feature: anti-vaccine rhetoric.<\/p>\n

It was during the Covid pandemic, too, that the leading face of MAHA emerged: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. \u2014 who, before leaving the party and becoming an independent, challenged President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. On the campaign trail, Kennedy pushed several MAGA conspiracy theories and promised to end the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s<\/a> \u201caggressive suppression of \u2026 ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can\u2019t be patented by Pharma.\u201d This is now gospel to the MAHA movement.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate<\/a> cited Kennedy as one of 12 \u201canti-vaxxers who play leading roles in spreading digital misinformation about Covid vaccines,\u201d especially when it comes to spreading falsehoods that childhood vaccines cause autism. Now, President-elect Donald Trump has tapped him to serve as secretary of health and human services. \u00a0<\/p>\n

What makes MAHA\u2019s grievances particularly complicated \u2014 and fascinating \u2014 is that they\u2019re not entirely wrong. Autoimmune disorders<\/a>, ADHD<\/a>, anxiety<\/a>, childhood obesity<\/a> and chronic fatigue<\/a> \u2014 just some of the health problems the movement cites \u2014 are all on the rise. The problem is the unholy marriage between conspiracy and reality. Take, for example, how the increased ADHD and anxiety diagnoses can be attributed, at least in part, to a greater understanding of mental health issues and an easing stigma around mental health.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last month, New York magazine<\/a> mapped several prominent MAHA disciples\u2019 \u2014 including influencers and even one conservative food journalist \u2014 journey from health conscious to full-throated embrace of wellness conservatism. Some came from the traditionally liberal, 1970s natural food movement. Many women found their way to MAHA disillusioned and frustrated after doctors dismissed their genuine health concerns. Still others came to MAHA from the growing anti-vaccine movement, which has been around for decades but went into hyperdrive during the pandemic.\u00a0Regardless of their origin, the Covid-19 pandemic crystallized their beliefs and created something of a shared worldview or philosophy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Much of MAHA indoctrination happens, unsurprisingly, online. Take MAHA influencer Alex Clark. Clark\u2019s hugely successful podcast, \u201cCulture Apothecary,\u201d explores many of the key tenets that make up contemporary MAHA conservatism: the dangers of hormonal birth control and vaccines, the ills of feminism, Christianity \u2014 including a strident anti-abortion sentiment \u2014 and the damaging effect of food on women\u2019s fertility.<\/p>\n

A lot of what Clark espouses is easily refutable, but nutritional science and many aspects of women\u2019s health fall in a different category: They\u2019re both understudied. Moreover, doctors often treat women with less care than men for similar ailments. For example,\u00a0a study published<\/a>\u00a0by the Journal of Neurotrauma found that women are treated less aggressively for traumatic brain injury, a leading cause of mortality and disability. And that is just one example.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Much of MAHA indoctrination happens, unsurprisingly, online. <\/p>\n

Clark, also the face of Turning Point USA\u2019s Young Women\u2019s Leadership Summit, is a master at tapping into these painful, gray areas by capitalizing on fear and genuine lived experiences and creating something of a community around it. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk noted in a statement<\/a> to The Washington Post, \u201cMAHA is a movement that transcends party, but it does skew female.\u201d Clark is one of thousands of similar-minded influencers on Spotify, Instagram and TikTok.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Addressing the growing conspiracy theory culture in the U.S., Naomi Klein argued in her book<\/a>, \u201cDoppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World,\u201d that \u201cconspiracy culture often gets the facts wrong but the feelings right.\u201d\u00a0There is no question that there is a health crisis, mental and physical, in this country. But MAHA\u2019s \u201csolutions\u201d are not the answer.\u00a0Their \u201cfacts\u201d are wrong \u2014 a healthy populace actually needs vaccines and pasteurized milk \u2014 but the feeling may be closer to right.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At first MAHA might seem like a strange MAGA coterie. Trump is, after all, famously sedentary with an affinity for fast-food burgers and dessert stations. It makes sense, though, when you consider what is at the heart of both the MAHA and MAGA movements: individualism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

MAHA \u2014 from the movement\u2019s mistrust of childhood vaccines to its influencers\u2019 exhortations to \u201cdo your own research\u201d \u2014 shows just how far American culture has gone to undervalue true community. My family, my needs, my children and my beliefs \u2014 the movement insists \u2014 are more important than anyone else\u2019s \u2014 and the so-called elites telling us we have a responsibility to the community to vaccinate our kids are engaging in tyranny.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the MAHA mind, it\u2019s all about you \u2014 science and the public good be damned.<\/p>\n

CORRECTION<\/strong>\u00a0(Jan. 8, 2025, 2:06 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article mistakenly attributed a study on the dangers of unpasteurized dairy. The study was produced by the\u00a0Emerging Infectious Diseases\u00a0journal and not the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though it was republished on the CDC\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span>Hannah Holland<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Hannah Holland is a producer for MSNBC’s “Velshi” and editor for the “Velshi Banned Book Club.” She writes for MSNBC Daily.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement is a potent and growing Trump-centric subculture. MAHA influencers, politicians and followers argue that Americans have been made sick by corporate greed \u2014 which is as close to a unifying principle as MAHA can be said to hold.\u00a0\u00a0 According to MAHA, pharmaceutical, agricultural and food industry giants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":824390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120199,1523],"tags":[120198,9212],"class_list":{"0":"post-824389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-selfishness","8":"category-heart","9":"tag-selfishness","10":"tag-heart"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}