MAHA v BAHA: Who Will Win Fight For RFK Jr.’s Movement?

Earlier this week the Democratic Senate candidate for Michigan and epidemiologist Abdul El-Sayed, coined the phrase BAHA in a bid to reclaim the MAHA movement from Republicans.It stands for Building a Healthier America and Mr. El-Sayed believes it will be a successful vehicle to win over MAHA supporters who feel disillusioned with President Trump’s administration.“Now RFK, Jr., he came to power saying he was going to Make America Healthy Again,” Mr. Abdul-Sayed said in a video for BAHA launch. “But he didn’t.”Mr. El-Sayed said BAHA would ban pesticides that are illegal in Europe, take on agricultural monopolies, end liability shields for pesticide manufacturers, and build grocery stores on wheels nationwide.His plan appears calibrated to woo MAHA voters who followed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the Democratic camp to the Republican side in 2024.However, a Republican congressional candidate anointed by Mr. Kennedy told The New York Sun that BAHA would never replace MAHA.“I think Republicans in general tend to change things in the system a bit more,’” Dr. Ralph Alvarado said as he explained that in his view MAHA voters would not switch sides. Dr. Alvarado hopes to count on Mr. Kennedy’s supporters as he seeks an open seat in the House of Representatives. “They’re not necessarily a Republican or Democrat, I would argue they’re probably a true independent. They just want to have a system that’s best for their family and that’s what they’re looking for.”“We need to lean into this,” Dr. Alvarado said of MAHA. “This is an advantage: for better health for the country, improvement in health outcomes and rankings, and a healthier America is going to mean a stronger America.”Dr. Alavardo, who ran Tennessee’s health department, criticized Mr. El-Sayed for political posturing to win a tight race in Michigan.“There’s people out there that do things for political reasons,” said Dr. Alvarado, who is running for Congress in central Kentucky. “I do it pretty much for the science or the ethics.”Dr. Alvarado pointed out that during the pandemic, when Mr. Kennedy was advocating against lockdowns and vaccine mandates, Democrats like Mr. El-Sayed were “the ones critiquing RFK.” Fissures are emerging in the MAHA movement. In February, Mr. Trump signed an executive order leveraging the Defense Production Act to secure more glyphosate, a key ingredient in the weed killer RoundUp that many MAHA advocates want banned. A Wall Street Journal report this week said Mr. Kennedy’s office had been stymied on federal rule that would classify ultraprocessed food, though Mr. Kennedy’s chief of staff said the initiative was still going ahead. And many of the disaffected Democrats and libertarian leaners in the MAHA coalition deeply object to the war in Iran. Mr. Kennedy himself is a former Democrat who had a long career as an environmental lawyer and built a larger following by filing lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers. He launched a long-shot presidential bid in 2024 and ended it by endorsing President Donald Trump. After the inauguration, Mr. Trump appointed Mr. Kennedy Secretary of Health and Human Services and has given Mr. Kennedy latitude in taking action on MAHA priorities like fighting chronic disease, investigating the root causes of autism and promoting healthier eating.Mr. El-Sayed says Mr. Kennedy’s tenure has failed. His BAHA agenda includes a number of issues that have ranked high for MAHA voters. “I think they’ve been completely let down by a Trump administration that has capitulated to the very corporations that are on the wrong side of all their issues — whether it’s the pharma industry, or it’s big ag, or it’s the food manufacturers,” Mr. El-Sayed told CBS earlier this month. “I think they’ve been completely let down and lied to.”Mr. El-Sayed served as Detroit’s health officer and as director of the Wayne County Department of Health. In 2021, he wrote an op-ed criticizing police officers who refused to get the covid vaccine – a hot button issue for many MAHA voters.Exact data on MAHA voters is difficult to come by, although initiatives like removing artificial dyes from food and mandating healthier school lunches have landslide levels of support.“Suddenly, there’s a young generation coming up, especially young voters who are very interested in what they’re feeding their children, what their families are consuming, what exercise should look like,” Dr. Alvarado said. “’Are things processed? What am I putting in my body?’ And there’s a major focus on that, which is very encouraging.”“From the citizenry, in government there’s a certain distrust, unfortunately, of the medical establishment, which is concerning,” Dr. Alvarado said. “And to rebuild that trust you have to be predictable as a medical profession, do the things that people expect you to do and you have to answer questions when people question things and be respectful, listen.”“Healthcare is broken in the country, we know that,” Dr. Alvarado said. “And I would argue there’s only 19 doctors in all of Congress, there are 190 lawyers and you wonder why it’s broken. We need more physicians who have an understanding of how healthcare works, what we can do to help fix it, to make it work.”

MAHA v BAHA: Who Will Win Fight For RFK Jr.’s Movement?

MAHA v BAHA: Who Will Win Fight For RFK Jr.’s Movement?

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