The MAHA Carnival: Russell Brand Joins Trump’s Cabinet at DC Summit

Nineteen months after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services, his diverse and occasionally fractious movement gathered under one roof for the Make America Healthy Again summit. The MAHA movement that began in the grassroots and has alternately been dismissed as fringe by both the left and the right had powerful — and sometimes oddball — new partners on hand.CEOs, celebrities, representatives of tech giants and the Vice President of the United States. Sponsors from Anthropic to Noom to healthcare companies.All of which led to some mixed feelings among attendees, split over whether the movement had gone Washington or had convinced Washington to come to it.“It’s different,” said Stephanie Weidle, executive director of the group Feds for Freedom, which advocates for federal workers laid off due to the Biden-era Covid-19 vaccination mandate.There was an increasing emphasis on AI integration into healthcare, with tech companies embracing the MAHA message Mr. Kennedy has championed, while at the same time offering the kind of talking points that would be at home at a typical tech convention or trade show.Syed Mohiuddin, the Head of Healthcare for Anthropic, said AI should be enlisted to streamline wait times for patients, connect people in need of treatment with better physical therapies, and improve care across the board.“This is no longer a technology problem,” Mr. Mohiuddin said. “It was. It no longer is.”“What you can’t have is models that are good and a system that doesn’t know how to use it,” he added. “There is no area that’s more important than healthcare.”David Friedberg, the CEO of Ohalo Genetics, previewed new crop breeding techniques. For members of the crowd who remain passionate about avoiding genetically modified food, this may not have been an easy sell.Mr. Friedberg then hosted a fireside-style chat with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who was seen as an unlikely ally for Mr. Kennedy when the two were sworn in to President Donald Trump’s cabinet hours apart in February 2025. Ms. Rollins, however, had nothing but praise for their working relationship.Ms. Rollins announced an additional $300 million in federal funding for regenerative agriculture grants for farmers, bringing the total federal investment to $1 billion. Comedian Russell Brand, who is facing a trial in the UK on charges of rape, sexual assault and indecent assault, moderated a panel on reform that included Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.While they were taking the stage, Dr. Oz noted Mr. Brand was a few seconds late because he was hugging Ms. Rollins backstage.“She initiated that contact, I have that on the record,” Mr. Brand joked.Dr. Oz singled out Medicare and Medicaid fraud as the greatest threat facing the system. He said that the Chinese Mafia has infiltrated New York state’s Social Care network, from which they raid $1 billion per year to use for human trafficking.During the panel with Dr. Oz and Mr. Brand, Mr. Kennedy wandered into the room through a side door, taking in the conversation.As he has since before MAHA became a political term, Mr. Kennedy remains the glue holding the movement together. Attendees from corporate titans to low level administrators included praise for his leadership in their remarks.“RFK’s been really thoughtful about, how do you think about AI in the real world?” Mr. Mohiuddin said.

The MAHA Carnival: Russell Brand Joins Trump’s Cabinet at DC Summit

The MAHA Carnival: Russell Brand Joins Trump’s Cabinet at DC Summit

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