Trump angering MAHA with glyphosate order gives Democrats an opening

Make America Healthy Again is heading towards the iceberg after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to increase domestic production of a key herbicide called glyphosate. Democrats are seizing the opportunity to rally the health-conscious movement to their side.

Trump entered his second term in the White House after former Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abandoned his independent presidential bid and endorsed him. Kennedy’s MAHA movement, which rejected chemicals in food and promoted natural alternatives, played a key role in Trump’s victory, and Trump rewarded Kennedy by making him secretary of Health and Human Services.

But Trump’s latest moves to benefit MAHA-hated chemicals are creating fissures in the base that helped bring him to the White House; We are less than nine months away from crucial midterm elections and primaries that begin next week. Democrats, who had hoped to wrest Trump’s near-total control of Washington, now see an opportunity to bring MAHA back into their fold.

“What the president did in the EO and said ‘trust me on this, we’ll get to this later,’ really pissed off a lot of people,” Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, the panel’s top official who oversees the Environmental Protection Agency, said in an interview with CNBC. “Nutrition creates some great opportunities for candidates willing to talk about our health: ‘Food is medicine’ [and] “Toxic chemicals in our environment.”

Pingree, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. He is co-introducing a bill to repeal the executive order on glyphosate and has long advocated against the chemical in food.

At issue for MAHA is not last week’s executive order to promote Bayer-Monsanto’s use of glyphosate, the main chemical in the herbicide Roundup, which has been linked to cancer in the past but is still considered safe by the EPA. MAHA advocates say the White House and Republicans have repeatedly rejected them.

Management also stood by Bayer-Monsanto In a Supreme Court case, petitioners’ ability to sue will be weakened if they believe they contracted cancer from pesticides or herbicides. And congressional Republicans are pushing a new farm bill that MAHA advocates argue is a “liability shield” for chemical manufacturers.

“This EO looks very, very much like tipping point,” said MAHA advocate Kelly Ryerson, known as “Glyphosate Girl.” “People can’t keep making excuses for management and saying ‘you know, they’ll get it done or whatever’ because it’s not happening.”

Ryerson said the contingent MAHA sees running away from the Trump administration is independents who supported Kennedy and Democrats who crossed the aisle to support Trump in the hopes that Kennedy will succeed on his health care agenda.

“This is a very, very, very real, very large group of the group that is very concerning right now in terms of going into the midterms,” Ryerson said.

Many in the MAHA movement initially aligned with the Democrats. Some worked to elect former President Barack Obama, making Trump’s embrace particularly shocking to Democrats. Republicans have traditionally aligned themselves with chemical manufacturers and large agricultural interests on pesticides and herbicides, supporting the industry’s desire for less oversight and regulation.

“There are Democrats who are very involved in the MAHA movement and are asking, ‘Are there any Democrats besides you who support this stuff?'” Pingree said. I chatted with people who said ” he said. “Oh my God, how did we miss the boat here? … We have a lot of people who would sign legislation like this or support issues like this.”

Pingree said she encourages the women’s group to talk about MAHA issues more often and tries to find opportunities for them to engage with the issue.

Other Democrats are also seizing the opportunity. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said in an interview at the Capitol that the administration’s move represents an opportunity for Democrats.

“I think the answer is yes, especially given the fact that Kennedy basically threw his own people completely under the bus,” Heinrich said. “We need to show that we are actively working on these issues and that we will do so in a consistent and predictable way.”

“The practice of using glyphosate to dry crops before turning them into Cheerios is not well practiced in New Mexico,” Heinrich said, noting a particularly important issue for MAHA.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who has been vocal about MAHA and was “thrilled” by RFK’s appointment as health secretary, told CNBC that he “always supports getting rid of harmful pesticides in our food to make Americans safer.”

“RFK Jr. felt the same way, and it is incredibly disappointing to see him and the administration turn their backs on Americans in this way,” Polis said. “The president’s decision to side with large-scale chemical manufacturers ultimately makes Americans less healthy.”

Kennedy supported the administration’s executive order on glyphosate, even though he once won a $290 million lawsuit for a man who said he got cancer from the chemical. in a long time Description of X this week he said it was necessary to “bring chemical production back to the United States and virtually end our dependence on hostile countries.” He noted that the administration’s commitment to regenerative agriculture, which eschews traditional chemical practices and moves towards practices that improve soil health, is one pillar of the strategy.

Kennedy accused Washington of entrenching big agriculture in its use of chemicals, saying, “If these inputs disappeared overnight, crop yields would decline, food prices would rise, and America would face far greater farm losses than we are witnessing today.” he said. “We are now changing course without destabilizing the food supply.”

White House spokesman Kush Desai told CNBC that the Trump administration has presented to MAHA on “removing artificial ingredients from our food supply, overhauling the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, re-examining baby food, and more.”

“Democrats have been talking about healthcare issues for a long time, but President Trump and his Administration have actually delivered on the MAHA agenda and will continue to do so,” Desai said. “The President’s executive order to support domestic production of elemental phosphorus, which is needed for the production of military equipment and other advanced technologies, will not alter our commitment to Make America Healthy Again.”

Ryerson has not yet said the MAHA movement has completely abandoned Trump and Kennedy, leaving the door open for a course correction. He also noted that Kennedy’s role at HHS does not include jurisdiction over pesticides managed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

But he warned that time was running out for the administration to act.

“There is currently no evidence to suggest any move to limit exposure to these chemicals, and the only way the White House and the Republican Party can make up for this in time for the midterms is to finally make a very real, very big push to do something protective,” he said.

Potential moves to appease MAHA would include banning pre-harvest drying, a process in which herbicides are applied to crops before harvest to facilitate harvesting. He also called on the administration to withdraw its support for Bayer-Monsanto in the Supreme Court and invest in regenerative agriculture.

It’s unclear whether Republicans, who have dominated agricultural districts for years, are ready to meet MAHA where it is.

“They’ve studied the science, they’ll continue to study the science on this, and we have to bring it back to science, facts and common sense,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-D., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “Of course it should be safe and it’s okay to look at it all the time, but let’s make sure we’re dealing with the science.”

“If you disrupt the ability to use it, you significantly impact the food supply, and that’s the reality,” Hoeven said.