Trump makes risky midterms gamble as key supporters threaten to ditch GOP

Donald Trump's shifting priorities are poised to further strain his support from members of the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, according to a new report from Axios, and it could see them abandon their allegiance to the Republican Party ahead of the midterms.

Members of the MAHA movement are generally seen as adherents to the controversial health and wellness advice of Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., driven by their opposition to vaccines and the proliferation of chemicals in the food supply. Kennedy's choice to abandon his independent presidential campaign and endorse Trump was widely credited with tipping the scales towards him in the 2024 presidential race.

As of now, however, these key supporters appear to be growing increasingly frustrated with the Trump administration's lack of progress on their central issues, as well as with decisions that directly contradict their worldviews. MAHA followers believe "there's still plenty of unfinished business" on their "wellness" goals.

These anti-vaccine advocates are now reportedly running up against Trump's shifting priorities, as his own campaign pollster has found that vaccines remain broadly popular with most Americans across multiple surveys. The Food and Drug Administration also recently made an abrupt shift following backlash to its initial decision against reviewing a new mRNA flu vaccine from Moderna.

"It doesn't take much reading between the lines of recent events to gather that such vaccine skepticism is falling out of fashion as we get further into the election cycle," Axios observed.

The signs do not end there, however. Raphael Abraham, a vocal critic of COVID-19 vaccines, recently departed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, Trump mentioned none of the main MAHA talking points during his State of the Union address, focusing mostly on "costs and prescription drug prices." All these developments add up to a notable trend within the Trump administration moving away from its MAHA supporters.

Even more frustrating for these supporters was Trump's recent executive order calling for an increase in the production of the prolific and controversial weedkiller, glyphosate, with the stated intention of helping bolster domestic food production. The herbicide has drawn the ire of many, even outside of the MAGA movement, for its alleged carcinogenic effects. Kennedy himself previously spoke out against its use and worked on lawsuits against its producer, Monsanto, but his tone had shifted considerably after Trump's order.

“Donald Trump’s executive order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply,” Kennedy said. “We must safeguard America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend on it.”

"I can’t envision a bigger middle finger to every MAHA mom than this," Ken Cook, president and co-founder of Environmental Working Group, said in a statement to the New York Times.

"The rest of 2026 may be determined by the answer to a single question: Is it riskier politically to anger a subset of the MAHA movement, or the persuadable voters who aren't buying the vaccine skepticism?" Axios concluded in its report. "So far, those who think the latter seem to be winning out."

• george conway
• noam chomsky
• civil war
• Kayleigh mcenany
• Melania trump
• drudge report
• paul krugman
• Lindsey graham
• Lincoln project
• al franken bill maher
• People of praise
• Ivanka trump
• eric trump