Will MAHA Turn on RFK? And What to Expect from the State of the Union
SALE: 24-Hour State of the Union Flash Sale
Tonight’s speech won’t be a State of the Union in name (it’s technically merely a speech to a joint session of Congress), but it will be one in function, except with fewer facts and more spectacle. The event will serve the same purpose: a full-blown propaganda performance. Expect Trump to turn the evening into a MAGA rally in disguise, leaning into his greatest hits, self-aggrandizement, grievance politics, and outright misinformation.
Trump will spin every disaster into a win, from DOGE’s gutting of USAID to abandoning the Ukraine. He will tout every horrific thing he has done in the past six weeks as a significant win.
Tariffs that took effect today? He’ll reframe them as a bold move to protect American workers.
Rising grocery prices? Measles outbreak? Stock market plummeting? He’ll pretend they’re not happening.
Zelensky will either be a punching bag or a villain. Trump has hinted that he may use tonight’s speech to continue his reality-television style feud with the Ukrainian leader.
The border will be a central focus. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa has invited Scott Root, the father of Sarah Root, who was killed by an undocumented drunk driver, to the event. Expect Trump to use this as an emotional prop to push his immigration policies.
Yesterday House inHabit posted this story amidst her waxing poetic about being at Mar a Lago, fighting to free child sex traffickers and serving as a propaganda arm for the current White House.
Jessica Kraus is an OG MAHA girlie - she in fact served as RFK Jr’s de facto social media director at the start of his presidential campaign. She was “confused” because, our famously anti-vax Health Czar Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has seemingly done an about face in support of the measles vaccine. In the wake of a growing number of outbreaks across the country that have infected at least 146 people and resulted in the nation’s first death from the disease in a decade, RFK Jr. released an op-ed this week for Fox News saying that the MMR vaccine is crucial to avoiding potentially deadly disease.
“Parents play a pivotal role in safeguarding their children’s health. All parents should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine. The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.”
This last sentence is common sense I fear, but MAHA girlie @TheGirlNamedBlake noted on her IG stories that “this is a shift for him.”
And the line, "the decision to vaccinate is a personal one" is a nod to his anti-vax base.
And in typical MAHA speak, Kennedy also noted that:
“Tens of thousands died with, or of, measles annually in 19th Century America. By 1960 -- before the vaccine’s introduction -- improvements in sanitation and nutrition had eliminated 98% of measles deaths. Good nutrition remains a best defense against most chronic and infectious illnesses. Vitamins A, C, and D, and foods rich in vitamins B12, C, and E should be part of a balanced diet.”
There is a conspiracy circulating that Vitamin A can prevent measels, it cannot. “This rumor is based off a misunderstanding of post-Infection guidance from the WHO which states that doctors can give 2 doses of vitamin A, 24 hours apart, to children infected with measles to restore low vitamin A levels. Excessive vitamin A intake can be very dangerous. Please do not try to treat or prevent measles with remedies like this.”
wrote.Kennedy’s vaccine pivot comes amidst the resignation of top Health and Human Services spokesperson Thomas Corry. According to Politico:
The sudden departure was prompted by growing disagreement with Kennedy and his principal deputy chief of staff, Stefanie Spear, over their management of the health department, said the two people, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Corry had also grown uneasy with Kennedy’s muted response to the intensifying outbreak of measles in Texas, the people said.
Over the past month Kennedy has downplayed the seriousness of the growing measles outbreaks. And through the years Kennedy has repeatedly spread false information about vaccines, including the MMR vaccine. In a forward he wrote for a book in 2021, he wrongly claimed that people have been tricked into thinking that "measles is deadly" and that "measles vaccines are needed, safe, and work well." He also falsely stated that measles outbreaks are made up to scare people into giving "dangerous and unnecessary vaccines" to many children.
RFK Jr. has long relied on the language of “just asking questions” and “demanding transparency” to cast doubt on scientific consensus. He uses this rhetorical sleight of hand to delegitimize proven solutions, making well-established science seem like an open debate. By framing vaccines as something that needs more investigation or scrutiny, he shifts responsibility away from public health experts and onto individual choice, feeding into the broader anti-science, anti-expertise movement that thrives in MAHA circles.
Measles is the most contagious infectious disease in the world.
Even though he hedged slightly in his op-ed by not directing all parents to vaccinate their children to prevent continued outbreaks, RFK’s op-ed was still enough to bring about the outrage of some of his loyal followers, the staunch anti-vaxxers who helped vote Trump into office.
Scroll through X and you’ll see the ire of some of RFK Jr.’s previous fans.
Prominent anti-vax voices and right-wing influencers quickly turned on Kennedy: