02/21/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CCWt5kTqZ/
An Open Letter to MAHA Moms
"Women feel like they were lied to, that the MAHA movement is a sham."
That was Alex Clark -- not a liberal critic, but a health and wellness podcaster for Turning Point U.S.A., one of the conservative organizations most closely allied with Trump. She said it this week, after the president signed an executive order on Wednesday invoking the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production of glyphosate -- the probable carcinogen marketed as Roundup, the target of tens of thousands of lawsuits, and the subject of a landmark case that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. himself helped win eight years ago against Roundup’s maker, Monsanto.
To speak frankly, MAHA Moms, there's no "feeling" about it. You were lied to. Again and again and again.
And Kennedy? The man who built his credibility suing Roundup's maker? He rolled over. He issued a statement parroting the spurious White House claim that the order was necessary to strengthen "our defense readiness and our food supply" -- signed, notably, just the day after Bayer, Monsanto's owner, announced a $7.25 billion settlement for tens of thousands of cancer lawsuits over the very same chemical.
That's not a health advocate speaking. That's a man who sold out -- a man who said 'I believe that glyphosate causes cancer' on a podcast just last month, now using the credibility he built fighting glyphosate to provide cover for a president now actively promoting it by helping a company that donated a million dollars to his inaugural committee.
And while Kennedy endorsed the executive order, the Trump administration was simultaneously filing a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that Bayer should be shielded from cancer lawsuits altogether -- reversing the Biden administration's position and siding with the very company Kennedy once took to court.
It was that fight against glyphosate, and causes like it, that cemented Kennedy's following among health-conscious women and mothers -- the very dedication that Trump exploited to capture your support with promises to address "toxins in our environments and pesticides in our food."
Some would say it was naive to trust that Trump and the Republican Party, which had systematically worked to undermine environmental and public health protections for decades, would suddenly undergo a genuine conversion. But let's be honest -- they did a masterful job marketing it. They told you what you wanted to hear, and they used Kennedy as the proof.
After a year of the Trump administration, the truth about "MAHA" is plain to see.
Kennedy is largely a cover boy -- existing to give the impression that this administration cares about the health and safety of your children, while in reality he has had little influence over actual policy. Even on his signature issue, he was apparently blindsided or overruled. Now, instead of fighting for the causes that made you follow him, he spends his time producing shirtless workout videos with Kid Rock and Mike Tyson while giving Americans the middle finger. Literally.
He's always been a distraction -- giving MAHA supporters the impression that someone in this administration actually cares about their children's health, while Trump quietly does the opposite. And the record is damning.
Here's what the Trump administration has actually done over the past year on the issues you care about most:
* Boosted production of a probable carcinogen you've fought for years -- invoking a wartime law to ramp up glyphosate manufacturing and giving its makers limited legal immunity
* Left toxic chemicals in your food and drinking water -- moving to eliminate PFAS "forever chemical" drinking water standards, cutting PFAS reporting by 97%, defending toxic phthalates in food, taking no action on lead in food, and ignoring microplastics entirely
* Rolled back clean air protections your family breathes -- repealing the legal foundation for regulating air pollution, exempting dozens of coal plants and chemical facilities from limits on mercury, soot, benzene, and formaldehyde, and abandoning the practice of even estimating the health costs of dirty air
* Gutted clean water protections -- proposing to strip Clean Water Act coverage from more than 80% of wetlands and all rain-fed streams that feed drinking water for over 100 million Americans, while delaying coal plant wastewater standards by five years
* Staffed the EPA with chemical industry insiders -- appointing former pesticide and chemical executives and lobbyists to senior roles overseeing the very substances you want out of your kids' food and water. The man in charge, Lee Zeldin, has no environmental credentials and proudly oversaw what he called "the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history" -- weakening the laws that protected your kids. After MAHA activists circulated a petition calling for his firing, Zeldin promised a "MAHA agenda" at the EPA. It has never happened.
* Gutted organic oversight and food safety -- defunding organic certification and anti-fraud programs, losing a third of National Organic Program staff, shedding hundreds of food safety inspectors, and slashing foodborne pathogen surveillance from eight pathogens to two
* Fired the CDC team that tests kids for lead poisoning -- and gutted a quarter of CDC staff overall, crippling the disease surveillance and environmental health monitoring you depend on
* Destroyed the tools for knowing what your family is exposed to -- Zeldin's EPA shut down community pollution mapping, ended emissions reporting requirements, and collapsed environmental enforcement by 76%, making it nearly impossible to find out what's in your air, water, and neighborhood
* Even the food dye victory is unraveling -- the phaseout was voluntary with no binding regulations, the deadline has already been pushed back by a full year, and a new labeling loophole lets companies claim "no artificial colors" while still using additives banned in Europe
This is the record. Not the rhetoric -- the record.
For those who have long worked toward actually making America healthier -- particularly environmental and public health organizations -- none of this is a surprise. As Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, put it: "Of course they were betrayed.... There were plenty of warning signs."
The warning signs were there. But the midterms are ahead.
The question now is simple: will the moms who trusted Trump with their children's health decide that enough is enough? You were told a story about making America healthy. Instead, you got an administration that boosted pesticide production, rolled back clean air and water protections, fired the scientists who track what's poisoning your kids, and put Lee Zeldin and a crew of chemical industry lobbyists in charge of the EPA.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice -- well, you know the rest.
The evidence is right here. And you have a chance to do something about it. Not by trusting another set of empty promises, but by supporting candidates who have actual records of fighting for cleaner air, safer water, toxic-free food, and the health of our children.
Your children's health was never a priority for this administration. Look at what they have done, not what they've said.
You deserve better. Your kids deserve better. Make it count.
---
For an honest look at which politicians are actually fighting for your family's health and which ones are voting against it, check the League of Conservation Voters' National Environmental Scorecard at https://www.lcv.org/congressional-scorecard/
To introduce children to the trailblazing Rachel Carson -- who documented the dangers of indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides -- we highly recommend "Spring After Spring: How Rachel Carson Inspired the Environmental Movement" for ages 5 to 9 (https://www.amightygirl.com/spring-after-spring) and "Who Was Rachel Carson" for ages 8 to 12 (https://www.amightygirl.com/who-was-rachel-carson)
For more children's books that celebrate real-life female environmentalists -- who fought for people's health and the planet -- visit our blog post "Women Saving The Planet: 25 Kids' Books About Female Environmentalists" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14831
For many books for kids about the importance of protecting the environment, visit our special feature on the "Top Children's Books on the Environment" at https://www.amightygirl.com/mighty-girl-picks/top-children-s-books-on-the-environment
To read more about Trump's new executive order requiring boosting production of glyphosate and the furious reaction of MAHA moms, visit https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/us/politics/maha-moms-glyphosate-roundup-robert-kennedy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NlA.v1Gj.mDSDou1nowLb&smid=url-share
