What’s RFK Jr really up to?

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s program to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) appears to be ahead of schedule. At the start of the month, the burger chain Steak ’n Shake announced that it would be frying its food in beef tallow rather than seed oils — and other major restaurant groups are following suit.

This week, Kennedy, who hates seed oils and processed foods, rewarded Steak with an almighty PR stunt. He sat down with Fox News’s Sean Hannity to enjoy a burger (Hannity had two) at a branch in Florida. “People are raving about these French fries,” said JFK’s nephew. “They’re amazing,” Hannity agreed.

It remains to be seen if the “RFK-ing” of fast food will achieve substantial results. At the same time, however, a rather less cuddly trend has forced Americans to make healthier decisions. The latest research from a marketing firm called Circana showed that shoppers are buying fewer snacks and cigarettes from convenience stores. US sales of Doritos, Twinkies, Heath bars and Newport smokes have all dipped in the past year. Hershey, the Pennsylvanian chocolatier, has also seen demand for its products dwindling.

The primary cause is not a sudden increase in health-awareness among American consumers. It’s the cost of living. Yesterday’s inflation figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the Consumer Price Index had risen to 2.8 percent in February, 0.1 less than expected. That’s not much comfort to Americans still reeling from several years of sharply rising prices. It’s hard enough to buy essential, healthy foods such as eggs, the price of which continues to spike. Worse-off Americans have little money to spare for sugary snacks. In a perverse sense, then, the Biden administration arguably did more than RFK ever could to push Americans towards a healthier lifestyle.

The MAHA agenda likes to present itself as complementary to Donald Trump’s vision for a new “golden age” of prosperity and freedom. “I’m a libertarian,” says RFK. “If you want to eat a donut or seed oil, you should be able to. You should be able to exercise informed choice. We’re going to incentivize companies to be transparent.”

But is the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under RFK’s leadership, entirely open about its true purpose? Last month, RFK abruptly ended the so-called “Richardson Waiver,” a 1971 rule that forced his department to extend public consultations on HHS’s decisions. As critics argued, this could give RFK the “unchecked” authority to make decisions affecting national bodies such as the National Institutes of Health, which funds biomedical research, as well as Medicaid, the $870 billion-a-year federal-state partnership for providing medical care to those who can’t afford private health insurance.

It’s technical stuff but, as Samuel Bagenstos, professor of law at the University of Michigan, explains, “it’s hugely important, because getting rid of the Richardson Waiver means that the agency can move a lot faster to implement big new policy changes.”

One such change could involve the HHS attaching work or seeking-employment requirements to citizens on medical entitlements. Such a move could, potentially, slash billions more from the federal budget, as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency goes about its task of bringing down the national deficit and tackling federal debt. 

The true MAHA mission, then, could be to help slim down government, not just the average American waist size. If that happens, expect RFK, scion of the most famous Democratic family in the world, to complete his transformation in the public eye: from east-coast hippie pin-up to bête noire of the socialist left.

The above is taken from Freddy Gray’s weekly Americano newsletter. To subscribe click here.