Make America Healthy Again Movement Extends Beyond Its Architect

‘With how sick and unhealthy we are as a society, this return to the basics is needed,’ said an Ohio mother.

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump welcomes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a Turning Point Action campaign rally at the Gas South Arena on Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

For avid supporters, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement itself is not new. It began long before Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign and subsequent confirmation as health secretary.

“The principles of the MAHA movement were once a way of life all over the country decades ago,” Samantha Rayburn, a 40-year-old mother of two teenage sons, told The Epoch Times.

“It’s encouraging to see more people adopting those beliefs and understanding that God gave us what we need to feed our bodies and heal our bodies. With how sick and unhealthy we are as a society, this return to the basics is needed.”

Rayburn developed an interest in foraging for herbs and plants when she was a little girl and was inspired to make her first tincture when her oldest son caught whooping cough when he was 2.

She describes the MAHA movement as “a return to the basics.”

“It’s getting back to when we knew what was in our food because we grew it and got what we didn’t have from local farmers,” said Rayburn, who lives in southern Ohio.

“RFK Jr. and MAHA have made what many of us believe in more mainstream. People are now contacting me and wanting to learn more about herbs. I don’t seem so crazy anymore,” Rayburn said, referring to her business, Hadassah’s Herbs for Health and Healing.

When Kennedy delivered a speech in August 2024 announcing that he was suspending his campaign and backing then-former President Donald Trump, he said that Trump is giving him the opportunity to help make America healthy again.

What followed was a social media frenzy with “Make America Healthy Again” and “MAHA” hashtags. MAHA, the acronym, was born.

Samantha Rayburn has treated her sons, Holden and Wyatt, with herbal remedies since they were infants and believes in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again platform. Photo courtesy of Samantha Rayburn

New Jersey-based Jacqueline Capriotti volunteered for Kennedy’s campaign and has championed gardening for food.

She now heads the Victory Garden Alliance, which encourages people, communities, and organizations to grow their own food.

“There is a revival in growing our own food, supporting local farms, and knowing what’s in our food. Bobby and the MAHA movement have catapulted that interest,” Capriotti told The Epoch Times.

“We need this. Our kids need this. It’s important they understand how food is grown and where it comes from. That will inspire healthier new generations because they will become smarter consumers.”

Capriotti calls what is happening with the MAHA movement a “health revolution.” She is working to educate elected officials and political candidates.

“Many of us who worked on the presidential campaign didn’t stop our objectives when it ended. That’s an example of how MAHA is a movement not tied to one person,” Capriotti said.

Victory Gardens Alliance founder Jacqueline Capriotti stands in her Victory Garden in New Jersey in 2024. Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Capriotti

As health secretary, Kennedy has a mandate to fight chronic disease, improve children’s health, and address corporate influence on government agencies. He has pledged to remove toxic chemicals from the nation’s food supply, increase transparency, improve vaccine safety, and make significant changes to the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—operating divisions within Health and Human Services.

These plans, along with encouraging Americans to grow their own food and buy meat and produce from farmers who do not use pesticides and toxins, are among the initiatives of the MAHA movement.

Jeffrey Rose is a New York-based sleep specialist, hypnotherapist, and addiction recovery coach who helped raise funds for American Values 2024, the Kennedy-aligned super PAC, during his presidential campaign. He says that the “passion for change” instilled during that time has motivated many volunteers to continue their efforts on MAHA issues that are important to them—himself included.

Rose is currently focused on what he calls a health issue that needs more discussion and emphasis—more sleep for high school-age children.

He is the New York state legislative coordinator for Start School Later, an organization composed of clinical professionals working to change start times in U.S. high schools.

Rose said volunteers for the Kennedy presidential campaign came from all backgrounds.

“We had Republicans, Democrats, libertarians, and independents,” he said. “We had people who are passionate about removing chemicals from our food, people who advocate for informed consent, vaccine safety, and medical freedom. We had people who embraced Kennedy’s mission to end corporate capture of government health agencies, and people who believe in holistic medicine and clean eating.”

Calley Means has advised Trump and Kennedy on health care policy and currently serves in an advisory role to Kennedy.

He said he believes that it’s the grassroots efforts of advocates and groups nationwide that will help get results.

“This movement has energy and impatience, and both are strengths,” Means said.

He is the founder of True Med, a platform that aims to enable people to use health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts for expenses related to healthy living. 

“This is a long-term plan, and it will take time and persistence to keep getting wins. I believe MAHA is a sustained movement that will outlast Bobby Kennedy and President Trump” he said.

“Truly revolutionizing our agriculture system and health care system is a long-term journey.”

Del Bigtree, host of “The HighWire” and founder of the Informed Consent Action Network, served as communications director during Kennedy’s campaign. He is now CEO of the MAHA Action PAC, which advocates for policies such as vaccine safety information transparency, improved access to holistic health care, examining the food industry, and addressing corporate influence on government health agencies.

The PAC is also debuting a national directory of physicians who are pro-MAHA and prioritize lifestyle adjustments over prescription drugs.

The organization has a database that tracks proposed health-related legislation in states nationwide—as well as which legislators support it.

“There is a time we need drugs and surgery, but those times mean something went wrong,” Bigtree told The Epoch Times. “How do we prevent more people from having health conditions? How can we inspire them to change their lifestyle so they don’t have to get to the point where they need those drugs and surgeries? That is part of MAHA Action’s focus.”

“MAHA is not and should not be limited to what happens in government,” he added. “There must be public education and public pressure on the government to get long-needed results.”

Del Bigtree, founder of the Informed Consent Action Network and host of The Highwire, is the head of the RFK Jr.-aligned MAHA Action PAC, which was launched in 2024. Photo courtesy of Del Bigtree

Jeff Hutt, a former national field director for the Kennedy campaign, is now the outreach director for the Make America Healthy Again PAC, which was founded by a dozen former senior presidential campaign staff members.

Initially, the PAC focused on getting Kennedy confirmed by the Senate as health secretary. Hutt said the organization now concentrates on supporting candidates at the state and local levels who embrace the MAHA platform.

The work includes state level activity to encourage the passage of MAHA-friendly bills and the election of pro-MAHA candidates.

“Americans are disillusioned with Washington, D.C., and since COVID, there has become a growing understanding that, to make substantial change, you need to think local. Take action in your own town and your state,” Hutt said.

“What’s going on in every state across the country—with no connection to Secretary Kennedy—is driving the MAHA movement outside of the Trump administration.”

During Kennedy’s confirmation process, groups such as MAHA Action, the MAHA PAC, the American Values PAC, and Stand for Health Freedom flooded senators with phone calls, emails, and letters urging them to support the nominee.

Sayer Ji, chairman and co-founder of Global Wellness Forum and founder of GreenMedInfo.com, also co-founded Stand for Health Freedom, a nonprofit that advocates for informed consent, parental rights, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and privacy.

“The grassroots movement behind Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation fight proves that real change rises from the ground up,” Ji told The Epoch Times.

“While senators parroted pharmaceutical talking points and corporate interests worked to silence him, it was the people, the increasingly vocal, once-silent majority, who stepped up. They reminded the establishment that political survival depends not on industry dollars but on the will of the people.”

Ji said the MAHA movement has a broad focus and is here to stay.

“It’s about reclaiming medical freedom, bodily autonomy, and the right to informed choice,” he said. “It’s no longer a niche issue; it’s a demand for accountability, transparency, and an end to policies that put profit over people.

“The future of MAHA is in the hands of this awakening majority.”