Trump’s Glyphosate Order Breaks Promise to MAHA, Threatening Millions of Votes
Friday, 20 February 2026 06:33 PM EST
Members of the Make America Healthy Again movement that supports Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warn President Trump’s recent executive order to boost domestic production of the weedkiller glyphosate risks their electoral support in November’s midterm elections.
Kennedy backers helped elect Donald Trump in 2024 and have implemented Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) priorities during his second term, including reducing recommended childhood vaccines and promoting whole foods in new dietary guidelines. The administration faced criticism from MAHA activists last year for removing draft pesticide language from an August children’s health report and approving new pesticides through the Environmental Protection Agency.
On Wednesday, Trump’s executive order invoked the Defense Production Act to secure domestic supplies of phosphorus and glyphosate—a widely used weedkiller central to tens of thousands of lawsuits claiming it causes cancer. MAHA activists describe this move as a broken promise to their movement, which opposes widespread glyphosate use due to health concerns.
“I don’t feel like there’s much hope after this executive order in preserving the MAHA vote,” said Kelly Ryerson, co-executive director of American Regeneration and a glyphosate critic. The order designates glyphosate as “crucial to national security and defense, including food-supply security.”
White House spokesman Kush Desai affirmed the administration’s commitment to MAHA: “The President’s executive order is not an endorsement of any product or practice. This action simply seeks to strengthen our national security and end America’s decades-long reliance on foreign imports and supply chains.”
Estimates vary on MAHA’s voter count, but the movement represented a significant portion of Kennedy’s support during his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump’s order followed Bayer AG—U.S. glyphosate’s sole producer—who proposed a $7.25 billion legal settlement this week to address tens of thousands of cancer-related lawsuits involving its Roundup herbicide. The German company previously warned it could halt U.S. production without regulatory changes, as the United States imports large volumes from China.
Bayer maintains glyphosate is safe for human use, though scientific research on its safety shows mixed results, with some studies linking it to endocrine disruption or cancer risk.
Dave Murphy, founder and CEO of United We Eat and former finance manager for Kennedy’s presidential campaign, called the executive order a “strategic mistake” that could become an election liability. “Trump would not be in the White House this second time without those followers, and we expect him to live up to his word,” Murphy stated.
Kennedy, a longtime glyphosate critic who previously labeled it “one of the likely culprits in America’s chronic disease epidemic” on X, asserted the order is necessary for national security: “When hostile actors control critical inputs, they weaken our security. By expanding domestic production, we close that gap and protect American families.”
Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress, with every House seat and a third of Senate seats up for election in November. Trump’s immigration policies and economic concerns have already signaled Republican liabilities ahead of the midterms, as sitting presidents lost all House seats in midterm elections since George W. Bush’s 2006 victory.
MAHA supporters flooded social media with posts expressing disappointment, including images bearing the text: “we do not consent to being poisoned.” A petition circulated by Moms Across America—whose founder Zen Honeycutt is a longtime Kennedy ally—urges Trump to rescind the order, stating: “True national security is healthy families and the ability of the next generation to reproduce and thrive, which will not happen for as long as these pervasive, harmful herbicides are being used.”
