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‘We’re on the Inside Now’: Meet the Man Building a Political Empire Behind RFK Jr.
In the past three years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has had a dramatic ascent, rocketing from the contrarian fringe to the center of the American health system and leader of a burgeoning political movement. At every step, he’s been bolstered behind the scenes by a lesser-known name: Tony Lyons.
A longtime publisher and ally of Kennedy’s, Lyons has built a sprawling political operation to promote Kennedy and his “Make America Healthy Again” brand, a multimillion-dollar endeavor that spans multiple nonprofits, businesses, and a political action committee — one could call it “MAHA Inc.” Under the MAHA banner, Lyons hosts administration officials as he plays emcee on weekly activist organizing calls, holds glitzy cocktail parties at an exclusive D.C. club, and convenes events around the country.
Since his campaign, the MAHA Inc. network has amplified Kennedy’s message and ideas, celebrating Kennedy’s overhaul of the nation’s vaccine system and efforts to revamp its food supply. Increasingly, the network is also cheerleading for President Trump, even as other prominent MAHA activists are critical of some of his administration’s recent moves.
Teachers Union Leader Blasts Melania Trump’s Robot Pitch: ‘Every Parent’s Nightmare’
Randi Weingarten, president of one of America’s most powerful teachers unions, strongly pushed back Thursday against first lady Melania Trump’s comments that humanoid robot teachers could soon become central to children’s education.
After she appeared with a humanoid robot during an AI education summit Wednesday, Trump said a humanoid robot educator “will provide a personalized experience, adaptive to the needs of each student,” so “our children will develop deeper critical thinking and independent reasoning abilities.”
Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, delivered the sharp rebuke at Thursday’s inaugural Workers First AI Summit. Hosted by the AFL-CIO, the meeting of labor representatives and civil society organizations aimed to bring workers across industries together to build a unified front against AI’s unchecked growth and its growing impact on American workers.
“What she did yesterday was every parent’s nightmare,” Weingarten said at a session exploring the policies that should protect workers’ rights in the midst of fast-moving AI development. “This is exactly what Big Tech wants to create: a sense of a society that is being led by and taught by robots, displacing every bit of all of who we are, starting with education,” she said.
As Kennedy Takes on Food Policy, Companies Push Back
In his quest to overhaul the food system, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vowed to close a loophole that allows food and dietary supplement companies to independently determine whether new ingredients are safe. But the plan is facing stiff pushback from the industry, with lawyers and executives already warning of lawsuits before an official proposal has been unveiled.
The “generally recognized as safe” designation, or GRAS, allows companies to bypass government notification and review. It has ushered an unknown number of substances, believed to be in the thousands, into the U.S. food supply. The GRAS provision was envisioned in 1958 to apply to well-understood ingredients such as vinegar and baking soda.
Though advocates of more thorough food oversight and their allies on the political left have long pushed for such a change, Mr. Kennedy and his team have been able to garner widespread support for food reform and have the power to implement it. Their actions are beginning to push past the industry’s comfort zone.
Trump to Delay Nominating New C.D.C. Director
The White House plans to delay naming a candidate to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency that has been roiled by a string of high-level departures and has had three different leaders since President Trump returned to the White House, according to people familiar with the situation.
Federal law imposes a 210-day limit on those filling Senate-confirmed positions in an acting capacity. The agency became officially leaderless after Mr. Trump did not nominate a permanent director by midnight on Wednesday. The administration faces a formidable challenge in finding a nominee who aligns with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda while avoiding his unpopular stance on vaccines.
The White House has yet to find someone who fits with the Trump administration’s mission and can also win Senate confirmation, according to a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal decision-making.
Casey Means’ Surgeon General Nomination Is Stalled
Wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means’ nomination to be U.S. surgeon general is stalled a month after senators of both major political parties grilled her on vaccines and other health topics during a tense confirmation hearing, deepening doubts about her ability to secure the votes she needs for the role.
The nomination has languished despite ongoing efforts from the White House and Make America Healthy Again activists, revealing how intractable rifts over health policy can be even when Congress has shown deference to President Donald Trump. It’s become the latest snag in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda after two legal setbacks last week.
Means, a 38-year-old Stanford-educated physician who became disillusioned with traditional medicine and did not finish her surgical residency program, has faced scrutiny for her lack of experience and potential conflicts. Another sticking point has been her close alignment with Kennedy, whose efforts to dramatically pull back vaccine recommendations have been slammed by lawmakers and medical groups.
Kennedy, Oz Announce New Health Care Advisory Committee
The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday announced the formation of a new expert advisory panel that will make recommendations on how to modernize the U.S. health care system. The 18-member Healthcare Advisory Committee will be tasked with advising HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz on “ways to improve how care is financed and delivered” across Medicare, Medicaid and in the insurance marketplace.
“Their insights will help us cut costs, slash red tape, improve quality of care, keep programs solvent and refocus health care on the people it is meant to serve: the patients,” Oz said in a video announcement on the social platform X.
Kennedy said the 18 committee members, which include health care executives, health policy lawyers, academics, and physicians, among others, were selected from a nationwide pool of 400 nominees.
