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RFK Jr. Is Bringing the GOP and the Trial Bar Together
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s demonization of food and pharma has put the Trump administration on the wrong side of its traditional allies in industry — but opened a path to a new alliance with a longtime GOP nemesis: lawyers representing consumers who say they were harmed by companies.
Kennedy’s moves, from his disparagement of Tylenol and ultraprocessed food to his broadsides against vaccines, have lawyers who assemble aggrieved plaintiffs to sue deep-pocketed companies envisioning the sort of cases that turn attorneys into Hollywood heroes and billionaires. They’re citing Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement to buttress their personal injury tort suits.
It’s another example of how President Donald Trump’s populist approach to politics, enhanced by his partnership with Kennedy, has turned longtime political relationships on their head. “The pendulum has swung some in a pro-consumer, pro-plaintiff direction,” said Ashley Keller, a founding partner at Keller Postman, whose firm is spearheading a Texas suit against Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue, the manufacturers of Tylenol. The suit plays off Kennedy and Trump’s move last year to caution pregnant women against taking the pain reliever. Citing data that showed a correlation, but not causation, they warned that it increased the risk for childhood autism.
Congress Revives Kids off Social Media Act, a ‘Child Safety’ Bill Poised to Expand Online Digital ID Checks
Congress is once again positioning itself as the protector of children online, reviving the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA) in a new round of hearings on technology and youth. Introduced by Senators Ted Cruz and Brian Schatz, the bill surfaced again during a Senate Commerce Committee session examining the effects of screen time and social media on mental health. Cruz warned that a “phone-based childhood” has left many kids “lost in the virtual world,” pointing to studies linking heavy screen use to anxiety, depression, and social isolation.
KOSMA’s key provisions would ban social media accounts for anyone under 13 and restrict recommendation algorithms for teens aged 13 to 17. Pushers of the plan say it would “empower parents” and “hold Big Tech accountable,” but in reality, it shifts control away from families and toward corporate compliance systems. The bill’s structure leaves companies legally responsible for determining users’ ages, even though it does not directly require age verification.
The legal wording is crucial. KOSMA compels platforms to delete accounts if they have “actual knowledge” or what can be “fairly implied” as knowledge that a user is under 13.
The most predictable outcome is a move toward mandatory age verification systems, where users must confirm their age or identity to access social platforms. In effect, KOSMA would link access to everyday online life to a form of digital ID.
Kennedy’s Whole Milk Push Reflects Evolving Views on Dairy Fat
The Trump administration has put its full backing behind whole milk, with new dietary guidelines explicitly recommending full-fat dairy products and President Trump signing a bill to allow schools to serve whole milk again. And while the focus may seem abrupt, it reflects a growing discourse over our understanding of fat consumption. The updated 2025-30 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) mentions full-fat dairy or whole milk five times as recommended foods, recommending three servings a day and lumping it in with healthy fats such as olive oil and omega-3-rich seafoods.
Trump signed bipartisan legislation Wednesday allowing schools to serve students whole and 2 percent milk, reversing Obama-era restrictions that limited milk servings to low-fat or fat-free versions. On social media, the administration declared “whole milk is back,” with the Department of Agriculture posting the hashtag “#DrinkWholeMilk.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. applauded this action, writing on the social platform X: “Thank you, President Trump, for your vision and for continuing to put children’s health first. This is exactly the kind of practical change that will Make America Healthy Again.” The administration’s seemingly singular attention on whole milk may be specific, but it speaks to a wider conversation on the types of food Americans eat and decades-old dietary recommendations.
GOP Promotes MAHA Agenda in Bid to Avert Midterm Losses. Dems Point to Contradictions.
When a “Make America Healthy Again” summit was held at the posh Waldorf Astoria in Washington, the line of attendees stretched down the block. The daylong, invitation-only event in November featured a who’s who of MAHA luminaries. Vice President JD Vance attended, as did Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the leader of the ad hoc movement whose members rail against vaccines, Big Pharma, and ultraprocessed food.
During a fireside chat that organizers broadcasted online, Vance extolled MAHA’s impact on the Trump administration, calling it “a critical part of our success in Washington.” The summit underscored just how closely Republicans have hitched themselves to the MAHA campaign, banking on its popularity to give them an electoral bounce in the midterms. But the strategy carries risks, because support for Kennedy is cratering and polls show voters care more about reducing health care costs than MAHA priorities such as ending vaccine mandates and promoting raw milk.
MAHA was mainstreamed as part of the political platform embraced by Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist who ran for president in 2023 and 2024. When he suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump, Kennedy united MAHA with conservatives, marrying the “health freedom” movement with MAGA. But the movement took root before then, during the covid pandemic, grounded in the idea that the U.S. is in the throes of a chronic disease epidemic caused by corruption in the food, medical, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as federal agencies. Some adherents also are skeptical of or opposed to vaccines.
Is ‘Shared Decision-Making’ Being Hijacked by U.S. Health Officials to Sow Doubt About Vaccines?
Listen to the Trump administration’s rhetoric about vaccines and you’ll hear a refrain. In September, what replaced the government recommendation that everyone over 6 months get an annual Covid shot? “Shared clinical decision-making.” What’s at the heart of timing kids’ immunizations, according to National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya? “Shared decision-making.”
In early January, what filled the vacuum when federal authorities abruptly stopped broadly endorsing vaccines against rotavirus, influenza, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B for kids who aren’t deemed high-risk? “Shared clinical decision-making.” But to researchers who’ve spent their careers advancing shared decision-making, federal health leaders may be distorting the concept.
At its heart, it involves clinicians giving their patients accurate information about the various options before them, and then the two parties collaboratively articulating a plan built on both the scientific evidence and the person’s own goals and preferences. Experts worry that recent changes disregard the important role of evidence. “It is a common misconception about shared decision-making that it somehow means that we are not supposed to or allowed to give a recommendation,” said Leigh Simmons, medical director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Health Decision Sciences Center.
