{"id":780673,"date":"2026-03-06T09:20:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=780673"},"modified":"2026-03-06T09:49:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:49:52","slug":"meatheads-are-hijacking-america-vegans-feel-betrayed-by-rfk-jr-s-beef-boosting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=780673","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Meatheads Are Hijacking America (MAHA)\u2019: Vegans feel betrayed by RFK Jr.\u2019s beef boosting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kennedy\u2019s choice to center animal products in American nutrition guidelines may mirror his own diet, but the changes were no doubt politically motivated. ‘I don\u2019t think vegans fit into any administration,’ said Gary Yourofsky, a vegan and animal rights activist. Given veganism\u2019s minority position in the culture and in politics, Yourofsky said he can\u2019t be particularly fazed by the meat-heavy adjustments to national nutrition guidelines. ‘I didn\u2019t find that to be offensive, he said of the changes. ‘I found it to be stupid’.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CNN:<\/strong> The day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was sworn in as secretary of Health and Human Services on a self-described mission to \u201cMake America Healthy Again,\u201d the vegan podcast host and animal rights activist Bob Linden posted a missive in several vegan Facebook groups, declaring it a \u201cbeginning\u201d and an \u201copportunity”…Linden saw in Kennedy a potential vegan ally who, despite his carnivorous diet, promised to advocate against vaccine mandates, end animal testing and encourage Americans to quit processed foods.<\/em><\/p>\n

A year later, Kennedy has made \u201creal food\u201d a pillar of his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) framework. But his new nutrition guidelines and inverted food pyramid place a much stronger emphasis on red meat, whole milk and other animal products than previous government-issued nutritional suggestions. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s a betrayal,\u201d Linden said in January. \u201cI believe these new dietary restrictions are anti-American.\u201d Linden said he defines the MAHA acronym differently now: \u201cMeatheads are hijacking America’…<\/em><\/p>\n

Kennedy has spent his time as health secretary speaking incessantly about his prolific consumption of red meat. Earlier this year, he said switching to a \u201ccarnivore diet\u201d and eating beef around twice a day helped him achieve \u201cmental clarity\u201d and shed 20 pounds… Kennedy\u2019s choice to center animal products in American nutrition guidelines may mirror his own diet, but the changes were no doubt politically motivated, said Laura Wright, a professor of English at Western Carolina University who studies veganism…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think vegans fit into any administration,\u201d said Gary Yourofsky, another vegan and animal rights activist whose combative messaging includes describing the slaughter of animals for food as rape, slavery and a holocaust. \u201cNobody truly understands veganism. Everybody eats meat, cheese, milk and eggs.\u201d Kennedy has followed through on some of his pledges to supporters of animal rights. Late last year, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists were told to end research on macaque monkeys, who\u2019d been primarily used to study HIV prevention… But encouraging Americans to eat more meat is a policy ethics-focused vegans say they cannot abide<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that veganism is a threat,\u201d Wright said. \u201cI\u2019ve always felt that it\u2019s so non-normative, and it\u2019s so in many ways kind of anti-establishment, that the fact that it\u2019s sort of been disappeared doesn\u2019t surprise me.\u201d Given veganism\u2019s minority position in the culture and in politics, Yourofsky said he can\u2019t be particularly fazed by the meat-heavy adjustments to national nutrition guidelines. \u201cI didn\u2019t find that to be offensive,\u201d he said of the changes. \u201cI found it to be stupid.\u201d <\/em>SCOTTIE ANDREW<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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