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Politico
2 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Can this tiny MAGA town take on Canada?
President Donald Trump's hostility toward Canada has made things awkward along the northern border, but the Northwest Angle in Minnesota might feel the diplomatic fallout more than anywhere else. The Angle, as the 150 locals call it, is a pocket of Minnesota entirely surrounded by water and Canada. It's only part of the U.S. because of an 18th-century surveying error. Its sixth graders have to pass through four international border checkpoints on a 120-mile round trip to school each day. The unique geographic position of the Angle means that Canada can block all sorts of imported goods, even if they come from another part of Minnesota — from mattresses and potted plants to livestock and fish bait. If Trump further provokes an already angry Canada during his trip to the G7 summit on Sunday, it could rock this small community. But when Corbin Hiar visited the Angle in late May, he found much of the 79 percent of its voters who supported Trump in the last election are sticking by their guy, come what may. 'Tariffs temporarily are going to hurt us,' one person told him. 'But in the long run, will it wake some people up?' Read the story. 'He's not all there.' Can you guess who questioned the president's mental acuity? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.** Two Generations of Military Parades … The last time Washington hosted a military parade, it was under President George H.W. Bush to celebrate victory in the Gulf War, on the weekend of Capital City columnist Michael Schaffer's high school graduation. Now, as Trump stages a military parade honoring the Army's 250th birthday, Schaffer's daughter is graduating high school. 'That's about where the similarities end,' he writes — which explains a lot about how politics has changed in a generation. Have a mini-heart attack when you saw tanks in town? Don't let your friends know Trump's parade snuck up on you. Just use these talking points to sound like you were paying attention. (From Associate Editor Dylon Jones) Michelle Obama vs. MAHA … Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' movement, while not always scientifically sound, has made conservatives enthusiastic about improving the physical health of Americans across the country. Which must be strange for Sam Kass, the former White House chef who led First Lady Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' initiative to combat diet-related disease, which was panned on the right as nanny-state scolding. How could an anti-vaxxer have successfully coopted messaging around health? 'The Democratic Party has absolutely blundered this issue,' Kass tells Marcia Brown. 'We're getting what we deserve here in some ways.' Singing the Song of Angry Men … Musical-theater fans on the left see irony in Trump's love of Les Misérables, with its themes of revolution. But according to Megan Messerly, they've missed how Trump — who once aspired to be a Broadway producer — has adopted it into his brand. 'Trump world sees itself in the musical's hardscrabble revolutionaries, and Trump in its unjustly persecuted protagonist, [Jean] Valjean,' she writes. When Troops Target Americans … Trump's decision to deploy active-duty Marines — not just the National Guard — to Los Angeles drew shock and condemnation from Democrats. But it's not entirely without precedent. Presidents have directed the military to quell domestic unrest on rare occasions. The political reaction to those moments has varied, but nonetheless sticks to a notable pattern, writes historian Joshua Zeitz: 'When presidents intervene to restore public safety during acute civil disorder, they often enjoy public support. But when presidents deploy federal troops to suppress economic or social protest movements, the backlash can be swift and severe.' From the drafting table of editorial cartoonist Matt Wuerker. Who Dissed? answer: That would be California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, discussing his clash with Trump over anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. politicoweekend@
Politico
2 days ago
- Health
- Politico
‘A Total Sham': Michelle Obama's Nutrition Adviser Lets Loose on MAHA
Before there was MAHA, there was Michelle. Anyone following the rise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement can't help but recall former First Lady Michelle Obama's efforts to improve Americans' diets — and the vitriol she faced in response. Now, many of the same Republicans who skewered Michelle Obama as a 'nanny state' warrior have embraced the MAHA movement. To explore this head-spinning turn, I called up Sam Kass, the former White House chef under President Barack Obama and a food policy adviser who led the first lady's 'Let's Move' initiative. Kass said he was happy to find common ground with Kennedy and his MAHA brigade where possible. But he argued Kennedy's HHS has done little to actually improve the health of the public so far, and was instead mostly taking steps that would do real damage, including by undermining the use of vaccines. Kass also warned potentially MAHA-curious food advocates against legitimizing the Trump administration by offering support for Kennedy. 'Those who are lending their voice for the things that they support are going to ultimately help enable outcomes that are going to be quite devastating for this country and for our kids,' he said in an interview with POLITICO Magazine. At the same time, Kass is not surprised with MAHA's growing popularity. In the 10-plus years since Kass left the White House, the issues of diet-related chronic disease haven't abated and Americans are more anxious about their health than ever. Wellness is a trillion-dollar industry, and MAHA influencers have filled the gap left by Democrats. 'The Democratic Party has absolutely blundered this issue,' he said. 'We're getting what we deserve here in some ways.' This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. How do you square the earlier conservative criticism of the 'Let's Move' initiative with the rise of MAHA? Are you surprised by the seeming contradiction? I think most of that is because Republicans are fearful of President Trump. And therefore, if he is putting somebody in a position of great power and backing him, there's a huge part of the party that's going to go along with whatever that may be. I don't think this is actually about the Republican Party taking this up. This is actually about a Democrat, traditionally, who had built up a pretty strong following on these issues, and decided to join forces with President Trump. It's not like any of these ideas are coming from the GOP platform. This is an RFK-led effort that they're now supporting. So are they hypocrites for that? Certainly. But I welcome Republican support on trying to genuinely improve the health of the nation. Frankly, if we had had that for the last 20 years, I think that cultural retention would be far better. The reality, though, is what they're actually doing I don't think is going to have any positive impact, or very little. Even what they're saying is problematic on some levels, but what they're doing is a far cry from anything that's going to create the health outcomes this country needs. When you say that, do you mean banning soda from SNAP or the food dyes issue? Are there specific things that come to mind? It's a long list. There's the critique that MAHA brings at the highest level, that chronic disease has exploded in our country. Nobody can refute that, and what we're eating is a big driver of poor health outcomes on many different levels. That is absolutely true. What we grow, how we're growing it, and what's being made out of it is quite literally killing people. That is something that First Lady Michelle Obama said way back when. I've been saying it for a couple of decades. After that, everything falls apart in my mind. We can start with food dyes as the biggest announcement they made thus far. I'm all for getting food dyes out of food. There's just not a basis of evidence that most of the ones that are being used are actually the drivers of many of these health conditions. It was reported that they were banning food dyes. Sadly, what they did was a total sham. It was a farce of an event. There was no policy at all that was announced. There was no guidance, there was no regulatory proposal, there wasn't even a request for information. There was absolutely nothing put forward to revoke the approvals of these dyes. And the reason I believe is that to revoke an approval, you have to show that it's harming the public health. That's what we did for trans fats. Trans fats had been approved for consumption. There was plenty of evidence to show that that food was really driving death and disease in the country, and we banned it through a regulatory mechanism. I could not fathom making an announcement like that without actually having a real policy to put in place. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry about what they did. Also, you see a bunch of the influencers holding up bags of Fruit Loops and saying, 'In Europe or Canada, these have no [synthetic] food dyes and ours do.' But the fact of the matter is Fruit Loops aren't good for you either way. Part of the danger of RFK is he keeps talking about gold standard science and rebooting our public policy and science. The reality is he's doing the exact opposite. He's going to fast food restaurants, touting them on national television as the head of Health and Human Services, [saying that] a cheeseburger and french fries is good for you now because it's cooked in beef fat which is just the most insane thing on literally every single level. It has absolutely no basis in science. We're focusing on issues that are absolutely not going to make an iota of difference in public health. It's absolutely shocking. They have a platform that is fear-based on certain issues, like these food dyes or seed oils, which are absolutely not addressing the core of what we're eating and the core of what's really harming our health. The problem is the fries and the cheeseburger. It's not the oil that it's fried in. It's actually quite scary to me to see what's playing out. Why do you think the politics of food have changed in the years since you were in the White House, and why do you think MAHA ideas have such appeal? I don't exactly know for sure. In the age of social media, the thing that gets the algorithms the most activity is more extreme views. I think people are very vulnerable to very compelling, very scientifically sounding narratives that [MAHA influencers] all have, based on one study here or another study there, that can weave a narrative of fear. It's not like food dyes are good, I'm happy to see them go. But you get people scared of what they're eating to the point where people stop eating vegetables because they're worried about the pesticides, which is just not good for their health. This fear is definitely taking hold. I think it's because the mediums on which this information travels are exacerbating that fear. You already mentioned the food dye announcement and why that was concerning to you. What are some of the other actions that you think aren't necessarily achieving the stated goals? If you step back and start to look at what actions have actually been taken, what you're actually seeing is a full-on assault on science throughout HHS. You're seeing a complete gutting of NIH, which funds much of the research needed to understand what in hyper-processed foods is undermining people's health and how to actually identify those correlations so you can regulate it very aggressively. You're seeing the complete gutting or elimination of departments within CDC and FDA that oversee the safety of our food. Food toxicologists have been fired. There's a department in CDC that's in charge of assessing chronic health and environmental exposures to toxins. Those offices have been eliminated. The idea that somehow you're going to be more aggressively regulating based on the best science, while you're absolutely wholesale cutting scientific research and gutting the people who are in charge of overseeing the very industry that you're trying to clamp down on is a joke. Then look at the 'big, beautiful bill' that is being supported by this administration, and it's catastrophic to the public health of the United States of America. Eight million people are going to lose access to health care. Three million plus are going to lose SNAP assistance. Then we can get into USDA and EPA. Everybody's got to remember that the number one threat to the public health of the United States of America is climate change. If we continue on this path of pulling back every regulatory effort that's been made to try to transition our society to a much more sustainable, lower-carbon world, that's also preparing itself to deal with the volatility that's coming from the climate, we're not going to have food to eat. This idea that you're going to have big announcements about food dyes and Fruit Loops, while you completely roll back every effort to prepare our agricultural system and our food system to deal with climate change, you're gaslighting the American public. Have you spoken to the former first lady about MAHA at all? Not in any kind of depth. Have you ever been in touch with Kennedy? Have you ever talked to him about these issues? He's very close to a number of people I'm good friends with, but no, I have not. You noted Kennedy used to be a Democrat. His issues — his opposition to pesticides, his support for healthy nutrition, with all the caveats that we just discussed — these were Democratic issues. Now, this MAHA coalition helped Trump win the White House. Why do you think Democrats have ceded this terrain? The Democratic Party has absolutely blundered this issue. These are kitchen table issues. Our very well-being, our ability to eat food that's not harming ourselves and our kids, is fundamental to life on planet Earth and what it means to have a vibrant society. The fact that Democrats, much to my chagrin, definitely not because of lack of trying, have not taken this issue up with great effort over the last 15 years is shameful. We're getting what we deserve here in some ways. I'm deeply critical of Democrats, with some exceptions. Sen. Cory Booker has been amazing on these issues. [Former Sen.] Jon Tester is also great. But it was never part of the platform, and it absolutely always should have been. If there's some common ground to be found with Republicans, then great. We could get a lot done. But we can't just turn over the keys to this issue to people who are not serious. When you worked in the Obama White House, you pushed better nutrition labeling, active living, bans on unhealthy foods in school meals and trans fat. The recent MAHA report pointed the finger at similar programs for chronic illness. Is that a place where you and MAHA advocates are on the same page, and how do you balance that with the concerns you've raised? There's no clean answer to that. We largely, not entirely, share the same critique when it comes to food. Vaccines are another thing which are important to also talk about. People are trying to pick the issue that they like and can get around and pretend like the rest isn't happening. It would be great if we got food dyes out, but it would pale in comparison to if he continues down the path to undermine vaccines as the foundation of public health and people start dying, like they are, with measles. That is not even close to a trade. For all of my food friends who read this, or everybody in policy who are like, 'Oh yeah, I can work with him on this issue, but I'm going to turn a blind eye to that,' that doesn't work. That's going to lead to devastating outcomes. On the report, I share the general critique of the problem. I spent my life saying those things and working on these issues. That's the easy part. What matters is what you do about it. How do you actually change what people are eating, and what is it going to take to really put the country on a different trajectory when it comes to health? So far, I've seen absolutely no indication that the issues that they're focused on are going to have any meaningful or measurable impact on public health. Frankly, there's many other things that I think are going to be extremely detrimental. We will see. We're only a few months in. I could, depending on what happens, have a different perspective in six months or 12 months. RFK has blamed the food industry for Americans' poor health. He's argued that government institutions are overwrought with corporate influence. Do you think he's right? And what do you think about RFK's approach to trying to curb corporate influence? I'm all for curbing corporate influence. I had some big fights with industry. I won some of them, and sometimes I got my ass kicked. It's the nature of Washington when you're threatening the basic interests of an industry. What's stunning to me is that the food industry so far has been silent. They haven't done anything to fight back, which says to me that they're not feeling threatened yet. I think they're waiting to see what's going to happen. I'm sure they're doing some stuff in the background, but this is nothing like what we were dealing with. I agree that we should put the public's best interest first, not succumb to industry influence. I think the way that RFK talks about it is a real overstatement down a very dark conspiracy theory. The idea that JAMA and the American Medical Association and the New England Journal are just like corporate journals that just put corporate, completely distorted research out for the sake of making profits, it's just not serious. He starts to discredit the very institutions, like HHS, that you actually need to do the work to rein in industry. The way that industry does make inroads is that they fund a lot of research. If you want to reduce industry influence, you should dramatically increase [government] investment in funding of scientific research on agriculture and climate change, on food and nutrition. One of the biggest fights in the Obama era was over stricter nutrition standards for school lunches. The administration won some of those battles, but quite a few children still have obesity, according to the latest data. Is there anything you wish the Obama administration had done differently? Are there things policymakers should be doing differently? School nutrition is just one part of a young person's diet. You're not going to solve kids' health issues just through school nutrition, but obviously it's a huge lever to pull. If we really want to make progress, you have to look much more holistically at the food environment that people are living in. This is generational work. It's going to take literally decades of work to shift, not just the policies, but our culture, our businesses, to change how people are eating. I think the one thing we missed would have been a much stricter restriction on sugar across the board. We had it for drinks,, but we didn't [apply it across the board], and that was a miss. We should have pushed harder on sugar. I think the policy was a really important start. It can always be improved and strengthened. Both the first Trump administration and this one are looking to roll back some of that. The thing that we have to not forget — and this is true for schools, and certainly true for SNAP and WIC — is the biggest problem is not enough money for these programs. I started doing a lot of work on finding ways to restrict sugary drinks as an example from the SNAP program. But if you want to do that and actually get the health outcomes you need, you need to also increase the total dollar amount that people have so they can purchase healthier food. Part of the reason why people are drinking these things is they're the cheapest available drink. Coke is cheaper than water sometimes. RFK recently called sugar 'poison.' Do you agree with that? One of their tactics to obfuscate truth in science is dosage, right? The amount that we're consuming matters. If you had a birthday cake on your birthday and you have a cookie — my kids eat a cookie, they're not dying, they're not being poisoned to death. They're fine. I think the problem is the amount of sugar we're consuming and the sizes of the portions we have. It's the cumulative amount of sugar. It's probably technically not exactly the right word, poison. But I don't take issue with that. I think the levels of sugar consumption for young people are deeply alarming and are absolutely going to drive preventable death and disease for millions and millions of people. It already is and will continue to do so. It is a very serious problem. But what do you do? I can't wait to see the policy proposals here. It's a tough problem to solve. It is not a problem that can be solved overnight, and it's going to take a very comprehensive effort to really shift the amount of sugar we're consuming, but it should be the goal of this administration. They should work very hard at it in a very serious and science-based way. Thus far, I have not seen that.
Buzz Feed
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Michelle Obama Recalls Ellen DeGeneres Push-Up Competition
Back in 2012, Ellen DeGeneres famously challenged Michelle Obama to a push-up competition live on her self-titled talk show. While discussing Michelle's public health campaign 'Let's Move,' which had been launched in the US a couple of years prior, Ellen wound up asking the First Lady about her own workout routine. After Michelle noted that she tended to focus on cardio, lifting weights, and plyometric training, Ellen interjected and asked if she did push-ups. Seemingly caught off-guard, Michelle replied that she did in fact do push-ups — prompting Ellen to challenge her to a friendly contest then and there. Michelle ended up winning by doing 25 push-ups, while Ellen gave up after 20. 'How amazing is that, come on?!' Ellen asked the audience afterwards. Fast forward to today, and Michelle has reflected on the push-up competition during a new appearance on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast. The topic was brought up after Michelle noted that she's 'at the age' where she wakes up with random aches and pains, prompting a discussion about what kinds of workouts she and Amy do. When Amy asked if she's able to do push-ups, Michelle replied, 'Yeah…Well, now I do them on my knees. This is another thing — I don't need to do regular push-ups. I have nothing to prove,' before noting that she finds 'regular' push-ups 'hard' because her 'arm length doesn't go all the way down.' Michelle then recalled, 'In fact, you know who pointed that out was Ellen because my first term, she challenged me to a push-up competition. I'm the First Lady!' Amy quipped, 'Sounds like Ellen.' Michelle continued, 'She heard that I worked out, so I'm on her show doing push-ups. And I did more push-ups than her but she still says I didn't go down all the way. Anatomically, I don't think I can. My arms are very long and she's a much smaller person than me.' Michelle's remarks have since sparked a heap of discourse online, with several people suggesting that it was pretty bizarre for the First Lady to randomly be challenged to a push-up contest live on air. 'The entire premise of this is wild and I cannot believe it actually happened. Ellen was something else,' one person said in response to Michelle's latest quotes. 'This is genuinely so wild to me,' someone agreed. Let me know what you think in the comments, and check out Michelle's full appearance on the Good Hang podcast here.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Sugary candy, soda pop know no income level
Gov. Jim Pillen and some Nebraska legislative leaders seem poised to make it harder to use SNAP benefits to buy candy and pop. (Stock photo by) Gov. Jim Pillen and Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services CEO, Dr. Steve Corsi, are on the record that soda pop and candy are sugar highs that over time can lead to serious health-related lows. Good call. A letter of intent from the governor to the USDA asserts the state's want to join a number of other states who ban SNAP recipients from using their benefits for pop and candy. Nice: Now do everybody else. That's because the Pillen/Corsi argument is that pop and candy are unhealthy, especially for children. No one is claiming otherwise, plus the scientists have the receipts to back it up. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that adult obesity continues to rise. Its latest numbers, reported in the fall of 2024, showed that 35% of adults in 23 states had obesity, including Nebraska at 36.6%. A decade earlier no state was above that threshold. Among children the obesity rate has risen to nearly one in five kids dealing with the consequences of unhealthy weight. According to the CDC, the cost of childhood obesity checks in at $1.3 billion. Diabetes among children has reached historic numbers, too. According to research published in the 'Journal of Diabetes,' Type 2 diabetes in children aged 10-19 has doubled in the past decade, and Type 1 Diabetes has grown from 20 to 22 children per 100,000. Although diabetes and obesity are disproportionately higher in low-income communities, no one on the poverty-to-wealth continuum is immune from the persistence of both maladies. Restricting SNAP beneficiaries may address one particular income group, but if pop and sugar are bad for poor kids, they are bad for rich ones, too. Several attempts at previous nutritional causes and movements have been met with fierce and forceful pushback, accompanied by fevered charges of nanny-state overreach. In 2012, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed banning sugary drinks over 16 ounces in the Big Apple. Yes, hell did break loose. No, the ban never went into effect. The nation's soft drink industry eventually prevailed in the New York Supreme Court, which ruled the city's Board of Health, which pushed Bloomberg's idea, failed to stay in its lane. To wit: New Yorkers, like the rest of us, can still supersize their sweet drinks. In 2009, first lady Michelle Obama launched 'Let's Move,' a program to offset the march of childhood obesity in America. In addition to encouraging exercise, Obama also worked with Congress to lower the level of fats, calories, salt, sugar and sodium and increase the amount of fruits and veggies students found in the school cafeteria line. You would have thought she slipped state secrets to our adversaries. The pushback was intense and personal from talk radio to the blogosphere, including a Fox News contributor who argued that Obama needed to 'drop a few pounds' before trafficking in nutritional advice. Sadly, such bilge still passes for argument today. Eventually, Congress passed a law that allowed schools to opt out of the healthier standards because what's a good idea — helping kids eat healthier — without a way to get around it. Sure, taxpayers foot the food bill for SNAP recipients, but we also pay the federal freight for scores of others who benefit from government largess. What would be the reaction if we required all those with tax breaks or direct subsidies from the feds not to not use said benefits for jelly beans, Dr. Pepper, et al? While Nebraska's letter of intent may be in line with a national focus coming in part from federal health officials, taking cues from Washington may not always be in the state's best interest, a lesson perhaps learned in the recent 'blue dot' vote in the Nebraska Legislature. Finally, if we're talking about getting healthy food to children, we should also be discussing the prevalence of food deserts in the state. Food deserts are generally defined as areas where access to 'affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance.' Instead, residents in these areas often end up buying food designed for a longer shelf life and all too often filled with sugar and other preservatives. Although often associated with urban areas, food deserts, according to the Center for Rural Affairs, can be found in 11 Nebraska counties: Blaine, Custer, Duel, Dundy, Grant, Hitchcock, Hooker, Jefferson, Keya Paha, Morrill and Sioux. Yes, let's talk about nutritious food for kids. But if we want an even healthier Nebraska, don't stop with SNAP. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
USA Today
13-04-2025
- Health
- USA Today
Remember when Obama wanted kids to be healthy and Republicans lost their minds?
Remember when Obama wanted kids to be healthy and Republicans lost their minds? | Opinion You want government officials to control the ultra-processed and dye-delicious foods I want my kids to eat? Sounds like the 'K' in 'RFK Jr.' stands for 'Karl Marx.' Show Caption Hide Caption Trump officials want to ban junk food from SNAP Newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has urged the government to ban SNAP from being used towards processed foods. Fox - Seattle It seems clear, based on my years of listening to conservatives holler about liberty, that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a nanny-state liberal who wants to tell Americans what they can and can't eat. In a recent statement, Kennedy said: 'I urge every governor to champion legislation that bans ultra-processed foods and dyes in public schools, and submit a waiver to the USDA to remove soda from SNAP.' Do you want government officials to control the ultra-processed and dye-delicious foods I want my kids to eat? Sounds like the 'K' in 'RFK Jr.' stands for 'Karl Marx.' RFK Jr. goes full nanny state on America's school-lunch programs A recent Kennedy opinion column published right here at USA TODAY, co-written with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, discussed childhood obesity and concluded this: 'As the leaders put in charge of overseeing our nation's food supply and human services, we have a duty to fix this.' To make sure I was responding properly to what I assume is communism, I looked back on how my conservative friends responded to health and food-safety initiatives that came up while Barack Obama was president. Opinion: Trump babbles his way through doing a bad job and the polling proves we know it I'm sure conservatives are mad at RFK Jr. like they were at Michelle Obama In 2010, as part of first lady Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' campaign, President Obama established a childhood obesity task force, prompting Fox News host Sean Hannity to say: 'We now, in our government, have a government obesity task force, all right? An Obama government obesity task force. Does every American family need a dietician appointed by the government to tell them that this food is going to make you fat and this food is not?' The task force issued voluntary recommendations, but Fox News went with 'the first lady's task force is cutting into our diets and our rights.' Suggesting our kids eat healthier is the same as communism They should get a load of the left-wing-extremist rhetoric Kennedy and Rollins put forth in their April 8 column, sounding just like government officials who want to control what we feed our kids: 'First, we are advancing buy American policies that will get food grown by American farmers into the hands of children and families through our nutritious food programs. ... "Second, our two agencies are pursuing reform to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). We will encourage taxpayer dollars to go toward wholesome foods, such as whole milk, fruits, vegetables and meats.' So I guess I, a taxpaying American parent, no longer have a say in what my kid eats. Opinion: How much of Project 2025 has been implemented? Enough to break us beyond repair. Maybe I don't want my taxpayer dollars going toward fruits and vegetables. Maybe my deeply held personal belief is that Oreos and artificial cheese products are the best thing for my child's bone development. 'Get your damn hands off my fries, lady' It reminds me of Michelle Obama's speech to the National Restaurant Association in September 2010, when she said: 'I'm not asking any of you to make drastic changes to every single one of your recipes or to totally change the way you do business. But what I am asking is that you consider reformulating your menu in pragmatic and incremental ways to create healthier versions of the foods that we all love.' The then-first lady added, monstrously, 'It could mean serving 1% or skim milk. Or you could make healthy sides like apple slices or carrots the default choice in a menu and make fries something customers have to request.' To that, then-Fox News host Glenn Beck said: 'When I heard this, I thought, get your damn hands off my fries, lady. If I want to be a fat, fat, fatty and shovel french fries all day long, that is my choice. But, oh, no, not so fast anymore, because now, we have the new fact, whether you like it or not, we have government health care now.' One would think such a reasoned response that was apparently appropriate then would be equally appropriate now that Kennedy and Co. are the Big Government Food Police. Is RFK Jr. trying to starve Americans? Probably. Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin at the time called the Obamas' healthy eating initiatives the 'nanny state run amok.' Beck alleged a food-safety bill was an attempt to turn everyone vegetarian: 'This is about control, and in the end starvation.' Oh my God. Kennedy is trying to starve us. Or maybe just our children. I'm not quite sure. But I do know everything Kennedy is trying to do with his insidious Make America Healthy Again program is the worst form of government control over our lives imaginable. Now, Kennedy is going to tread on my right to eat garbage If I want to suck down a tube of Red No. 3 dye while my kid totes a sack of Twinkies to school for lunch, that's my right as an American! I'm sure my conservative friends who raised hell during the Obama administration will join me in bipartisan fashion to protest this unfolding attack on liberty. I'll await their response. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at
