Kennedy defends Trump’s glyphosate order; MAHA breaks out

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces new dietary guidelines during a news conference Jan. 8, 2026, in Washington.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended President Donald Trump’s order to boost domestic production of the weedkiller glyphosate as his “Make America Healthy Again” movement reels from the president’s embrace of the chemical they despise.

Trump signed an executive order Wednesday evening that invokes the Defense Production Act to force domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides. Glyphosate is the chemical in Bayer-Monsanto Roundup is the most commonly used herbicide for a number of crops in the United States. Trump said in the order that shortages of phosphorus and glyphosate would pose a risk to national security.

Kennedy supported the president in a statement to CNBC on Thursday morning.

“Donald Trump’s executive order puts America first where it matters most – our defense preparedness and our food supply,” he said. “We must protect America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend on it. When hostile actors control critical inputs, they weaken our security. By expanding domestic production, we close this gap and protect American families.”

But Kennedy’s MAHA coalition, which supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, hates glyphosate, which countless lawsuits accuse of causing cancer. Now the executive order threatens to dismantle that coalition before the 2026 midterm elections, which could loosen the president’s grip on Washington.

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“Just as the large MAHA base is thinking about what to do in the midterm elections, the president issues an EO to expand domestic glyphosate production,” said Kelly Ryerson, a prominent MAHA activist known as The Glyphosate Girl, in a post on X. “The same cancer-causing pesticide that MAHA cares about most.”

Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, a regulator that has fought against chemicals in food for years, said in a statement that he “can’t imagine a bigger middle finger to any MAHA mom than this.”

“Making glyphosate a national security priority is the exact opposite of what MAHA voters were promised,” Cook said. “If Secretary Kennedy remains at HHS after this, it will be impossible to argue that his previous warnings about glyphosate were anything more than campaign rhetoric aimed at winning trust – and votes.”

Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, notably once won a nearly $290 million lawsuit against Monsanto over a man who claimed his cancer was caused by Roundup. The executive order was issued a day after Bayer proposed paying $7.25 billion to settle a series of lawsuits alleging Roundup is carcinogenic.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., criticized Trump for signing “an EO to protect cancer-causing glyphosate in our food.”

Glyphosate is an important chemical for American agriculture. It is applied to many important crops such as corn and soybeans and is defended by agricultural trade organizations. Phosphorus is an important raw material for the production of glyphosate, which the White House says is necessary to maintain food security. Elemental phosphorus is also used in the production of some military materials.

“Thank you, President Trump, for recognizing the importance of glyphosate-based herbicides in American agriculture,” Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee said in an X post Wednesday evening. “This is a critical step forward to ensure our growers continue to have a domestic supply of this important plant material.”

House Agriculture Chairman GT Thompson, R-Pa., is trying to push a farm bill through Congress this year – a package of legislation that includes federal farm support and nutrition subsidies. He also recently faced criticism from MAHA over a provision in that law that would prevent state and local pesticide regulations from deviating from federal guidelines.