MAHA loyalists are melting down after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared to cozy up to a pick they see as everything they’ve been fighting against.
The health secretary, who has long been one of the loudest anti-vax voices, sparked the backlash after praising President Donald Trump’s nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC.
Kennedy, 72, took to X with a glowing message to the pro-vaccine nominee. “Thank you, President Trump, for nominating Dr. Erica Schwartz to serve as CDC Director,” he wrote. He added that he looked forward to working alongside Schwartz to restore the agency’s “core mission and Make America Healthy Again.”
The problem for Kennedy’s loyal supporters is that Shwartz’s track record cuts directly against the MAHA movement’s anti-vaccine fervor. The nominee has previously supported and helped implement military vaccine mandates—a policy widely supported by public health officials but loathed by vaccine skeptics.
“Stop trying to make deals with the devil,” one user fumed under Kennedy’s post. “Either call out the corrupt people being forced into your agency, or just publicly acknowledge that the backstabbing Trump administration has obliterated the MAHA movement.”
Another supporter warned of political consequences as the November midterm election nears: “I did not vote for this. I’m MAHA. This is wrong… We won’t show up this fall if this is what we get.”
The anger only escalated from there.
“Please just resign RFK Jr.,” one commenter wrote, before unloading on Trump, 79, for his “betrayals” and dismissing the entire movement as “just another scam.”
Others framed Kennedy less as a sellout and more as a hostage. “You must be living in a pure nightmare,” one user wrote. “Forced to celebrate people who are antithetical to the MAHA movement.”
In response to the growing criticism, HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard stood behind Trump’s pick, telling the Daily Beast in a statement: “The new CDC leadership team reflects our commitment to restoring the agency to its core mission of fighting infectious diseases.”
The backlash cuts to the core of Kennedy’s political identity. Before joining the administration, Kennedy built a national profile as one of the country’s most prominent vaccine skeptics, claiming that “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.”
He has also pushed the unproven idea of a link between vaccines and autism, forcing the CDC to change its guidance language to include the statement that the claim that vaccines do not cause autism “is not an evidence-based claim.”
Inside the administration, he has tried to translate that rhetoric into policy.
Kennedy has pressed federal health agencies to revisit vaccine language and priorities, and in August 2025, moved to pull roughly $500 million in funding from 22 vaccine development projects, citing concerns about mRNA technology used in COVID-19 shots.
The drastic shift in his messaging comes as lawmakers grilled Kennedy during a Thursday hearing over his conflicting rhetoric on the measles vaccine amid a rising outbreak in the U.S.
Kennedy maintained he supports vaccination, but stopped short of disavowing earlier statements questioning its safety and efficacy.
Kennedy’s embrace of the White House’s latest pick marks a sharp break from his previously hard-line stance on CDC leadership.
The White House has already cycled through multiple failed CDC picks. Trump’s initial nominee, former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon, was withdrawn in March 2025, after statements surfaced showing his support of childhood vaccines.
Susan Monarez then briefly held the role before being ousted in August 2025 after reportedly clashing with Kennedy over vaccine policy.
