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Calley Means Resigns As Top RFK Jr. Health Adviser Amid MAHA Discontent
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Calley Means resigns as top MAHA adviser to RFK Jr. in the Trump administration. He resigns ahead of midterms amid frustrations with MAHA progress.
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Means quits MAHA role
Calley Means resigned from his role as a top adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a chief advocate for the Make America Healthy Again movement, leaving the Trump administration on Thursday just days ahead of the midterm elections.
Means said in a statement that he “leaves with tremendous respect” for President Donald Trump and Kennedy, and he did not say why he was leaving.
Means had been hired as a White House adviser early in the second Trump administration, and he used his perch at the Department of Health and Human Services to attack “the nation’s leading physician groups, federal agencies and government scientists.”
Means’ resignation came as MAHA leaders expressed discontent with what they described as the Trump administration’s lack of movement on issues including food security and regulating the weed killer glyphosate.
Kelly Ryerson, a health activist and a leader of American Regeneration, said she was “impressed that he completed over two years at HHS fighting the food battle, despite all of the obstacles presented by corporate interests.”
Frustration over food policy
Means’ exit reflected mounting frustration among MAHA supporters over government inaction on ultraprocessed foods and pesticides, according to multiple people familiar with his decision. Means confirmed his departure in a statement that he is resigning “with tremendous respect for President Trump and Bobby Kennedy,” and he framed his work as confronting “a corrupt DC bureaucracy.” CNN reported that a coalition of MAHA activists released a “scorecard” claiming the administration had failed most of its promises to restrict pesticide use, promote healthier foods and break up special interests in Washington.
NBC News said a person familiar with Means’ decision described the final straw as the lack of progress on rolling out a federal definition of ultraprocessed foods, after the administration teased a definition in August but had yet to release it. Means also pointed to his own view of progress, writing that “More policy and cultural change has happened around these goals in the past 2 years than any time in history - and I know this movement is just getting started.”
MAHA coalition at risk
Means’ resignation threatened to leave the MAHA movement with “one less voice in the administration,” as Civil Eats described the timing as less than two weeks before the midterm elections.
POLITICO Alex Clark called Means’ exit a “major blow” for the movement, saying in a post that “We have very few left with integrity in the White House.”
White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said the Trump administration was “grateful for Calley Means’ time in the Trump Administration” and that he “has done a fantastic job for the MAHA movement.”
Civil Eats reported that Means had coordinated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on issues like the Dietary Guidelines and school meals, and it said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told a press call that the two “did not agree on everything,” but that Means had been a strong partner at the agency.
The resignation also came as Means’ MAHA agenda faced continued pressure from within the movement, with Civil Eats noting that some supporters criticized the White House for failing to act on certain priorities as midterm elections came closer.