GlyphoGate has MAHA spinning

Kennedy's coalition is cracking

In a recent memo, Tony Lyons, president of MAHA Action and RFK Jr confidante, implores Republican leaders to take his movement seriously, writing:

We need to convince every Republican to buy into the MAHA movement, just like Trump has.

Published on Feb 11, this memo could be obsolete given the civil war that erupted in MAHA last week thanks to GlyphoGate. Last Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order to ramp up production of glyphosate, arguing that shortages of phosphorous and glyphosate were national security risks. Given that RoundUp is ground zero for MAHA influencers, you might expect Kennedy to denounce the president’s action. Not only didn’t he do that, the HHS Secretary defended his boss, saying:

Donald Trump’s Executive Order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply. We must safeguard 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 that gap and protect American families.

If that wasn’t MAHA’s death knell, two days later it was revealed that the FDA isn’t all that gung-ho on their proposed food dye ban after all (which was really just a series of handshake deals anyway):

In a further retreat from its pledge to ban artificial dyes from food, Donald Trump’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would loosen labeling requirements to allow companies to state “no artificial colors”, even though products may contain some dangerous substances such as titanium dioxide.

A number of MAHA influencers, and supporting organizations like the Environmental Working Group, are up in arms about GlyphoGate. Some are spiraling due to the cognitive dissonance. Kennedy, his advisors, and groups like MAHA Action are radio silent. In fact, here’s the (rather predictable) pivot by the latter this morning:

In trouble? Go religious! And, of course, make it all about “helping children!”

I’ll be covering the fallout in the upcoming weeks. I don’t expect Kennedy to come out against Trump given his general acquiescence toward his boss—and the fact that Kennedy has never actually cared about health in the first place, except his own.

For now, I want to unpack what Lyons calls the “MAHA winnable middle,” because I’m not ready to write this movement off quite yet. MAHA has always been fueled by cognitive dissonance, and people have very short memories.

So let’s look at Tony Lyons, the man driving a lot of money and influence to Kennedy right now. Then we’ll unpack the memo in a bit more depth.

Steve Bannon’s favorite publisher

Following Kennedy’s confirmation as HHS Secretary, Tony Lyons became the primary architect of translating the MAHA brand into political infrastructure. He now simultaneously runs MAHA Action (the political lobbying arm), MAHA Institute (the think tank), and MAHA PAC (the fundraising campaign).

Lyons was raised on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. His father, Nick, is a fly-fisherman and angler who also worked as an English professor and writer; his mother was an artist. Nick founded Lyons Press (originally called Nick Lyons Books) in 1984. Graduating from Albany Law School in 1993, Tony chose to go into publishing, becoming president and publisher of Lyons Books in 1997. At the time, it was known for publishing 150 books on fly fishing. The company was sold in 2001; Tony stayed on until 2004. Two years later, he founded Skyhorse Publishing, named after Brando Skyhorse, a former editor at Lyons Press.

From the beginning, Skyhorse built its identity around publishing books other houses had declined, positioning itself as a free-speech publisher willing to take on controversial authors and subjects. This includes works by Robert Malone, Woody Allen, Melania Trump, and Lyons’s good friend, Robert F. Kennedy. The Real Anthony Fauci is one of those books.

Skyhorse’s catalog spans a wide ideological and topical range. Outside genres like nature, sports, history, philosophy, religion, current events, politics, science fiction, and children’s literature, Skyhorse has published many books on “health freedom,” the pharmaceutical industry, and the assassinations of JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr, and Malcolm X.

In fact, Skyhorse has published 35 titles about the assassination of JFK, including many promoting conspiracy theories. The company invested $1 million on acquisition, printing, and marketing for eight books on him in 2013 alone.

Skyhorse is distributed globally by Simon & Schuster.

In 2020, Vanity Fair criticized Skyhorse for being a toxic workplace and promoting conspiracy theories. The same year year, the LA Times described Skyhorse as “almost comically agnostic on the truth.” That year, Lyons partnered with Kennedy’s nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, to create a series of public health books—well, that’s what they call them.

Lyons’s relationship with Kennedy is the central axis of his political career. Their financial entanglements are substantial. Kennedy reported that he’s owed up to $4 million for two upcoming books, and made $450,000 from Skyhorse for consulting on book ideas and writing forewords. He’s contracted for a third book that he claims he will not write or promote while serving in government. Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, received a $600,000 advance for her recent memoir.

While Lyons has been both a seeming fan and a promoter of conspiracy theories and anti-vax ideology, he dove head first into politics with Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign. Lyons cofounded the PAC American Values 2024 in 2022, raising nearly $50 million to support Kennedy’s run. Skyhorse donated $154,920 to this PAC, which was eventually renamed MAHA PAC.

When Kennedy withdrew from the presidential race, Lyons joined the Trump campaign.

In July 2025, Lyons organized a call with hundreds of MAHA supporters, where he entertained the prospect of a 2028 presidential campaign for Kennedy. During the call, he said:

We will bring out every last MAHA mom, every health-conscious voter, everyone in America who is sick of being lied to by Big Pharma, Big Food and Big Ag.

MAHA Action went on an advertising blitz to promote Kennedy’s initiatives. The organization ran ads on cable and online, describing Kennedy and other Trump administration public health officials as “renegades” while promoting efforts to phase out food dyes and additives.

Speaking of ads, Lyons was involved in the creation of the $7 million ad that aired during the 2024 Super Bowl that announced Kennedy’s decision to run as an independent. Lyons created an entirely new organization, MAHA Center, to make this year’s Mike Tyson Super Bowl ad.

And it’s not just Kennedy. Lyons has appeared numerous times on Steven Bannon’s show and publishes Bannon’s War Room Books imprint via Skyhorse. In December 2023, Bannon invited Lyons on his show to celebrate Lyons’ assistance in publishing War Room and MAGA titles. Bannon said:

You have heroically published so many of the great titles on medical freedom. Your Skyhorse is now arguably the biggest publisher of conservative or MAGA, or you could even argue right-wing, anti-establishment books.

Lyons hosts weekly MAHA Action Zoom calls, a central organizing mechanism for this movement. Each week, the agenda is announced through their MAHA Report on Substack. You’ll regularly see administration officials like Marty Makary, Dr Oz, and Jay Bhattacharya alongside MAHA influencers Gary Brecka, Sayer Ji, and for some reason, Russell Brand. The line between White House officials and contrarian influencers has never been so porous.

In a recent interview, Lyons reveals his strategy:

We recognize that some Republicans haven’t really bought into the MAHA movement yet. But they’re not far from it, and they’re open to it, and they need just some education, some tools, and we’re going to provide those for them. We’re going to be well-funded. And you know, people who are willing to discuss these things with us, who are willing to get on board with the team that the president has set up.

The GOP Memo

Lyons’s strategy memo was addressed to RNC Chair Joe Gruters, NRSC Chair Tim Scott, and NRCC Chair Richard Hudson. Its core argument: MAHA is to the 2026 midterms what MAGA was to 2016, a coalition-expanding political asset the GOP must fully embrace or risk losing. Throughout the memo, Lyons cites polling from Fabrizio, Lee & Associates. Tony Fabrizio is a GOP strategist who served pollster for Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns. He was also questioned in 2018 about sharing polling data with pro-Kremlin operatives.

According to these polls, Republicans currently trail Democrats by 5 points on the generic ballot. Lyons’s memo identifies two targetable voter blocs:

• MAHA Winnable Middle: 14% of the electorate; health-focused undecideds and soft Dems who shift from preferring a generic Democrat 5:1 to preferring a MAHA-branded Republican 2:1

• MAHA Rentals: 10% of the electorate; soft Republican-leaners who may simply stay home if candidates ignore health issues

Lyons claims the highest-testing policies are hospital price transparency, removing petroleum-based food dyes, reducing ultra-processed food, and cracking down on pharma conflicts of interest at HHS/FDA. The fifth category is vaccines. Lyons recommends framing this issue around choice and liability rather than safety skepticism, since outright anti-vax messaging alienates a majority of voters. This, we should note, is a very old Republican framing.

The memo says Democrat governors like Gavin Newsom co-opting MAHA messaging is a threat while characterizing former CDC Acting Director Susan Monarez’s congressional testimony from September as a “deep state” operation to undermine RFK Jr.

2028 Democrat presidential frontrunner Gavin Newsom is cracking down on ultra-processed foods and artificial food dyes and another deep state whistleblower (Susan Monarez) has appeared in Congressional hearings to embarrass Secretary Kennedy and drive a wedge between the traditional GOP Members and MAHA members on vaccines, with one Congressional Democrat now drafting articles of impeachment against Secretary Kennedy.

Let’s go issue by issue.

First, Lyons is calling for mandatory removal of petroleum-based dyes. Fine. The problem isn’t food dyes, but the overall nutritional content of ultra-processed foods, along with issues like food access and poverty. The fury over food dyes is one of MAHA’s great deceptions. Meanwhile, Lyons wants to continue pressuring the USDA to overhaul SNAP eligibility by restricting purchases of soda and candy. Any plans for replacing them? Concepts of a plan, at best.

Then there’s pharmaceutical and regulatory reform. Lyons calls for legislation mandating public disclosure of financial ties between HHS/FDA officials and pharma companies. Great! I’m all for politicians not benefitting from corporate relationships, and having those relationships made public when they exist. But a number of Kennedy’s circle makes bank from alt-med products. I’ve heard nothing about disclosing those relationships. Kennedy’s top advisor, Calley Means, is chomping at the bit for legislation to pass that would make supplements covered by insurance (like what’s happening in West Virginia) because his business is based on selling supplements. More sleight of hand.

Next up: healthcare pricing. Make hospital and insurer prices transparent. Fuck yeah! Just last week I left the Providence Medical System here in Portland to join the Portland Clinic for this very reason. I’m sick of getting bills for hundreds of dollars every time my wife or I have anything done at Providence that we had no idea our co-pay didn’t cover. I believe Lyons will make this an issue, but I don’t believe Kennedy will actually do anything about it. Remember Kennedy’s promise to stop pharma advertising in America (something I also would love to happen)? No word on that in a year now.

Finally, vaccine policy. Lyon’s strategic direction is clear: push liability reform and expand opt-out provisions in state vaccine mandates. The focus? Federal legislation “giving families the choice” to spread out vaccine schedules, framed as a parental rights issue. Two things completely at odds.

The GOP is supposedly the “state’s rights” party. So let states require vaccines for schools and businesses if they so choose. Nope, MAHA wants to expand religious and personal exemptions nationally, picking off state by state.

As for choice, families already have that. MAHA stans regularly claim we don’t have informed consent when we absolutely have informed consent, for individual vaccines and the childhood schedule. Doctors certainly offers suggestions based on the best available science, but MAHA isn’t a science-informed movement. What they really want is to muddy the waters as much as possible so as many Americans as possible stop getting vaccinated.

How’s that going during the worst measles outbreak in 30 years?

Lyons isn’t advocating for policy changes. He’s suggesting persuasion tools for Republicans to maintain power.

Which is what American politics has long been about: getting and maintaining power.

One thing I’m certain of: when the next pandemic or outbreak rushes at us, we’re certainly not going to be ready. It’s obvious that Kennedy and Lyons will refuse to take responsibility for their power-hungry activism.

Power is all these men have ever really cared about, which the last week in MAHA is revealing.