Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) supporters are openly turning on Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in Washington, accusing the Trump ally of failing to confront the corporate interests he once vowed to fight, just weeks before the US midterm elections and with more than 200 activists warning Republicans their House majority is now at risk.

More than 200 activists have signed an open letter warning Donald Trump that his administration's glyphosate policy could cost Republicans their House majority.

Kelly Ryerson, an activist known online as 'Glyphosate Girl', says she will back 'whoever the candidate is that is more willing to tackle these issues', and does not care which party that is. She says she has received hundreds of emails from voters who regret backing the Trump ticket.

From Outsider to Insider at the Heart of Maha

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer from the Democratic Kennedy dynasty, built MAHA as a populist revolt, arguing that corporate interests had captured America's food, farming and drug regulators.

His independent presidential bid tapped anger over the opioid epidemic, chronic disease and distrust of federal health agencies. He abandoned it to endorse Trump and was later installed as Health Secretary.

Elizabeth Frost, from rural Ohio, was an early convert. Opioids addicted her father and killed a cousin. She describes Kennedy's switch to Trump as 'a blind side and a gut punch', but stayed loyal. The disillusionment came later, she says, as funding was allowed to lapse for a scheme giving low-income seniors vouchers for fresh local fruit and vegetables.

Seeing figures from Big Tech, Big Food and Big Ag 'spending more time around the president and his cabinet', she says, was not what MAHA voters thought they were signing up for.

In office, Kennedy dismissed the entire federal vaccine advisory board, and four senior officials resigned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in protest. Measles, declared eliminated in the US in 2000, has returned, with more than 4,000 confirmed cases this year, according to federal health data.

Some in the MAHA base cheered his vaccine scepticism. Others saw it as a distraction from what they regard as more pressing issues, such as pesticides and ultra-processed food.

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Glyphosate, MAHA's Summit and Growing Disquiet

The row is sharpest over glyphosate, the weedkiller used in Roundup, which is the subject of tens of thousands of lawsuits. The World Health Organization's cancer agency classed it as a probable carcinogen a decade ago, but regulators in the US and Australia say it is safe when used as directed.

Before taking office, Kennedy sued its manufacturer. Ms Ryerson, who met him through that work, believes he remains 'distressed' about pesticides, but argues he 'can't act on it' from inside the administration. Since Mr Trump's return, the White House has expanded domestic glyphosate production, and campaigners say it has granted manufacturers a liability shield.

Unease has also centred on the movement's own summit in Washington. Longtime activists noted fewer of the 'MAHA mums' who built the base, and more male celebrities and officials, including Mike Tyson and Russell Brand, who denies rape charges in the UK. Sponsors ranged from peptide and psychedelic firms to Walmart, America's largest grocer.

Some sponsors who paid up to $300,000 (£226,500) received access to a private dinner with Trump health officials. Ms Frost said she had hoped Kennedy's arrival in government would end the administration's 'pay-to-play game'. Instead, she watched it spill into her own movement.

Democrats Target Disillusioned MAHA Supporters

Democrats have noticed. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive congresswoman, has courted MAHA-aligned figures, telling The Majority Report: 'We do have extraordinary corruption in our agricultural system, in our big corporate system as well, you know?'

In Michigan, Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has published a health agenda naming Kennedy. 'He had the opportunity to stand up to the corporations ... but he didn't,' he said, claiming the health secretary is 'bought off by the same corporations' dominating the food system.

Ms Frost has not walked away. She believes MAHA will outlast Kennedy, Mr Trump and any single election, even if its branding is splintered or co-opted. The anger behind it, she says, is not going anywhere.

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