As MAHA Expands Its Reach, Some Critics Hear Echoes of the Eugenics Movement

MedPage Today November 26, 2025
Joyce Frieden

What does ‘Make America Healthy Again’ really stand for?

Supporters of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) say the movement is improving the U.S. food supply and fighting corruption and corporate greed to make the nation healthier, but some critics see policies that push vulnerable Americans aside and hear echoes of another movement in MAHA rhetoric — the discredited pseudoscience of eugenics.

So what does the MAHA movement really stand for? The answer seems to depend on who you talk to.

For example, Mark Gorton, MBA, president of the MAHA Institute, a Washington-based think tank launched in May, says the movement is about “reorienting America’s health system to focus on the health of the American people rather than corporate profits.”

“America...

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