LOSING THE FARM

How RFK Jr's healthy-foods movement swallowed up some of the Democratic base

- TOM PHILPOTT

MCDONALD'S SUPERFAN Donald Trump reclaimed the White House soon after vowing to "get toxic chemicals...out of our food supply" and "make America healthy again" (MAHA). How on earth did this junk-food junkie manage to woo voters concerned about the dangers of the American diet?

The Democrats almost certainly played a part. For decades, their position on our food system has reflected two contradictory impulses. The first, represented most publicly by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)-call it the Kale Caucus-seeks to rein in the ills of industrial agriculture and policies to support healthy eating. The other, embodied by Tom Vilsack, the former lowa governor who ran the Department of Agriculture during the Obama and Biden administrations, favors the status quo.

The Kale Caucus won some cultural cachet, but it never built enough clout to challenge the hegemony of the Vilsackian Agribusiness Brigade. This power imbalance has created a void through which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has barreled, seizing the banner as the nation's predominant food system critic.