The Big Picture

04/28/2026

On Monday, hundreds of protesters gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court under a banner reading “The People vs. Poison.” They were there to protest the administration they helped elect.

Inside, the justices were hearing arguments in Monsanto v. Durnell, a case that will determine whether Americans can continue to sue Bayer, which purchased Monsanto, the maker of Roundup weed killer, for failing to warn them that glyphosate may cause cancer. Trump’s Justice Department had filed a brief siding with Bayer, arguing that the EPA has final authority over product warning labels.

The brief follows on a Trump executive order, issued earlier this year, prioritizing the production of glyphosate and declaring the chemical essential to the nation’s farmers and our military. It also requires the U.S. Agriculture Secretary to ensure that no orders, rules or regulations put domestic producers at risk.

It was a hard slap in the face to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which the Trump White House had once courted for votes. Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America, called it “an egregious offense to what he promised” and “a betrayal.” Kelly Ryerson, known to her followers as “Glyphosate Girl,” was more direct. “Those voters that took a chance on this administration are going to walk,” she declared.

Notably absent from the rally was Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the man who in 2018 won a $289 million verdict against Monsanto on behalf of a cancer patient and who now serves as Health and Human Services Secretary for a White House bent on protecting Bayer’s bottom line. As Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has charged, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was paid by Ballard Partners, which lobbied on behalf of Bayer to obtain immunity from lawsuits over glyphosate, leading, he claimed, to the White House executive order shielding the company from suit.

Kennedy’s absence and his silence reflect where MAHA stands, only 15 months into the second term of the regime it helped put in power. How things got to this point—and what it means for the November midterms—is a cautionary tale. It’s about what happens when an anti-establishment movement like MAHA pushes its chips all-in with the new MAGA establishment, and why the health moms were destined to lose that bet from the start.