From the editors: This is part two of a two-part essay by Dr. Mary Talley Bowden in which she investigates the bait-and-switch tactics of the Kennedy ’24 presidential campaign and tracks financial ties, corruption, and ultimately the betrayal of millions of Americans harmed by mRNA vaccine technology.
Current HHS reality
More than 600 days into Kennedy’s tenure as HHS Secretary - thirteen months longer than the execution of Operation Warp Speed - the people who elevated him for the brave and controversial positions he took during the pandemic feel short-changed. Under his leadership, HHS has changed the food pyramid and banned some food dyes. Meanwhile, over seven million children received an mRNA COVID shot last year, and the mRNA platform shows no signs of abating, with expansion into flu and RSV shots and fifty-one more applications against respiratory viruses in development. Fauci and his accomplices are living large while hundreds of thousands of families mourn the loss of loved ones killed by their protocols. Countless Americans whose faith in the government led them to inject a gene-tampering substance into their bodies now suffer with chronic lifelong disabilities, and we have not even seen the full fallout of Operation Warp Speed. Despite a major push to bring AI data processing to healthcare, HHS is somehow unable to give us cancer incidence numbers beyond 2022.
Mary Talley Bowden
Read Part 1 of The MAHA Empire
How did Kennedy morph from savior to false messiah? The surface explanation is that BigPharma is too powerful and Trump is too proud, but other less obvious forces are also at work. Per insiders, the rot began in the campaign long before Kucinich and others grassroots leaders left, and the various well-funded but largely ineffective MAHA entities are the manifestation of what remains. MAHA will not push for COVID accountability or removal of the COVID shots. It spends little of their war chest supporting medical freedom candidates in the states. It has abandoned its grassroots origins for partnerships with large tech companies and their venture-capital backers.
MAHA evolved from a campaign slogan into a small empire with Tony Lyons
The institutionalization of that shift is visible in how the MAHA name itself was converted into controlled intellectual property. Just before the election, Kennedy trademarked MAHA and collected $100,000 in licensing fees. After Trump won, he transferred ownership to MAHA Worldwide LLC, managed by Del Bigtree. After Del was pushed out of MAHA, the trademark was transferred to for-profit MAHA TM LLC managed by Gavin de Becker. MAHA TM LLC has sixteen registered or pending trademark applications.
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MAHA evolved from a campaign slogan into a small empire with Tony Lyons, Mark Gorton and Leigh Merinoff at the helm who now run the following PACs, LLCs and media entities:
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In 2024 alone, these entities raised nearly $70 million. Combined with affiliate nonprofits Children’s Health Defense and Informed Consent Action Network, they raised over $100 million. (MAHA Alliance: $8,403,817, MAHA Action: $7,890,689, MAHA PAC: $51,498,985, MAHA Institute: $2,081,291, Children’s Health Defense: $15,234,096, Informed Consent Action Network: $15,316,305. Total: $100,425,183.)
PACs are not the only vehicles through which campaign money is collected. While federal PACs must disclose donors and expenditures to the FEC, nonprofits can raise and spend large sums with far less transparency. These entities can later transfer money to a PAC, obscuring the original source of funds until well after the fact - if it becomes visible at all. Tax filings that might shed light on the scale of those collection are often delayed by many months. Meanwhile, entities such as MAHA Holdings LCC and the associated trust operate outside public disclosure requirements entirely, leaving no clear record of how much has been raised or held for eventual transfer into one of both PACs.
Corporate influences
Despite that bounty, the 2026 MAHA Summit charged exorbitant fees for access and featured a cesspool of corporate interests, largely in biotech, while excluding the grassroots crowd and leaders from the medical freedom movement. Typically public speakers get paid for their time, but under Tony Lyons, speaking opportunities were expensive - reportedly $300,000 to appear on stage and $500,000 - $1,000,000 to be a keynote. The agenda focused on AI, biohacking, and psychedelics. MAHA seems to function as a pipeline to HHS access and uses that leverage to charge these fees.
That same logic extends beyond the speaker’s podium. Access can be bought and likely explains why Andreessen Horowitz purchased $34 million series A shares of Calley Means’ unprofitable company TrueMed a month after Calley divested his stake to become a full-time employee of HHS.
Psychedelic medicine companies were key sponsors of both MAHA Summits.
MAHA has devoted significant political capital to pro-kratom legislation, including measures that target its synthetic competitor 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), an approach guised as an effort to encourage safer distribution and intended to head off an outright ban. Kratom is a largely unregulated plant-derived substance with stimulant and pain-relieving effects and, in some cases, fatal consequences. US Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin invested over $1 million in Botanic Tonics, the maker of the Feel Free kratom-and-kava tonic sold widely in convenience stores and gas stations.
The DOJ sued Botanic Tonics and in December 2025, the judge denied the company’s motion to dismiss. Twelve days later, DOJ changed its mind and voluntarily dismissed the case without prejudice. Botanic Tonics then donated $500,000 to MAHA and made a second $500,000 donation a month later. In August 2026, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) opened an investigation into Botanic Tonics’ product safety claims and influence on the federal government.
Why is MAHA so focused on kratom? Kratom distribution is a small industry, yet MAHA legislative tracker supports eleven state pro-kratom bills across the country. Fewer than one percent of Americans have used it, and the benefits are unsubstantiated.
Over the past six years, the medical freedom movement has splintered into several factions, but despite the differences, all involved share the strong belief that the mRNA shots should be pulled off the market.
Many in the new administration and in MAHA leadership take a casual attitude towards mind-altering drugs and seem to favor expanding their use. Casey Means has publicly endorsed using psilocybin, and her brother Calley called his own psilocybin experience one of the most meaningful of his life. Calley has invested in companies developing psychedelic treatments, including Atai Life Sciences and Compass Pathways. In an X post on March 8, 2022, when Atai was at $5.22, Calley hyped it, stating it’s a “100x stock.” Calley missed the mark. On September 11, 2026, Eli Lilly acquired the company at $6.75.
Psychedelic medicine companies were key sponsors of both MAHA Summits. Kennedy has publicly advocated accelerating approval pathways for psychedelic therapies, and Trump recently signed an executive order fast-tracking FDA consideration of these drugs.
Outcomes over intentions: Protecting power at the expense of mRNA accountability
No one can read minds; the best way to understand motives is to look at actual outcomes. The mRNA platform is expanding because Kennedy has allowed it to. Multiple influences can be blamed - BigPharma money, Trump’s pride, biotech companies controlling MAHA, the biodefense industry that claims mRNA is essential against future bioweapons - but ultimately Kennedy controls the outcome.
Blaming Kennedy, however, is not allowed. Of the many competing groups vying for Kennedy’s attention, the autism families are the most loyal and most possessive. As Kennedy’s longest-standing supporters, they argue he should not risk losing his power by taking down mRNA. Most in this group maintain that all vaccines are as harmful as the COVID mRNA shots and therefore deserve equal attention. Many also criticize physicians like me who are relatively new to challenging the medical establishment. I understand the frustration, but I disagree on the priorities.
Those same original supporters, concentrated in autism-focused organizations (Children’s Health Defense and Informed Consent Action Network), want equal attention on every vaccine and are unwilling to single out mRNA. They prefer to keep Kennedy in power, even if it means allowing mRNA to stay on the market. Many are attributing the shortfalls to Trump and the White House, likely in preparation for another Kennedy run in 2028. Did Calley Means jump ship last week to distance himself from Trump and tee himself up for Kennedy’s running mate?
The letter and the phone calls
Midterm elections give voters a chance to grade the administration, and with that in mind, Sasha Latypova, Andy Schmitt, Shannon Joy and I drafted a letter issuing an ultimatum to Secretary Kennedy and President Trump with six demands:
- Ban mRNA/gene therapy-derived technologies for all vaccines, due to their demonstrated abject failure regarding safety, efficacy, and disease prevention after more than four years of real-world use and billions of doses administered.
- Terminate the PREP Act declaration for COVID injections, as no emergency exists. Extending this declaration, with its ironclad liability shield for manufacturers and administrators, serves no public health interest.
- Recommend that Congress repeal the PREP Act entirely, due to its numerous constitutional conflicts.
- Ban pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising, as is the practice in every other country except New Zealand.
- Review and revise current HHS-level policies that create perverse incentives for healthcare providers to engage in medical coercion, including but not limited to vaccinations.
- End conflicts of interest at the CDC, FDA, NIH, and NIAID.demanding removal of the mRNA shots from the market or risk losing political support.
The letter concludes, “If you continue to ignore our central issue of removing the mRNA platform, the MAHA and health freedom movements will withdraw their support of you, and you will face the political consequences.”
A week before publishing, I received a phone call from Kennedy.
Over the past six years, the medical freedom movement has splintered into several factions, but despite the differences, all involved share the strong belief that the mRNA shots should be pulled off the market. It wasn’t easy, but most everyone put aside personal grievances to sign the letter. Those who declined cited loyalty to Kennedy; some simply did not respond. A few signed then changed their minds after publication, either because they disliked another signer or because they feared public scrutiny.
Naomi Wolf, Sasha Latypova, Shannon Joy, and I originally published the letter June 2025, but it made minimal impact. I credit journalist and podcaster Andy Schmitt of The Paradox Press for prompting me to revive it. This time we added co-signers and issued a press release timed ahead of the midterms. Naomi opted out of the updated version due to concerns about political ramifications, but even without her participation, the revamped letter received better coverage than expected, being featured in Just the News, the Daily Mail, the Daily Caller and NBC News. Co-signed by Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, Jimmy Dore, Robert Malone, Peter McCullough and most leaders of the medical freedom movement, the letter now has over 3700 signatories with a combined social media following of over 66 million people.
Some questioned the strategy, knowing the odds Trump and Kennedy would comply were slim. Years of censorship, gaslighting, and defamation have bred defeatist attitudes. We feel powerless, yet we have far more leverage than we realize. COVID directly impacted every American and left a large, festering wound on our country. The current administration was expected to heal that wound but has instead pretended it does not exist. The wound is what gave Kennedy his power, and the wounded can take it away.
The letter ruffled unanticipated feathers with interesting consequences. I knew it would draw controversy and that I would take most of the heat. What I did not expect was how clearly the letter would map the fracture lines that had already formed inside the movement. And like most things that are initially painful, the aftermath proved enlightening.
Potential access to power is a mighty weapon. The people who signed the letter without hesitation were, for the most part, the same people who had been pushed out, sidelined, or quietly replaced years earlier.
A week before publishing, I received a phone call from Kennedy. I didn’t answer - I was standing in line at the grocery store and questioned the accuracy of my caller ID. Though we met at the DC Defeat the Mandates rally in 2021, we had never spoken. A text followed, asking me to call him to discuss ivermectin.
The conversation was brief. We spoke as I drove home and finished before I unloaded my car. He said he wanted to make ivermectin over-the-counter but needed a citizen petition. I told him one had been submitted to the FDA more than a year earlier, then shifted to mRNA and asked why it was still on the market. He said almost no one was getting the shots anymore; I replied that the CDC website claimed otherwise - millions of children have received a shot in the last year and roughly a third of parents intend on giving their child one in the coming year. I told him I was still seeing injured patients almost daily and that something needed to be done. We ended with my promise to send him the earlier ivermectin petition as well as React19’s compilation of studies on adverse effects from mRNA.
The next morning he called again, wanting to continue the mRNA discussion. He said he needed an NIH-funded study to prove harm, and that when the NIH tried to run one, no one would enroll. He also said he would be sued if he removed it from the market. I asked whether Trump was the reason he could not act; he replied, “I don’t think so.” He ended by saying HHS intended to run a meta-analysis on React19’s compilation.
We have not spoken since. When I texted him the letter, I presented it not as an attack but as ammunition he could use. He has not responded. In retrospect, I presume someone tipped him off about the letter, and this was an attempt to keep me from publishing. By giving me the sense I had access, he perhaps thought I’d stay quiet to keep it.
Potential access to power is a mighty weapon. The people who signed the letter without hesitation were, for the most part, the same people who had been pushed out, sidelined, or quietly replaced years earlier. The people who declined, delayed, or later walked their signatures back were, with few exceptions, the ones who now hold (or hope to hold) the trademarks, the PACs, the summits, and the access.
The letter struck a nerve and served a valuable purpose by revealing those locked into uncritical loyalty to Kennedy.
Three well-funded nonprofits - the Highwire, Children’s Health Defense, and MAHA - publicly denounced the letter, and two of their leaders personally attacked me. I was not surprised when their leaders chose not to sign, but I didn’t expect the letter to be used as a vehicle to discredit me.
Three days after the letter went live, Del Bigtree with the Highwire called me. Our conversation was heated as he emphasized how hard it was to get Kennedy in office and how tenuous his position is. Our talk was very similar to the one he and Robert Malone had a few days later in front of an audience.
Two weeks after we published the letter, MAHA Action posted an article on their Substack written by homeopathist Robert Scott Bell posting the “hypothetical” question that I might be a chaos agent. It caused a buzz; a reporter with the Daily Caller brought it to my attention. Bell claimed it was purely a thought experiment and characterized my reaction as emotional. I texted Tony Lyons asking him to take it down, but he gaslit me, claiming no culpability and pretending not to understand why I was upset. Tony’s brother Charlie Lyons contacted Bell asking permission to post the story on MAHA Action’s Substack, with the intention of amplifying his story to a wider audience. Tony did not respond when I asked for comment.
The day after the hit piece, I interviewed with Michael Kane, Director of Advocacy for Children’s Health Defense and a paid National Organizer for American Values 2024 PAC. I was told the interview would be friendly and that he supported our letter, but I quickly realized the intention was to debate me. The following day Kane posted the interview with a lengthy and condescending commentary characterizing my opinions as dangerous and politically naive.
The letter struck a nerve and served a valuable purpose by revealing those locked into uncritical loyalty to Kennedy. Six hundred days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became Secretary of Health and Human Services, the mRNA platform is still expanding, the COVID shots remain on the childhood schedule, and the families who elevated him during the pandemic are still waiting for the accountability they were promised. In its place they’ve been offered food-dye bans and a revised food pyramid while catering to biotech and psychedelic companies seeking faster regulatory clearance pathways. The organization that once existed to challenge pharmaceutical and corporate power has become, in practice, a gatekeeper for the next generation of it.
While the administration ignored our letter, it did force a public accounting of who still prioritizes the original demand - removal of the shots - and who has decided that demand is no longer worth the cost. That accounting is now on the record. The letter did not create the division - it simply made the division harder to deny.
I predict Kennedy and his lockstep supporters will blame his failures on Trump and the White House. In reality, special interests embedded inside MAHA have positioned a candidate who can claim his hands were tied - allowing him to rebrand as the anti-establishment outsider once Trump’s term is over. The new and improved Kennedy, however, will still be controlled by the same special interests in MAHA that created the Kennedy we have now.
Americans for Health Freedom supports candidates who have called for the mRNA shots to be pulled off the market and pledge not to take donations from Big Pharma. Ask your representatives to sign our pledge.
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