Allegations that President Donald Trump called for the easing of restrictions on vaping after campaign donations from tobacco companies are straining the fragile relationship between the administration and the Make America Healthy Again movement. MAHA activists expressed displeasure with the Trump administration on Thursday following reports that the tobacco company Reynolds American donated $5 million to a super PAC backed by Trump roughly one week before the administration rolled back regulations on certain vaping products, including flavored vapes for children.The Food and Drug Administration rolled back various restrictions on electronic cigarette products May 5, less than a week after the super PAC MAGA Inc., named after Trump’s MAGA slogan, received a major donation from Reynolds.
Four days after the new policy was announced, Trump’s FDA Commissioner and MAHA supporter, Dr. Marty Makary, resigned from his position, subsequently saying that he could not in good conscience defend the agency’s actions.
The vaping policy issue has only intensified the rift between the MAHA movement and the Trump administration in the wake of the administration’s embrace of the pesticide glyphosate, a bugbear of the MAHA movement.
