MAHA Adviser Calley Means Resigns From Trump Administration 12 Days Before the Midterms

Calley Means, a top adviser to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and one of the leading voices of the Make America Healthy Again movement, resigned from the Trump administration on Thursday, 12 days before the midterm elections.

"I am resigning from the White House with tremendous respect for President Trump and Bobby Kennedy," Means wrote in a post on X. "They laid out a vision of combatting the entrenched, dark forces in DC that profit from Americans getting sick."

In the post, Means listed what he called wins he helped steer, including Dietary Guidelines reform, psychedelic reform, removing soda from SNAP, removing food dyes, reforming the "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) rules for food chemicals and overhauling government food procurement. "More policy and cultural change has happened around these goals in the past 2 years than any time in history - and I know this movement is just getting started," he wrote.

Means arranged a phone call during the 2024 campaign that helped clinch Kennedy's endorsement of Donald Trump, the Daily Caller reported. He joined the White House early last year as a special government employee and later moved into a full-time role as senior adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services after divesting from his wellness company, Truemed, according to NBC News.

Why Calley Means Left

Means did not give a reason for leaving in his statement, the Associated Press reported.

A person familiar with his decision told NBC News that Means had grown increasingly frustrated with how little he could get done in Washington, and that the final straw was the lack of progress on a federal definition of ultra-processed foods, one of his top priorities. The administration teased a definition in August but has not released it, NBC News reported.

Two proposed food rules are under review at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, according to the Daily Caller: one to replace the GRAS pathway that has let companies add new ingredients without notifying the FDA, and one to set a federal definition of "ultra-processed foods."

The White House thanked him on the way out. "We are grateful for Calley Means' time in the Trump Administration. He has done a fantastic job for the MAHA movement," White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said in a statement to NBC News.

MAHA Frustration Before Election Day

Means' exit comes as leading voices in the MAHA movement complain about what they describe as the administration's lack of action on food issues and on regulating the weed killer glyphosate, the AP reported.

In February, President Trump signed an executive order using the Defense Production Act to prioritize the domestic supply of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, the Daily Caller reported. The person familiar with Means' decision also pointed to that order, NBC News reported.

Earlier this month, some MAHA supporters, including former members of Kennedy's presidential campaign, accused the administration of breaking nearly every promise made to them on food, agriculture and environmental health, and some have threatened to sit out the election, according to NBC News.

Administration officials have said for months that food policy would be central to bringing Kennedy's supporters back to the polls for Republicans in November, the Daily Caller reported.

Image: APK / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

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Sources: Daily Caller, "Key Architect Of Make America Healthy Again Alliance Resigns" (Oct. 22, 2026): https://dailycaller.com/2026/10/22/calley-means-maha-rfk-jr-resigns-white-house ; NBC News, "Top adviser to Kennedy resigns from Trump administration" (Oct. 22, 2026): https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/kennedy-top-advisor-calley-means-resigns-trump-administration-maha-rcna605056 ; The Associated Press via KYW, "MAHA's Calley Means resigns as a top RFK Jr. health adviser days before the midterm elections" (Oct. 22, 2026): https://www.audacy.com/kywnewsradio/news/politics/trump-maha-healthcare-rfk-jr-945acfc81edf8e837e969d42f01fb2a3