RFK Jr. is making Republicans anxious again: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, Allan Smith got his hands on some new polling that shows why some Republicans are starting to fret about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s political impact. Plus, Andrea Mitchell looks at how President Donald Trump has already reshaped foreign policy at the outset of his trip abroad. 

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— Adam Wollner

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RFK Jr. and his ‘MAHA’ agenda are making some Republicans nervous

By Allan Smith

During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump said he would allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “go wild” on health, food and medicine. 

But now, three months into Kennedy’s tenure as health and human services secretary, some Republicans want Trump to rein him and his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda in. They’re concerned Kennedy’s efforts could hurt them in the midterm elections by raising costs for farmers and consumers as voters say prices remain their top concern.

Here’s how one Republican strategist working on 2026 races put it: “It’s time to start to give RFK some handcuffs.” 

MAGA split: There’s a divide between conservatives excited about Trump’s deregulatory and tax-cut agenda versus a new right that favors protectionism, tax increases on the rich and price limits on prescription drugs, which Trump unveiled Monday in an executive order. 

Kennedy’s mission is at the forefront of this split. The Cabinet secretary — who declared “sugar is poison” — has launched a war against the food industry, moving to phase out synthetic food dyes and artificial food additives and prevent food stamps from being used on soda and candy. As part of his “MAHA commission” to investigate chronic disease, he pledged to probe any connection with processed foods or pesticides. And Kennedy has gone on a nationwide tour to promote state legislation he sees as critical in getting food companies to negotiate with him.

Concern on Capitol Hill: Some Republican lawmakers on Wednesday expressed concern with Kennedy’s efforts at a House hearing. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., pushed back against banning synthetic dyes, saying they have “been deemed safe for many years,” to which Kennedy responded “good science” has linked them to neurological injury and cancer. At the same hearing, Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, a former dentist, questioned Kennedy’s anti-fluoride push.

New poll: An internal poll conducted last month by the Tyson Group, a GOP-aligned data firm, and Plymouth Union Public Research of 813 likely Republican primary voters found nearly 60% would be less likely to support a candidate for governor or state legislator if they “sided with RFK jr. on food regulation, knowing it could undermine” Trump “and make food more expensive.”

But the survey also showed some of Kennedy’s and MAHA’s strengths with Republicans. Notably, more than 40% of likely Republican primary voters said siding with RFK Jr. even at Trump’s expense would make them more likely to vote for a candidate. An Economist/YouGov poll last month found that 42% of U.S. adults view Kennedy favorably — virtually in-line with Trump and higher than Vice President JD Vance and fellow Cabinet secretaries Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick and Kristi Noem.  

Read more from Allan →

More on RFK Jr.: During his appearance before a House committee, Kennedy sidestepped a question about vaccines and whether he would choose to vaccinate his children today against a number of diseases, saying, “I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me.” Read the full story from Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Megan Lebowitz.

Trump’s Persian Gulf odyssey

Analysis by Andrea Mitchell

President Donald Trump’s tour of the Persian Gulf this week has proved to be more consequential in reshaping the region’s U.S. foreign policy than anyone could have imagined.   

When Trump made Saudi Arabia the first stop on his first official foreign trip of his second term, it was thought that he would also visit Israel, as he did in his first term. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to Trump’s willingness to hold direct talks with Iran — and Israel’s determination to oppose a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip — are at cross-purposes with the president’s evolving vision for the region.   

The visit also produced a commitment for hundreds of billions of dollars of business investment by the Saudis in the U.S. And the trip came against the backdrop of Trump family’s ongoing real estate, crypto and golf business ventures in the region.

What is more surprising this week is Trump’s lifting of sanctions on Syria and meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new leader of the post-Bashar al-Assad Assad regime. The Biden administration, ever cautious, waited until European diplomats had flocked to Damascus before sending a mid-level diplomat to meet with al-Sharaa, a former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is linked to both the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. 

But Trump was pressed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to bolster the fledgling Syrian regime, whose country has come under repeated military attack from Israel and internal domestic factions. As Trump said, “Oh, what I do for the crown prince.” 

His lavish arrival in Riyadh — greeted by the crown prince and his limousine escorted by American flag-carrying riders on Arabian horses — was a far cry from the muted reception for then-President Joe Biden in 2022. But Biden had told me during a Democratic presidential primary debate in 2019 he would make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. In contrast, when the CIA concluded that Khashoggi’s death was most likely ordered by the crown prince, Trump repeatedly questioned the intelligence and suggested we might never really know the truth.  

This week, Trump has shown both a proclivity for royal welcomes and an ability to pivot toward unexpected diplomatic initiatives with a foreign policy that’s both high-wire and deeply personal. 

Related read:The Trump franchise is expanding in the Middle East — and so are ethical concerns, by Katherine Doyle  

That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.

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