Climate Liars (Heartland, Steven Milloy) Hate MAHA And RFK Jr. Even More Than They Hate Liberals And Regulations

At the right-wing Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) held in Washington, D.C., last week, speakers mocked their usual cast of environmental targets: Greta Thunberg, John Kerry, and of course, Al Gore. But the fringe climate denial movement that Heartland represents and promotes might be facing a new threat, this time from within the Trump base itself: Make America Healthy Again (MAHA).

On a panel called “The Most Important Upcoming Battles” at the group’s annual conference, Heartland board member and Energy & Environmental Legal Institute Fellow Steve Milloy called the MAHA movement and its champion, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, a “left-wing op” that the Trump administration needs to “get rid of.” Milloy, who denies anthropogenic climate change and founded the website JunkScience.com, said the MAHA movement was a risk to everything from the global food supply to the fossil fuel industry.

As Kennedy testifies before Congress this week about his health agenda, Milloy’s comments at the ICCC’s two-day event highlight a growing rift between what was once seen as a largely aligned Trump coalition. In the past, fringe climate-denial groups like Heartland primarily faced opposition from progressives and environmental advocates. “People that are worried about everything in the environment used to be the Democratic Party and the radical environmental groups,” Milloy said. “Now, it’s a feature of the Trump administration.”

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Both MAHA and climate denial advocates have been criticized for dismissing peer-reviewed research and cherry-picking scientific data. But a clear fissure is emerging: One faction is pushing for stricter environmental and public health regulations (particularly around chemicals and food), while the other is actively working to dismantle them.In recent months, the Trump administration, and Zeldin specifically, have struggled to keep members of the MAHA movement happy. In December, MAHA activists even circulated a petition urging Trump to fire Zeldin over his decisions to loosen chemical regulations after the EPA approved the use of two separate pesticides. “What kind of Republicans go after a Republican administrator?” Milloy asked during the panel. These internal fractures may also be fostering unlikely bedfellows between MAHA and progressives. Last week, MAHA activist Kelly Ryerson and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) teamed up to co-write an op-ed for The Hill against the chemical industry and federal pesticide preemptions.

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https://www.desmog.com/2026/04/17/get-rid-of-maha-trump-alliance-cracks-as-climate-denialists-turn-on-rfk-jr-s-movement/