The Dictatorship
The Louisiana primaries will test MAHA’s political power
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lasting political power will be tested in the Louisiana primaries on Saturday, as Sen. Bill Cassidy — a vocal critic of Kennedy and archenemy of the Make America Healthy Again movement — seeks re-election.
Kennedy and a host of loyalists and prominent conservative fundraisers have pooled their resources in an effort to unseat Cassidy, a physician who reluctantly cast a key vote to confirm Kennedy as Health and Human Services secretary, but who has since clashed with him publicly over his vaccine policy. He’s also drawn the ire of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, who want Cassidy gone for voting to convict Trump on impeachment grounds in 2021.
Now Cassidy sits in the path of the MAHA war machine, driven by longtime Kennedy ally and MAHA political action committee co-founder Tony Lyons, who pledged to raise $100 million for Republican races this year — including $1 million to support U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, Cassidy’s primary opponent.
“Cassidy has stood in the way of everything, just time after time,” Lyons said earlier this month on an episode of Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.
“Bobby Kennedy has this incredible plan, this agenda to make us healthier,” he added. “And Cassidy is the one standing in the way. So we have to get rid of him.”
But it remains to be seen whether Lyons and the MAHA war machine have the same teeth today they had in 2024, when Lyons was among several high-profile donors pumping millions into Kennedy’s run for presidentand eventually helped install him in Trump’s Cabinet.
Dwindling coffers
MAHA’s funding comes from its political action committee, rebranded from American Values 2024, the super PAC that supported Kennedy for president. Last June, Lyons and Limewire founder Mark Gorton, who have supported and helped finance Kennedy’s anti-vaccine work for years, founded MAHA PAC and announced they were setting their sights on the 2026 midterms.
But while Kennedy raised more than $50 million for his failed presidential bid, the PAC supporting his MAHA agenda as Trump’s secretary has raised far, far less. Missing from MAHA’s coffers are former Kennedy big spenders like Republican mega-donor Timothy Mellon, Kennedy’s former running mate Nicole Shanahan, and many of the other five- and six-figure donors within the anti-vaccine and alternative health communities who opened their wallets for Kennedy in 2024.
“It was one thing when Bobby was running for president; that was a moonshot mission. But this does not generate the same kind of urgency in the donors,” said one former American Values 2024 donor who spoke to MS NOW on condition of anonymity.
“It’s been uniquely difficult to raise money for the MAHA PAC,” the donor added.
As a result, Lyons has turned to a smaller number of donors, some of whom seem at odds with the stated goals of MAHA PAC.
According to its Federal Election Commission filings, MAHA PAC received $50,000 from Venni Capital LLC, an investment firm with little footprint outside an address shared with a New York drug company, Chartwell Pharmaceuticals, which markets itself as “well-prepared to sell to government entities and supply state and federal contracts.”
Meanwhile, a $500,000 donation came in March from Botanic Tonics LLC, makers of “Feel Free,” a tonic containing kava and kratom — substances the Food and Drug Administration warns against and that state lawmakers are attempting to regulate or ban outright. Botanic Tonics has also been the target of widespread complaints on social media from people who say the product is addictive. Last year, a federal court approved the company’s $8.75 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit, claiming the company failed to warn consumers about the dangers of kratom. Botanic Tonics has denied any wrongdoing.
Kennedy himself has warned against kratom, and his own FDA announced steps to restrict it.
Yet MAHA PAC appears to rely heavily on Botanic Tonics’ money, even more than FEC filings suggest: According to two people familiar with the matter, the company pledged to continue donating $500,000 on a recurring monthly basis.
Adding to the mystery around Botanic Tonics is the fact that just two months before its first donation to MAHA PAC, the Department of Justice dropped a yearslong case against the company, citing resource concerns.
In a statement, a company spokesperson told MS NOW: “Botanic Tonics supports initiatives that advance consumer transparency and work to remove artificial ingredients and synthetic chemicals from the American food supply. That is the sole basis for our support.”
MAHA PAC doesn’t appear to have the war chest to be a kingmaker in Louisiana, let alone alter the midterms in favor of the GOP as Lyons promised.
The group has spent about $950,000 of the $1 million it promised to boost Letlow, according to a person familiar with MAHA PAC’s operations. Nearly all of it went to text campaigns and mailers that focus on Trump’s endorsement of Letlow.
“We simply can’t trust anti-Trump Bill Cassidy in the U.S. Senate,” one mailer reviewed by MS NOW reads.
Meanwhile, a video advertisement calls Letlow “MAHA-approved” and notes that she would “stop the fraud, promote hospital price transparency, and lower prescription drug costs.”
Seemingly absent from MAHA PAC’s messaging to Louisianians are the issues most often associated with the MAHA movement, like the dangers of chemical additives in food and vaccine skepticism.
Lyons did not respond to multiple requests for comment from MS NOW.
Betting on Louisiana
Letlow isn’t the perfect MAHA candidate. She has been a proponent of the COVID-19 vaccine since her husband died from the virus in 2020, and a third candidate in the race, Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, has argued that he is the strongest MAHA candidate.
As far back as last year, Fleming criticized Cassidy for standing in the way of Kennedy’s MAHA agenda.
“Cassidy appears to be resistant to the reforms that RFK Jr. wants to bring,” Fleming told known last June.
But Lyons stands firmly behind Letlow.
“Letlow is clearly on Bobby Kennedy’s side,” he told Bannon earlier this month. “She’s been posting repeatedly over the last month, just day after day, pro-MAHA things, pro-MAHA on school lunches, on food dyes, on so many different things. She is right on board. She will vote with him. She will help with the MAHA movement.”
If Cassidy fails to make the run-off Saturday, Lyons said, it would “send a very strong message” — MAHA PAC is coming for the midterms.
“This will be the first blow,” he said. “And people will see it’s early on in the midterm races. And they will see that they’re going to have to start to pivot.
Brandy Zadrozny is a senior enterprise reporter for MS NOW. She was a previously a senior enterprise reporter for NBC News, based in New York.
Will McDuffie is a reporter for MS NOW.
Over the course of June, Donald Trump spent nearly every day focusing attention on assorted construction and beautification projects, emphasizing the unavoidable conclusion that the president takes his renovation crusade very seriously.
His allies aren’t necessarily pleased. The Hill recently reported that Republican officials, worried about the midterm elections and maintaining partisan control, have been “thrown off-balance” by, among other things, Trump’s focus on “pet projects” instead of more meaningful national priorities.
The list of projects keeps growing nevertheless. It includes (but is by no means limited to) the ballroomthe Reflecting Poolthe “triumphal arch,” the fountainsthe horse statuesthe “Trump Promenade,” the “statue garden” and the dozen or so additional renovation projects he’s prioritized in and around the White House complex.
But let’s also not forget the helipad.
A couple of months ago, The Washington PostThe Wall Street Journal and The New York Times separately published similar reports about Trump hoping to build a permanent helicopter landing site on the White House grounds. Evidently, those plans have now advanced to the construction stage. The Post reported this week:
President Donald Trump has begun construction on a new White House helipad, his latest change to the historic grounds, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the project publicly.
Construction crews worked into the night Monday on the White House’s South Lawn, with the project blocked off by a large fence.
The report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, added that the project hasn’t yet been formally announced by the White House, even as construction is apparently underway.
It’s not yet clear how much the project will cost, who will pick the tab and whether this has joined the growing list of no-bid contracts.
Unlike some of the president’s other priorities, there is a legitimate issue here — the latest generation of helicopters really do damage the White House lawn — although this doesn’t answer the other lingering questions or explain why Team Trump hasn’t acknowledged the existence of the project.
What’s more, this almost certainly won’t be the last of the Republican’s projects.
Earlier this week, the president used his social media platform to promote an artificial intelligence-generated image of a gold eagle affixed to the White House exterior. Trump added in his online image, “A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year!”
The text (which erroneously said the White House is celebrating its semiquincentennial) suggested the president intends to add this gaudy addition to his ambitious renovation agenda.
Recent polling has found two-thirds of Americans are convinced their unpopular president simply has the wrong priorities. Trump could take steps to change their mind, but he apparently doesn’t want to.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
The Dictatorship
Hegseth blasts protesters at ceremony for D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force: ‘Ingrates’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday derided protesters at an event in Washington, D.C., tied to the America 250 celebrationscalling the demonstrators “ingrates” who are “blinded by ideology.”
The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force event in Meridian Hill Park was set to begin at 9 a.m. ET but did not start until roughly 30 minutes later, as members of the National Guard waited for Hegseth’s arrival amid a brutal heat wave. Protesters shouted during his brief address, in which he said he was to blame for the delay and praised the troops for their service.
“In fact, this background noise this morning is perfect,” Hegseth said about the protesters, with White House adviser Stephen Miller and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche standing behind him.
“It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them,” Hegseth said. “That there’s nothing ideological about this group, there’s nothing political about this exercise.”
Some protesters could be heard shouting “Shame!” and “Guard, go home!”
Pete Hegseth: “This background noise is perfect. It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude, of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them.” pic.twitter.com/aWt5ciuRG3
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar)”https://x.com/atrupar/status/2072679604184109222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 2, 2026
National Guard troops have been deployed to assist with America 250 celebrations in the capital, though some Democratic governors have warned against their guard members being utilized for a larger federal joint task force to tackle what the Trump administration has called“rampant crime” in Washington.
Many Washington residents are not thrilled with the National Guard’s presence. The controversial America 250 festivities have also sparked criticism from Democrats who accuse President Donald Trump of putting himself at the center of the celebrations.
At the Thursday ceremony, Hegseth suggested the protesters were not from Washington.
“These ingrates will fade away; they’ll go back to wherever they came from,” he said, before asserting that National Guard troops have brought the crime rate down in the capital — a claim that at least one study has found to be inaccurate.
“The crime rate here has dropped in staggering amounts, and the media won’t want to admit it because, of course, they’d have to give credit to President Trump, and then they’d have to give credit to the Department of War or to Stephen Miller,” Hegseth said. “But courageous men like President Trump and Stephen, who said enough is enough, are the reason why this city is a safe and beautiful place.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
Stephanie Ruhle said she was left “almost speechless” after the release of Donald Trump’s new financial disclosureswhich reported he raked in more than $2 billion since returning to the White House. “Man, it looks good to be president,” the “Money, Power, Politics” host said Wednesday.
According to the 927-page document released Tuesday, Trump’s income has only increased since retaking the White House. The president reported almost $575 million in real estate and golf-related income and another $68.6 million in royalties and licensing fees.
But, as Ruhle pointed out, $1.4 billion of Trump’s 2025 total comes directly from one industry: crypto.
Despite having called that industry a “scam” and a “disaster waiting to happen” in 2021, Trump has in recent years appeared to have a change of heart about digital currency.
“That was just five years ago, but now he is a major crypto industry operator and essentially its top policy maker,” the MS NOW host said. “Remember, he is the one who appointed regulators that changed the rules to hugely benefit the crypto industry, and since he came back to office, he has either completely dropped or settled a whole lot of cases with crypto companies.”
As Trump rakes in more cash, Ruhle said the American people are not experiencing the same kind of prosperity, in part because of the administration’s policies. “[They] are suffering, whether it’s because of tariffs, whether it’s because of inflation, whether it’s because of increased costs, because of the war in Iran,” she said.
While Ruhle noted the president has said he does not choose his investments and has said they are in a “blind account,” she said the American people should not ignore how much Trump has profited since returning to the White House.
“Here’s what you need to know: All of this would be a major conflict of interest — a huge scandal — if it were any other presidency,” she argued.
You can watch Ruhle’s full breakdown in the clip below.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”
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