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Calley Means, Key WH Health Advisor, Resigns

State of the Union: Means, a top advisor to RFK, Jr., reportedly left over concerns MAHA priorities were being stymied.
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Calley Means, a senior advisor to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., resigned from his position Thursday. In a post on X announcing his departure, Means wrote that he retained “tremendous respect for President Trump and Bobby Kennedy,” who “laid out a vision of combating the entrenched, dark forces in DC that profit from Americans getting sick.” He also touted his work on policies including “Dietary Guidelines reform, psychedelic reform, removing soda from SNAP, removing food dyes, GRAS reform, and overhauling government food procurement.”

Means first gained prominence as an advocate for the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. He was involved in the 2024 presidential campaigns of both RFK, Jr. and Donald Trump, and reportedly played a key role in brokering a political alliance between the two men. (His sister, Casey Means, is also a well-known figure in the MAHA movement, and was tapped for the post of surgeon general before her nomination was withdrawn earlier this year.)

Although Means did not give a reason for resigning, sources close to him attributed the decision to frustration with delays on advancing MAHA priorities. As one health influencer reportedly close with Means told the New York Times: “It became very clear in the last few months that no progress was getting made. And when you’re spinning around in circles, you can only take so much.”

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