Atlantic Monthly: Make Explosive Diarrhea Great Again
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Given lead times, the Atlantic presumably didn’t know the context in which their latest apologia for the people destroying public health infrastructure in America would emerge, but given that it’s the intellectual equivalent of explosive diarrhea it’s appropriate:
Centrists always present these takes as savvy "harsh truths" for the left, but they're the most pathetic kind of ignorant, cowardly self-soothing. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0…
[image or embed]— Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) 7:14 AM · Jul 27, 2026
The argument is always the same: Rather than judge MAHA supporters on what they do, we should judge them on what they say. This is dangerously uninformed about how conspiracy movements work.
[image or embed]— Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) 7:20 AM · Jul 27, 2026
As the piece admits, the second MAHA took power it started gutting basic science, promoting quack treatments and loosening health regulations. *This* is what the movement is. Yet it's up to critics not to conclude or predict anything from these actions and bend over backward to find common cause.
[image or embed]— Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) 7:25 AM · Jul 27, 2026
As Michael says, every one of these anti-anti-RFK Jr. intelligence-insulters has the same basic premise: cherry pick some unobjectionable abstractions “MAHA” people claim to be committed too, and ignore their actual specific positions and downplay/make excuses for the actions of the person currently destroying public health and scientific research infrastructure in America because the unquestioned leader of the “MAHA” movement is an anti-vaxx and anti-science lunatic.
Here’s more context for this crap to climb out of the sewer:
Cassidy had previously voted to confirm HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after the nominee assured him, as Cassidy said, that “CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
The CDC did not remove that language but in November added a sentence: “Vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence-based claim.”
As of Thursday, the website reads, “Scientists have not identified the root causes of autism. HHS continues to support rigorous scientific research and will update this page as reliable new evidence becomes available.”
On Thursday, Cassidy also suggested that he had lingering concerns about Sean Kaufman, the nominee to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.
The full sentence on the official CDC website is “[t]he claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.” Yes, claiming that citing the evidence is not “evidence-based” because it cannot dispositively prove a negative. It goes on to cite non-existent valid studies showing a link that have been ignored. Whatever you would like it to be, this is what the MAHA movement is. It has to be defeated, it cannot be worked with. And it would be great if the nation’s elite editors would stop running “but what’s wrong with wanting to make America healthy again?” sanewashing jobs.