In a somewhat baffling directive, US Health Secretary RFK Jr. claims he’s “ending the war on protein.”
The announcement, posted to White House’s X account on January 11 alongside an ominously lit photo of Kennedy, came as part of the federal government’s 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines, which now prioritize protein “at every meal.” Some of the advice—particularly the avoidance of ultra-processed foods and added sugars—has been well received by dietary experts and health organizations like the American Heart Association. But other aspects of it represent shake-ups that defy scientific consensus. For example, the recommendation of consuming saturated fats found in full-fat milk, butter, and beef tallow contradicts previous nutritional guidance, which generally advised limiting saturated fats.
But one of the biggest takeaways from the new food guide—which will influence everything from SNAP to school lunches—is that Americans should be consuming more protein, ideally from animals.
“Today the lies stop,” Kennedy, leader of MAGA’s brawnier and crunchier offshoot, the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, said in an announcement about the new guidance on January 7. “ Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines.”
The thing is, there is no war on protein. If ever there was one, it was lost long ago. Americans have quite literally never been as obsessed with protein as they are today, with consumption levels in the United States reaching record highs, even as protein deficiency is nearly nonexistent.
Still, Kennedy’s screed makes sense in the context of a MAGA movement that has made body image, fitness, and masculinity central tenets.
“They’re trying to tie it into the war on masculinity, the war on warrior culture. All of this stuff is connected,” said Colin Davis, a personal trainer and political commentator who has been critical of MAGA’s encroachment into the fitness space.
In August, Kennedy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted videos online of themselves doing push-ups and pull-ups as part of what they called the “Pete and Bobby Fitness Challenge.” Hegseth also convened an unprecedented meeting of US generals in Quantico, Virginia, in September to accost them over the military’s fitness and grooming standards. “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon,” Hegseth said to the hundreds of generals in attendance.
President Trump himself has connected his movement to fitness through his friendship with UFC CEO Dana White, orchestrating a number of campaign appearances at UFC events in 2024. These de facto rallies put the then-presidential candidate in close proximity to young, physically fit men who would sometimes launch into post-fight rants supporting him; Trump would go on to flip the young male vote by a nearly 30-point margin in his favor during the 2024 election. In June, the White House is hosting a UFC cage fight as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, Trump has said.
Some experts say Kennedy’s reworking of the dietary guidelines is a continuation of that project, in particular the emphasis on animal proteins, projecting a form of idealized masculinity by playing into long-held and well-researched cultural perceptions around food and gender.
“ There’s a long-standing association of men with meat, fire, cooking outdoors,” said Charlotte Biltekoff, professor of food, wine and culture at the University of California, Davis. “And women with lighter food, dieting for weight loss, vegetables, fruits and salads.”
All of this serves to put the president and his broader political movement into the proximity of a kind of aspirational masculinity that is high agency, strong, physically attractive, and neatly situated within traditional gender roles.
