How a MAHA leader turned and torched the White House
· Axios
Calley Means quickly rose from wellness entrepreneur to senior Trump health adviser — and now he's attacking the White House and suggesting top aides undermined the president's health agenda.
Why it matters: His scorched-earth campaign — which continued Monday in comments to Axios — marks a stunning turn for a figure who was the administration's most vocal advocate of the "Make America Healthy Again" agenda.
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- It also raises questions about what the escalating fight between Means and former White House officials will accomplish for the movement.
Driving the news: Means told Axios he's going public with his allegations of corruption — especially by former White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — because of the high stakes.
- "It is existential to the survival [of] America that we rid DC of Susie's brand of politics," Means said in a text exchange.
- Means' initial comments on Friday's episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" went viral, and he continued the campaign with an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
- Asked if he's worried about lawsuits after comments from a Wiles spokesperson and former White House deputy chief of staff James Blair — who Means has also accused of wrongdoing — Means pointed to his X post warning them and other parties to "immediately preserve all potentially relevant records and communications."
Means has kept up a steady stream of X posts about his allegations and the way he claims the officials have responded to them.
- "Susie - I'm not intimidated and you will not scare me. Again, please stop sending me emotional texts. This is not personal - this is civilizational," Means posted Monday.
- White House spokesperson Allison Schuster said in a statement the Trump administration has won "extensive victories for the MAHA Agenda." The Department of Health and Human Services and a Wiles spokesperson didn't respond to requests for comment.
The big picture: After hitching their wagon to President Trump ahead of the 2024 election, MAHA leaders have been complaining for months of a lack of progress on issues around healthy foods and pesticide use.
- But whether the public feud Means has initiated will have any impact on the policy agenda he's championed — or whether it's more of a personal grievance tour — remains to be seen.
- A former HHS official said that after Republicans' midterm wipeout, Means is "highlighting that one of the more popular aspects of Trump's domestic agenda should be something [the administration] spends more time on to prepare the party for 2028."
The intrigue: The MAHA base sees incoming chief of staff Stephen Miller as an ally, even though he hasn't said much about movement priorities like cleaning up the food supply, curbing food additives or scrutinizing vaccines.
- Miller's wife, Katie, hosted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on her podcast and has posted photos of dishes with ingredients like raw milk, per the Washington Sun.
- Means told "Face the Nation" that Miller understands corporate influence over health care and that he represents a break from Wiles.
- "Stephen Miller has been nothing short of a champion in Making America Healthy Again. As a father of four, Miller is acutely aware of the importance of transforming our food, health, and scientific systems for the next generation of Americans," Schuster said.
Zoom in: Means, who resigned from his senior adviser post late last month, grew up in Washington and interned in George W. Bush's White House and at the Heritage Foundation before going on to work as a consultant to beverage and drug industries.
- He told Axios in 2024 that his mother's preventable death from a chronic disease in 2021 prompted him and his sister, "functional medicine" physician and health influencer Casey Means, to advocate and work to reverse the chronic disease crisis. The siblings wrote a best-selling book called "Good Energy."
- Calley Means also co-founded Truemed, a company that helps people buy wellness equipment using money in health savings accounts, retaining an interest while advising Kennedy, per the New York Times.
Means is widely credited with facilitating the alliance between Kennedy and President Trump in the summer of 2024 and became a special government employee in the new Trump administration.
- He made frequent, at times flamboyant appearances in public forums, railing against a "crisis of trust" in health care institutions and claiming at one 2025 Axios event that Kennedy "has a spiritual mandate" from voters to reform broken government institutions.
- Means' sister was tapped by Trump to be surgeon general, only to see the nomination withdrawn in April amid questions over whether she could win over enough Republican senators to be confirmed. Calley Means at the time blamed Senate health committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) for delay tactics.
What we're watching: It's not clear what role Means will play outside the administration — or whether his turnabout has helped or hurt the MAHA cause.
- Key initiatives like developing a definition for ultra-processed foods remain unfinished, and the Food and Drug Administration appears to be taking a more conciliatory stance toward drug developers and other industries it regulates.