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The Wellness Police: Trump, RFK Jr., and the Authoritarian Takeover of Public Health

J.D. Johnson

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was sworn in as the 26th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Oval Office by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Neil Gorsuch.

The Great American Authoritarian Machine Grinds Forward

President Trump’s administration is tightening its grip, dictating who receives medical care, who controls their own body, and who is deemed ‘fit’ to exist in society. This isn’t creeping paternalism—it’s a choke-hold assault on autonomy, shrouded in the sane-washed rhetoric of ‘wellness’ and ‘moral restoration.’

The state is seizing control over mental health, addiction recovery, and reproductive rights. The tools? Trump’s latest power moves:

  • Appointing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, an anti-vaccine zealot with a history of pushing medical pseudoscience. (TheDispatch.com), (TheAtlantic.com)
  • Reinstating the Global Gag Rule, slamming the door on international reproductive rights. (ReproductiveRights.org),(NYPost.com)
  • Unleashing a wave of Christian nationalist executive orders, embedding religious fundamentalism into policy and stripping away secular governance. (MotherJones.com), (TheAtlantic.com)

This isn’t speculation. It’s happening. Right now. And if it isn’t stopped, America is staring down the barrel of an unprecedented rollback of personal freedoms.

On February 14th, 2025, Vice President J.D. Vance took the Munich Security Conference stage—not to reassure allies, but to rally Europe’s far-right. He blasted European leaders for resisting far-right parties and met with Germany’s extremist AfD leader, openly aligning the U.S. with forces that would dismantle liberal democracy. The message was clear: the Trump administration isn’t just reshaping America. It’s exporting authoritarianism. This move not only strained international relations but also signaled the administration’s alignment with extremist ideologies. (APNews.com), (RealClearPolitics.com)

Simultaneously, President Trump has appointed several architects of Project 2025—a comprehensive plan developed by conservative organizations to reshape federal policies—to key positions within his administration. These appointments underscore a deliberate strategy to consolidate power and enforce a specific ideological agenda.(APNews.com)

The administration’s actions collectively signal a systematic erosion of individual rights and a shift toward authoritarian governance. If this trajectory continues unchecked, the foundational principles of secular democracy, gender equality, and personal autonomy are at profound risk.

The “Make America Healthy Again” Commission: A Trojan Horse for Medical Authoritarianism

In February 2025, Trump issued an executive order establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission, ostensibly to combat rising rates of childhood illness and “Big Pharma corruption.” It’s a Trojan horse. The pitch? Take on Big Pharma. The reality? State-controlled medicine.

One of the commission’s stated goals is to reevaluate the use of psychiatric drugs in America, particularly medications for ADHD, depression, and anxiety. That aligns disturbingly well with RFK Jr.’s long-held skepticism toward psychiatric treatments. The concern isn’t just about limiting access—it’s about stigmatizing mental health care under the guise of “holistic healing.” (NPR.org)

Welcome to RFK Jr.’s “Wellness Farms”

Trump’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., isn’t just reimagining mental health care—he’s repackaging forced institutionalization as ‘wellness.’ His plan? Disappear ‘addicts’ and the mentally ill into state-run “Wellness Farms.” No trial. No due process. Just a locked door, a vanished person, and a government that decides when—or if—they walk out. In his own words:

“I’m going to create these Wellness Farms where they can go and get off of illegal drugs, alpha opiates. Psychiatric drugs that they want to get off of… There won’t be any cell phones there, that won’t be any screens. We’re going to repair it. People restore this connection to community.” – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services Secretary (Time.com)

That rhetoric echoes dangerous historical precedents. The Soviet Union used psychiatric hospitals as tools of political control, incarcerating dissidents under the guise of “mental health treatment.” China’s reeducation camps in Xinjiang strip individuals of their autonomy under the claim of “social harmony.” The idea that people can be institutionalized for extended periods (Kennedy suggested up to four years) under the excuse of “re-parenting” should raise immediate alarm bells. (Wikipedia.org), (CFR.org), (CNN.com)

Is this a voluntary program, or will it become a mechanism for detaining those deemed socially or medically “unfit”? Without explicit safeguards, the potential for abuse is enormous.

Historical Parallels and Precedence

None of this is new. We’ve seen this authoritarian script before:

  • Franco’s Spain (1939-1975) enforced Catholic morality through state-run “reform institutions.” Unmarried pregnant women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and political dissidents were forcibly placed in religious homes. (ScienceDirect.com)
  • The Moral Majority Movement (1980s) in the U.S. sought to enshrine Christian fundamentalist values into public policy, laying the groundwork for today’s attacks on secularism. (Politico.com)
  • Orban’s Hungary (2010-present) has systematically dismantled reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections under the guise of “national preservation.” (PBS.org), (Vox.com)
Hollywood, California, Resist March.

The Christian Nationalist Agenda: Morality, Medicine, and Control

Simultaneously, Trump has doubled down on Christian nationalist policies, signing executive orders that target reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections. In January 2025, he reinstated the Global Gag Rule, banning U.S. funding for any foreign organization that even discusses abortion services.

Meanwhile, a separate executive order established an Anti-Christian Bias Task Force to investigate institutions accused of “discriminating against religious Americans.” This is a coded attempt to weaken secular governance and enforce a faith-based political agenda.

In February 2025, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the White House Faith Office. This office is tasked with empowering faith-based entities and houses of worship to influence policy areas such as protecting women and children, strengthening marriage and family, and defending religious liberty. While framed as a bridge between government and religious communities, critics argue it blurs the line between church and state, privileging christian nationalist ideologies in public affairs. This isn’t just about ‘faith-based governance.’ It’s about power. If you’re not their kind of Christian, you’re a second-class citizen.

Need birth control? Pray your doctor believes in it. Miscarriage? Hope they don’t report you. Raise your kid outside their ‘biblical values’? Good luck keeping custody.

Meanwhile, the administration is also pushing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, introduced by Texas Congressman Chip Roy. This legislation mandates in-person proof of citizenship for voter registration, a move that could disenfranchise millions, particularly married women who have changed their names, people of color, young voters, and transgender individuals. Research indicates that up to 34% of voting-age women lack documents proving citizenship with their current legal name, posing significant barriers to their voting rights. (Snopes.com)

Moreover, the administration’s policies have taken a toll on women’s health. Recent funding cuts to biomedical and behavioral research critically undermine efforts to address the U.S. maternal mortality crisis, which disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous women. These cuts threaten to delay essential medical advancements and could force talented scientists out of the field, exacerbating an already dire situation. (TheGuardian.com)

These actions collectively signal a systematic marginalization of women, eroding their rights under the guise of protecting religious liberty and election integrity. The establishment of the White House Faith Office, the introduction of the SAVE Act, and detrimental health policies form a trifecta assault on women’s autonomy and participation in society.

It starts with policy. It ends with prisons. Franco’s Spain. Orban’s Hungary. The playbook doesn’t change—only the victims do. The question isn’t if the crackdown is coming. The question is who’s next.

Unchecked, this doesn’t just rewrite policy—it rewires the entire system. The endgame? A government built to enforce Authoritarian Christian Nationalism, where individual rights are conditional, secular democracy is a relic, and personal autonomy is a myth.

Demonstrators protest against Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion bill in Atlanta (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg)

Health as a Weapon: The Right-Wing Plan to Police Bodies and Minds

Defunding Educational Institutions with COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Public health isn’t Trump’s priority—obedience is. In February 2025, Trump signed an executive order choking off funding to schools that enforce COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The message? Fall in line with the government’s version of ‘health’ or lose everything. This move undermines public health efforts and coerces educational institutions into compliance with federal directives, prioritizing political agendas over scientific guidance. (WhiteHouse.gov), (NBC.com), (NYPost.com)

Restricting Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Youth

The war on trans existence just escalated. Trump’s executive order—euphemistically titled “Protecting Children From Chemical And Surgical Mutilation”—slams the door on gender-affirming care for trans youth under 19.

Forget what doctors, parents, or the patients themselves say. The state gets the final word on who they’re allowed to be.

This policy not only discriminates against transgender individuals but also intrudes upon medical decisions best made between patients and healthcare providers. (WhiteHouse.gov), (KFF.org)

Censorship of Health Information

What happens when the government erases reality? Under Trump’s orders, federal agencies have started scrubbing health data—HIV rates, youth behavioral risks, anything inconvenient to the Christian nationalist agenda. If the data vanishes, so does the crisis. And if the crisis ‘doesn’t exist,’ there’s no need to fix it. This censorship impedes medical professionals’ ability to access essential data, endangering public health and disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. And that’s the point. (Reuters.com), (NPR.org)

Project 2025: The Blueprint for Conservative Overhaul

This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s their playbook. Written by the Heritage Foundation and backed by 100+ conservative groups, Project 2025 is the blueprint for a far-right overhaul of the federal government. The goals? Strip Medicaid, gut anti-discrimination laws, and bake religious fundamentalism into medical practice. It’s not just about policy—it’s about total control.

Proposals include restricting public health programs like Medicaid, scaling back anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBTQ+ individuals, and promoting religious-based objections in medical practice. If implemented, these policies could significantly undermine public health infrastructure and erode individual rights. (APHA.org)

Enforcing the Hyde Amendment

Abortion is just the beginning. In January 2025, Trump signed Executive Order 14182, slamming the door on federal funding for abortion services. But that’s just the start. Next comes birth control. Then IVF. Then miscarriages investigated as ‘murder.’ This is the pipeline from restriction to full-blown criminalization. This action reinforces restrictions on abortion services, limiting reproductive rights and access to essential medical care. (WhiteHouse.gov), (Wikipedia.org)

The Purity State: How the War on Bodily Autonomy Is a War on Dissent

It starts with banning abortion. Then birth control. Then mental health care. Then dissent. One by one, the freedoms disappear until all that’s left is a nation of ‘pure,’ obedient bodies, ready to serve God and state. That’s not a future. That’s a prison. (Independent.co.uk), (CNN.com)

This isn’t theoretical. It’s not ‘coming soon.’ It’s here. The question isn’t if the crackdown will escalate—it’s how far they’ll go before we stop them. We are witnessing the early days of a state-driven assault on bodily autonomy—not just for women, but for anyone who doesn’t conform to the new moral and medical order. (NWLC.org)

If you’re paying attention, you are the resistance.

Next Steps…

What Can You Do?

This isn’t just a policy shift—it’s an existential threat to democracy, bodily autonomy, and basic human rights. Here’s how to fight back:

Call Your Representatives—Demand Action

Your voice matters—elected officials need to know that their constituents won’t stand for authoritarian overreach.

Register to Vote & Fight Voter Suppression

Trump’s policies are designed to suppress votes—especially those of marginalized communities. Make sure you’re registered and ready to fight back at the ballot box.

If you’re already registered, help others register—especially young voters, trans voters, and people of color, who are disproportionately affected by new voter ID laws.

Donate to Organizations on the Frontlines

Funding the resistance is critical. These organizations are actively fighting for reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ protections, and democracy itself.

Reproductive Rights & Bodily Autonomy

LGBTQ+ Rights & Gender-Affirming Care

Voting Rights & Fighting Disenfranchisement

Fighting Christian Nationalism & Defending Secular Democracy

  • Freedom From Religion Foundation: www.ffrf.org
  • Americans United for Separation of Church and State: www.au.org

Take to the Streets—Join Protests & Mobilizations

Direct action works—we’ve seen it shift policy, protect abortion access, and challenge voter suppression.

Stay Informed & Share the Truth

Misinformation is fueling this authoritarian takeover. Combat it. Stay informed, and share reliable sources with your network.

Best Investigative Outlets

Fact-Check Before You Share

Social media is a battleground—don’t let disinformation win. Amplify the truth.

Bottom Line: This Is a Fight.

They want you to feel helpless. They want you to give up.
But history proves one thing: Resistance works. Action matters.

Pick one thing from this list and do it today. Then do another tomorrow. Then keep going.

If we act now, we can still turn the tide. But only if we refuse to stay silent.

Silence is surrender.

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