Why Should I Trust You?

Our guest today is David Kessler, the former FDA commissioner who once devised a strategy to take on Big Tobacco. Now, he’s back with a bold game plan for MAHA and President Trump to challenge the makers of ultra-processed foods.

While making food healthier is central to MAHA’s mission, critics say its early wins, like persuading companies to remove certain food dyes, are a positive first step but won’t significantly improve public health. Kessler argues that RFK Jr.’s FDA already has both the scientific evidence and the legal authority right now to require food makers to prove that the ingredients in processed foods are safe.

It’s a plan that would force a confrontation with Big Food. Is Kessler calling Kennedy’s bluff or handing him a powerful tool? Could this strategy survive legal and political pushback? And if it did, what would our supermarket shelves look like then?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guest:

Dr. David Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration

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In this special episode of Why Should I Trust You?, we're taking on the all-important topic of food with members of the Make America Healthy Again movement, along with a panel of seasoned experts in food and nutrition science, including Kevin Hall, the former NIH nutrition scientist. We set out to talk about nutrition, the food industry, and politics--but the conversation quickly took off in directions we never expected. What does the group make of the administration's early "wins" on food dyes? Is there agreement that the carrot-not-regulation approach with the food industry is the way to go? Is MAHA's alliance with MAGA proving successful or limiting? And finally, if all sides worked together, what real solutions could be achieved to help Americans eat healthier? We also ask the groups to reflect on the violent attack on the CDC last week. 

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests: 

Elizabeth Frost: head of MAHA grassroots in Ohio, former OH state director for the Kennedy campaign, co-founder, Independent Force Consulting

Jacqueline Capriotti: MAHA Mom, Patient Advocate, Substack: Health Revolution USA, Chronic Disease Outreach for the Kennedy Campaign

Erin Martin: founder and director of FreshRX Oklahoma, and a clinical gerontologist; advocate for regenerative farming

John Klar: lawyer, farmer, writer The MAHA Report, advocate for regenerative farming

Aaron Everitt: Writer and video essayist at Substack: Besides The Revolution, frequently contributes to House InHabit a major MAHA influencer Jessica Reed Kraus' newsletter; Kennedy campaign volunteer

Kevin Hall:  who until this spring was at the NIH as a nutrition scientist, focusing a lot of his research on ultra processed foods and the causes of obesity, book coming out Food Intelligence, The Science of How Food Both Nourishes Us and Harms Us: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671334/food-intelligence-by-julia-belluz-and-kevin-hall-phd/

Tashara Leak: Registered Dietitian, Associate Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, and Associate Dean in Human Ecology at Cornell University.

Susan Mayne: former director of Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA; currently a professor at Yale School of Public Health

Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis: an infectious disease specialist who until very recently was the head of the Dept of Health for the city of St Louis

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Welcome to a special episode of Why Should I Trust You?  We’re joined by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy. 

There may be no more recognizable figure in science today than Tyson: astronomer, author, public thinker, and the guy who’s done more than just about anyone to make science accessible. Today, our focus is less on the cosmos and more on us humans—and why we’re losing trust in the very science Tyson represents. 

The pair have released two timely films: Shot in the Arm, about vaccines, and Food Evolution, which explores genetically modified food. With the rise of MAHA, both topics couldn’t be more front and center.We talk about anecdotes versus data, empathy for diverging points of view, why humans struggle with probability, how imprecise communication—whether about a novel virus or a UFO sighting—breeds mistrust, and why, as a species, we need to figure out this trust thing, fast.

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Neil Degrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, author, director of Hayden Planetarium

Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Shot in the Arm, Food Evolution

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Is the CDC finally being fixed—or intentionally dismantled?
Wherever you fall on that divide—long-overdue reform or something more alarming—seismic changes are underway at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is implementing dramatic cuts and a reorganization that he says will help focus the CDC on its core mission: fighting communicable diseases. As part of the overhaul, he’s also reshaping the agency’s role in setting vaccine policy for all Americans.

Supporters see this as a chance to streamline an agency weighed down by competing agendas and bureaucratic gridlock. Critics call it a five-alarm fire, warning that these changes threaten to dismantle the very public health infrastructure that has long protected Americans, especially the most vulnerable.

To help us understand what’s at stake, we’re joined by not one, but two former CDC directors: Dr. Tom Frieden and Dr. Mandy Cohen. What do they think the CDC got wrong during the pandemic? Where does their old agency need to change today? What of the current reforms makes sense or puts the health of Americans at risk? And most importantly, how can the CDC regain the trust it once commanded?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Dr. Mandy Cohen, former director of the CDC, former HHS secretary for the state of North Carolina; national advisor Manatt Health

Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the CDC, author, 'The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own'.  President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives

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We are joined by Zen Honeycutt, the founder of Moms Across America and a leading voice in the MAHA movement. She’s an outspoken force of nature on a range of issues that she sees as negatively impacting the health of children.  

There are many directions our conversation could take (and many things to debate), but we focused on a question we hear frequently from our listeners: How is MAHA responding to all the recent developments at the Environmental Protection Agency and the efforts to roll back regulations? Does she see these changes as undermining MAHA’s mission to curb toxic exposure and improve Americans' health?

Along the way, we also ask her how she is processing the massive cuts to scientific research, and finally, what her message is to the MAHA community at this pivotal moment (Hint: Her eyes are squarely on the Midterms).

Hosts:
Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off today)

Guest:
Zen Honeycutt, Founder & Executive Director, Moms Across America, which is a 501c4 (it was mistakenly identified as a 501c3 in the recording); an influential leader within Make America Healthy Again movement

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With the Jeffrey Epstein saga dominating the conversation for weeks now, it feels like we’re roasting in a summer of conspiracy theories.

And given how conspiracy and cover-up play a recurring role in the story we’re exploring about the breakdown of trust in public health and medicine, this week felt as good as any to take on the topic.

So, what’s fueling today’s conspiracy theories? And -- hold that thought -- do we as a society even LIKE the phrase conspiracy theory any more? Where’s the line between healthy skepticism and something more destructive? And couldn’t we come up with a better term for the beliefs of people who say they feel dismissed by an establishment that labels their good-faith suspicions as conspiratorial?

To help us unpack all this, we’re joined by two Wall Street Journal reporters, Aruna Viswanatha and Joel Schectman. Back in June, they published a major investigative piece that dove into the godfather of all conspiracy theories: the claim that the U.S. military has been secretly studying alien spacecraft for decades.

What these reporters uncovered wasn’t what anyone expected and is our jumping-off point for a conversation about conspiracy theories, legitimate suspicion, and how investigative journalism might hold a key to not only getting at the truth, but also rebuilding trust.

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guests:

Joel Schectman, Wall Street Journal Reporter
Aruna Viswanatha, Wall Street Journal Reporter

Authors, The Pentagon Disinformation That Fueled America's UFO Mythology

 https://tinyurl.com/mrxsxxrp

Resources:

Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/misguided/202506/why-people-believe-conspiracy-theories

I Was Just About To When My Grant Was Cut
https://substack.com/home/post/p-169548794

MAHA Supporters Weigh in on Kevin Hall Episode

https://whyshoulditrustyou.substack.com/p/maha-supporters-weigh-in-on-kevin

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Kevin Hall is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on the impact of food on our health. A former NIH scientist, he led some of the most eye-opening studies on the connections between ultra-processed foods and overeating, obesity, and chronic disease (Spoiler alert: It's not pretty.). So when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement took the reins at HHS, with gobs of energy and focus on tackling food, you’d think this would be Kevin Hall’s moment. 

Instead, in a stunning move, Hall walked away. He says that his earliest interactions with the new team left him feeling censored and worried that he'd no longer be able to conduct unbiased science.  

So, what made one of America’s leading nutrition scientists see red flags as the MAHA-backed team got to work on the very issue that he's laser-focused on? 

And now, with a little time and distance, what does he think MAHA is getting right, getting wrong, and what its followers should be demanding from their leaders to truly make America eat healthier?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek

Guest:

Kevin Hall, nutrition and metabolism scientist, formerly NIH; co-author Food Intelligence, coming out Sept 23, 2025. Available to pre-order here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671334/food-intelligence-by-julia-belluz-and-kevin-hall-phd/

Let's keep the conversation going! Join us on Substack:

https://whyshoulditrustyou.substack.com/

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What happens when you bring a group of MAHA advocates together with journalists and public health communicators and ask: When it comes to the media, who do you trust for your information and why? What about doctors? What about Sec. Kennedy? This week, we found out.

The result is an intense, surprising, sometimes funny, often confounding conversation about trust, Big Pharma, censorship, facts, “misinformation” (one voice says, stop using that word, another asks, well, then what do we call it?), bias, doctors, plumbers, and what truth even means anymore.

In this special episode, we dig into how we might be able to rebuild trust when so many of us only listen to our own carefully curated echo chamber.

Joining us was a group of MAHA supporters: Elizabeth Frost (MAHA Ohio) Mark Harris (MAHA Ohio), Nancy Fuller (MAHA Ohio), Jacqueline Capriotti (Health Revolution USA, director of outreach during Kennedy campaign), and Aaron Everitt (Besides the Revolution Substack, contributor to House InHabit).  

From the science communication side: Jessica Grose (opinion writer, New York Times), Kristen Panthagani (You Can Know Things), Dr. Mati Davis (former health director, St Louis), Dr. Craig Spencer (Brown Univ, Doctors without Borders, columnist), Chelsea Cipriano (former deputy PIO for Dept of Health in NYC)

We launched a substack!! Want more reflections from the WSITY team on our conversations with public health and MAHA? Guest essays from diverse perspectives? Videos where we discuss what we thought after a particular podcast episode? Sign up for free or premium paid content now!
https://substack.com/@whyshoulditrustyou

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On today’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Francis Collins, the former head of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Collins has spent his career pushing the frontiers of science — from discovering genes linked to deadly diseases to leading the historic Human Genome Project. And during COVID, he helped steer the government’s public health response, including the rapid development of the COVID vaccine — work that still puts him in the hot seat with communities who feel science betrayed their trust.

Now, as the Trump administration and the Make America Healthy Again movement tackle America’s chronic health crisis with a radically different approach, what does he make of what he’s seeing, from the sweeping shift in priorities to widespread cuts in research funding? Does he see common ground with the MAHA movement’s goals? And, after a lifetime devoted to advancing science and health, what does he believe is the best way to rebuild trust and make America healthier?

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Dr. Maggie Bartlett

Dr.Mark Abdelmalek

Guest:

Dr. Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health, author The Road to Wisdom

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When COVID hit, public health leaders often said, “There was no playbook.” But was that really true?

Decades earlier, during the AIDS crisis, America’s public health system went through a trial by fire—learning hard lessons about how to communicate amid uncertainty, adapt to evolving science, and work with communities instead of against them.

Flash forward to COVID, and many Americans say they lost trust after experiencing what they saw as a top-down, dismissive approach from public health leaders. They say their questions and concerns about mitigation efforts and science were often met with rigid messaging, outright dismissal, and even censorship.

In today’s episode, we sit down with Dr. Reed Tuckson, a public health leader and former Commissioner of Public Health for Washington, D.C., during the height of the AIDS epidemic. He reflects on what that era taught him—and what it might still teach us about rebuilding trust today.

Hosts:

Brinda Adhikari

Tom Johnson

Maggie Bartlett

Dr. Mark Abdelmalek (off this week)

Guest:

Dr. Reed Tuckson, former Commissioner of Public Health in Washington DC; founder, Coalition for Trust in Health and Science

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Got questions? Comments? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected]