RFK Jr.'s MAHA wants to make chemtrail conspiracy theories great again

https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/10/rfk-jr-s-maha-wants-to-make-chemtrail-conspiracy-theories-great-again/

by ndsipa_pomu • 9 months ago

36 29 9 months ago

ndsipa_pomu2• 9 months ago

What bugs me about the chemtrail conspiracies that I've heard about is that distributing toxins from planes is probably about the worst practical way to distribute them. If you really want to put stuff into the water supplies then it's surely far more efficient and cheaper to hire a load of people to dump the chemicals straight into the reservoirs. It's also indiscriminate which isn't likely to be useful - why poison everyone within potentially wide areas subject to wind conditions?

DemocracyFTW2• 9 months ago

chemtrails work surprisingly well on a flat globe

krapp5• 9 months ago

The smart way to do it is either in medication or the food supply. Far easier to target specific demographics.

But yeah, chemtrail people also think they're used for weather modification. These people don't think rationally.

ndsipa_pomu2• 9 months ago

Weather modification makes more sense to me as that would need to be done by plane (I wonder if balloons would work, but I suppose they're harder to position exactly). I'm not sure why they'd be modifying weather, but things like increasing rainfall over areas might be useful which raises the question of why does it need to be a conspiracy? If they've got a system that increases farm yields then why not make it public knowledge and even sell weather services to various states.

dekhn• 9 months ago

Are you referring to this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrail#Impacts_on_climate I think that's considered an actual legitimate scientific phenomenon.

quantified2• 9 months ago

Hence fluoridation. You're onto them.

D-Coder• 9 months ago

That's what the boattrails are for.

https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1668403778611-4f20c4afc816...

metalman• 9 months ago

unfortunatly absurdism has languished until very recently with the youngest generation comming up, though they are faced with a dificult task in differentiating there humor from actual official press releases

techblueberry2• 9 months ago

Why do people focus on stuff like this? Why not more direct and obvious harms to society like wealth consolidation or AI or whatever? Even if I thought vaccines were dangerous, there are so many things ahead of vaccines that keep me up at night.

fennec-posix• 9 months ago

It's all a distraction. Since a lot of these guys peddling this benefit from the actual harms to society.

techblueberry2• 9 months ago

I don't mean RFK Jr, I think this stuff comes up because there are like everyday people who care? Why do those people care!

krapp5• 9 months ago

It's possible to focus on more than one thing at a time as a society, and we do.

But the medical regulatory establishment of the US being taken over by anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists is worth at least a single article, I think, and it does directly and obviously harm society. Funding for research, education, trust in and access to vaccines are all going to be negatively affected, the destruction of medical infrastructure and knowledge will have long-term consequences beyond a single administration.

Yizahi2• 9 months ago

Fortunately Arstechnica has provided an answer for that question too:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/believing-misinforma...

Basically conspiracy heads like to be in opposition to the "establishment", and will look for and spread anything fitting this theme. It gives them sense of own worth, and a sense of community - a small circle of "people who have the secret knowledge".

janice1999• 9 months ago

While the modern "chemtrails" conspiracy makes no sense, it's interesting how like many conspiracies there is a grain of truth, however twisted, at the center. During the Cold War the US (and Canada and the UK and others) carried out experiments on large population centers by, among other things, dispersing chemicals from planes to simulate nuclear fallout and biological weapon attacks.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_LAC

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea-Spray

RickJWagner3• 9 months ago

You know what?

RFK is a mixed bag. Some of his ideas are kooky. But he’s also getting harmful gook taken out of food, and he’s setting a good example of how aging adults can keep themselves healthy. ( Check out RFK and Pete Hegseth doing pull ups and push ups. They’re both obviously good about exercise. )

I’m giving RFK good marks for some, but not all, of his program. Some of what he’s pushing is good stuff.

tylerflick• 9 months ago

A broken clock is right twice a day.

krapp5• 9 months ago

Doing pullups and pushups is not a signifier of good health, or even a good exercise regimen. The Liver King can probably do plenty of both and he probably aligns with a lot of RFK's "holistic" views and he's a mess.

RickJWagner3• 9 months ago

Can you do 50 pull ups and 100 push ups in less than 10 minutes?

RFK did, and he’s 71 years old.

Just curious if you, as a critic, can match it.

rapjr9• 9 months ago

Fortunately the solution is easy, cloudbusters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudbuster

Basically a metal rod/pipe with a good earth ground pointed at the sky. How conductive are trees? Maybe trees already act as cloudbusters, so we should plant more trees! Someone should apply for an NIH grant to try this. Don't know if I'm being sarcastic, it might actually have health benefits, there doesn't seem to have been much independent research.

OutOfHere2• 9 months ago

Don't small planes spread aersolized lead? Also, isn't there a history of the military spreading biological weapons on multiple occasions, basically deadly germs and ticks?

cosmicgadget3• 9 months ago

Ergo jet contrails are mind control chemicals? Wow.

OutOfHere2• 9 months ago

Lead pollution does affect cognition adversely.

cosmicgadget3• 9 months ago

In June, Kennedy hired Delany to be the HHS’s director of MAHA implementation. But Delany was fired in early August, reportedly due to in-fighting with other Kennedy devotees.

Well certainly after that little dust up this guy will have no pull with the administration

In an April 28, 2025, appearance on Dr. Phil Primetime, an audience member asked Kennedy what he would do about “stratospheric aerosol injections,” which she claimed are “continuously peppered on us every day.” Kennedy responded: “It’s done, we think by DARPA [a research agency in the Department of Defense] and a lot of it now is coming out of the jet fuel. … I am going to do everything in my power to stop it.

Gdi.

Yizahi2• 9 months ago

Technically he is right. USA is the main chemtrail country on a planet, legally spraying lead on its own citizens for decades how. Maybe this is how RFK got his brain damage :)

RFK Jr.'s MAHA wants to make chemtrail conspiracy theories great again

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