What's with the whole milk stuff?
Many netizens are trying to understand a new, weird health campaign. Let's discuss white supremacist dog whistles, health, MAHA's culture war, Big Dairy, the Epstein Files, and the midterms.
A bizarre health campaign has rolled out across social media.
Following the reveal of a new inverted food pyramid and related nutritional guidelines — which include the recommendation of consuming more animal protein, classifies butter and beef tallow as “healthy fats,” and removes specific daily limits for alcohol consumption — from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Health and Human Services (US HHS), a slew of posts about drinking whole milk have been released by both agencies and the White House. It seems these posts started on January 11th, 2026, a day declared “National Milk Day.”
National Milk Day was created by the USDA apparently to commemorate the start of milk delivery in sealed, sterilized glass bottles in 1878. Sealed, sterilized milk delivery was considered a significant step for food safety and public health (although, as we will discuss in this article, the health benefits of milk consumption are complicated). Descriptions of National Milk Day also state it was created to honor dairy farmers and the “cultural significance of milk,” and promote milk’s nutrients like calcium, protein, and vitamin D. This national day, its description, and this whole milk public health campaign smells of the behemothic influence of the US dairy industry, which has a total economic impact of around $780-794 billion annually. The industry provides millions of jobs and billions in wages and tax revenue, and accounts for about 3.5% of US gross domestic product (GDP). Importantly, the US dairy industry is highly consolidated, dominated by a few massive dairy cooperatives like Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), Land O’Lakes, and California Dairies, which control the majority of the market and threaten the profitability of small farms. These companies invest in staying powerful through a rich marketing, lobbying, and research apparatus. It appears that the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which has captured US federal health agencies, is receptive to Big Dairy’s investments.
If you haven’t seen the posts in this health campaign — I envy you.
It started with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins posting a picture of herself smiling with a glass of milk on National Milk Day: “Drink Whole Milk.” Then, a more threatening, theoretically machismo, “Art of the Deal”/The Apprentice-esque photo of President Donald Trump was posted by USDA. “Drink up, America,” the post says. Donald is leaning over his oval office desk, a glass of milk in front of him, and he has a “milk mustache” — a motif that is reminiscent of the “Got Milk?” adverts of the 1990s (a campaign which was obviously an effort by the dairy industry and USDA to influence the public to drink more milk and even to perceive milk as unequivocally healthy). “The Milk Mustache is Back.” “Drink Whole Milk.” Another post from the White House shows Trump holding old-fashioned glass milk bottle carriers. Then, a video of Secretary Rollins joined by dairy farmers was posted. In the video, Rollins and the farmers advocate for drinking whole milk and eating whole foods in schools, with one farmer suggesting that there should be more government programs to support this.
On January 14th, 2026, President Trump signed several executive orders and bills. One of which was the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025. The bill revises requirements for milk provided by the USDA’s National School Lunch Program. Schools participating in the program are required to provide milk that is consistent with the most recent dietary guidelines for Americans, which would now be the ones that were recently released. Prior to this bill and the new guidelines, USDA regulations required milk to be fat-free or low-fat. This was an Obama-era policy that started in July 2012 as part of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, with the intention of combating childhood obesity by reducing saturated fat intake (more on this later). The 2025-2026 bill modifies these requirements to allow for whole milk.
Notably, previous USDA regulations also required that the average saturated fat content of the lunches provided be less than 10% of the total calories. Under the 2025-2026 bill, fluid milk is excluded from the saturated fat content calculation. This is pretty blatant and fits with a criticism of the new dietary guidelines from some nutritionists which states that it is impossible for a person to keep their saturated fat consumption below 10% of the total calories under the new guidelines (the math isn’t math-ing).
A creepy social media campaign
The White House’s “Rapid Response 47” Twitter account posted a video of President Trump signing this bill. Trump asks two little girls standing next to him whether he should sign it or not. He signs it, then he briefly reaches out and touches one of the little girl’s hands. He passes the signed bill to a little boy also standing there. The interaction personally makes me uncomfortable, given the recent release of more files on American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which included mentions and allegations of child abuse against Trump himself. As cult members do to protect their leader, members of MAHA and MAGA online are claiming that feeling such discomfort is “projection,” or “says more about” the person made uncomfortable than Trump. The mental gymnastics required to deny the creepiness of an alleged pedophile posing with kids next to a jug of milk, especially if you believed in QAnon, are Olympic-level. We’ll see you in Los Angeles in 2028!
But things were just starting to get weird. The USDA then posted a video of transphobe, fifth-place loser, now conservative grifter Riley Gaines drinking whole milk and donning a milk mustache. The text accompanying the video said: “Nutrition shouldn’t be controversial. It’s common sense.” This is approximately when these posts started to get attention online, with netizens asking why there was a seemingly sudden focus on whole milk and making fun of MAHA and MAGA for only knowing this one failed, relatively unknown athlete and using her in a campaign that is supposed to echo “Got Milk?” (which included Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Batman, Mario, and SpongeBob).
Then the White House account posted an image of a Donald Trump character in a barn that looks exactly like one from the beloved game Stardew Valley. “We’re bringing back Whole Milk and Making America Healthy Again!,” the character says. “Whole milk is back,” the post says, although whole milk has always been commercially available and the only real changes that have occurred are the US dietary guidelines and the requirements for milk in school lunches. Netizens grew more confused and annoyed, stating that there is probably little overlap between Stardew Valley players and MAHA and MAGA and imploring the creator of the game, Eric Barone or “ConcernedApe,” to sue the administration for using the game’s likeness.
It gets worse. On January 15th, Secretary Kennedy posts an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated video of himself drinking a glass of whole milk, which transports him to the clurb. While showing off his milk mustache, he dances in a state of pure euphoria with his glass of milk to Kato feat. Jon’s song “Turn the Lights off,” a reference to a meme of John Hamm dancing in the show “Friends & Neighbors.” These people cannot create their own aesthetics for the life of them.
And now, the worst one: on January 17th, the USDA posted an AI-generated video of three children drinking milk. “Kids deserve real nutrition. Always have,” the post reads. The kids are posing with three cups of milk, wearing Peter Pan collars (a “trad”/traditional aesthetic), bows for the girl, stockings, and are all white and blonde or blonde-ish. This video, which netizens say evokes the uncanny valley, as well as an aesthetic of an 1800s child tuberculosis ward, was the final nail in the coffin. Netizens began to ask: why are they suddenly talking about whole milk so much? What’s going on here? This is weird. So, let’s talk about the reason why.
An easy “win” for MAHA
I recently wrote two sections for an article in my fiancé Josh’s (“Ettingermentum”) newsletter which named the political winners and losers of 2025. Although the reality is not this simple, I pushed my sections to fit a discussion that Josh and I had had about war hawk and current United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio “getting what he’s always wanted,” while the “anti-war” MAHA base (they have since fallen in line) received their “Fell for it Again Awards.” We extended this logic to US HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “RFK Jr.,” and MAHA — arguing that RFK Jr. has “won” (obtained influence in the public health establishment, seen as a “hero” for members of MAHA in spite of the actual quality of his science, and he and his friends and family will profit off of his influence and extend his litigious legacy) and MAHA has “lost” (although they have obtained notable wins in vaccine guidance which will have lasting detrimental impacts on this country, this guidance has changed in some cases abruptly and without a clear process and therefore the backlash to it will be strong in the case of an incoming Democratic administration; MAHA members’ kids, as well as our kids, will get sick and die; and they are being duped as it relates to fighting Big Pharma, Big Ag, pesticide and PFAS regulation, and reducing chronic illness. However, they are still achieving their eugenicist goals of stigmatizing and erasing autistic and transgender people). Again, although the reality is not this simple, MAHA is in need of public wins, especially when its radical base is hardly ever satisfied and losing in several ways.
Declaring whole milk as “back,” when it was never really gone, is an easy win for MAHA.
This is the classic conservative move of making up a boogeyman only to defeat it.
As mentioned earlier, whole milk has always been available in supermarkets in the US. However, Obama-era health campaigns did in fact restrict the recommendation of whole milk in schools participating in the National School Lunch Program, opting for what was seen as healthier alternatives (fat-free or low-fat milk). Additionally, the popularity of alternative milks has risen steadily since the 1990s, driven by soy. Almond, coconut, and oat milks have become mainstream staples among young people due to health, environmental, and lifestyle trends. In the book of “2016 is forever” anecdotes, this first started making conservative snowflakes mad during the online Breadtuber era of the mid-2010s.
Basically, this new campaign is driven by a hatred of the Obamas and the Left and desire to win the “culture war,” a true belief in the nutritional value of whole milk over other milks, MAHA’s focus on whole foods, using a white supremacist dog whistle (more on that later), nostalgia, perhaps an interest in eventually promoting raw milk, and keeping Big Dairy happy.
Thanks, Obama. Also: winning Wisconsin
Donald Trump hates Barack Obama. And he’s obsessed with him.
Obama has not been president in over a decade, yet Trump mentions him constantly. Trump takes advantage of a racist animus the public has against Obama to try and make himself look good in comparison. RFK Jr., wanting to advance his agenda and self-interests, is playing to Trump’s hatred of Obama with this whole milk campaign.
Overall, RFK Jr. has gotten pretty much everything he has wanted with little push back from Trump. He’s called the shots (haha) — so much so that Donald Trump is Truth Social-ing (Truth-ing?) about “HEPATITAS.” However, although RFK Jr. is running the show as it relates to health, it is in his best interest to stay in the good graces of Trump — we see what happens when one of Trump’s cronies falls out of favor (although he hasn’t been so decisive in his second term). One way to curry favor with the president is to take down part of Obama’s legacy.
Moreover, MAHA is part of the larger MAGA movement and wants to stay alive. With the 2026 midterms around the corner, Wisconsin Democrats are hoping to flip majority control of both chambers in the state Legislature. They also want to retain the governor’s office. Wisconsin’s dairy industry is a massive economic force, generating billions in revenue ($50 billion to Wisconsin’s economy annually!) and providing thousands of jobs. A pro-dairy whole milk campaign signals to Wisconsin farmers: MAHA and MAGA care about you — or at least, they do in theory, since realistically farm consolidation and Trump’s tariffs threaten small farmers.
Returning to Obama, this whole milk campaign is a direct repudiation of his and his wife’s, former first lady Michelle Obama, health initiatives such as “Let’s move!”. The goal of these health campaigns were to decrease saturated fat intake, which was successful — studies comparing meals before and after the 2012 standards found significant reductions in the selection and consumption of saturated fats by students. BMI scores dropped as well. However, proponents of the reimplementation of whole milk argue that whole milk provides essential nutrients, pointing to some research that suggests children drinking whole milk are less likely to be overweight, and also noting that kids did not like the taste of lower-fat milk options, which led to waste.
“For the kids”/”Back in my day”
To the last part, a lot of this whole milk pivot is cultural. Generation X and Boomers support Trump the most. Their nostalgia has not been subtle, nor has it been free of white supremacist undertones (or overtones). There is a non-negligible aspect of this whole milk campaign that fits the “retvrn” bullshit that right-wingers make everything about. “When I was a kid, we drank WHOLE MILK.” We walked up the hill to school, both ways. We had REAL childhoods, we rubbed dirt in our wounds, unlike you, whose brain chemistry has been hijacked by greedy tech companies ran by billionaire oligarchs who don’t care if you mentally suffer, only that you keep scrolling. This validates us holding on to our congressional jobs and houses until we are 90 years old. Because back in my day, we had grit, we didn’t drink any of that low-fat stuff.
On that note, the idea is that this change is “for the kids.” We’ll discuss the actual details of the nutritional benefits, but the conventional wisdom among the MAHA and MAGA base(s) is that this will give children a better childhood, one like theirs. This is an important thing for the American Right to do during a time where many of their prominent figures and politicians are being named or implicated in the Epstein files. “We’re actually looking out for kids, it’s the Democrats that are hurting your kids.”
The switch from low or fat-free to whole milk fits into the grander hysteria among MAHA that the federal government is “poisoning our children,” and that children’s parents know best, not their doctors and other credentialed experts. So: is whole milk better for health than other types of milk?
Nutritional benefits debated
I am not a nutritionist. So, take this section with a grain of salt (haha).
The expert response to whether whole milk is better for health than other types of milk is mixed. Experts seem to say that whole milk contains the same essential nutrients as their reduced-fat counterparts, and new research indicates that its fat content may not raise heart disease risk (due to saturated fat content), as previously thought. Experts are using the new research to argue that while high levels of saturated fat from processed foods may be concerning, while saturated fats from whole foods may not contribute to heart disease. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, although vitamin and mineral content are the same, whole milk may better achieve satiety in comparison to the other options, therefore supporting weight management and enhancing metabolic health (because the combination of fat and protein content makes you feel full longer and possibly eat less).
For a comparison between plant-based alternatives and dairy milk, it is notable that those alternatives differ nutritionally. Most alternatives only contain one to two grams of incomplete protein per cup and are missing essential amino acids. These alternatives also often have long ingredient lists and are not always fortified with vitamin A and D. Their nutrient bioavailability may differ as well. However, you can get all these benefits from your food instead, such as eating orange vegetables, red or yellow fruits, dark leafy greens, fatty fish, and egg yolks.
Overall, whole milk is considered a good option to provide protein, satiety, and essential vitamins and minerals, which experts say makes it a nutritious choice when consumed in moderation.
Moderation is the key for whole milk consumption. However, as also mentioned earlier, the main issue with the new nutritional guideline changes is that the math doesn’t work out in regards to eating the recommended meat protein, cooking with the recommended cooking mediums (butter, beef tallow, and olive oil), AND keeping total saturated fat contribution to total calories below 10%. Foods made from milk that have little calcium and high fat content, such as butter, were previously recommended to be limited.
TLDR; whole milk may be better for weight management than its fat-free or low-fat counterparts, but it does not provide any edge in delivering key nutrients, and may not be beneficial if paired with too much saturated fat from other sources.
Intro to whole foods
Whole milk is a part of MAHA’s crusade against processed foods, instead promoting the consumption of whole foods. Whole milk is an easy first step and win for them for all the reasons already mentioned. We should expect to see more messaging on the importance of consuming whole foods from MAHA. This is a good thing and supported by science.
The Overton Window and raw milk
Some netizens have suspected that this campaign was a recalibration from a planned, then scrapped, campaign on raw milk. I do not necessarily agree, although I do think priming the public toward an interest in raw milk is part of this.
It is important to note that the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 is a bill that was passed with unanimous support in the Senate and a large majority in the House. Since there is no glaring downside of providing a whole and 2% milk option in schools (when consumed in moderation), the change did not face much opposition. It also may be a bipartisan signal of support to the dairy industry and farmers ahead of the 2026 midterms. It has been over ten years since Obama’s health initiatives on milk; milk in schools is not widely seen as a partisan fight to anyone other than Trump and the MAHA folks fighting Obama in their heads. Whole milk and reduced or fat-free milk do not have significant enough health differences — at least not compared to raw, unpasteurized milk. Actual, credentialed health experts unanimously agree that consuming raw milk carries an unnecessary risk, as it contains dangerous bacteria and viruses that are normally eliminated through pasteurization (Campylobacter, E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Cryptosporidium, and H5N1 bird flu).
As much as I think (read: know) this administration is crazy in regards to health, and Trump is letting RFK Jr. run the health show, I do not think they would have done a raw milk campaign this early. Instead, I think that they are doing what they have done with vaccines (which they are doing quite rapidly) and moving the Overton Window for public health toward the American public accepting things like raw milk. Having followed them for a year on vaccine policy, it is clear these folks like to salami-slice at first — then start tearing off chunks.
A white supremacist dog whistle
Your gut may have told you this. Or, you remember 2017-2018. Either way, you probably saw the whole milk health campaign (particularly the creepier parts of it) thought: this is some Nazi shit, isn’t it?
You are correct.
2017 4chan, lactase and lactose intolerance, and chugging milk
In 2017, members of 4chan’s /pol/ (politically incorrect) board started chugging milk.
The trend started when these 4chan users jumped on, and misinterpreted, scientific articles that described the genetic ability to digest lactose into adulthood (lactase persistence) as more common in populations that are of Northern European descent than other populations. The 4chan users exaggerated and distorted the facts from these papers, creating a board called “Enter the Milk Zone,” using the genetic data to promote the milk as a symbol of “white supremacy” or “white racial purity.” One protestor termed it: “an ice cold glass of pure racism.”
These losers took the trend to the streets. A little bit after Trump’s first inauguration in February 2017, alt-right figures and neo-Nazis started chugging half-gallons of milk while shirtless, on video, as counter-protests (called “milk parties”) to Shia LaBeouf’s anti-Trump livestream and “He Will Not Divide Us” art installation in Queens, New York. After this event, the hashtag #MilkTwitter, the phrase “Heil Milk,” and bragging about lactose tolerance went viral. Prominent white supremacists like Richard Spencer began using milk emojis on social media to signal their ideology to other white supremacists. MAHA is now using milk emojis with their hashtags in this media campaign.
Anti-“soy”
The milk chugging was also used to mock the perceived sensibilities of liberals, environmentalists, and vegans. Long before the chugging trend, drinking dairy milk was deemed by the Right as strong, associated with virility, and masculine, while the consumption of soy milk, soy products, any dairy alternatives was seen as weak, actively emasculating, and feminine (fuck off!). The milk chugging was an intentional provocation, designed to trigger outrage and gain media attention, because these losers’ parents hate them and they have to piss their beds to attain even a passing glance. Since then, it has retreated into more of a dog whistle than an overt symbol. But those who remember 2017-2018 recognize it, and with this administration, dog whistles are used so often that all of our ears have started to adjust to their frequency, making it easier to recognize them and call them out.
“Trad” influencer culture
Beyond the 2017-2018 chugging phenomenon, milk has been a staple of right-wing “purity” and “traditional” (“trad”) influencer culture for awhile. In addition to representing “racial purity” and “masculine strength,” milk, particularly raw milk, symbolizes to these groups a “retvrn” to idealized, pre-modern, “natural” living. It serves as both a political statement against “woke,” and fits a “health-focused,” “return-to-the-land/nature” (without respecting it, I guess) lifestyle and aesthetic.
Trad influencers and wellness scammers have heavily promoted the consumption of raw milk, claiming it has more, better nutrients and probiotics than pasteurized milk (it doesn’t), in spite of the risk of pathogen transmission. Raw milk is used as a symbol of rejecting modernity, industrialization, and “state-approved” food systems. The “Raw Milkmaid” (what about Halloween, sister? Or just cosplaying? You don’t have to get Listeria, queen) aesthetic has become popular, with influencers like Ballerina Farm promoting an image of homesteading and following traditional gender roles (women do all the homemaking and give birth to many children). These influencers are showing off their individual liberty against government regulation of dairy, positioning themselves as true anti-establishment heroes (although the capitalist establishment wants you to be servile woman with no education, but go off).
Even worse, right-wing influencers often link raw milk consumption with broader, far-right and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories such as the “Great Reset,” which erroneously claims that global elites are conspiring to replace dairy and meat with insects or plant-based products so they can “control the population” (?). Embracing whole milk over those sissy alternatives is one step in the right direction for this radical group that makes up part of MAHA’s base.
The dairy industry (“Big Dairy”)
As we discussed in the introduction of this article, the dairy industry is incredibly lucrative. Additionally, the dairy industry has a history of influencing the federal government. The two work hand-in-hand. So this whole milk campaign, which extends the type of milk that can be included in a government program, should be no surprise to us all. In addition to signaling to dairy farmers that people in government are thinking about them, this change signals to Big Dairy that their influence remains strong.
Got Milk?
The new whole milk health campaign directly references the “Got Milk?” advertising campaign by the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB) of the 1990s. The campaign was designed to reverse declining milk sales, which happened as non-dairy alternatives hit the market and became appealing to consumers looking to reduce their environmental impact and cut calories.
The “Got Milk?” campaign highlighted theoretical “consequences” of no longer drinking milk, such as decreased bone health. At the time, studies suggested that high milk consumption helped bone density because of calcium, but other studies now suggest its not as critical for adults as previously thought, provided those adults get their calcium from other sources such as leafy greens and fortified foods. Many studies exploring the relationship between dairy and bone health were actually even funded by industry organizations. Industry studies usually find a positive association, while independent studies find mixed results. The campaign was widely successful in convincing the public of these health benefits.
Since the campaign was run by the CMPB, dairy farmers, under government mandates, were forced to pay for these ads through the Dairy Promotion Program. The campaign benefited Big Dairy much more than smaller farms. “Got Milk?” fit the seemingly unscientific, industry-focused drive of earlier programs, such as the 1980s “government cheese” program, in which processed cheese was provided to welfare beneficiaries, Food Stamps and Social Security recipients — primarily because it was a way to manage massive dairy surpluses created by government price supports for dairy farmers. We could be seeing a similar situation here; little to no government support for We the People, but government support and bail-outs are always available for corporations.
Sometimes, we just have to do shit to keep the major eight-some-odd US dairy companies happy.
Publication: Roo McGuire Health will cover emerging public health topics in the US and globally, aiming to resist Trump’s anti-science agenda and provide credible health information during the current “information blackout” caused by government and academic funding cuts.
Author: Miranda Mitchell, MPH (“Roo McGuire”) is an environmental health scientist. Opinions are her own and do not represent the institutions she was previously affiliated with. She is a graduate of Emory University and Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, as well as a former intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection (OCHP) at US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters in Washington, D.C., graduate work-study student at US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Headquarters at its Roybal Campus in the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), and Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellow and full-time employee at US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) at US CDC’s Chamblee Campus. Her Master’s thesis, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID), investigated the potential transmission dynamics and genetic diversity of a bacteria in bats and their ectoparasites. Her areas of expertise are: health risk assessment, environmental health science, molecular biology, and infectious disease epidemiology. She currently makes public health and political educational content here and on Twitch.tv/roomcguire, while she awaits her first child. She hopes to pursue a doctorate sometime after 2028. She has never received any money from pharmaceutical companies or any other funding source other than individual subscribers and declares no conflicts of interest.