Trump's Chief of Staff Is a Tobacco Industry Lobbyist

The election of Donald Trump could mean a shift in tobacco control policy in the United States, given his closeness to the tobacco industry. The arrival of a tobacco lobbyist as White House chief of staff and the likely appointment of an anti-vax figure as Secretary of Health could have major consequences for public health.

Trump's election, a victory for the tobacco industry

The election of Donald Trump in the US elections was followed by an increase in the stock market value of major tobacco manufacturers. As reported in an article in the Wall Street Journal, the stock of British American Tobacco (BAT) jumped four points the day after the candidate's victory.[1]. The manufacturer's subsidiary, Reynolds American, was a major donor to the political action committee "Make America Great Again", which was in charge of financing the campaign of the former president of the United States. Under Joe Biden, the tobacco company had lobbied hard to oppose the ban on menthol, which represents a third of tobacco sales volumes in the United States, and 20% of the revenues of BAT and Altria. Despite the announcement of the ban on these products by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which was to be one of the flagship measures of the Biden administration in favor of health, the provision has been gradually pushed back. With the election of Donald Trump, the ban on menthol tobacco could be buried for good.

However, these products pose a major health problem in the country, since 81% of young people who used tobacco products report having started with flavored products, while nearly 90% of African-American smokers use menthol tobacco products, compared to less than 30% of white smokers.

A chief of staff lobbyist for the tobacco and processed food industries

Donald Trump's closeness to the tobacco industry suggests a sharp retreat in tobacco control policies in the United States. On November 7, the president-elect announced the appointment of Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. The Republican strategist, who has led Trump's campaign operations since 2021, is presented by Trump as one of the people who helped "achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history." In its announcement, however, Trump's team neglected to mention that Susie Wiles had worked in 2024 as a lobbyist for an American tobacco company, Swisher, while she was leading the candidate's presidential campaign.[2]. An investigative media outlet revealed that Susie Wiles sought to influence FDA regulations, without however declaring having lobbied on behalf of the tobacco manufacturer, while the latter paid $30,000 to her business firm Mercury Public Affairs, for the first quarter of 2024 alone. Various media outlets also point to various lobbying contracts between Donald Trump's chief of staff and the ultra-processed agri-food industry, such as Kellog's, Kit-Kat, Nestlé and Kraft-Heinz. Such conflicts of interest appear all the more problematic since Donald Trump, adapting his campaign slogan to a health component, had pledged to "make America healthy again". Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was tipped to be the next US Secretary of Health, even pledged to remove ultra-processed foods from school meals, a measure that the White House chief of staff's clients are currently lobbying hard against.

A potential Health Secretary with worrying positions

More generally, the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears particularly problematic for public health. The nephew of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election has distinguished himself in recent years by his conspiratorial positions relating to COVID-19, supporting the existence of a link between vaccination and autism, or comparing the restrictive measures during the pandemic to the Holocaust. According to a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate published in 2021, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is among the twelve personalities at the origin of two thirds of the misinformation concerning COVID-19 on social networks.[3].

Finally, in May 2024, a New York Times article revealed that in 2012, doctors had diagnosed that a worm had entered Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s brain, "eaten away part of it, and died," reporting "obvious cognitive problems" and "long- and short-term memory loss" in the potential next Secretary of Health and Human Services.[4].

©Tobacco Free Generation

FT

[1] The Wall Street Journal, Heard on the Street: Trump Wins Lights Up Tobacco Stocks, 07/11/2024, (accessed 12/11/2024)

[2] KFF Health News, Trump's Campaign Guru, A Tobacco Lobbyist, Will Be His Chief Of Staff, 08/112024, (accessed 12/11/2024)

[3] Center for Countering Digital Hate, Why platforms must act on twelve leading online anti-vaxxers, 01/24/2021, (accessed 11/12/2024)

[4] The New York Times, RFK Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain, 05/09/2024, (accessed 11/12/2024)