Calley Means is an American health activist and entrepreneur, the founder of Truemed, a company that worked to enable tax-advantaged medical spending on health products. He also served as a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), focusing on food and nutrition policy, from 2025 until he resigned in October. He was a key player in HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) program.
Recently, on Joe Rogan's podcast, Mr. Means presented some of his reasons for leaving the administration.
Note: The video will only be linked, not embedded, due to coarse language. Here's what Mr. Means said.
WARNING: LANGUAGE
The policy process is broken. It has to be fixed structurally. It's simple. But money in politics is a big f**king deal. And the leaders of the government - not President Trump - that I've seen. But you know, Susie Wiles, and she's the same as many others, left, right, use this importance of money as an excuse to basically, be antagonistic to what voters said, and you know, help gas station heroin. Help vaping. Help, you know, pharma companies. Help glyphosate. Those are, like... That's the issues that was being pushed out from the White House. It wasn't healthy food. At all. I had to f**king bulldoze that stuff.
And, I'm like, if we're going to block school lunches, and a quarter-page definition of ultra-processed food, that doesn't even have a regulatory impact, when Bobby Kennedy is the most popular figure in America, this is the most popular part of the domestic policy, not to mention that it's just critically important for the future of America that we continue to move the trend away from ultra-processed foods, which is literally destroying our country. And just hearing, just the lies, the lying to my face, you know, I'm like... The journey's still going. I mean, my goal, I think we're in early stages, I'm actually optimistic, I did what I felt was the best thing to do at the time, and I think when this type of subversion is happening, maybe the best thing you can do is tell the truth.
That's some pretty harsh talk. But this kind of thing isn't unusual for second-term presidencies, especially during the midterms, even more so after midterms, where the president's party has taken a real beating, as, candidly, what just happened in our 2026 midterms. These always prompt some finger-pointing, and some people will leave, some will change jobs, and some will be tossed out. It happened under Bill Clinton in 1994, it happened under Barack Obama in 2020, and it's happening now.
Secretary Kennedy, meanwhile, has a new ally in a key position: The new White House chief of staff.
Next to me, Stephen Miller is the strongest MAHA supporter in the administration. It’s time to unleash the Kraken.
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) November 6, 2026
"Kraken" may not be too strong a word for the rather combative Mr. Miller, and we should all look forward to seeing him in this role. It's going to be roundly entertaining.
Mr. Means, on Saturday morning, also took to his X account to sound a more optimistic tone.
There’s a revolution happening in the Trump administration right now. I am shocked about who I am hearing from - senior leaders throughout the government who are ready to take off the shackles and get BIG things done for the American people - which is what @StephenM and @POTUS want. I can’t stress this enough: some of President Trump and RFK’s strongest campaign promises deal with institutional reform that democrats ran on too - not innately partisan issues. Don’t let the media talk us down. We can get BIG things done in the next year - and Americans want that.
— Calley Means (@calleymeans) November 7, 2026
He writes:
There’s a revolution happening in the Trump administration right now.
I am shocked about who I am hearing from - senior leaders throughout the government who are ready to take off the shackles and get BIG things done for the American people - which is what @StephenM and @POTUS want.
I can’t stress this enough: some of President Trump and RFK’s strongest campaign promises deal with institutional reform that democrats [sic] ran on too - not innately partisan issues.
Don’t let the media talk us down. We can get BIG things done in the next year - and Americans want that.
That's what we want, indeed.
UPDATE: Republican Senator Ron Johnson (WI) echoed Means' comments in a recent interview on Fox News, pointing to the implications for 2028.
Oh boy.
— danny (@dabbs346) November 7, 2026
Ron Johnson says corruption is rampant "within the Trump administration."#wisen pic.twitter.com/jb5VT9wnvI
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