Vance hails Trump’s ‘bulldozer’ approach to MAHA summit

Vice President JD Vance praised President Donald Trump’s “bulldozer” approach to public health, calling it a necessary force that “just had to happen,” during a speech Wednesday at the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Summit.

The summit, held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, DC, focused on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement to improve nutrition, eliminate toxins, preserve natural habitats and combat the epidemic of chronic disease in the United States.

“That’s a good summary of Donald J. Trump is that he brings a bulldozer to the windows of Overton every day,” Vance told the HHS secretary at the event. “It just had to happen… One of the criticisms that Bobby will always get, and I always think it’s so bullshit, excuse my language… (is that) sometimes there’s this attack where people say the conclusion is not supported by science, or that this or that conclusion is a conspiracy theory.”

“Science, as it’s practiced in its best form, is that if you disagree with it, then you have to criticize it, and you have to argue against it. You can’t shut down debate,” Vance continued. “If you look at all the big public health debates that we’ve had in this country over the last 20 or 30 years… they’ve tried to silence people who were saying things outside the Overton Window. As we found out the hard way over the last few years, it was very often the case that the people who were outside the Overton Window were actually right, and all the experts were wrong.”

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Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. participate in a discussion during a MAHA Summit at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel November 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Vance added that the country could only progress if Americans felt comfortable with people “willing to challenge orthodoxy.”

He also pledged to keep Appalachia at the forefront of the conversation, pointing out that residents have higher premature mortality rates due to a long history of public health system failure.

“You know what really pisses people off — when they realize their loved ones die a lot sooner than everyone else,” said Vance, whose autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” details his own Appalachian upbringing. “It’s a big part of the story of what’s happening in Appalachia and why I think so many people in Appalachia feel left behind.”

Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President JD Vance greet the audience during the MAHA Summit in Washington, DC, November 12, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)

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He described himself as “the golden boy” of Appalachia, admitting that he feels guilty about the many people who grew up in families like his and who did not have an easy life or as many economic opportunities.

“It gives me purpose because I want these people to have the same opportunities that I had,” Vance said. “But it also gives me a great sense of anger, because we should never have gotten to the point where we are today. The reason we got here is because of the failure of leadership over generations.”

Speaking of Appalachians, he said they are people who, “even though they don’t have much, would take off their shirt and give it to a complete stranger, because that’s what you do.”

Secretary Kennedy and Vice President Vance on stage at the Make America Healthy Again Summit on November 12, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)

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“If you go back to America’s biggest wars – World War I, World War II, Vietnam – which countries filled their conscription quotas with volunteers rather than conscripts?” » Vance posed. “It’s very often in the deep parts of Appalachia that we live in crushing poverty, but we also have this incredible love of country.”

“So if there’s any place in this country that deserves to not be left behind, it’s Appalachia… These are people who deserve to live better, healthier lives, but they really have been left behind by the leaders of this country,” Vance added.