#MakeBeefGreatAgain: A Cross-Platform Analysis of Early #MAHA Discourse

Researchers from the University of Utah and Texas Tech University analyzed 41,819 #MAHA-related posts across multiple platforms between September 2024 and January 2025. Using structural topic modeling, interrupted time-series analysis, and AI-assisted data annotation, they found that 81.3% of public posts did not engage with any of the five stated campaign priorities of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. The slogan, originally popularized by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and later adopted by President Trump's coalition, became a symbolic frame rather than a unified policy agenda.

Platforms clustered into three distinct discourse environments: grassroots partisan-support spaces, informational sources, and health-focused spaces. Each interpreted #MAHA differently, showing how campaign slogans are reshaped in fragmented digital environments. The study provides empirical insight into how public agendas form and diverge from official messaging, highlighting the challenge of controlling narrative in the age of social media.