The Trump administration’s slashing of 10,000 full-time employees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) led to the firing of the architect of the Biden lame-duck war on nicotine.
The Trump administration moved to reorient the agency towards Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Health Again (MAHA) agenda.
Among the thousands of federal bureaucrats removed from their posts was Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief tobacco regulator Brian King.
King was the architect of many anti-tobacco measures by the Biden administration, including one measure that would effectively ban cigarettes by lowering the levels of nicotine in an effort to limit the addictiveness of tobacco products.
King also aggressively moved to ban menthol from cigarettes, believing it to be very addictive; however, there was much backlash from black nicotine users and Democrat lawmakers such as Rep. Don Davis (D-NC).
A Republican operative who worked on the 2024 presidential effort said, “It should come as no surprise that President Trump is removing the FDA architect of Biden’s war on nicotine, which hurt Democrats in 2024.”
“President Trump is smart to remove Brian King and the failed policy agenda that outraged Americans and ultimately contributed to the demise of the Harris campaign with a core voter group,” the GOP operative continued. “With President Trump in the White House, he is focusing on lowering costs for Americans and stopping illicit Chinese vapes from hurting our kids — not focusing on misplaced priorities like banning cigarettes for law-abiding adults.”
This anti-nicotine push led a majority of nicotine users — 56 percent — to back Trump over Democrat nominee Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election.
As Breitbart News reported in January:
Tobacco dip and nicotine pouch users were the mostly likely to back Trump; 62 percent of those users voted for Trump compared to only 33 percent for Harris.
Fifty-seven percent of cigarette users backed Trump over Harris, and 54 percent of vape users voted for the 45th president, while only 43 percent backed the outgoing vice president.
Forty-seven percent of Hispanic nicotine users voted for Trump, and 31 percent of black nicotine users backed Trump during the presidential election.
Protecting America Initiative launched a six-figure ad buy targeting the Biden administration over allowing Chinese vapes:
Americans for Consumer Protection spent $10 million attacking the Biden-Harris administration over the proposed menthol ban.
The multi-million dollar campaign also targeted black voters in Ohio about the Biden-Harris move to ban the cigarettes.
The Biden administration’s move to ban menthol cigarettes was later described as a “sleeper issue” in North Carolina.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
