Storied American corporations are scrambling to prevent the federal government from cutting off a major source of their revenue by an incoming Republican administration that seems to be channeling Euell Gibbons to ostracize soda.
Perhaps the end is coming.
Yes, we’re talking about PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Kerrigan-Dr. Pepper executives running around like they’re mainlining two dozen 16-ounce bottles of Jolt Cola daily.
The reason for their duress?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump.
Six months ago, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo that subtly marketed unfounded fear of the safety of American tap water to create a $47 billion annual demand for bottled water such as Aquifina, Alhambra, et al would never have considered the possibility of a “lefty health nut” teaming up with Donald Trump as an existential threat to their respective 2023 bottom lines of $10.7 billion and $9.16 billion.
But here we are.
Granted, Kennedy hasn’t been confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Nor do we know if Trump is serious about letting Kennedy alter federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) regulations aimed at “Making America Healthy Again.”
It could just be bluster like Trump’s utterances to buy Greenland from Denmark.
The last time the United States got a European country to sell it a large chunk of partially ice covered real estate was in 1867, when Secretary of State Willam Seward convinced Russia to sell Alaska for a cool $7.2 million during the Andrew Johnson Administration.
Who knows? Maybe if Marco Rubio is confirmed as Trump’s Secretary of State, perhaps making an offer to buy Greenland will be on his to do list ahead of finding ways to turn down the heat in the Middle East and end the Ukraine war.
Speaking of Rubio, it should be noted Kennedy has a kindred spirit in the Florida Senator when it comes to the sheer lunacy of the $112.6 billion annual SNAP budget flowing would could easily be more than $5 billion to the soft drink industry.
No one knows for sure, because the United States Department of Agriculture doesn’t have any data.
Rubio, along with Rep. Josh Breeche (R-Oklahoma), co-sponsored legislation in 2023 that would have made soda, prepared desserts, and other sugary foods off limits when it comes to spending SNAP benefits.
Breeche plans to reintroduce legislation again next year but the Trump administration could beat him to the punch that would also make Hawaiian Punch ineligible for the modern version of food stamps.
The reason is simple.
Soda, and other sugary laden food items, are established as contributing factors in obesity that can lead to numerous health issues such as diabetes.
It is considered a large factor in growing health issues with those 18 and under.
Not only do federal SNAP dollars allow the purchase of such items as soda that lack any nutritional value, but then federal dollars are spent to tackle the health problems such consumption makes.
But wait — isn’t the Republican mantra that the government should stay out of people’s lives?
Who knows anymore.
One thing is indisputable, though. A large share of the population is fed by federal dollars. And many of those people get healthcare 100 percent on the federal dime.
If you want to reduce government spending that creates waste, the best way to do that is stop spending that creates the need to spend more money.
What’s rich about the entire SNAP vs. soda battle unfolding is that it has long been a progressive goal by some on the left of the political spectrum to impose local and/or state sales tax on soda sales.
The idea is typically to tax soda to the level that people shop drinking it or cut back. Of course, the tax money generated is proposed to be earmarked often for healthy eating and exercise aimed at low-income children, as well as helping fund healthcare.
That is insane.
Taxing it doesn’t address it as cleanly as simply stop using federal dollars to basically undermine a food assistance program supposedly rooted in nutrition to make it financially possible for those most vulnerable to develop habits that jeopardizes their health over the long haul.
Kennedy has noted, “it’s nonsensical for U.S. taxpayers to spend tens of billions of dollars subsidizing junk that harms the health of low-income Americans.”
That doesn’t even move the needle of the wacko meter.
It’s common sense.
But then again, common sense rarely prevails in a town like DC, where politicians that are blue and red horse trade federal dollars and adopt federal regulations to prop up chosen segments of the economy instead of building a stronger America.
Imagine what would happen if PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have no choice but to develop and market nutritional drinks and snacks if they want to keep tapping the SNAP dollars distributed to 42.1 million people.
That represents 12.6 percent of American consumers.
Of course, there is the little detail that Kennedy, in the post he is being nominated for, has no control over SNAP regulations.
That would be the bailiwick of Brooke Rollins, Trump’s nominee to lead the Agricultural Department.
She served in Trump’s first administration by overseeing the White House Office of American Innovation. Rollins is also former deputy general counsel to Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Rollins hasn’t publicly weighed in on her thoughts about SNAP dollar being spent on sugary drinks and junk food.
It is why PepsiCo and CocaCola are taking a large chunk of the combined $19.86 billion they made last year to sweeten the pockets of lobbyists to get in front of people close to Kennedy and Rollins.
Rest assured, the soda cabal will likely tear a page out of the tobacco playbook from the 1960s and start pouring dollars into the midterm campaigns in 2026 if they can’t stop the bureaucracy under Trump from turning off the spigot of SNAP dollars spent on soda.
All of this will set the stage for a question for members of Congress to answer: Are they more concerned about the Pepsi people or the people whose lives are impacted by federal dollars?
This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
