It’s August, the heat is on, and Americans are packing the beaches, lakes, and pools in everything from bikinis to board shorts.
But behind the sunscreen and sand castles, there’s a tougher truth: more than 70% of Americans are overweight or obese. That’s not just a cosmetic issue — it’s a costly, preventable health crisis that’s been getting worse for decades.
You’d think that would be one of the rare things we could all agree on — fighting obesity and boosting fitness for the good of the country. But in today’s political climate, even doing a push-up can apparently carry partisan baggage.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, some on the left have taken to treating physical fitness as a suspiciously “MAGA” trait. If you’re fit, lift weights, or even have a tan, someone somewhere might assume you’re a closet Trump supporter. That “if-Trump-is-for-it-we’re-against-it” reflex is turning a basic health issue into a political litmus test.
Case in point: Trump signed an executive order on July 31 reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test for public school students — a decades-old benchmark dropped during the Obama administration. His order made it plain: “We must address the threat to the vitality and longevity of our country that is posed by America’s declining health and physical fitness.”
The stats back him up. The CDC says childhood obesity is now at 20%, compared to just 5% in the 1970s. Among adults, 2 in 5 are obese, and only 40% of young adults are fit enough to qualify for military service. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling has warned this is hurting recruitment and national security.
Still, media outlets like MSNBC and The New York Times were quick to label the move “outdated” and “problematic.” Elsewhere, progressives have been tying strength training, wellness, and even tanning to authoritarianism and right-wing politics. One viral video even linked the popularity of Pilates and running to the “rise of extreme American authoritarianism.”
And yes — now tanning is apparently political. The Atlantic recently declared that “tanning is back” as an “ideology,” pointing to Trump and his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as examples of the bronzed aesthetic.
Lost in all the noise is the obvious: most people who work out, eat better, or get sun just want to live longer and feel better — not send a political signal. Turning fitness into a partisan battlefield doesn’t just hurt political discourse. It hurts Americans’ health.
