Rep. Barry Moore: It’s Healthy to ‘Question our Government’

Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) discussed the erosion of public trust in government agencies and the need for Americans to question official narratives during a Breitbart News event Wednesday focused on improving Americans’ health and strengthening the economy.

Speaking at Improving Health, Strengthening the Economy, a Breitbart News event sponsored by the American Beverage Association (ABA), Moore joined Dr. Christopher J. Borgert on a panel moderated by Breitbart News Editor in Chief Alex Marlow.

Moore said the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent federal health mandates had eroded Americans’ confidence in government agencies. “Because of the credibility issue right now, within the agencies in government, there are a lot of questions citizens have certainly with the vaccine mandates and how quickly that was pushed out,” he told the audience.

He recalled a conversation with Dr. Jordan Vaughn, who served on a MAHA panel that included six outside participants and six establishment members. “The thing that he brought up to me is, the science is not settled,” Moore stated. “As we were questioning the research and the evidence, so often the government bureaucrats would say, ‘Well, we can’t prove that it works, but we know that it works.’”

Moore shared a personal experience that shaped his skepticism toward the federal response during the pandemic. “I had a son-in-law as an Army Ranger, and on the booster shot, he had a heart attack,” Moore recounted. “He was running five, six miles a week, and so he was in great shape, until he took that booster. And so we began to question, wait a minute—you know, this is supposed to be healthy and safe, efficacious, it’s going to work. And in reality, it caused a lot of damage to our family.”

Citing concerns about credibility within government health agencies, Moore noted he recently spoke with Dr. Vaughn, who told him that “so many of the bureaucrats had patents, and a lot of them are getting paid to do the research by certain universities,” which he believed reflected “a narrative driven by dollars, not community health.”

Moore asserted this pattern of misplaced trust in federal guidance extends beyond pandemic policy, pointing to long-standing federal nutrition standards as an example. “The food pyramid is a prime example,” he commented, noting that it probably was driven by the wheat and grain industry wanting to sell us more bread and cereals. “We’re finding out that maybe [cheese] ain’t so bad for us, and cheese might be okay.”

He expressed that a “healthy distrust” of government is necessary to maintain accountability and transparency. “Those are the kind of things I think we need to question our government,” Moore continued. “Trust has been eroded between the FBI, the Attorney General’s office, and now, certainly, with some of the health organizations or the government bureaucrats saying, ‘Oh yeah, this is the path for America.’”

Moore’s remarks built on his past criticism of federal COVID-19 policies. In a prior interview, the Alabama Republican condemned vaccine mandates for military personnel, describing them as a “purge” of service members who declined vaccination and calling for their reinstatement. He also joined a 2022 lawsuit challenging federal mask mandates on air travel, saying the rule represented “symbolism over substance.” Earlier in the pandemic, Moore was among several Alabama lawmakers who pressed the Biden administration to clarify its decision to restrict shipments of monoclonal antibody treatments to states, arguing the policy endangered residents in need of care.

Throughout his appearance Wednesday, Moore emphasized lessons from recent years underscore the need for independent scrutiny of official narratives. “I think it’s healthy to question the government,” he explained. “I’m kind of on the right of things—I don’t always trust what my government tells me.”