【AI前沿】Trump Wants to Be the Hero Vapers Don’t Really Need

Jamie DucharmeCultureMay 20, 2026 7:00 AMTrump Wants to Be the Hero Vapers Don’t Really NeedThe White House says Trump’s pro-vape stance is based on “gold standard science.” It feels more like vice-signaling to a demographic that often doesn’t vote—over products that are widely available.Play/Pause ButtonPausePhoto-Animation: WIRED Staff; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyIn December of 2019, Mitch Zeller, who at the time ran theFDA’s Center forTobaccoProducts, got an urgent phone call from a fellow staffer at the agency.A few months earlier, PresidentDonald Trumpand his administration hadvowed to take e-cigarettes in every flavor except tobacco off the marketto quash a youth vaping epidemic that, at the time, sawalmost 30 percent of American teens using nicotine.By the time Zeller received that December call, he says, theWhite Househad different instructions for the FDA: Limit the ban to pod-based vapes, likeJuuls, and leave menthol flavors alone.Zeller says this softer touch “absolutely” came about because Trump, heading into the 2020 election year, got spooked by pushback to his original plans. “The White House,” Zeller says, “went into political retreat.”Almost seven years later and well into his second term, Trump is vice-signaling even more aggressively to the pro-vape crowd and the industry that supplies it. The payoff is unclear, given that vapers make up a relatively small chunk of the voting public, and a vast illicit market is already there to serve virtually anyone jonesing for a flavored e-cigarette—but that hasn’t stopped Trump’s FDA from making things official.Earlier this month,reportedly under pressure from Trump, the agencyauthorized the sale of blueberry- and mango-flavored vape juicesmade by the company Glas, the first time the agency has given its stamp of approval to e-cigarette flavors other than tobacco and menthol. “Our data show that flavored products can play an important role in helping adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes, while our technology is designed to help limit youth access and support responsible use,” a Glas spokesperson tells WIRED.Still,according to The New York Times, that decision was the final straw for recently departed FDA commissioner Marty Makary, who was concerned about the products’ appeal to kids.Zeller, who retired from the FDA in 2022, says he doesn’t have a front-row seat to Trump’s thinking these days. But, he says, the push for flavored vapes “is consistent with everything that I have seen the president say publicly about how important the vaping constituency is to him politically,” as well as with hisapparently cozy relationship with tobacco industry executives.In a statement, White House spokesman Kush Desai tells WIRED, “President Trump consistently pledged to expand access to vapes in light of an abundance of recent evidence finding that these products are beneficial for Americans trying to quit smoking. The only guiding factor behind the Trump administration’s health policymaking is Gold Standard Science.” Desai did not respond to questions about Trump’s desire to appeal to vapers; he also referred questions about Zeller’s recollection of events to the FDA, which did not respond.There are indeed studiesthat suggest flavored vapes are appealing to adults as well as kids, perhapshelping some make the transitionfrom cigarettes to the probably-less-deadly electronic version. But Trump—a man who, in the lead up to the 2024 election, promised to “save vaping” and whose administration has been similarly friendly to other vice-adjacent industries, includingpsychedelicsandprediction markets—has seemingly been influenced by public opinion on this issue before.His original flavor ban plans gave rise to the “we vape, we vote” movement, a motley group of adult vapers and vape shop owners from across the country, including key swing states, angry about Trump’s planned crackdown.Eric Lindblom, another former FDA Center for Tobacco Products official, says Trump “immediately backpedaled” on plans to rein in the vaping industry in the face of such disapproval. “I think he learned his lesson there.”It’s unclear how much Trump and his orbit could actually gain from pandering to people ripping pods.Per The Wall Street Journal,Trump advisers said loosening flavored vape regulations was key to placating young MAGA voters—and in the wake of that decision,social media users have reportedseeing television ads thanking Trump for his stance on flavored vapes. But for all the political and cultural airtime it receives, vaping is still a relatively fringe habit. Smoking cigarettes has plummeted to historic lows, but more adults in the US still smoke (9.9 percent) than vape (7 percent),according to CDC datafrom 2024. The heaviest-vaping adult age group—21- to 24-year-olds—is part of a demographic famouslylikely to sit out elections.The bigger goal may be building bridges with the tobacco industry, which has ba