Dem
47
GOP
53
The circus also continued on the domestic front yesterday, as Donald Trump yanked the nomination of former Fox personality Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for U.S. surgeon general, and tapped Dr. Casey Means instead.
It's not entirely clear what sunk Nesheiwat. Last month, CBS reported that Nesheiwat misrepresented her résumé, and that her medical degree is not from the University of Arkansas, it's from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in Sint Maarten. Trump would not want to give a "victory" to the hated CBS, so he could well have sat on that information for a few weeks, so as to try to dispel any connection between the network's reporting and Nesheiwat's downfall.
The other leading possibility is that, over the weekend, whackadoodle nut job Laura Loomer went on an extended anti-Nesheiwat rant on eX-Twitter, in which she slammed the would-be SG for being pro-vaxx, a graduate of a non-American medical school, the "nepo" sister-in-law of former NSA Mike Waltz, and the subject of an ongoing malpractice case. It seems crazy that the President of the United States would be taking his cues from a loony-bird shouting at the clouds on eX-Twitter. But Loomer has gotten out her scythe and reaped members of the Trump administration before, so it's definitely possible.
In any case, having been burned by a candidate with questionable credentials and lingering legal issues, the White House looked around for a replacement and came up with someone... arguably even worse. Means is also nepo, as her brother is a close ally and adviser of HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. That suggests (accurately) that she's anti-vaxx, and also embraces all sorts of other "Make America Healthy Again" magical thinking and woo. Means also failed to complete her residency, and her medical license is currently inactive. Instead, she makes her living as an "influencer" who hawks various "health supplements."
We understand that anyone who is going to serve as surgeon general in the Trump administration is going to have to have some very... special political ideas. But, even under that constraint, can't they find a single person who is fully licensed, is actively practicing, and is not dealing with a giant malpractice lawsuit? Apparently not. (Z)