Does Dr. Casey Means have what it takes to be Surgeon General? President Donald Trump nominates alternative medical health advocate after rescinding prior nominee, Dr Janette Nesheiwat, a FOX contributor and equally controversial figure amidst recent media spectacle.
President Donald Trump has opted to pick a conspiracy theorist and self-styled Make America Healthy Again ‘wellness influencer’ who is not currently licensed to practice medicine to be the nation’s next Surgeon General after deciding ‘at the last minute’ to cancel his previous nomination.
Trump decided on Dr. Casey Means after withdrawing his initial choice, Dr Janette Nesheiwat, a former FOX News contributor and relative of recently ousted White House National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, days before she’d been scheduled to go before the U.S. Senate for a confirmation hearing.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said he was choosing Dr. Casey Means, a practitioner of so-called ‘functional medicine’ who is a close ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, citing her ‘impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials.’
Means, who completed her initial medical education at Stanford University’s medical school but dropped out of an ear, nose and throat residency program at the University of Oregon and currently has no active medical license, according to Trump, would ‘work closely’ with Kennedy ‘to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans.’
Notes Daily Kos: ‘She is a believer of functional medicine, an alternative medicine that is described as pseudoscience and quackery.’
Of note, Means’ brother, Calley Means, serves as White House senior adviser and special government employee who has worked closely with Kennedy and has touted many of his ‘alternative’ health proposals.
While Trump declined to say what led to him suddenly dropping Nesheiwat, it is thought her ties as sister in law of recently ousted White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, may have been part of her undoing, along with Nesheiwat being previously brought on the country’s top public health official on the strength of her record as a television personality. A conduit of promotion that has since come under close scrutiny in the face of recent ‘media spectacles,’ and allegations of ‘incompetence.’
Trump has resisted calls to replace controversial United States, Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, also a former FOX News personality and whom worked in tandem with recently ousted Waltz.
Also thought to be weighing against Nesheiwat’s nomination were efforts on behalf of conspiracy theorist and MAGA loyalist, Laura Loomer who pushed for Trump to pull her nomination over her ties to Waltz and her support for vaccination against COVID-19, which she claimed rendered her ‘unfit’ for the job.
In a post on X, Loomer accused Nesheiwat of being ‘not ideologically aligned with Donald Trump or his admin’s health initiatives.’
‘She used her access to Fox News to promote the dangerous Covid vaccine, which is now killing millions of people. She tried to shame people who didn’t take the vaccine by calling them global health threats,’ Loomer said.
Loomer, in a social media post Wednesday, gloated about taking another ‘scalp.’
That though hasn’t stopped the ‘investigative journalist’ from going on to also condemn Means, with Loomer posting late Wednesday, ‘Casey Means, the new Trump nominee for US Surgeon General doesn’t even have an active medical license in Oregon when she established her medical practice.
How is the top doctor in the US supposed to give medical guidance and advice to the nation when she doesn’t even have an active medical license in the state where she allegedly practiced medicine?
Does Casey Means even have an active medical license in any state?? This is so embarrassing for the Trump administration. They chose a social media influencer who sells supplements who didn’t even support Donald Trump to be the US Surgeon General. Who is doing the vetting?????’
Worth mentioning, Loomer who is now become part of Trump’s inner circle had also called for Waltz to be fired following the recent Signal group chat leaking.
Casey Means helped launch the health tech company Levels and has co-written self-help books that pushed for more nutrition-based health remedies along with her mandate to ‘reform the medical system.’
Means along with her brother have also faced criticism from conservative circles following her father, Grady Means writing a pro-trans children’s book.
Trump had praised Nesheiwat during his November announcement, calling her a ‘fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health.’
Loomer’s push to oust Nesheiwat came on the heels of a recent CBS News report that called into question whether she’d been forthright about her credentials, specifically her education and background.
Last month, the television network reported that Nesheiwat had listed herself on LinkedIn as a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, the institution where she completed her medical residency.
The board-certified physician actually attended and earned her doctoral degree from American University of the Caribbean (AUC) School of Medicine, which is located on the Caribbean island of St Maarten.
It’s not uncommon for Americans to attend medical schools in the Caribbean, as those schools are known as having slightly more relaxed admissions standards than schools in the United States.
Despite her background, it’s at the University of Arkansas where Nesheiwat completed her medical education with a multi-year residency.
Jerome Adams, the former Surgeon General who served in that role during the first Trump administration, wrote on X that he did not know what was ‘more troubling’ to him, the possibility that ‘stigma against foreign medical graduates’ would have led to Nesheiwat’s nomination being withdrawn, or the possibility that it would have been due to her support for vaccines.
