The US health secretary doesn’t think you should really listen to him when it comes to health issues. During an appearance before House and Senate committees this week,Robert F Kennedy Jr, famous for his unconventional views about medicine and his revelation that aparasite ate part of his brain, seemed to think it was strange that lawmakers were asking him about vaccines.
“What I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant,”Kennedy saidwhen pressed on whether he would vaccinate his child for measles. “I don’t want to seem like I’m being evasive, but I don’t think people should be taking advice, medical advice, from me.” The US health secretary repeated his refrain about not wanting to give advice a number of other times.
I, on the other hand, am desperate to dole out a bit of advice. Namely: it would probably be a good idea if a few people who actually knew what they were talking about were brought into the US government. I know, I know. Look at me being a crazy idealist! Still, at the very least, it might be wise to at least ensure that the people who are in charge of health issues know a thing or two about medicine.
Alas, judging by some ofDonald Trump’s latest appointments, it would seem that I am asking far too much. See, for example,Dr Casey Means, who wasnominatedfor US surgeon general last week. Means has got “Dr” in front of her name, which sounds promising, but she’s more of an influencer than a practitioner. Though she trained as a surgeon at Stanford, she never completed her medical residency afterward. Why? She says it’s because she was disillusioned with traditional medicine, but a former colleague told theLos Angeles Timesthat it was due to anxiety. Means also doesn’t have an active medical license. In short: she wouldn’t be able to get a job as a doctor at your local hospital but she’s being considered for the role of “the nation’s doctor”. As for experience working in government? She doesn’t have any of that, either.
What Means does have, Trump announced in a recent social media post, are “impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials”. That’s the “Make America healthy again” movement: a movement that is preoccupied with some very valid issues (processed food, corruption in the health industry) but mired in conspiracist thinking. Means has been on TV a lot to talk about Maha obsessions such asremoving fluoride from drinking water. She also makes money from dietary supplements that she promotes on social media and has co-authored a book with her brotherthat claims“almost every chronic health symptom that Western medicine addresses is the result of our cells being beleaguered by how we’ve come to live”. Which, of course, isn’t completely false but has been accused of being overly simplistic. Means’s brother, by the way, is also a prominent adviser to Kennedy.
So are all the Maha crowd rejoicing in the streets at the idea of Means becoming surgeon general? Not quite. Her nomination hasactually sparked Maha infighting. Some Maha voices think Means is not extreme enough, particularly when it comes to the Covid shot. These people seem to want a surgeon general who declares Covid was a hoax and bans vaccines altogether.
The far-right conspiracy theoristLaura Loomer, meanwhile, who seems to have become one of Trump’s most influential albeit unofficial advisers, isn’t happy with Means because she thinks she’s unserious.Writing on Twitter/X, Loomer said Means “PRAYS TO INANIMATE OBJECTS, COMMUNICATES WITH SPIRIT MEDIUMS, USES SHROOMS AS ‘PLANT MEDICINE’ AND TALKS TO TREES! SHE ALSO DOESN’T EVEN HAVE AN ACTIVE MEDICAL LICENSE.”
Loomer isn’t theonly one a little worriedabout Means’s enthusiasm for psychedelic drugs including magic mushrooms – which the prospective surgeon general once suggested in a newsletter helped her find a romantic partner. Psilocybin, a psychedelic compound found in certain mushrooms, is currently listed as a schedule I drug, defined as a substance “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”.
Means should probably be a little worried about what Loomer thinks, as Loomer may have played a part in ousting Trump’s original pick for the position. That wasJanette Nesheiwat, a former Fox News medical contributor and the sister-in-law ofMike Waltz, the former national security adviser. On X this month, Loomer called Nesheiwat “a pro-Covid vaccine nepo appointee” who “didn’t go to medical school in the US”. (Nesheiwat has said that she got a degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, but it would seem that she actually earned her medical degree from a school in Sint Maarten.)
Will Loomer topple Means before her confirmation (which hasn’t been scheduled yet) as well? I don’t know but I can tell you that if she does, it’s unlikely that her successor will be any more qualified. TheTrump administration, as we all know, has been waging war on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). If you’re a (non-Trump-loving) woman or a minority, it doesn’t seem to matter how many qualifications you have, you’re automatically considered a “DEI hire” and looked upon with suspicion. Many prominent people in the Trump administration, meanwhile, seem to be WTF hires. They are there because they’re white, Trumpy and often in the family of someone influential (or they have been on Fox News). Whether we get Means or not, you can be sure that whoever is confirmed as the nation’s top doctor will be completely unqualified to treat the US’s Trump-induced ailments.
Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist