Well, well, well—looks like President Trump just tossed a wellness influencer into the hornet’s nest and called her the next U.S. Surgeon General. Enter Dr. Casey Means, the Stanford-educated, glucose-monitor-peddling darling of the functional medicine circuit, who, just one little hiccup here, doesn’t currently hold an active medical license. Minor detail, right? Well, not if you’re aiming to become America’s Doctor.
Now, in Trumpian fashion, the announcement came with a punch: Means has “impeccable MAHA credentials.” That’s Make America Healthy Again for those keeping score at home—a movement that sounds like fitness freaks and Whole Foods loyalists should back it, but instead is now having an identity crisis that would make a Berkeley sociology major proud. The MAHA crowd is splitting over this one, and that’s putting it lightly.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who, in an alternate reality, could’ve been on the same ticket as Trump—went to bat for Means immediately, calling the backlash “absurd” and blaming the usual suspects: Big Pharma, Big Media, and their merry band of fact-checking keyboard warriors. But not everyone in the “reform health care, not worship it” crowd is cheering. Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s former VP pick and Silicon Valley wild card, threw shade on X (formerly Twitter, because apparently everything needs rebranding now) claiming she was “promised” neither of the Means siblings would end up in HHS. So… broken promises, backroom deals, and sibling allegiances—nothing says 2025 politics quite like that combo.
Then there’s the elephant in the room: Means’ inactive license. It’s not just the red-state skeptics making noise—Trump’s first surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, politely pointed out that, historically, the Surgeon General is—you know—a licensed physician. Details, details. And lest we forget, the Surgeon General, even if their job is now 80% public health theater and 20% policy relevance, still has to wear a uniform and represent the Public Health Service. That means actually qualifying for the gig under, wait for it, federal law.
Let’s be real. This nomination has the fingerprints of Trump’s instincts all over it. Here’s a woman who left the traditional medical establishment because it was too broken to fix, started her own practice, and turned wellness into a Silicon Valley startup pitch. It’s a classic Trump move—shake up the bureaucrats, toss a wrench into the FDA playbook, and pick someone who’s willing to say the system is rotten to its core. It’s disruptive. It’s populist. It’s going to make Senate confirmation look like a barroom brawl at a Whole30 retreat.
And, oh boy, the vaccine issue. You’d think by now anyone aiming for a top federal health post in a GOP-leaning administration would have learned the lesson: if you’re not at least suspicious of Big Pharma’s cozy vaccine-industrial complex, prepare to be side-eyed into oblivion. That’s where Means might trip hardest. Her critics on the right aren’t exactly saying she’s Fauci 2.0, but let’s just say she hasn’t been aggressive enough in distancing herself from the jab-happy crowd. And that makes her vulnerable.
Here is President Trump’s new Surgeon General of the United States nominee, Dr. Casey Means, exposing the health industry and woke medical schools for six minutes straight.
It’s safe to say she is the perfect pick: pic.twitter.com/JuBKvjrfpC
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 7, 2025
Of course, her defenders argue that she’s the perfect candidate for this moment—someone outside the traditional system, someone who’s already been fighting the good fight against chronic disease and sugar-laced lobbying. Her fans see her as a crusader, a communicator, and someone who understands that being healthy isn’t about popping another pill—it’s about blowing up the entire corrupt medical model. Admirable goal. But the Surgeon General doesn’t just give TED Talks. They wear a uniform. They represent the nation. And they need, at the very least, a current license.
Casey Means was a Stanford-educated surgeon. Her brother Calley was a lobbyist for pharma and the food industry. Both quit their jobs in horror when they realized how many people were being killed by the systems they participated in. This is an amazing story.
(0:54) Who Are… pic.twitter.com/1oIVLvPlAv
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 16, 2024
So what happens next? Maybe the Trump team finds a legal loophole. Maybe Means rushes to reactivate her Oregon license. Maybe the Senate turns this into another primetime spectacle. But one thing’s for sure—Trump’s Surgeon General pick just became the newest lightning rod in the ongoing civil war within America’s health reform movement. And judging by the backlash from inside MAHA, the biggest fight might not be with Democrats or the media. It might be with Trump’s own allies. Pass the popcorn—and maybe a glucose monitor.
