Trump's surgeon general pick to appear before Senate in highly anticipated hearing

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Feb. 25, 2026, 5:00 AM EST


Dr. Casey Means will appear before the Senate on Wednesday in a long-awaited hearing to discuss her highly scrutinized nomination for surgeon general.

Means, a popular wellness influencer, was a campaign adviser during Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid and an architect of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. Her brother, Calley Means, is a Kennedy ally and senior adviser to the Health and Human Services Department.

If confirmed to the role, Means would be an outlier among surgeons general: She does not hold an active medical license (her license lapsed in January 2024) and she did not complete her medical residency (she graduated from Stanford University School of Medicine but left a surgical residency program at Oregon Health and Science University in 2018, just months before she was due to complete it).

As a result, many medical professionals have questioned whether Means is qualified to become America’s top doctor with the authority to issue health warnings and advisories for the entire country.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/casey-means-surgeon-general-senate-hearing-rcna260526

[bucolic_frolic]

1. I'll stick with my YouTube doctors

At least they give good reasons for their ideas, and aren't pressed for time by insurance companies.

As I typed that, the initial throw was "endurance companies". lol, sometimes the fingers have a subconscious pipeline.

[marble falls]

2. I heard he's been preparing by going thru cycles in his laundry dryer with 20# of nuts and bolts.

[Ocelot II]

3. Why would Trump deviate from his normal pattern of carefully reviewing

as many unqualified crackpots, ideologues and and toadies as possible to find the person most likely to destroy the agency they manage through mismanagement, incompetence, fanaticism and blind loyalty?

[EuterpeThelo]

4. FFS

Would someone PLEASE make this Idiocracy stop!?! "A popular wellness influencer..." who "does not hold an active medical license" and "did not complete her medical residency."

[Scruffy1]

7. To me "did not complete" means she was terminated.

I have seen this happen more than once to surgical residents. To avoid legal problems the hospital does not give reasons and lets them go. It's no different than in corporate America. the only thing a former employer will reveal is salary and dates of employment.

[Ray Bruns]

5. Trump surgeon general appears before the Senate Committee

[travelingthrulife]

6. Another MAGA loser. Better not be one damned Dem vote for this charlatan.

[in2herbs]

11. If there's a dem who wants my vote in Nov they better not vote to approve this nominee. nt

[cliffside]

8. Kick, C-Span hearing link ...

https://www.c-span.org/event/senate-committee/surgeon-general-nominee-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing/440709

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Thanks! Here is the PBS News live stream on youtube

[cliffside]

13. You're welcome and to kick the thread a few articles after the hearing ...

Trump’s atypical surgeon general pick faces Senate scrutiny: Key takeaways

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5755656-casey-means-senate-confirmation-hearing-takeaways/

"... Means would be an unprecedented pick, not having completed her medical residency or having an active medical license. She is the sister of White House senior adviser Calley Means, one of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s top advisers, and a prominent “Make America Healthy Again” influencer in her own right.

Former surgeons general have spoken out against her nomination. Trump’s former Surgeon General Jerome Adams said of Means, “I feel strongly that the person who is leading America’s Public Health Service should be held to the same standard as the people he or she is leading.”


MAHA, Subdued

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/02/casey-means-confirmation-maha-subdued/686147/

"The nominee for surgeon general kept her most eccentric wellness beliefs largely in check at her confirmation hearing.

Casey Means has, to say the least, modified her tone. When she testified today in front of the Senate’s health committee, the nominee for surgeon general didn’t, as she is normally wont to do, delve into her experiences with psychedelics or endorse raw milk. She also did not rail at length against birth control. Instead, the longtime health entrepreneur and influencer emphasized her medical degree from Stanford—even though she does not have an active medical license—and sought out common ground with the senators cross-examining her.

Before her nomination last spring, Means—who dropped out of her surgical residency in 2018—embraced some unconventional theories about wellness. As Rina Raphael wrote for The Atlantic last month, Means has talked to trees, implied that natural disasters are a “communication from God,” and dubbed the nation’s health “a spiritual crisis.” When she appeared on Tucker Carlson’s podcast in 2024, she denounced seed oils and suggested that the widespread use of hormonal birth control was indicative of a cultural “disrespect of life.” She has also questioned the universal birth dose of the hepatitis-B vaccine...'

[mdbl]

10. Her first act will be to remove warning messages from cigarette packages

[BumRushDaShow]

12. The MAHA people might keep her from doing that though

MAHA is not for complete "deregulation" like libertarians but are for "selective regulation and introduction of woo".