Looks Like Dr. Means is Dead on Arrival

Only in Trump world would a non-licensed physician be Surgeon General

The Surgeon General slot has now claimed three nominees in a single Trump administration. The latest casualty is Dr. Casey Means, the Stanford-educated wellness influencer and “functional medicine” practitioner, whose nomination quietly suffocated in Senate committee this week. Trump withdrew her name on Thursday and announced her replacement on Truth Social, in his customary style. The new pick is Dr. Nicole B. Saphier, a radiologist and director of breast imaging at MSK Monmouth, a satellite of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Trump praised her as “a STAR physician” and “an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR.” (The capital letters are his.)

Means did not survive the Senate’s slow-motion strangulation. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, chairman of the health committee, never publicly said where he stood on her. He didn’t have to. Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska refused to commit. That was enough. The math does not require a megaphone.

Trump nonetheless found h…