Classy!
How Trump's surgeon general pick uses her online following to make money
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/6/2326329/-How-Trump-s-surgeon-general-pick-uses-her-online-following-to-make-money
Classy!
How Trump's surgeon general pick uses her online following to make money
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/6/2326329/-How-Trump-s-surgeon-general-pick-uses-her-online-following-to-make-money
#CaseyMeans’ use of affiliate marketing & other methods of making money from her recommendations for supplements, medical tests & other health & dietary products raise questions about the extent to which she is influenced by a different set of #SpecialInterests: those of the #WellnessIndustry.
Means earned her MD from Stanford, but she dropped out of her residency program in Oregon in 2018, & her #license to practice is inactive.
Though scientists debate whether continuous glucose monitors are beneficial for people WITHOUT diabetes, US *#Health* Secy #RFKJr has promoted their use as a precursor to making certain weight-loss drugs available to patients.
The aspiring #Trump #SurgeonGeneral has built her own brand in part by criticizing #doctors, #scientists & government officials for being “bought off” or “corrupt” because of ties to industry.
The nomination, which comes amid a whirlwind of #Trump admin actions to dismantle the government’s #PublicIntegrity [legal depts charged w/combating #political #corruption] guardrails, also has raised questions about whether Levels, a company #CaseyMeans co-founded that sells subscriptions for devices that continuously monitor users’ glucose levels, could #profit from the admin’s health guidance & policy.
Still, #legal & #ethics experts said those #business entanglements raise concerns about conflicting interests for a #SurgeonGeneral, a role responsible for giving Americans the best scientific information on how to improve their #health.
“I fear that she will be cultivating her next employers & her next sponsors or business partners while in office,” said Jeff Hauser, exec dir of Revolving Door Project, a progressive ethics watchdog monitoring #ExecutiveBranch appointees.
#CaseyMeans, 37, has said she recommends products that she has personally vetted & uses herself. She is far from the only online creator who doesn’t always follow federal #transparency rules that require #influencers to #disclose when they have a “material connection” to a product they promote.
Yet as Dr. #CaseyMeans has criticized #scientists, #MedicalSchools & #regulators for taking money from the food & #pharmaceutical industries, she has promoted dozens of #health & wellness products—including specialty basil seed supplements, a blood testing service & a prepared meal delivery service—in ways that put money in her pocket.
#Trump's #SurgeonGeneral pick criticizes others' conflicts but #profits from *wellness* product sales
Trump’s pick to be the next US Surgeon General has repeatedly said the nation’s #medical, #health & #food systems are corrupted by #SpecialInterests & people out to make a #profit at the expense of Americans’ health.
#hypocrisy #law #USpol #PublicHealth #science #medicine
https://apnews.com/article/surgeon-general-trump-casey-means-affiliate-conflicts-8d8cb29defa07028dbd97fc24a72c474
“Let’s not kid ourselves, people who held eugenicist beliefs have always existed. Covid simply gave them permission to publicly express them. We went from being all in it together to sacrificing the elderly and the disabled because people wanted to ‘go back to normal’.”
My latest tells the story of my experience down the “wellness” rabbit hole after losing my Mom to cancer and nearly losing my life to medical neglect.
I genuinely believed that I could “cure myself”. When it became clear that wasn’t the case, my wellness friends abandoned me.
Told me I hadn’t tried hard enough. That I wanted to be sick. That I was “bad” for relying on medicinal and traditional medical care.
That experience shook me to my core. It exposed the eugenics beneath the false claims of caring.
It’s also why I believe Casey Means is exceedingly dangerous to the disability and chronic illness community.
They’re setting the stage to lay all blame on those who are sick, despite making policy decisions that create more illness in the first place.
It’s eugenics and it’s ramping up:
https://www.disabledginger.com/p/why-the-new-surgeon-general-pick
"Wellness" is eugenics adjacent, and not about health. It's about blaming disabled & chronically ill people for being sick.
It's about selling the comfortable lie that you can avoid disability through diet and exercise.
It's about disappearing those of us who challenge that narrative.
My latest:
https://www.disabledginger.com/p/why-the-new-surgeon-general-pick
Former #SurgeonGeneral Richard Carmona on #Trump's nominee for his old job: "Leadership in the Public Health Service must remain merit-based and above politics. Appointing a nominee who lacks the credentials expected of even entry-level officers in the corps threatens the credibility of this proud institution."
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5295964-i-was-surgeon-general-and-trumps-nominee-is-not-fit-to-be-surgeon-general/
"The list of reasons that the wellness influencer Casey Means should not be #SurgeonGeneral is vast" (and is included here):
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/opinion/casey-means-maha.html
#healthcare #extremism #politics #vaccines
Apparently the #SurgeonGeneral appointee is a huge fan of consuming raw milk. For anyone who grew up on, or near a farm, we generally refer to folks like this as “People who have literally never been anywhere near a cow before.”
#Trump's nominee for #SurgeonGeneral is a social Darwinist who got #COVID completely wrong. https://www.importantcontext.news/p/trumps-new-surgeon-general-pick-had?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1267172&post_id=163150592&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1aric&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
John Amato dives into the controversy surrounding Trump's nomination of Dr. Casey Means as Surgeon General after the withdrawal of Dr. Janette Nesheiwat due to pro-vaccine backlash. At just 37, Dr. Means supports RFK Jr.'s MAHA agenda but faces scrutiny over her lack of ER experience and an inactive medical license. This nomination has ignited heated debates online. Read more: https://crooksandliars.com/2025/05/trumps-new-choice-surgeon-general-has #Trump #DrCaseyMeans #JanetteNesheiwat #surgeongeneral #healthcare #MAGA #RFKJr.
My favorite #SurgeonGeneral story is about Luther Terry, who in 1964 released the report showing that smoking was harmful to health. He was nervous, and lit up a cigarette on his way to the press conference. His aide pointed out that if he wanted to motivate change, maybe he shouldn't be smoking.
Press conference happens. At end, reporter asks, "Are you a smoker?" "No, I am not." Reporter checks his notes. "When did you quit?" "Thirty minutes ago."
And he stayed quit.
Interesting
From CNN: #Trumos Former US #surgeongeneral: America is getting a crash course in herd immunity with the measles outbreak
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/20/health/jerome-adams-measles-herd-immunity
Judge Uses D&D’s Failure To Make Him Worship Satan To School Florida On Social Media Moral Panics
Opinion | There’s More to Wine Than Just a Cancer Warning https://www.diningandcooking.com/1816723/opinion-theres-more-to-wine-than-just-a-cancer-warning/ #AlcoholicBeverages #AudioNeutralInformative #cancer #MedicineAndHealth #SurgeonGeneral(US) #UnitedStates #Wine #wines
Headline: "US Surgeon General recommends cancer warnings on alcohol"
How cute – their Surgeon General down there "doin' stuff" in the final weeks before a gov-for-cash installation, as if any alcohol biz CEO wouldn't get it instantly reversed with a backroom deal.