President Donald Trump has once again run afoul of his MAHA coalition after congressional stonewalling forced a third nomination for surgeon general.
Late last week, the chief executive and his Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy (R), faulting him for “sabotaging” the appointment of Dr. Casey Means.
As upset as Make America Healthy Again proponents were for losing that fight, many expressed feelings of betrayal as Trump tapped radiologist, Fox News contributor and known vaccine proponent Dr. Nicole Saphier as his latest pick for the role.
Following the president’s announcement, Kennedy issued a statement with his own support for the “long-time warrior for the MAHA movement,” touting her experience with early detection and disease prevention as a means to tackle the “chronic disease epidemic.”
Dr. Nicole Saphier is a long-time warrior for the MAHA movement. She has worked closely with patients facing breast cancer and understands the importance of early detection and prevention. That experience is essential as we take on the chronic disease epidemic and put prevention… https://t.co/B33u6w5S1j
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) April 30, 2026
While MAHA stalwarts recognized the positives of Saphier, many could not look past the glaring negatives, including Turning Point USA’s Alex Clark, who posted to X, “The new surgeon general nominee … may have a great pro-life testimony, but she gets an F when it comes to all things MAHA.”
“Does the president realize that she completely trashed him and @SecKennedy on everything they’ve been doing concerning autism? She wrote an entire op-ed for @WSJ a few WEEKS ago called ‘The Madness in RFK Jr.’s Autism Method’. She is one of the most pro-vaccine advocates in medicine, even defending Hep B on the first day of life,” continued Clark. “Dr. Saphier would be a catastrophic mistake on messaging and communicating with MAHA at a time where the coalition is very fragile. It will be perceived as the admin breaking another promise to them and embracing the status quo in health care that ended us smack dab in the middle of the chronic disease epidemic we now find ourselves in.”
The new surgeon general nominee, @NBSaphierMD, may have a great pro-life testimony, but she gets an F when it comes to all things MAHA.
Does the president realize that she completely trashed him and @SecKennedy on everything they’ve been doing concerning autism? She wrote an…
— Alex Clark (@yoalexrapz) May 1, 2026
“My position isn’t to replace Dr. Saphier. It’s to completely DOGE the Surgeon General role. If we don’t, we risk accelerating the loss of one of the most activated voting blocs the GOP is already watching slip away,” she added.
That position was echoed by fellow MAHA advocate Vani Hari, who reacted to a past post from Saphier highlighted by attorney Tom Renz.
“Can anyone explain how this clown is being nominated for Surgeon General? This statement should disqualify her from practicing medicine, yet Trump nominates her for SG? This is literally insane and absolutely NOT MAHA,” said the lawyer who defended against COVID tyranny to Saphier, posting about a “Covid breakthrough” despite being “fully vaccinated.”
Hari wrote over both, “Doge the SG!!!!”
Doge the SG!!!! https://t.co/O6p4IpIskf
— Vani Hari (@thefoodbabe) May 3, 2026
Prior to the withdrawal of Means nomination, Trump had initially picked Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for the role. Both his and Kennedy’s dissatisfaction with having to change plans was stated publicly, with the president lashing out at Cassidy’s “intransigence and political games.”
The secretary added, “By sabotaging this appointment, Bill Cassidy once again did the dirty work for entrenched interests seeking to stall the MAHA movement and protect the very status quo that has made America the sickest nation on earth.”
President Trump’s Surgeon General nominee, Casey Means, stands as one of the MAHA movement’s most powerful evangelists. Her book Good Energy, which exposed the nation’s catastrophic decline in metabolic health, has become a bible for the MAHA movement.
After graduating first in… https://t.co/5drWu0DW8c
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) April 30, 2026
Saphier’s nomination followed the equally contentious nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz to serve as U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, likewise the third pick for the role during Trump’s second administration. Schwartz played a key role in the first administration during the COVID response in large-scale ordering of tests.
Noting that vaccine freedom is a preeminent concern for MAHA, Dr. Robert Malone’s early assessment of Saphier described her record as “genuinely mixed.”
Juxtaposing her position that COVID boosters for young children was a “political stunt” with her more recent promotion of the MMR vaccine as “important and lifesaving,” Malone wrote, “Read as a totality, the position is what I would call moderate-MAHA. She is pro-individual-vaccine on the merits. She is supportive of parental autonomy on schedule. She is critical of universal pediatric mandates absent benefit data. She is explicitly sympathetic to MAHA’s vaccine-safety-surveillance reform agenda. She is not, in any reading I can construct from the documentary record, an anti-vaccine voice in the medical-freedom register that, say, Children’s Health Defense operates in. She is also not, in any reading I can construct, a CDC-establishment-defending voice of the kind Cassidy is looking for.”
Ongoing reactions on social media were likewise mixed.
She’s a terrible choice, and it’s very disappointing to hear you are in favor of her.
— DB (@DLB0804) May 5, 2026
I’m actually ok with her nomination, if we want Trump’s nominees to get approved in a timely manner, it’s got to be someone that is middle of the road. I trust Secretary Kennedy enough to make sure that she supports his initiatives!
— Based N The SIP (@basednthesip) May 5, 2026
Not happy with this pick. Over the past few years her comments on COVID / vaccines concern me.
— Nancy (@NLowe2026) May 1, 2026
The broad MAHA community did not get behind Dr. Means. They did not make the calls. They did not push Cassidy. Did we really think Trump’s next nominee would be more MAHA friendly? MAHA better wake up!! Divided we fall.
— Elyse Young (@elyseyoung23) May 1, 2026
No. No. No to Saphier. Joseph Ladapo is the real deal. Nothing to hide. Can’t understand how his qualifications and track record do not get him considered. pic.twitter.com/acrKg9hEks
— Lolo (@Lolo5lolo6) April 30, 2026
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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