Joseph Ladapo passed up for RFK Jr. to helm HHS despite Ron DeSantis’ advocacy

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The Governor wanted his top doc in the Donald Trump Cabinet, but the process went a different way.

Florida’s Surgeon General won’t end up in Donald Trump’s Cabinet, according to multiple reports and the President-elect’s son.

Donald Trump Jr. announced that Robert Kennedy Jr. will be Health and Human Services Secretary, as news of the impending selection broke Thursday afternoon.

“Promises Made Promises Kept,” Trump Jr. said.

The President-elect is “thrilled” to make the announcement, meanwhile.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health. The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country,” Trump said.

A week ago, DeSantis floated a trial balloon for Dr. Joseph Ladapo for the same position. “Retweet if you’d like to see this man — Dr. Joseph Ladapo — serve as the Secretary of HHS in the new Trump administration,” DeSantis wrote in a post on X.

Ladapo, who is the second Surgeon General under the DeSantis administration and is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida, has been vocal about COVID vaccines and their side effects, among other issues, since he took over for Scott Rivkees during the pandemic.

Ladapo also appeared on the campaign trail last year with DeSantis at a “Medical Freedom Town Hall” in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Ladapo recounted the circumstances of his hiring on that occasion.

“They told me they had a vacancy coming up. They were looking for a new Surgeon General,” Ladapo recalled, saying the call struck him as “awfully strange.”

“A day or two later I had a job interview,” Ladapo said, and after the “fun interview” with DeSantis and former Chief of Staff Adrian Lukis, he got the job offer the next day.

Ladapo described DeSantis as “willing to do what he believed is right despite the opposition.” He also noted that he met Trump and that, while he has “nothing against” the former President, “there’s no one running in this election who has the critical qualities” DeSantis has.

DeSantis talked about Kennedy regularly while a candidate for President against Trump last year. He suggested he might “sic him on the  Food and Drug Administration (FDA), if he’d be willing to serve, or sic him on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” before amending his position to say he’d put Kennedy on a “task force.”

He also thought he’d get the votes of anti-vaxxers backing Kennedy for President.

“RFK Jr. will be a vessel for anti-lockdown and anti-Anthony Fauci voters if Trump is the nominee. If I’m the nominee, they all go to me because I stood up against Fauci,” DeSantis said in New Hampshire.

While Ladapo has been passed over for this key role, which was the only ask DeSantis had of the President-elect post-election, intrigue remains in the form of the political future of Republican National Committee Chair Lara Trump.

The President-elect’s daughter-in-law is lobbying heavily for the Senate seat being vacated by Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio. DeSantis has yet to announce an appointment. He’s in Italy through Friday.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


14 comments

  • 4 more years of libturd crying

    November 14, 2024 at 5:02 pm

    Scream at the sky some more libturds! I enjoy watching you suffer because you deserve it!

    • Along for the Ride

      November 14, 2024 at 6:36 pm

      You are saying fellow Americans deserve to be upset? Your neighbors and people you work with and who also care about America deserve to be upset. You don’t seem like a very nice person

      • 4 more years of libturd crying

        November 15, 2024 at 10:22 am

        You blue cultists are suckers who get played by your Dem masters who use your compassion to screw you over. You are a special kind of stupid and deserve to be victimized. Go watch the view some more sucker!

        • MH/Duuuval

          November 15, 2024 at 7:24 pm

          Trump White House Has Highest Turnover in 40 Years: More than a third of President Donald Trump’s original White House staff have resigned, been fired or reassigned. (US News and World Report)

          The figure was 93% for the entire term. (PBS)

          So much for the MAGA bellyaching about Harris’ staffing issues.

    • MH/Duuuval

      November 17, 2024 at 11:03 am

      Florida SAT scores rank 47th — and still dropping. (Orlando Sentinel, Nov. 2024)

  • PeterH

    November 14, 2024 at 5:45 pm

    Being a deplorable wingnut with zero medical experience AND absolute loyalty to Trump are the primary requirements for a cabinet position.

    Republicans who confirm these idiots will ruin what remains of the GQP’s reputation!

    • 4 more years of libturd crying

      November 15, 2024 at 12:04 pm

      Cry more, libturd loser!

  • Frankie M.

    November 14, 2024 at 6:05 pm

    Sounds legit. Heil Trump!

    • 4 more years of libturd crying

      November 15, 2024 at 10:23 am

      The box car awaits you.

  • Ocean Joe

    November 14, 2024 at 6:47 pm

    Donald is getting ready to mismanage the next pandemic and hired the perfect guy for the job.

    • Red Storm

      November 14, 2024 at 8:59 pm

      Anyone but that Demo activist Fauci.

    • 4 more years of libturd crying

      November 15, 2024 at 10:27 am

      Cry more like the bitch that you are!

  • SallyB

    November 15, 2024 at 12:22 am

    America’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, will NEVER appoint a nepotic carpetbagger from North Carolina to represent Floridians and the free state of Florida in the U.S. Senate. Sorry, Team Trump.

  • MH/Duuuval

    November 15, 2024 at 5:24 pm

    Looks like Dee wants to rid the state of Ladapo, kicking him upstairs to DC where he would be terminally out of his depth.

Comments are closed.


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