MAGA divided again: Trump's surgeon general nominee Janette Nesheiwat faces backlash led by Laura Loomer
Laura Loomer has reignited internal MAGA tensions by publicly opposing President Trump's pick for US Surgeon General, Dr Janette Nesheiwat , and vowing a new 'civil war' within the movement. Loomer's criticism centres on questions about Nesheiwat's credentials, her pro-vaccine stance during the COVID-19 pandemic and her perceived lack of loyalty to the 'America First' agenda.Loomer first attacked Nesheiwat on X, insisting 'we really need a new nominee for US Surgeon General' because Nesheiwat 'didn't go to medical school in the US' and is 'embroiled in a medical malpractice case' . Reporting by CBS News confirmed that Nesheiwat earned her MD at the American University of the Caribbean, not at the University of Arkansas as previously claimed, and is board-certified solely in family medicine, not emergency medicine . Loomer seized on this to accuse Nesheiwat of misrepresentation, arguing that a nominee with such discrepancies cannot be trusted with national health policy .Beyond credentials, Loomer attacked Nesheiwat's past on-air advocacy for COVID-19 vaccines. In 2021, Nesheiwat described vaccine hesitancy as a 'global health threat' on Fox News, urging widespread uptake to curb the pandemic . Loomer countered that vaccines are a matter of 'personal freedom and liberty,' decrying any 'jab mandate' and invoking the debunked claim linking vaccines to autism—a point directly contradicted by scientific consensus and multiple studies finding serious adverse events to be exceedingly rare .Hours after Loomer's initial posts, Nesheiwat's X bio quietly dropped the 'nominee for US Surgeon General' tag, prompting Loomer to crow, 'Interesting. Perhaps she's out!' . Despite this, the Senate Health Committee confirmed the hearing remains scheduled for Thursday, with no formal indication of withdrawal .This campaign marks the latest in a series of Loomer-led skirmishes that have shaken Trump's inner circle. In April, she celebrated the removal of National Security Adviser Mike Waltz after accusing him of failing MAGA loyalty tests—a bout of 'Signalgate' that pitted hard-liners against more pragmatic figures . She similarly targeted Gen Timothy Haugh, former head of US Cyber Command, and several National Security Council aides, branding them insufficiently 'pure' .Another instance of Loomer breaking the MAGA ranks was last year, over Trump's Senior AI Advisor, Sriram Krishnan, which divided tech-oriented libertarians and ultra-nationalists over immigration reform and 'globalist' influence in the administration . That confrontation, dubbed the first MAGA civil war , revealed deep ideological fissures that persist in Loomer's latest push against Nesheiwat.Proponents of Nesheiwat emphasise her front-line pandemic experience in New York City, where she treated thousands of patients and contributed to public-health outreach . They argue that her scientific background and media savviness make her well-suited to articulate health policy, especially given her expertise in family medicine . Opponents, led by Loomer, insist that any association with mainstream health messaging or vaccine advocacy renders a nominee unacceptable.
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NDTV
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