After Donald Trump’s first choice to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ended in a fiasco, the White House appeared determined not to repeat its mistake. In March, the president nominated Dr. Susan Monarez serve as the CDC’s new director. She moved through the Senate confirmation process with relative ease, and with Trump’s backing, Senate Republicans confirmed her in late July.
Monarez was sworn into office on July 31 — only to be ousted 27 days later after clashing with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But amid resignations and chaos at the public health agency, and as questions swirl as to whether or not the CDC will even survive Trump’s second term, someone has to lead the centers. For now, as The Associated Press reported, Monarez’s temporary successor is Jim O’Neill, who’s better known as RFK Jr.’s deputy at the Department of Health and Human Services.
A former associate of billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, O’Neill previously helped run one of Thiel’s investment funds and later managed several of his other projects. Those included a nonprofit working to develop manmade islands that would float outside U.S. territory, allowing them to experiment with new forms of government. He has no training in medicine or health care and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in humanities.
And while that record might not inspire confidence, the trouble doesn’t end there. The Guardian published a related report that noted, “During the Covid pandemic, O’Neill voiced public support for unproven treatments that were not supported by scientific evidence, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, as well as vitamin D as a supposed ‘prophylaxis.’”
The New Republic added in its own report on the acting CDC chief: In a 2014 speech, for instance, O’Neill — then managing director of Thiel’s Mithril Capital — proposed allowing drugs onto the market without first determining whether they even work. … He revealed in the same speech that, while working for George W. Bush’s health department, he opposed the Food and Drug Administration regulating firms that use algorithms in lab tests, such as biotech company 23andMe. He’s also a proponent of legalizing the organ trade. ‘There are plenty of healthy spare kidneys walking around, unused,’ as he put it during a 2009 talk — where he also argued in favor of generally leaving health care to the whims of the market. How long O’Neill intends to remain in the director’s chair remains unclear: The White House hasn’t yet announced Trump’s new CDC nominee or a timeline for the decision. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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