Between now and Inauguration Day, President-elect Donald Trump and his allies will undertake the Herculean task of appointing 4,000 people to his administration. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s campaign surrogate and bearer of the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan, appears likely to wield broad influence over who runs the nation’s health-related agencies. He has already started looking for candidates, albeit in an unorthodox way.

It’s still unclear whether Kennedy himself will be appointed to the Department of Health and Human Services or elsewhere, and so the likelihood of who he’ll recommend is even less clear. But that didn’t stop Kennedy from launching a web page to crowdsource potential appointees for government-wide posts. People’s choice so far standard MAHA fee of unconventional influencers, wellness entrepreneurs, and doctors with dubious claims to fame.

Public page, “People’s Candidates” allows anyone to submit names for consideration (apparently, a Boaty McBoatface status). Kennedy announced his exit in a tweet Just before Election Day. Users can vote and comment on nominations, while moderators handle more confusing tasks like flagging incomplete forms and grouping unnecessary submissions. The page uses an open source platform created by the company Discourse.

Unsurprisingly, many users want to see Kennedy in a leadership position like HHS Secretary. This idea looks fragile then Comments made last week By Trump transition leader Howard Lutnick. However, if Kennedy actually gets “go crazy” On health, he can look to those his supporters love, including doctors who spread Covid misinformation, prominent anti-vax figures and others resentful of the scientific establishment. STAT has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment on the site.

Meaning of CaseyThe functional medicine doctor with a focus on nutrition is a popular candidate on the portal. He is reportedly being considered for a job at the Food and Drug Administration, but STAT has not independently verified that claim.

Top candidates on the site include Simone Gold, who founded America’s Frontline Doctors, a right-wing doctors group that opposes and advises against Covid vaccines and protocols. ivermectin And hydroxychloroquine As Covid treatments. Large studies and meta-analyses have failed to support their use. (However, increasing interest in hydroxychloroquine in 2020 made it difficult for many patients who take the drug to relapse.)

Gold gained further influence among Trump’s fans when he was sentenced to two months in prison for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, following the failure of his 2020 reelection bid. Earlier this year, Gold was reprimanded by the Medical Board of California for participating in the riot.

Like many in the MAHA space, Gold has a health-related business. In 2022, it launched a membership-based wellness and telehealth service called GoldCare. “We offer a gateway to leave the Medical Industrial Complex, eliminate conflicts of interest between government and insurance, provide a path to wellness rather than managed disease, and put you in charge of your health,” the website says.

As of midday Friday, Gold had received 610 votes on the MAHA nomination portal.

People who hate vaccines

Kennedy fans also support other doctors who are famous for defying public health guidance during the pandemic. Some want to see their persecuted symbols elevated to public health titles that previously excluded Covid deniers and vaccine skeptics — a kind of poetic justice.

Pierre Kory is such a figure. He is the chair of the Frontline Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance and backed ivermectin before going all-out against vaccines, conventional medicines and pharmaceutical companies. His book, “The War on Ivermectin,” was published under an imprint run by Kennedy’s friend. Tony LyonsHe also started a pro-Kennedy PAC. Earlier this year, the American Board of Internal Medicine revoked Kory’s board certification for promoting misinformation.

Cardiologist Peter McCullough became internet famous as an anti-Covid critic by trading his job as deputy chief of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center for a podcast and 1.1 million followers on X. Childhood vaccine against Covid “should be at the top” #MAHA Priority over trans fats and fluoride.”

His McCullough Foundation does behind-the-scenes work: producing a wide range of media, funding infectious disease research, advising lawmakers on policy, and providing legal assistance in cases where doctors lose their jobs for spreading misinformation.

Sherri Tenpenny fits the bill as an anti-vaccine activist and osteopathic physician. He promoted the unsupported idea that vaccines cause autism and became infamous when he told Ohio lawmakers that Covid vaccines “magnetic” people who receive them and connect to cell phone cell towers. The Ohio State Medical Board revoked his license for failure to cooperate with an investigation. happened was quickly restored.

“It’s an incredible honor to be nominated for roles at America’s Department of Health and Human Services,” Tenpenny said in a post on Instagram on Thursday, urging his nearly 70,000 followers to vote for him on the MAHA website. He continues to run an osteopathic clinic and sell supplements.

wild cards

One of the contestants who appeared seemingly overnight is a social media influencer Gretchen Adler. Adler, founder of Gretchy, shares ways and tips for following an “ancestral diet,” avoiding seed oils, artificial sugars, dyes, and preservatives “at all costs.” She is one of a generation of online “traditional wives” or traditional wives who use a soothing vocal delivery, prepare elaborate cooking projects, and use an aesthetically pleasing environment to encourage a return to home life. Nearly 700 people voted online Friday afternoon to appoint Adler to HHS.

If Kennedy’s followers could choose the new FDA leadership themselves, it seems their first choice would be Zen Honeycutt, the founding executive director of the nonprofit Moms Across America. As of Friday, nearly 900 users had voted in favor of his candidacy. Honeycutt’s group focuses on environmental toxins and got Costco to stop selling the weed killer Roundup. (Kennedy worked as an attorney on lawsuits against RoundUp maker Monsanto.)

Honeycutt promotes the use of specific diets to treat “food allergies, autism symptoms, and asthma.” He also appeared in videos for Children’s Health Advocacy, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy.

A final wildcard, Joel Salatin, says he was offered a position as a consultant at the Department of Agriculture. A self-described “Christian, libertarian, environmentalist, capitalist, crazy farmer,” Salatin and his farming style have gained traction in online wellness circles. Kennedy talked about the need to invest in regenerative agriculture and small organic farmers.

In a blog post about the so-called job offer, Salatin blasted his enemies: income taxes, Big Agriculture, federal intervention in education, government lobbyists and public health officials.

“This is a turning point for taking a creative and serious look at our nation’s sacred cows and frying some serious burgers,” he wrote.

STAT’s coverage of chronic health conditions is supported by a grant. Bloomberg Philanthropies. Ours financial supporters We are not involved in any decisions regarding our journalism.