Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is urging President Donald Trump to tap Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo for the role of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director.
Gov. DeSantis believes Dr. Ladapo would be the best person to lead the top federal health agency.
However, DeSantis contends that Ladapo could also do more for Florida at the CDC than he can now as the state’s top health official.
“Overhauling the CDC would be beneficial to FL,” the governor said in a post on X.
“Joe could do more for FL as CDC Director than as FL Surgeon General.”
DeSantis agreed with someone who suggested that Ladapo “as CDC Director is the right pick, the transformative pick, the history-making pick, the pick that would save the Republic.”
He also noted that Ladapo is an advocate of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement led by Trump and his Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Dr. Joe Ladapo is all of those things and has the courage and determination to do what’s right when it’s not easy,” the governor declared in a tweet.
“Lapado as CDC Director means that MAHA [Make America Healthy Again] is not just an empty slogan.”
Trump announced that he was tapping former U.S. Rep. Dr. Dave Weldon for the role last year.
However, the White House pulled Weldon’s nomination earlier this month.
As a result, the president now needs to tap someone else for the post.
In a statement that has been posted online by the New York Times and Washington Post, Weldon said:
“Twelve hours before my scheduled confirmation hearing in The Senate, I received a phone call from an assistant at the White House informing me that my nomination to be Director of CDC was being withdrawn because there were not enough votes to get me confirmed.
“I then spoke to HHS Secretary Bobbie Kennedy who was very upset.
“He was told the same thing and that he had been looking forward to working with me at CDC.
“He said I was the perfect person for the job.”
Last year, DeSantis floated Ladapo for secretary of HHS before Trump announced Kennedy for that role.
In a post on X last November, DeSantis shared Ladapo’s photo and stated:
“Retweet if you’d like to see this man — Dr. Joseph Ladapo — serve as the Secretary of HHS in the new Trump administration.”
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