RFK Jr.’s Ex–Running Mate Warns Someone Is “Controlling” Him

RFK Jr.’s old running mate thinks someone is controlling him—and it isn’t Trump. 

Former vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan was both surprised and dismayed by the nomination of Casey Means, a pseudoscientific doctor with zero clinical experience, for U.S. surgeon general. 

“Yes, it’s very strange. Doesn’t make any sense. I was promised that if I supported RFK Jr. in his Senate confirmation that neither of these siblings would be working under HHS or in an appointment (and that people much more qualified would be). I don’t know if RFK very clearly lied to me, or what is going on,” Shanahan wrote on X Wednesday evening. “It has been clear in recent conversations that he is reporting to someone regularly who is controlling his decisions (and it isn’t President Trump). With regards to the siblings, there is something very artificial and aggressive about them, almost like they were bred and raised Manchurian assets.”

The other sibling Shanahan is referring to is Means’s brother Calley, who is an adviser to RFK Jr.

There’s a lot going on here. What’s actually strange is how shocked and betrayed Shanahan seems to feel about this. The man whose ticket she ran on has for decades pushed conspiracy theories about vaccines causing autism, Black people having naturally stronger immune systems, and the Covid-19 pandemic being prolonged by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates, among other views. This all sounds perfectly in line with someone like Means, a snake oil salesman who has called vaccine mandates “criminal.” 

And who does she possibly think is controlling RFK Jr. if not Donald Trump? Laura Loomer? QAnon? His MAHA disciples? The remnants of the worm in his brain? It’s likely RFK Jr. is just lying to Shanahan in these “recent conversations” they’ve had. She might even be lying to herself. 

“Calley and Dr. Casey Means, siblings on a mission to end corruption and help Make America Healthy Again,” Shanahan wrote in response to a post from Calley Means last September. Means thanked her and called her an inspiration. What changed between now and then?

Someone here is misrepresenting their views on the Means nomination. It’d be helpful if Shanahan started naming some names as to who this mysterious puppet master controlling RFK Jr. is. 

Donald Trump threw yet another tantrum Thursday about Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s latest alert that the president’s tariffs will cripple economic growth.

“‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Other than that, I like him very much!

“Oil and Energy way down, almost all costs (groceries and ‘eggs’) down, virtually NO INFLATION, Tariff Money Pouring Into the U.S.—THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF ‘TOO LATE!’ ENJOY!” Trump added.

The Federal Reserve chair issued a fresh warning Wednesday about inevitable stagflation. “If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they’re likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and an increase in unemployment,” said Powell.

Since first imposing his sweeping “reciprocal” tariff policy, Trump has repeatedly attacked Powell for not lowering the interest rates to offset any economic damage, dubbing him “Mr. Too Late” and “a major loser,” and even calling for his termination.

As tariff tensions rise, Trump has taken to pushing his own lies about prices.

While the price of oil has been falling, it spiked Thursday, buoyed by optimism about trade talks between the U.S. and China. That has not, however, translated into cheaper prices at the gas pump. Trump has repeatedly claimed the price of gas is only $1.98, but U.S. drivers were actually paying more than $3 a gallon as of Monday.

Trump’s claims about the falling price of groceries are also questionable.

“I’m not aware of any data that supports that,” said Tucker Balch, a finance professor at Emory University, who spoke to ABC News about Trump’s claims of lowered prices in the checkout aisle. The already high prices of groceries have stayed relatively stable throughout the first 100 days of Trump’s presidential term, according to data from the federal government.

Trump has also lied about how much money his tariffs are actually making. In April, he claimed that they were raking in $2 billion per day. In reality, they’d collected closer to $250 million each day, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Last week, Senator John Fetterman held what would normally be a friendly meeting with Pennsylvania’s largest teachers’ union.

Representatives from the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the National Education Association praised Fetterman for defending public education. But when the subject turned to asking Fetterman to take stronger actions against the Trump administration’s education cuts, the senator’s mood took a turn.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Fetterman started yelling and banging his fists on a desk at the five union representatives before him, asking them what they wanted from him. He shouted, “Everybody is mad at me,” “Why does everyone hate me?” and “What did I ever do?” beginning to repeat himself.

The meeting quickly fell apart, with a staffer for the senator ushering the representatives into the hallway before she broke down in tears. The outburst from Fetterman seemed to show a disturbing pattern in the senator’s mental health, especially as just one day later, a story was published by New York magazine painting a picture of Fetterman as unrecognizable to his own staff following a 2022 stroke.

In a statement to the Inquirer, Fetterman defended the meeting as “a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration’s cuts to our education system.

“As a proud product of PSEA, I will always support our teachers, and I will always reject anyone’s attempt to turn Pennsylvania’s public schools into a voucher program,” the statement read.

The Inquirer spoke to several former Fetterman staffers anonymously who said that Fetterman wasn’t living up to his duties as a senator. His sharp, zero-sum advocacy for Israel and antipathy toward Palestinians amid Israel’s war on Gaza has alienated staff and constituents. He frequently misses meetings and votes, avoids colleagues, and spends many hours on Capitol Hill alone in his office.

“It’s pretty impossible to overstate how disengaged he is,” said one former Fetterman staffer. “He doesn’t read memos, he’s taking very few meetings.… The job is just a platform for him to run for president; that’s all he cares about.”

Fetterman has the third-worst voting attendance record in the Senate this year, missing 29 of 236 votes, and in the past two years, he has the lowest voting attendance record of any senator. He’s only made one public appearance in Pennsylvania since August. It’s a shocking turn for a man who started his political career as the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, helping to rebuild the Rust Belt town. Now, it seems that he ought to leave politics and focus on his health and well-being.

Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general is beyond unqualified. The president has selected Casey Means, a self-described “wellness influencer” from the Make America Healthy Again ranks, to serve as highest public health official in the land.

“I am pleased to announce that Dr. Casey Means, will be nominated as our next Surgeon General of the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday. “Casey has impeccable ‘MAHA’ credentials, and will work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to ensure a successful implementation of our Agenda in order to reverse the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and ensure Great Health, in the future, for ALL Americans. Her academic achievements, together with her life’s work, are absolutely outstanding. Dr. Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History. Congratulations to Casey!”

Trump’s original nominee, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, was axed for not being sufficiently kooky enough for the likes of Laura Loomer.

“[Nesheiwat] used her access to Fox News to promote the dangerous Covid vaccine, which is now killing millions of people,” Loomer wrote on X this week. “She tried to shame people who didn’t take the vaccine by calling them global health threats. Vaccines are a matter of PERSONAL HEALTH FREEDOM.”

Means has no active medical license, as she dropped out of her residency after becoming “disillusioned” with basic medicine. She instead decided to commit herself to alternative medicine.

She also has unsurprisingly controversial views on vaccination.

“I have said innumerable times publicly I think vaccine mandates are criminal. I think corruption in the FDA is overwhelming. I think RFK is doing God’s work in calling all this out,” Means wrote on X last November.

“There is no benefit to the baby or the wider population for a child to get this vaccine who is not at risk for sexual or IV transmission. There is only risk. Kids who don’t have this unnecessary pharmaceutical can’t go to school in many states,” she wrote in August, referring to the hepatitis B vaccine. “EVERYONE should become curious about why these interventions are institutionally jammed down our throats and people are made to be heretical whackos for questioning it.”

Actual medical professionals raised immediate alarm after news of Means’s nomination broke.

“Casey Means is a grifter who dropped out of ENT residency & start a company selling glucose monitors & health all to non-diabetics. She doesn’t know basic science, yet claims she’s a metabolism expert,” scientist Dr. Andrea Love wrote on X. “Incomplete ENT residency ≠ expert. Of course she’s up for Surgeon General.”

More information about Means’s confirmation hearing schedule is expected in the coming weeks.

* This story has been updated to note that her medical degree is not active.

Jerome Powell has once again said what everyone except Trump seems to already know: Lowering inflation while enacting staggering tariffs is virtually impossible.

“If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they’re likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and an increase in unemployment,” the Federal Reserve chair said on Wednesday. “The effects on inflation could be short-lived, reflecting a one-time shift in the price level. It is also possible that the inflationary effects could instead be more persistent. Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the tariff effects, on how long it takes for them to pass through fully into prices, and ultimately on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well-anchored.”

This is exactly what Trump doesn’t want the American public to hear. The president has repeatedly attacked Powell for his honesty, referring to him as “Mr. Too Late” and “a major loser,” and calling for his termination after Powell correctly noted that wanton tariffs cause inflation.

Though Powell didn’t name it, he was clearly referring to “stagflation: slow GDP growth, high inflation, and high unemployment. The Federal Reserve refused to cut interest rates on Wednesday, as Powell described the concerns with Trump’s economic plans.

“Donald Trump’s tariffs mean you could suffer higher prices and lose your job AT THE SAME TIME, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote on X. “Forget dolls, families will be forced to make impossible choices between necessities like food, housing, and health care.”

Trump’s trade war loses a lot of validity when people like Powell call it what it is: a tax on top of an already high cost of living for everyday people.