Trump taps COVID enforcer for law enforcement role
On Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Florida’s Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Medical discrimination
The appointment has raised protests from Republicans who recall Chronister’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chronister came down hard on unvaccinated police officers, for example, penalizing them for falling ill while accommodating vaccinated officers who contracted the virus.
“I put out a policy a few weeks ago that if you’re unvaccinated and you have to quarantine or you get ill, you have to use your own [accrued time]. If you’re vaccinated and for some reason you fall ill, the Sheriff’s office is going to cover your time off,” Chronister said. “This has to be for our 4,000 employees to keep them healthy but absolutely [also] the public.”
Lockdown enforcement
In March 2020, Chronister’s office arrested Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne, pastor of The River Church in Tampa Bay, for violating lockdown orders by holding prayer services. Howard-Browne was charged with two second-degree misdemeanors: Unlawful Assembly and Violation of Public Health Emergency Rules.
“I believe there is nothing more important than faith at a time like this, and as a Sheriff’s Office, we would never impede on someone’s ability to lean on their religious beliefs as a means of comfort, but practicing those beliefs has to be done safely,” said Chronister in a statement at the time, adding: “His reckless disregard for human life put hundreds of people in his congregation at risk and thousands of residents who may interact with them this week in danger.”
That same month, Chronister released 164 inmates to “slow the spread” of COVID-19 in the county jail. One of those freed inmates, Joseph Edwards Williams, was arrested for murdering a man just hours after his release.
Trump’s announcement triggered harsh criticism from Republican figures.
“I’m going to call ‘em like I see ‘em,” tweeted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). “Trump’s nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest [of] a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns.”
“Let’s revisit this after he serves prison time for conspiracy against rights for arresting a pastor during covid lockdowns,” political commentator Tim Pool wrote.
“Trump has made yet another outrageous and unacceptable pick in Chad Chronister. Absolutely disqualifying. Period,” said conservative influencer Viva Frei.
While most of Trump's cabinet nominations have won praise from conservatives, Chronister is not the only Trump pick to spark concerns among the president-elect’s supporters.
Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for surgeon general
Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, has also raised eyebrows for her stances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nesheiwat urged the public to wear masks and take the mRNA vaccine, which she called “a gift from God” that is “nothing short of miraculous.” She also recommended masking children in schools and injecting them with the experimental shots.
Most concerningly, however, Nesheiwat advocated for censoring those who questioned the vaccines and thanked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for suppressing them.
“First of all, vaccines save lives,” she told a Fox News panel. “And I am so excited, and I thank and I commend Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for taking action because this [vaccine misinformation] affects everyone. This affects our children, it affects adults . . . it’s about time that they are taking action and I hope and pray that other social media platforms will follow suit and do the same thing.”
Eventually, Nesheiwat appeared to reverse her approach, though she did not apologize for her previous activism.
Nesheiwat’s sister, Julia Nesheiwat, is married to Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), who Trump has tapped as national security advisor. In 2020, Julia served as Homeland Security advisor, after being appointed a year before as Florida’s first chief resilience officer.
Julia Nesheiwat has also been a member of globalist organizations like the World Economic Forum, where she sat on its Global Advisory Council, and is still a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. The Atlantic Council is a “think tank” whose board contains several former CIA directors and other high-level intelligence officials. According to congressional testimony from investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), is “one of the most established and influential full-time censorship institutions in the world.”
The Atlantic Council has been serving as a coordinating hub between tech giants and the State Department to censor undesirable political views in the US and Europe. In 2018 Facebook announced an “election partnership” with the Atlantic Council and authorized it to declare which accounts and posts were “election misinformation.”
Julia also served as an international fellow on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a globalist organization that arguably wields more power than the World Economic Forum or the Atlantic Council.
Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary
Scott Bessent, who Trump tapped as Treasury secretary, has worried Republicans with his strong ties to subversive billionaire George Soros. Bessent was a protégé of Soros and a key executive in his companies. In 1992, Bessent was instrumental in helping Soros “break the Bank of England,” one of the most daring trades in history. Though he eventually sought other employment opportunities after that, he returned to serve as chief investment officer at Soros Fund Management from 2011 to 2015. A year later, he launched a hedge fund called Key State Capital with $2 billion from Soros.
Bessent is also a longtime Democratic Party donor. He has made contributions to John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. According to the New York Times, however, he has donated to Republicans in the last few years, including $1 million to Trump’s inauguration in 2016. That was the same year he received the $2 billion from Soros to start his new venture.
Bessent has never been in Trump’s political circles, though he was reportedly friends with Trump’s late brother, Robert. This would thus be Bessent’s first time on Trump’s team. Nevertheless, the Times says Bessent has received support from key Trump advisors Stephen Bannon and Larry Kudlow.
