The Surgeon General is thought of as the “nation’s doctor.” It’s someone the American people should turn to for medical facts and figures. While the position is a political appointment, it’s not supposed to be someone who is beholden to the president. But with Jerome Adams, it’s unclear where he draws the line. Even before the coronavirus crisis, CNN opinion writers Ford Vox and Arthur Caplan wrote, “The surgeon general is shirking his job:”

“As Trump has pursued policies toxic to health and public safety — on issues including gun massacres, pollution and the systematic abuse and endangerment of migrant children at the border — Adams has stayed bafflingly silent. He should stand up and speak out against what his boss is doing. Or he should quit.”
Not only is he NOT speaking out against his boss, but he also seems do be doing whatever he can to brown-nose Donald Trump. In March, the rather fit-looking 45-year-old declared that the 73-year-old, clearly overweight president “sleeps less than I do and he’s healthier than I am.” Trump has noticed Adams’s sycophantic behavior and has praised him for it, saying “We’ve created a number of new stars, including the gentleman right behind me.”
Trump clearly likes him enough to send him on a TV tour. He appeared on almost every major TV network in the last week, but these appearances have only served to confirm that the former anesthesiologist is clearly in over his head. His interviews have included some rather bizarre statements, like his comparison between smoking and coronavirus. Adams nervously told Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace that “more people are going to die, even in the worst projections, from cigarette smoking in this country, than are going to die from coronavirus this year.” Wallace quickly pointed out that smoking is something people do voluntarily.

Then there were his statements about how this will be “the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans.”

“This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment.”

Washington Governor Jay Inslee added, “I mean, the surgeon general alluded to Pearl Harbor. Can you imagine if Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, ‘I’ll be right behind you, Connecticut. Good luck building those battleships.’”

Then there are his numerous quotes that downplay coronavirus, like this Tweet from February.

It wasn’t just in February either. He made this statement in March:

“If we had massive numbers of cases we would be seeing more deaths. And so we actually feel pretty good that some parts of the country have contained it just like when you look at the flu.”

Yesterday journalist Soledad O’Brien confronted Adams about the way he has handled (or mishandled) the coronavirus response.