President Trump’s decision this week to replace outgoing Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin with White House physician Ronny Jackson has rankled groups that work closely with the VA and unleashed a powerful new critic of the Trump administration.
Veterans service organizations have expressed concern and confusion over the selection of Jackson, a doctor and Navy veteran, to lead an organization that employs more than 300,000 people. His predecessor had gone into the VA’s top job with far more experience — both at the agency itself and in the private sector — but still survived only a year before the president disposed of him via Twitter after weeks of allowing speculation about his future to fester.
And the ousted VA secretary wasted no time in airing his grievances once he was freed from the restrictions that accompany working in the administration.
Shulkin embarked on a scathing media tour just one day after his dismissal, beginning with an op-ed in the New York Times, continuing with an interview on NPR, and culminating in cable news appearances later Thursday evening.
The former VA chief blamed his removal on privatization advocates within the administration, and he claimed his opposition to dismantling the agency cost him his job.
“The advocates within the administration for privatizing V.A. health services … saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed,” Shulkin wrote in his Times op-ed. “That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans.”
Shulkin went on to tell MSNBC later Thursday that Trump had spoken to him by phone, just hours before firing him, without mentioning the coming decision — about which he learned through a subsequent call from chief of staff John Kelly, moments before the Twitter announcement of his termination.
The White House spent part of Thursday working to refute Shulkin’s claim that Trump officials had pushed him to privatize the VA.
While administration officials had taken steps to “modernize” the agency, “There are no discussions about privatizing it,” White House spokesman Raj Shah told the Washington Examiner.
Shulkin’s journey from one of Trump’s favorite Cabinet members to the latest casualty of Trump’s frustrations was quick and severe.
The president previously boasted of the unanimous confirmation vote Shulkin, the lone Obama administration holdover in the Cabinet, earned in the Senate last year. Trump frequently touted Shulkin’s progress in reforming the VA as a sign his administration as a whole was accomplishing more than its detractors would admit.
And Shulkin claimed late last year, before controversy began to eclipse his record, that the personal chemistry he and the president shared was a major factor in his success.
“I think that for me, it’s just a good management style fit,” Shulkin told the Washington Examiner in an interview in November. “When we’re together, he’s very candid, he’s very inquisitive, he understands the issues very well, and we are able to have direct conversations. It’s not a lot of formality. I mean, it’s — I appreciate that, and it helps me in performing my job better.”
Shulkin’s replacement could perhaps cause even more headaches for the White House in the weeks ahead if his icy reception among veterans service organizations is any indication of the friction he will face.
The VA is a vast organization with challenges that go well beyond the medical field. With 170 hospitals, 1,061 clinics, and a sprawling benefits administration, the VA requires a level of experience in managing bureaucracies that critics worry Jackson, as a longtime physician, simply does not have.
“It takes someone with a great degree — a high level of understanding of how to run large healthcare systems,” Joe Plenzler, spokesman for the American Legion, told the Washington Examiner.
Amvets, another major veterans service organization, raised questions about Jackson’s qualifications for the VA job.
“I am deeply concerned about the nominee. Veterans’ lives depend on this decision, and the Trump administration needs to substantiate that this active-duty Navy officer is qualified to run a $200 billion bureaucracy, the second largest agency in the government,” said Joe Chenelly, the group’s executive director.
Past VA chiefs have brought to the agency resumes filled with management and healthcare experience.
Robert McDonald, President Barack Obama’s final VA secretary, was the former CEO of Procter and Gamble before he joined the administration. Shulkin was the CEO of several major hospitals and hospital systems before arriving at the VA, first as undersecretary for health, then as the secretary.
Jackson, on the other hand, has spent the past decade as a White House physician with relatively few managerial responsibilities. Although he has a warm personal relationship with Trump, his ability to take on the VA’s glaring problems remains uncertain.
Veterans continue to face long wait times when seeking care from VA facilities, and a number of VA hospitals — including the one blocks from Shulkin’s office in Washington — continue to operate under shoddy management and poor conditions.
