Dr. Oz Is The Latest Trump Cabinet Member To Weird Us Out With His Over-The-Top Loyalty
Once a name in the "where are they now?" file, Dr. Mehmet Oz has re-emerged in a way few would have predicted. His run for a Pennsylvania Senate seat in 2022 was unsuccessful — thanks in part to his "crudité" campaign ad — but his conservative stance still got him to D.C. The celeb cardiologist stumped for Donald Trump during the 2024 election, and the president rewarded him with a plum job as the administrator for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare. Now, it's well known that the members of Trumpworld are solidly supportive of the divisive politician, but Dr. Oz just took his loyalty to a new level of weird.
Lara Trump, the former model-turned-Trump-in-law, posted a preview on Instagram of an upcoming episode of her Fox News show, "My View With Lara Trump." Her guest is Dr. Oz, who showed her around his office and pointed out "his favorite office decor": a large painting of the president. According to Oz, it's an exact replica of a picture displayed at Mar-a-Lago; the doctor was so impressed by it, he commissioned the painter to create a second one. It features the president looking off to his right with his chin slightly raised as if looking ahead. At the bottom of the painting is an image of the White House, illuminated by a sunrise with American flags in the background. Not surprisingly, the portrait shows Trump's ego knows no bounds. The surprising part is how Oz's over-the-top enthusiasm for it.
Did Dr. Oz take his presidential praise too far?
Ever since leaving TV, Dr. Oz has been praising President Trump with the passion of a fanboy at Comic-Con. Hanging a three-foot portrait of the boss in one's office is strange enough, but the way Dr. Oz described the president to Lara Trump was unsettling. He explained in the Instagram clip that the painting represented Trump's "brave look into the future, the willingness to sacrifice everything, to do the right thing." Yet the doctor also explained it was created after the 2020 election ... which the president lost. Is it possible Trump commissioned the artwork in anticipation of a win?
The former TV doc may have made a couple of missteps in the interview, though. He divulged that Trump doesn't know about the duplicate painting, and joked about keeping it quiet. Would the president be upset to know he's not the only one with this particular image? Dr. Oz also quipped that perhaps the artist just took the original picture from Mar-a-Lago and gave it to him. If so, "I wonder if [Trump] will notice it?" the doctor said. "He's probably too tired." Sure, we know Oz meant that Trump would be just too worn out from all his governing to pay attention to a blank wall. But considering the ways Trump is trying to hide his reported health issues, he might not be very happy to hear one of his cabinet members suggesting his age is catching up to him.