Kyle Diamantas, a 38-year-old Florida lawyer with zero medical credentials, is now acting FDA commissioner. His qualification: being Donald Trump Jr.'s hunting mate.
According to Rolling Stone, Diamantas was selected to lead an agency that oversees roughly one quarter of the U.S. economy—everything from aspirin to pet food to prescription medications. The FDA traditionally requires serious medical or scientific expertise. Diamantas is a lawyer who joined the FDA's human foods program in 2025.
In March 2021, Diamantas and Don Jr. posed together holding dead Osceola wild turkeys during a hunting trip. The photo appeared on Osceola Outdoors' website with the caption: "Don Jr. With his good friend Kyle Diamantas!" Five years later, that hunting buddy is the acting commissioner of America's most prestigious regulatory agency.
This appointment reflects Trump 2.0 politics: your network is your net worth. After President Trump's previous FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon, resigned following internal power struggles, Diamantas was the only deputy commissioner selected to step up.
The move has unsettled public health experts. Yale's Susan Mayne noted that Diamantas being the only credible option raises serious questions about the FDA's current state.
From turkey hunts to overseeing 1,000 employees and the nation's drug supply is not a career trajectory. It is a decision with serious consequences.
