President-elect Donald Trump is facing discontent from some of his own supporters over the man chosen to lead a key government agency.
On Saturday, Trump announced plans to nominate a Florida sheriff, Chad Chronister, to run the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). But the move has sparked a backlash from some of the businessman-turned-politician’s biggest backers, including Republican colleagues and followers within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
Trump has been busy assembling his cabinet and filling top agency roles ahead of his return to the White House in January. Most of the positions were filled by last week, with political analysts and voters split in terms of their opinions on Trump’s choices. Notable picks include former independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., billionaire Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) boss Elon Musk, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and TV personality Mehmet Oz, who have all been given key roles. But Trump’s choice of Chronister for the DEA has prompted pushback, even amongst the president-elect’s biggest fans.
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Who is Chad Chronister?
Chad Chronister is sheriff of Florida’s Hillsborough County. He has worked in law enforcement in the Sunshine State for 32 years and has served as Hillsborough’s sheriff since 2017. He is married to philanthropist Nikki DeBartolo (whose businessman father Eddie DeBartolo owned the San Francisco 49ers) and has two sons.
After Trump’s announcement that the sheriff was being lined up to take over the DEA, Chronister took to X to say it was “the honor of a lifetime to be nominated.”
Trump extolled Chronister’s career, noting various “commendations and awards” that he had received. He wrote on social media that Chronister’s leadership of the DEA would help “secure the Border, stop the flow of Fentanyl, and other Illegal Drugs, across the Southern Border and SAVE LIVES.”
However, the decision has proved to be controversial in some quarters.
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Why are some MAGA supporters against Chronister’s nomination?
Several prominent conservatives and those identifying themselves as MAGA supporters online have criticized Trump’s pick.
In March 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Chronister’s department had been responsible for arresting a Tampa Bay pastor, who had allegedly defied Covid-19 lockdowns to hold church services. The lockdowns were ordered to prevent the spread of the highly contagious deadly virus, but Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne was accused of running events at the River at Tampa Bay Church packed with hundreds of people.
Howard-Browne was arrested by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) on two second-degree misdemeanors, for unlawful assembly and violation of public health emergency rules. A press release issued by the HCSO contained a quote by Sheriff Chronister saying that the pastor’s “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.”
He pointed out that the church had “an advantage over most places of worship” because they had technology enabling them to stream services online to the 4,000 members of the congregation so they could safely watch at home. Chronister added: “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.”
The pastor released a statement in April 2020 saying he had the “utmost respect” for Chronister but insisted that his church had followed various safety precautions, including the use of hand sanitizer and social distancing for the congregation.
The charges against Howard-Brown were later dropped, though authorities stood behind the decision to arrest him in the first place. Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said enforcing social distancing was about “problem to solve, much more than a person to punish. Pastor Howard-Browne’s arrest accomplished the safer-at-home order’s goal, which is compliance with the law.”
Chronister’s decision to arrest the pastor has now been used against him by some critics, who do not want to see the sheriff promoted to high office as a result.
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, who represents a district in Kentucky, took to X to say: “I’m going to call ’em like I see ’em. Trump’s nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns.”
I’m going to call ’em like I see ’em. Trump’s nominee for head of DEA should be disqualified for ordering the arrest a pastor who defied COVID lockdowns. https://t.co/pHSmGr81Tz
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 1, 2024
While the Libertarian Party of Mississippi shared their own take on the decision: “Trump’s nominee for DEA arrested a pastor for having the audacity to…checks notes…hold church service.”
Some X users, who identified themselves as “MAGA” in their profiles, were equally outraged. “Totally makes him unqualified. Yuck!” one wrote. Another added: “No Covid nazis allowed anywhere in the administration. Automatic disqualification.”
But other X users, supported Trump’s choice and argued that the sheriff was just doing his job at the time. “If he was following the law then he was following the law,” said one commentator, whose profile was filled with icons of American flags and said she was an “independence conservative” from a military family. Another X user, who said she was a “Conservative attorney” added that “it was the first two weeks of covid when everybody was scared, he was following the law.”
Newsweek has reached out by email to Trump’s representatives seeking comment on the backlash against his DEA pick.
If confirmed by the Senate, Chronister would replace outgoing DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, who has held the role for nearly the entirety of President Biden’s term.
