President Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services quietly updated former Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine’s official portrait – and the name “Richard” Levine is back in the frame.
Richard – rebranded as Rachel under the Biden years – was vaulted into public-health leadership largely for the administration’s obsession with “historic firsts.” In 2021, Levine was made a four-star admiral and Assistant Secretary for Health, largely because he/ she was the first openly transgender official to hold those posts.
However, according to to NPR as reported by the Daily Mail, the Trump Administration has decided to resurrect Levine’s “dead” name of “Richard” on the official government portrait.
Emily Hilliard, the HHS Department’s press secretary, told the Daily Mail, “We remain committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health.”
Levine responded by calling the Trump action “petty.”
Levine’s spokesperson, Adrian Shanker (why is a spokesperson needed?) said the whole thing is an act of “bigotry.”
The Left, of course, is freaking out all over X:
Admiral Rachel Levine served as a top health official — first ever Senate-confirmed trans person.
The bullies running our country just changed her official portrait to her dead name.
We’ll change it back when we tear down Trump’s ballroom & remove his birthday as a park holiday pic.twitter.com/CdVjGgCMI2
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) December 7, 2025
And so, a single portrait swap becomes the latest national emergency for America’s terminally online crowd who stays permanently bugged by everything President Trump does.
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