The new Veterans Affairs secretary got his job by lying about the president’s health and sucking up to the commander in chief — or so says Jim Messina.

Messina said this week that the U.S. Navy rear admiral and Obama-appointed White House physician, Ronny Jackson, is a professional and compassionate doctor. Messina then accused Jackson of being the sort of doctor who would lie about a patient’s health just to advance his personal career. Good luck figuring that one out.

Jackson, who has served as the White House physician since 2013, is set to replace outgoing VA chief David Shulkin, President Trump announced this week.

“Ronny was my doctor in the White House,” Messina said this week on MSNBC. “I went through some of the worst medical times in my life and he was there every single day for me. I traveled with him.”

Messina added: “He's one of the single nicest human beings you ever meet and perhaps the worst Cabinet choice of modern memory.”

Oh.

“He’s just Donald Trump’s favorite suck-up doctor. He absolutely has no ability to run the second largest agency in the federal government. Ronny’s job was to be the smiley guy who everyone loved and lie about Donald Trump's weight on national television. And now he’s going to try to fix the most broken system? He’s going to sit there and smile and be exactly what he is, a great guy, and they’re going to run over him like a steamroller,” the Obama administration alumnus argued.

Twist the knife a little harder, Jim.

Working at the VA is “a really difficult job,” he added, arguing that the Trump administration is suffering from a brain drain. “No competent person is going to want to work for Donald Trump.”

This is funny. We’re really going with the line that Jackson lied about Trump’s health earlier this year because the secret goal all along was to, um, depose Shulkin and ascended the throne at the VA, where no competent person would want to work?

Messina isn’t alone in embracing this lunatic theory that the man who has served as physician to both Trump and former President Barack Obama has secretly yearned for a bigger role in government. Reporters and Twitter activists have been floating this idea all week. Other Obama alums, however, don't seem to share Messina's zeal for trashing Jackson.

Former deputy chief of staff for operations of the Obama administration Alyssa Mastromonaco, for example, said in reference to the “ girther” conspiracies in January that, “there is no one better than ronny. no one. he is a saint and patriot.”

there is no one better than ronny. no one. he is a saint and patriot. https://t.co/rMTFZTdP2s — alyssa mastromonaco (@AlyssaMastro44) January 16, 2018



And let’s not forget that Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to Obama and often a happy partisan warrior on social media, was one of the first to bat down the rumors back when they first surfaced.

Dr. Jackson is a phenomenal doctor and a really great guy. He and his team took great care of all of us for many years — Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) January 16, 2018

Unless Messina knows something they don't, he could learn a thing or two from his former colleagues.