Dr. Joseph Ladapo is living the good life now that he’s taken the reins of Florida’s Health Department. He’s got the support of the institution itself and he’s got a friend in Gov. Ron DeSantis, who hired him in spite of—and likely because of—his crackpot COVID-19 theories.

You’ll recall Ladapo hates lockdowns and masks but loves hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. The health secretary and the governor largely echo each other’s pandemic opinions, so of course Ladapo jumped onto Twitter to slam one of DeSantis’ political opponents.

Ladapo got a signal boost from the department, which at best looks like giving yourself a hug and at worst reads like propaganda.

Ladapo slammed Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who released data last week detailing cases of COVID-19 in public schools. “Ron DeSantis is lying to you,” Fried said last Thursday.

Fried, who Ladapo tagged in the first tweet of his thread, has consistently been at odds with DeSantis over his handling of the pandemic, among other issues. She’s also one of DeSantis’ opponents in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election.

It makes sense that Ladapo wants to remain in DeSantis’ good grace and is willing to go to bat for him. Those efforts are paying off immensely for Ladapo, who stands to make 52% more than his predecessor with an annual income of $362,000.

Ladapo benefits from a recent decision to boost salaries of certain public employees, with DeSantis authorizing a 72% raise for the maximum pay the state’s surgeon general can receive. He’s also raking it in through a Florida statute that incentivizes public employees to hold dual roles. Ladapo is a professor of general medicine at the University of Florida and receives money from both the school and the health department.

The Tallahassee Democrat breaks down Ladapo’s impressive paycheck in detail: The Florida Department of Health is paying him a total contribution of $250,000 for his roles as surgeon general and health secretary. The amount is the maximum “allowed for that position under raises for agency heads recently approved by the Florida Legislature,” the Tallahassee Democrat notes.

Ladapo’s UF salary rounds out the rest of his earnings and puts his annual pay $123,000 above former Florida health secretary and former UF colleague Scott Rivkees, whose state contract concluded Sept. 20.

Ladapo, who is the second surgeon general to serve under DeSantis and not, as he erroneously stated, the 25th surgeon general in Florida state history, stands to keep those pretty paychecks coming. DeSantis is largely favored to win his reelection bid and remain in office.