'The president thinks things through': Trump surrogate goes down in flames defending inexperienced VA nominee

Former tea party leader Amy Kremer on Thursday struggled to defend President Donald Trump's last pick for Veterans Affairs secretary.

During a CNN panel discussion on Thursday, Kremer attempted to explain why Trump had picked a physician without management experience to run the second-largest agency in the government.

CNN's host Brianna Keilar suggested that White House physician Ronny Jackson was nominated for the VA secretary post because he praised Trump's health during a news conference last year.

Kremer disagreed.

"I would say that he spent the last year every day with the president," she said. "One of the president's top priorities was reorganizing and getting better care for our veterans. And [outgoing VA Secretary] Shulkin is an Obama holdover."

According to Kremer, "the president thinks things through as a businessman."

Keilar asked Kremer to respond to Jackson's lack of management experience.

"Well, I mean, somebody that had the management experience has not been doing a good job," she opined. "So, as I said, the president was elected to be a disruptor, to change things. He is putting our veterans first and he's switching things up. And that's exactly what he was elected to do."

Democratic strategist Scott Mulhauser predicted that Jackson would have a tough confirmation process due to his lack of experience. But Kremer continued to praise Trump.

"We elected him to be a disruptor," Kremer repeated. "And if things aren't working as he wants, as he expected -- I expect him to make changes that will work. He wants to be successful. Remember, this is a man who gave up his private life to do this. He's not receiving any pay. He's doing it for the better of America. He wants to make America great again. And we know the president does not like to fail."

Watch the video below from CNN.