The Doug Collins TikTok Stunt: 5 Signs the VA Lost Its Focus
The VA set official footage of Secretary Doug Collins to mid-2000s club hits. Some employees say it put its leader ahead of the Veterans it serves.
Recently, the Department of Veterans Affairs posted a TikTok video featuring Secretary Doug Collins meeting Veterans, touring VA facilities, and doing push-ups, all set to a run of mid-2000s club hits: “Salt Shaker” by the Ying Yang Twins, “Get Low” by Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, and “Just a Lil Bit” by 50 Cent. The Doug Collins TikTok drew fast reactions, and not the kind the Department was likely hoping for.
Several female employees told AFGE Local 17 that the song choices were inconsistent with the dignity of the Secretary’s office and inappropriate for the VA’s official channels. This is not the first time AFGE Local 17 has taken its concerns straight to Secretary Collins. Reasonable people may disagree about that judgment. But the soundtrack isn’t the real problem. The real question is whether the VA’s official communications still exist to help Veterans, or whether they have quietly shifted toward promoting the Department’s leadership. Here are five signs the VA has lost its focus.
5 Signs the Doug Collins TikTok Shows the VA Lost Its Focus
1. The tone doesn’t match the office
An official Department account is not a personal brand. Pairing a Cabinet secretary’s facility tour with a soundtrack of club anthems blurred that line. The employees who raised concerns weren’t being precious about it. They were pointing to a mismatch between the content and the seriousness of the mission the VA exists to serve.
2. The content centers on the Secretary, not Veterans
Watch closely and the star of the video isn’t a Veteran, a benefit, or a program. It’s the Secretary. That inversion matters. When the leader becomes the subject, the people the Department is supposed to serve become the backdrop.
3. The shift appears intentional
According to a senior VA official, who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations, the video reflects a deliberate change in the Department’s communications strategy. If accurate, the Doug Collins TikTok wasn’t a one-off misfire. It was a preview of where the VA’s messaging is headed.
4. Practical benefits information is getting crowded out
For years, the VA’s social media did real work: explaining health care, disability compensation, and education benefits, eligibility rules, and the benefits Veterans and their families depend on every day. According to the same official, that Veteran-centered approach is being replaced by content built to chase views and center Secretary Collins himself. Every slot spent on a personality is a slot not spent helping someone claim what they earned.
5. Success is being measured in views
When the goal becomes engagement, the scoreboard changes. A post that goes viral looks like a win even if no Veteran is better off for having seen it. That is the quiet danger of measuring communications by reach alone: it can rack up impressive numbers while delivering nothing of substance to the audience that actually matters.
Veterans Deserve Better Than Social Media Stunts
None of this hinges on whether one song offended a few viewers. It’s about what the VA’s platforms are for. Every post on an official VA channel should be measured by a single question: Does it help Veterans better understand, access, or use the benefits they earned through their service?
The Doug Collins TikTok will scroll out of everyone’s feed within a week. The standard it fell short of shouldn’t. Veterans didn’t earn their benefits so a Cabinet secretary could go viral. They deserve leadership focused on substance, not slogans, and communications that treat their needs as the point, not the backdrop to a stunt.