by Judson Phillips
The beloved holiday classic Planes, Trains, and Automobiles features one of the funniest scenes in movie history.
John Candy and Steve Martin drive the wrong way down a highway, oblivious to the danger. When concerned drivers warn them that they are “going the wrong way,” they laugh and mock the onlookers — until they face a speeding Mack truck.
The American people repeatedly warned the Biden administration that it was “going the wrong way,” but like Candy and Martin, it put the gas pedal to the floor instead of correcting course.
On Inauguration Day, the American people grabbed the wheel of its government and began a course correction — and within hours of being sworn into the presidency, President Donald J. Trump issued new marching orders to every government agency, department, and bureau, steering the government in a new direction.
Overnight, agencies with jurisdiction over our border transitioned from facilitating an invasion to being given the tools to end it. The Environmental Protection Agency shifted its focus from undermining energy producers to promoting balanced regulations encouraging innovation and job creation. Education policy pivoted from enforcing ideological agendas to emphasizing parental rights and local decision-making. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice began prioritizing public safety, cracking down on rising crime instead of pursuing politically charged and motivated cases. These swift changes signaled a renewed focus on accountability and prioritizing the needs of the American people.
President Trump has told reporters that one area that will see the most radical course corrections is our public healthcare infrastructure.
Good, because it certainly needs an overhaul.
This month, Big Pharma yet again increased the price of hundreds of brand-name drugs. This time, it raised it on at least 250, up from 140 the previous year, with more price hikes expected to come this month. These taxpayer-subsidized drug companies don’t care about us — they only care about using their connections in government to boost their wealth and influence.
Fortunately, Trump has thus far made cabinet appointments that are no friends to the drug lobby.
His selection of Robert Kennedy, Jr., who has been a longtime critic of Big Pharma, public health officials and their incestuous relationship with big pharmaceutical companies, to head the Department of Health and Human Services is tantamount to raising a cross in the middle of a vampire convention.
Likewise, Mr. Trump’s nomination of Stanford Professor Jay Bhattacharya as the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) represents a clear rejection of how public health officials managed the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bhattacharya, a respected epidemiologist, and public health expert, was a vocal critic of Dr. Fauci’s strategies and co-authored the “Great Barrington Declaration,” an open letter urging public health officials to reverse harmful lockdown policies that devastated small businesses, disrupted schools, and strained mental health while offering limited benefits in controlling the virus. His nomination signals a shift toward a more evidence-based to public health that prioritize individual freedoms and consider the broader societal impacts of public health decisions.
To complement these important nominations, President Trump selected Dr. Marty Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Makary, a renowned surgeon and public health advocate, was a staunch opponent of vaccine mandates and a vocal proponent of patient-centered care. He has championed greater transparency in healthcare pricing, criticized pharmaceutical companies’ overreach, and advocated for policies that empower consumers to make informed medical decisions.
As critical as it is to have strong, reform-minded personnel at the helm, it is equally essential to implement transformative policies—and that is another reason Americans are optimistic about Trump’s second term.
By selecting Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Trump has challenged the status quo and endorsed a whole-government approach to tackling the chronic diseases that plague millions of Americans. This includes confronting the root causes of skyrocketing healthcare costs, from drug pricing monopolies to conflicts of interest between regulators and pharmaceutical giants.
The task that awaits these three disruptors is enormous. Their charge will be to go head-to-head with the entrenched pharmaceutical/healthcare industrial complex interests that weave their way in and around Washington, D.C., power centers, quick to maximize their bottom lines at the expense of the health and well-being of the American people.
For example, late last month, as part of the original bill to keep the government open for FY 2025, some insiders in Congress proposed a massive windfall for the pharmaceutical industry by proposing legislative language that would inhibit the ability of businesses’ pharmacy benefit managers to operate. Business voluntarily hire these “PBMs” because they have a proven record of lowering their employees’ drug costs. Big Pharma knows that PBMs force them to sell their medications at lower prices, so they try to utilize their outsized D.C. influence to reign them in. Fortunately, the GOP-controlled Congress intervened, scrapping that legislation in favor of a slimmed-down version set to expire in March. But Big Pharma certainly isn’t resting and is still working hand in glove with many members of Congress on counterproductive regulatory proposals that would give them unfettered access to raise their costs.
While the Biden administration attempted to help them do so right before it left office, RFK Jr., Dr. Oz, and Dr. Makary won’t. They know Big Pharma and other big healthcare interests have had their way for too long and that time for those who have the best interests of the American people to have their say, not the entrenched corporate interests that are making us sick and keeping us sick.
They are just what the doctor ordered and will help to Make America Healthy Again as promised in no time at all.
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Judson Phillips is the founder of Tea Party Nation.
Photo “President Donald Trump” by The White House.