“Suckers of America” - Trump’s Prescription Drug Executive Order Demands Global Price Match
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
199.15195
Summary
Pat and Adam discuss a story about a guy who takes a fat shot and thinks it's funny, and why that's not what comedy should be about. Plus, how Trump personifies his friend and personifies drugs and STDs in a funny way.
Transcript
00:00:02.240
This is a video you were talking about, and I accidentally saw it yesterday.
00:00:13.960
You guys, when you watch this video, Brandon, if you want to pull it up,
00:00:20.880
Whatever you're doing, put your coffee down because you're going to spill it on yourself.
00:00:28.620
A friend of mine who's a business man, very, very, very top guy.
00:00:36.140
Highly neurotic, brilliant businessman, seriously overweight,
00:00:49.760
President, he used to call me Donald, now he calls me President,
00:00:53.760
so that's nice respect, but he's a rough guy, smart guy.
00:00:59.880
I wouldn't even know how we would know this, because he's got comments.
00:01:04.840
I'm in London, and I just paid for this damn fat drug I take.
00:01:14.860
I just paid $88, and in New York, I pay $1,300.
00:01:27.720
President Trump shared a neurotic and very, very, very top guy businessman friend,
00:01:32.240
prescribed a highly neurotic businessman, very seriously overweight,
00:01:39.080
If you want to pull up the tweet when he writes this, Brandon,
00:01:45.740
Signed an executive order to lower U.S. drug prices,
00:01:49.300
requiring federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid to pay rates matching
00:01:54.120
other developed countries, claiming our country has the highest drug prices
00:02:00.440
anywhere in the world by sometimes a factor of five, six, seven, and even eight times,
00:02:04.840
and that pharmaceutical companies make more than two-thirds of their profits in America
00:02:10.720
despite U.S. having only 4% of the world population.
00:02:17.920
Well, listen, Trump is the Don Rickles of presidents.
00:02:22.620
His ability to make abject, sort of high-level, abstract ideas relatable is second to none.
00:02:31.580
So in comedy, Vinny, you would know this, the term he's using is called personification.
00:02:36.860
When you personify something or some concept or some person,
00:02:42.000
it boosts people's imagination and it simplifies complex ideas
00:02:49.180
So rather than talking about drug prices, he's like,
00:02:51.480
let me tell you about my fat, amazing, brilliant, sloppy, smart, gross, amazing, gross friend.
00:02:59.420
He's, what a guy, what a loser, what a guy, the biggest loser.
00:03:03.380
You know who did this better than anybody was Dave Chappelle.
00:03:05.540
Do you remember on the Dave Chappelle show, he would personify and humanize drugs and STDs.
00:03:26.780
Remember the skit when Dave Chappelle talked about his white friend?
00:03:30.260
He's like, yeah, you got to watch out for these white guys hanging out with all these black gangs.
00:03:33.840
You never know what those black, those white guys did.
00:03:38.080
I'm not wanting to tell me the history of comedians and what they said.
00:03:44.120
The point is we would not be talking about this if he didn't use personification about his fat friend.
00:03:51.500
We would not be talking, it would not be a main story.
00:03:56.480
The fact that he talked about his fat friend and personified this.
00:04:15.840
Let me read this while you're giving me a historian for us of comedy.
00:04:20.940
For many years, the world has wondered why prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals in the U.S. were so much higher in price than they were in other nations.
00:04:27.980
Sometimes being five to ten times more expensive than the same drug manufactured in the exact same laboratory or plan by the same company.
00:04:34.860
It was always difficult to explain and very embarrassing because, in fact, there was no correct or rightful answer.
00:04:39.840
However, the pharmaceutical drug companies would say for years that it was research and development costs and that all of these costs were and would be for no reason whatsoever born by the suckers of America alone.
00:04:51.780
Campaign contributions can do wonders, but not with me and not with the Republican Party.
00:04:58.020
We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years.
00:05:01.660
By the way, this is something that Bernie Sanders would always talk about, but this guy is getting done.
00:05:11.440
Well, I've never had syphilis, but I enjoy comedy.
00:05:27.560
But these drug prices are just like student loans.
00:05:34.780
The student loan pays for it because they get the student loan.
00:05:37.660
Student loan pays a high-priced tuition, and then they're stuck with the price.
00:05:41.500
The reason drug companies were able to do this in America is because most people had health insurance through their employer.
00:05:52.620
So you could raise up the prices, and then how do the consumers see it?
00:05:58.300
They say, Vinny, did you see we have to pay another 15% for our share of the health insurance?
00:06:10.940
But can you tell us three examples of comedy and how to spin it and bring it back?
00:06:22.060
I'm going to take you really, really, really quick here.
00:06:24.660
And there's also a thing in contract law called most favored nation, meaning if all of us had agreements to work as union workers,
00:06:34.620
and our contract said we have a most favored nation, so if Vinny gets a raise to $16 an hour from $15,
00:06:41.400
and we all have the same number of years of experience as Vinny, we get $16 an hour.
00:06:47.460
What Trump is saying is drug companies are selling things all over the world.
00:06:55.700
So if you're selling it lower in Germany, that's the price I want the U.S. consumer to get.
00:07:02.620
He's not trying to arbitrarily drop the prices and do wage and price controls.
00:07:06.760
He's saying to them, Vinny, if you're selling aspirin for $2 in Germany, you've got to sell it for $2 here.
00:07:12.240
He's not selling them what price to sell it at.
00:07:14.720
He's saying, you apparently think it's perfectly fine.
00:07:19.660
The problem is the patent laws that we have in the big pharma industry.
00:07:25.120
Brandon, can you go to the clip that you have with the RFK?
00:07:30.800
The longer one, it was such an amazing freaking speech he gave in there,
00:07:34.880
and then he gives him credit here, and it was fantastic.
00:07:37.220
Is it the credit, or is it giving – because I've seen the credit part.
00:07:39.940
No, no. I think this is talking about Elizabeth Warren and all that.
00:07:44.880
He's calling out Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
00:07:50.060
But he can't be bought, unlike most of the politicians in this country.
00:07:55.100
And he is standing here for the American people.
00:07:57.960
So, I don't know what – you know, there's writers like Elizabeth Warren or Robert Reich
00:08:05.100
who are saying that President Trump is on this side of the oligarchs.
00:08:08.800
There has never been a president more willing to stand up to the oligarchs than President Donald Trump.
00:08:17.320
And I'm very, very proud of you, Mr. President, for your courage.
00:08:20.680
I'll say, because I don't want to be crude, your intestinal fortitude, your stiff spine,
00:08:29.660
and your willingness to stand up for the American people.
00:08:37.540
We – our country represents 75 percent of the revenues for pharmaceutical companies.
00:08:48.920
Yeah. I mean, so, Adam, I'm going to come back to you.
00:08:52.040
So, where I was going with the whole personification thing is this is what makes Trump unique.
00:08:56.240
Is Trump the first president to bring up how big of a mess our drug system is
00:09:12.060
But the point is Trump is able to tell stories that you're able to gravitate towards and understand.
00:09:20.380
My stupid, fat, beautiful friend, that's memorable.
00:09:24.200
And he's able to move the needle because he's such a brilliant marketer.
00:09:27.900
So, what's the point is that he's doing things that other people have talked about, but he's
00:09:33.580
So, we talk about free markets in the United States.
00:09:37.680
The health care and the drug care situation in the United States, we don't have free markets
00:09:44.820
We pride ourselves on free markets, but we don't have them within our system.
00:09:52.840
I remember when you were talking with Vivek on stage about, because he, wasn't he a biotech
00:10:00.080
Didn't he have a medical company that he understood this concept, Pat?
00:10:06.940
So, he talked about the exclusivity and what companies are able to do and how you're not
00:10:10.960
allowed to introduce generic alternatives into the marketplace.
00:10:15.240
So, there's a lot of mess that's been going on that they've been trying to fix forever.
00:10:19.080
However, but because of Trump's ability to move the needle, they're able to do that.
00:10:23.860
But, Adam, you mentioned Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, all these people.
00:10:27.680
All of these guys are bought and paid for by pharma.
00:10:37.360
This is actually doing it and putting his money where his mouth is.
00:10:46.680
Because what we need to do is change the patent laws of big pharma.
00:10:52.160
Because the same way they extended it by lobbyists, you can shorten it.
00:10:56.360
All they need to do is shorten the lifespan of you should have a patent.
00:11:01.920
You should have some years where you have ahead of everything else.
00:11:05.240
Pharmaceutical patents granted 20 years from the filing date, providing exclusive rise
00:11:09.280
to manufacturing use and sell a drug for that period.
00:11:11.240
This exclusively incentivizes innovation but can also lead to higher drug prices.
00:11:15.000
Beyond the 20-year patent, regulatory exclusives like orphan drug exclusive, can further extend
00:11:21.920
So, not only do they do a 20-year, and then there is now a way to extend it for another
00:11:29.240
They can sell a drug that costs them $2 or $0.45 or $3 or $1.20.
00:11:38.500
And in the moment the patent expires, have you seen what happens to the prices when the patent
00:11:43.160
It drops in ways that nobody even can understand.
00:11:47.400
So, for me, it would be great for Bobby to work closely with the president to get working
00:11:59.120
If you reduce it to 10 years, to 8 years, to 7 years, you know what that'll do?
00:12:06.100
It'll dramatically drop the prices of health insurance.
00:12:10.100
So, what are we paying right now for health insurance?
00:12:12.240
Tom, if we reduce, let's just kind of spitball here.
00:12:15.780
What happens if we reduce patent law from what it is 20 years to 7 years?
00:12:25.480
I think it would immediately reduce monthly health insurance premiums for Americans by
00:12:35.680
And I say that because you know what the drugs do.
00:12:39.360
And I've gone through things with my daughters who needed particular drugs when they were
00:12:45.560
very, very, very young because of some anomalies.
00:12:51.580
If you, every 10 years, expire the patent, what happens is I've got to run faster cadence.
00:12:59.480
So, maybe that's more medical research and more projects running faster that helps good
00:13:04.920
drugs get invented that help a lot of other things, number one.
00:13:09.040
And also, it's not just that the price will go down for the average consumer on their health
00:13:14.540
It will also go down for the federal government on Medicare.
00:13:24.060
It's for if you have a condition, you have a thyroid condition, somebody have to take a
00:13:32.160
And they even lobby to make it so that they can't prescribe you the generics.
00:13:36.840
So, they're in the knickers of Medicare like that.
00:13:39.720
And so, now, you would also make it so that maybe elderly people on Medicare, the U.S.
00:13:44.580
tax dollars would go farther so they could get the thyroid drugs and things that they
00:13:48.100
And they wouldn't be reaching into their pocket for Medicare Part D.
00:13:55.720
So, you know, one of the most unfortunate things about this is that it incentivizes bad behavior.
00:14:01.300
I did global security there for a couple of years.
00:14:03.000
And, like, you know what their, like, most resources went into?
00:14:05.920
Lobbying D.C. and trying to extend their patents.
00:14:08.340
And so, they had this one drug that made them a multi-billion dollar company.
00:14:11.400
And, like, every last bit of effort and energy went towards just tweaking that drug a little
00:14:18.760
That was their number one concern is extending the patent so that they couldn't change their
00:14:27.380
So, this is a rare disease drug that was $100,000 per treatment.
00:14:30.480
Would have been, you know, pennies in the dollar if it lost the patent.
00:14:34.120
But they, you know, so they're not putting their energy towards the right things.
00:14:50.320
And, how long with something like that if he starts right now?
00:14:57.780
What happened the more the trade talks got tougher and tougher and tougher for China?
00:15:05.760
You all of a sudden saw what happened with Pakistan, you know, India with tensions and all of a sudden.
00:15:14.780
If, in America, you attack one industry, whether you prevent them from advertising on TV, or you prevent them from having a 20-year monopoly with these patent laws, you're going to see gangsters in ways you've never seen before.
00:15:34.160
Those guys are not the types of gangsters you think and you see in movies.
00:15:42.620
The Al Capones have nothing on big pharma's gangsters.
00:15:49.060
The access to power that they have to be able to destroy your life is unbelievable.
00:15:54.600
So, but to me, I think if you truly care about the future of America and taxes and all this other stuff, co-address the real issue.
00:16:04.960
Do you know how big of an industry cancer is every year?
00:16:09.580
What happens if you cure cancer and you come up with something?
00:16:13.600
There's a lot of, what happens if you eliminate war?
00:16:19.200
So, to me, fix the pattern in every possible way things will be positively impacted.
00:16:29.400
This is a gift that gets sent to people who are maybe going through a challenging season right now with a lemon hat.
00:16:35.320
With the whole campaign, the thought is about when life gives you lemons, which a lot of people have had that maybe recently.
00:16:40.400
If you know anybody, it is so amazing because you get to write a message on the inside while you're sending it to someone and it brightens their day.
00:16:46.860
There's a message I'm giving to the person that's receiving it.
00:16:49.200
I want to read you a couple of notes without the names, but I want you to hear what this is doing.
00:16:53.760
I know things have been rough for you, but I hope this gift puts a smile on your face and some encouragement.
00:16:57.800
You are amazingly talented, and I know you will make it through.
00:17:04.980
I want to say I'm proud of you and keeping everything together, staying true to yourself.
00:17:09.080
I love you, and I know you can shoulder this, and we'll be a better person about it.
00:17:17.740
Your recovery from brain surgery has been difficult, but you're getting stronger every day.
00:17:22.460
Our son watches you during process and sees the warrior his mom is.
00:17:35.960
So I'm so in love with this product and what it's doing to families.
00:17:38.400
If you haven't gone yet and send one of these to someone, it's called Zested Forward.
00:17:46.580
This will fly in no time because we only did limited supply of this.
00:17:49.940
For those of you guys that just want to go to work and wear something to get reaction from others,
00:17:53.660
we have the new limited edition Golf of America hat.
00:18:01.920
Another one that says Golf of America, Golf of Mexico.
00:18:11.820
Golf of America, Valuetainment, red, white, and blue.
00:18:21.560
Anything above $100 shipping and handling is free.
00:18:23.980
But anything you place the order, you will get.
00:18:38.220
Zoom in on the keychain so that they can see it.
00:18:40.240
A Valuetainment and U.S. keychain will be sent to you right there.
00:18:51.260
If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here.
00:18:53.960
And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.