In setting out to write today’s column, I spent a lot more time than usual on picking the subject. Not because I couldn’t think of one, but because I couldn’t think of anything to write about THE ONE that either has not been said or would not involve the use of expletives. The former is a function of the days my columns run, the latter is a function of how childish and self-defeating I found the whole thing to be.
I’m not above a stupid tweet now and again, though my impulse control has progressed once I grew up to something beyond that of the world’s richest man, a feat not that difficult to achieve.
Still, I like Elon and will be eternally appreciative for the work and money he put in to ensure Republicans are in the position to suck as hard as they always do when winning is within their grasp.
But I’m not bitter, I’m a realist. This ain’t my first rodeo.
I went in another direction to avoid the repetition and frustration/language issues that would not sneak past editors.
I emailed a few friends who work in various aspects of politics to see if they had anything interesting on their radar and they did.
An old friend in Michigan sent me this article about Governor Gretchen Whitmer trying to panic Michiganders about “losing their health insurance” if the “Big, Beautiful Bill” becomes law. “According to Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson, 27% of residents are at the poverty line or below, meaning those people would lose their coverage if cuts come down. ‘This resource plays an integral part into this vision of people being able to succeed and dream and have hopes and be taken care of,’ Anderson said.”
“Whitmer said hundreds of thousands of Michiganders will lose healthcare coverage if Medicaid is cut,” the report reads. So, if Medicaid goes back to how it was just 4 years ago – meaning for poor Americans – the bottom will fall out for Michigan? That doesn’t really reflect well on a Governor fast approaching her 8th year in office, does it?
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Imagine a politician (Democrat, naturally) focusing on welfare as a way of life for more than a quarter of their city rather than fighting to create the circumstances in which people can better themselves and get off welfare is right on-brand for Democrats, isn’t it?
It’s not just Democratic Governors who are getting health care issues wrong, another friend sent me this Daily Wire story about Arkansas Governor and possible 2028 contender Sarah Huckabee Sanders risking screwing up her state’s health care in a fight to “lower the cost of prescription drugs.”
Drug prices are the white whale of politicians in both parties. It’s an easy boogeyman because there is no face, and it impacts everyone directly or indirectly. Plus, who doesn’t like complaining about costs?
Actually, I don’t, at least on this issue. Thanks to our healthcare system, my mother lived a lot longer than doctors said she would. I will forever be grateful for that. Plus, I know that they do the same for countless other people.
But loved ones being kept alive doesn’t really move votes the way promising to make cheaper something that improves lives does, which leads us to Arkansas.
“Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not backing down after pharmacy giant CVS has threatened to leave the state over a new state law targeting drug middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs,” the Daily Wire story opens. Rather than simply explain to people why drugs cost what they do – and there’s no way Sanders doesn’t understand the red tape and R&D costs for drugs, or of the savings from not having to have various procedures thanks to them, it’s easier just to promise to lower prices.
The way Republicans in Arkansas are planning to do it will cost access for people living in rural areas, as the plan would result in CVS leaving the state. What’s the point of coverage if you can’t use it, and what’s the point of “lower prices” if you don’t have a place to buy them?
That’s the problem with politics attempting to dictate the business model for an industry, particularly one as regulated and complex as prescription drugs. While it is easy to pick a villain in any healthcare fight, in this case, the companies that use health insurance to negotiate lower drug prices – PBMs – actually do help lower prices. Maybe not enough for opportunistic politicians, but no “solution” for Republicans should be one that picks winners and losers and creates an anti-business regime in their state.
As is often the case, there is a chasm between what plays well in an election and what actually does good for people. What Governor Sanders is doing may make a small segment of voters and pharmaceutical companies happy while grabbing headlines. Still, it will end up costing far more people convenience and maybe their health. Does anyone really think that trade-off is worth it?
Finally, in a non-health care related story, I got sent this clip sent to me by a couple of people. It's Van Jones calling for the firing and prosecution of DOGE employees. Their crime? There is an existing wrong, as far as I can tell, in Van Jones's mind. Who’s the fascist again?
Jones declares some of the most successful people in the country, many of whom have already made a fortune, while others have a fortune waiting for them in the near future, to be “dangerous.” He never really says why, other than some vague notion of them having some kinds of data he doesn’t specify, but being a liberal means you don’t have to specify why; the allegation is enough.
Anderson Cooper, “serious journalist,” just kind of lets it go, pretty much unchallenged, and will probably win an Emmy for it.
Again, I ask, who are the fascists here? Don’t answer, it was rhetorical.
There, I did it and I’m done – a column on three other important issues that probably wouldn’t warrant a whole column by themselves but are all worth knowing about, and I didn’t mention how insane and high school-esque the public spat between Donald Trump and Elon Musk was until the end. But honestly, it was, wasn’t it?
Ok, not going down that road right now, I’m done.
Derek Hunter is the host of the Derek Hunter Show on WMAL in Washington, DC, and has a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.
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