- 5/23/2025
President Trump holds a "Make America Healthy Again" Commission Event with HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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00:00Our country is hot and hot as it can be.
00:03It's amazing.
00:05If you go back six months, it was cold as
00:07could be.
00:08It was an embarrassment, what was happening.
00:11And now, I think we have the hottest country
00:13anywhere in the world.
00:14I don't even think it's close.
00:16I was told that also in the Middle East.
00:18The three rulers, three very good men that were
00:21very nice to us, they said, this is amazing,
00:23the transformation of the United States of America.
00:27They've never seen anything go so quickly.
00:29And it's literally over a period of four or five
00:31months, but really since November 5th.
00:34And I think we have the hottest country in the
00:36world right now.
00:36So we're doing well and we'll keep it going.
00:39And we're going to have a lot of fun.
00:41We're going to make a lot of people happy, a lot of
00:43people well.
00:44That's why we're here.
00:46And I want to thank you all for being with us in
00:49the great White House.
00:50There's nothing like it.
00:51There's nothing like it.
00:51Every time I walk in, I say, man, this place is
00:55something special.
00:55You never get used to it.
00:56It really is.
00:58As we mark a historic milestone in our mission
01:01to make America healthy again, you know, we
01:05started Make America Great Again.
01:06Bobby, I'm not sure you can get away with that
01:08without having to make a major payment because,
01:10you know, this was a copyright.
01:13Maha.
01:14He goes to Maha.
01:16But no, Maha has become hot.
01:18Over the past few years, we've built an unstoppable
01:21coalition of moms and dads, doctors and young
01:24people and citizens of all backgrounds who have
01:27come together to protect our children.
01:29Very importantly, keep the dangerous chemicals out
01:32of our food supplies, get toxic substances out of
01:35our environment, and deliver the American
01:37people the facts as to really where we're going.
01:42And we want to have what we deserve.
01:44And we want to be healthy and we want to have a lot
01:47of good things happen.
01:48And I think we're going to have that.
01:49I think this is just the beginning.
01:51We have some of the most brilliant people sitting
01:53on this panel.
01:54And likewise, in the audience, I recognize so
01:56many.
01:57Many of them are in the administration.
01:59With us today is the man who fought harder than
02:02anyone I know to bring these issues to the center
02:05of American politics, our Secretary of Health and
02:07Human Services, Robert F.
02:09Kennedy, Jr.
02:10Bobby, thank you very much.
02:15And we're also joined by Secretaries Brooke
02:22Rollins, Scott Turner, Linda McMahon, Doug
02:26Collins, Doug Burgum, Laurie Chavez, Dorema.
02:32You're doing a very good job, Laurie.
02:34You know, she's considering she's a
02:36Democrat.
02:36You know.
02:37The unions, they said, She's really good.
02:42I did it.
02:43You know, I took a lot of heat for doing it.
02:44And then they were all saying, What a great job
02:46we did.
02:47Now they're for everybody's happy with you.
02:48Great job.
02:49Thank you very much.
02:50As well as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin,
02:58Budget Director Russ Vought, SBA Administrator
03:02Kelly Loeffler.
03:03Kelly's been amazing.
03:04She runs small business, which is actually the
03:07biggest business there is.
03:08Right.
03:08She had no idea how big FDA Commissioner, Dr.
03:13Marty McCary.
03:14Thank you, Marty.
03:16NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.
03:22Thank you very much.
03:23And let's see, who do we have here?
03:29CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, a tremendous
03:32guy, actually.
03:33Thank you very much.
03:37A friend of mine, a really great senator, Roger
03:41Marshall.
03:42Roger, thank you.
03:45Governors Mike Braun, Jim Piland, Patrick Morrissey,
03:50Representatives Vern Buchanan, former Speaker
03:54of the House, Newt Gingrich.
03:55Newt, a very quiet man, a silent man.
04:00Nice to see you, Newt.
04:02Four months ago, I created the Presidential
04:04Commission to Make America Healthy Again.
04:06And today, the commission officially delivers its
04:08first report on childhood health.
04:11Here are just some of the alarming findings.
04:13And they really are alarming.
04:15It's unbelievable.
04:16Terrible.
04:17More than 40 percent of American children now have
04:20at least one chronic health condition.
04:23Since the 1970s, rates of childhood cancer have
04:26soared, in many cases, by nearly 50 percent.
04:29Five-oh, 50 percent.
04:31Well, in the 1960s, less than 5 percent of the
04:35children were obese.
04:36Now, over 20 percent are obese.
04:39A few decades ago, 1 in 1 — think of this one.
04:42This is, to me, the one that gets me every time.
04:45And it seems to be getting worse.
04:48Just a few decades ago, 1 in 10,000 children had autism.
04:52Today, it's 1 in 31.
04:55Last time I heard, the number is 1 in 34, right?
04:58Now it's 1 in 31.
05:00There's something wrong, and we will not stop until
05:02we defeat the chronic disease epidemic in America.
05:06We're going to get it done.
05:08For the first time ever, this report examines some
05:10of the root causes that many believe are making
05:12our children sicker — and our population sicker,
05:15I guess.
05:16It just doesn't stop with the children.
05:18It's our population also.
05:20Such as the ultra-processed foods,
05:22over-medicalization, and over-prescription, and
05:26widespread exposure to potentially toxic
05:29chemicals.
05:30Unlike other administrations, we will
05:32not be silenced or intimidated by the
05:35corporate lobbyists or special interests.
05:37And I want this group to do what they have to do.
05:40We have to spell it out.
05:41In some cases, it won't be nice or it won't be
05:45pretty, but we have to do it.
05:46When you hear — when you hear 10,000 — it was 1
05:49in 10,000, and now it's 1 in 31 — for autism, I
05:54think that's just a terrible thing.
05:55It has to be something on the outside.
05:58It has to be artificially induced.
06:00It has to be.
06:01And we'll not allow our public health system to be
06:03captured by the very industries it's supposed
06:06to oversee.
06:07So we're demanding the answers.
06:10The public is demanding the answers, and that's
06:12why we're here.
06:13Already, we're phasing out eight of the most common
06:16artificial food dyes.
06:17And we ended the most serious conflicts of
06:28interest at the FDA.
06:29We had a lot of conflicts over there.
06:32Earlier this week, we approved a SNAP waiver
06:35request from Nebraska so they can stop taxpayer
06:38dollars from being used to make our children obese.
06:42I understand requests from three more states will be
06:46approved shortly, and more are expected to come in
06:48the following weeks.
06:50Over the next 80 days, the commission will build on
06:53its work in this report to develop a roadmap to bold
06:56and transformative public health reforms for our
07:01consideration.
07:01It's a consideration, and we'll lay out the facts,
07:05let me say congratulations to the entire Maha movement.
07:09This movement has become very hot.
07:10People are — people are really — I'll tell you,
07:13they're going crazy over Maha.
07:15They're going crazy.
07:15Right?
07:16And I look forward to continuing the historic
07:27progress.
07:27And I will say this, this whole group, this whole
07:30table, they're very — you know, I use a word
07:33that's — because it's a beautiful word, actually.
07:35The Democrats took it, and they used it instead of
07:37the word liberal.
07:38They used the word progressive.
07:40And normally, I'd say you're very progressive,
07:42meaning you're far off.
07:43They're not progressive.
07:44You are progressive.
07:46They shouldn't be allowed to use that word.
07:47And I'm — and so, therefore, I'm not going
07:50to use it to describe you.
07:51But you are far-forward thinkers.
07:54You're amazing thinkers, and we appreciate having
07:56you.
07:57There's just tremendous talent around this table.
07:59The most respected people.
08:00Anywhere in the world, actually.
08:05And — and, you know, I've — I've been a fan of
08:09Bobby for years.
08:10He came up to see me 13, 14, 15 years ago, I
08:14remember, and he left.
08:16And I made a couple of the statements that he made
08:19because I agreed with the same thing, and we both
08:21went through hell.
08:21Do you remember that?
08:22It was a massive — but you know what?
08:24We turned out to be right.
08:25It was sort of interesting.
08:28But I've been a friend of Bobby, and he's been a
08:30foe, too.
08:31You know, he's tried to stop a couple of my jobs.
08:33In one case, he did stop a job, and I was really
08:37angry.
08:38And then, about four months later, we went into
08:40like a depression, and I saved a hell of a lot of
08:43money by the fact that he stopped it.
08:44You're welcome.
08:45So I never minded.
08:46I always said, thank you very much for stopping
08:49that big job I was going to do.
08:52But he's a fantastic guy.
08:53And, Bobby, we're with you all the way.
08:55And your beautiful wife is right sitting in the front
08:58row, and she's always been right there with you.
09:01And, you know, it was very interesting.
09:04When Bobby came, I really wanted Bobby to join, and
09:06he was doing very well as a candidate.
09:09Really well.
09:09He was being treated very unfairly by the other
09:12side, but he was doing so well that they treated you
09:14unfairly.
09:15They had no choice.
09:16I think they said, in order to qualify, Newt,
09:19you had to have 80 percent of the vote.
09:21Okay?
09:21Do you remember that deal?
09:22You had to have 80 percent of the vote in
09:24order to qualify to run against Joe Biden.
09:27And Bobby thought that was a little unfair, and
09:29that was about it.
09:30And he came on board, and we got very lucky.
09:32But you really helped.
09:34And I want to thank you very much.
09:35Really.
09:36We're with you all the way.
09:38Thank you very much.
09:40So, Bobby, if you'd say, give him your thoughts,
09:46please.
09:46Secretary Mnuchin Well, thank you very much, Mr.
09:48President.
09:50I do want to say something, because I get a
09:52lot of credit for steering this administration
09:57toward the Maha movement.
09:58And I joined the campaign in August.
10:01I joined President Trump in August and became, you
10:04know, went from independent to his campaign.
10:07And but it was in June that he made a speech
10:11specifically on this issue.
10:13It was a Maha speech before Maha existed.
10:17And that I took note of that speech at the time
10:21and thought there is a potential here for a
10:23common ground.
10:24I want to thank you for your vision, for your
10:27courage, for standing up.
10:29You know, President Trump is a populist
10:32president.
10:33He's a president.
10:34He's blamed for giving money to billionaires and
10:37all this stuff.
10:38We hear about that all the time.
10:41But he is on the side of the middle class, the
10:43working class, the poor in this country, people.
10:47And I've been following, I've met every president
10:58since my uncle was president, and I've never
11:03seen a president, Democrat or Republican, that is
11:05willing to stand up to industry when it's the
11:08right thing to do and the willing willing to talk
11:10about really difficult issues and to hold his
11:14stand on those issues.
11:15I've never seen anything like it.
11:17And I'm very, very grateful to you.
11:19I've sat in with industry again and again in a room
11:23with him and heard him say, we can't do that.
11:26We're going to do something different, deliver
11:28news that they didn't want to hear.
11:30Oh, I'm grateful to this.
11:31This is a milestone.
11:34There's never in American history has the federal
11:37government taken a position on public health
11:41like this.
11:42And because of President Trump's leadership, it's
11:45not just one cabinet secretary.
11:47It's the entire government that is behind this
11:50report.
11:51And I can say again, my I taught talked a little
11:55bit about when I met Rachel Carson as a boy, my
11:58uncle tried to do this, but he was killed and it
12:01never got done.
12:03And ever since then, we've been waiting for a
12:05president who would stand up and speak on behalf of
12:09the health of the American people and say, with
12:13there is no difference between good economic
12:15policy, good environmental policy and good public
12:19health policy and good industrial policy.
12:21We can have all of them.
12:23We need a united cabinet and we need to go forward
12:26as a single people.
12:28I want to thank you for that.
12:29President Trump.
12:31At its core, this report is a call to action for
12:44common sense.
12:46We've relied too much on conflicted research,
12:49ignored common sense, or what some would call
12:53mother's intuition.
12:55It's common sense that ultra process nutrient
12:58poor food contributes to chronic disease.
13:01It's common sense that excessive screen time and
13:03isolation lead to anxiety and depression,
13:06especially in children.
13:08It's common sense that exercise and healthy foods
13:12come before prescriptions and surgery.
13:15It's common sense that not all calories are equal in
13:18nutritional value.
13:20It's common sense that over medicating kids is
13:23dangerous.
13:24It's common sense that we can celebrate the
13:26innovations of modern life while also demanding
13:29fearless inquiry into ameliorating the negative
13:33effects of medication, agriculture, and
13:35environmental practices.
13:38It's common sense that research funded by
13:40corporations deserves more scrutiny than independent
13:44studies.
13:45I'm so proud of this cabinet and particularly
13:49Secretary Rawlins and Administrator Zeldin, who
13:55again, I'll say it a third time, work late, late
13:57nights, early into the morning to make this
14:00happen.
14:01And to all the leadership from the White House staff,
14:04beginning with Stephen Miller and Heidi Overton,
14:07Dr. Heidi Overton, with Vince Haley.
14:09Their leadership and their steady hand in getting us
14:19to the goal line was, we could not have done it
14:22without them.
14:24They helped us grapple with weighty issues and
14:27committed this administration to solving
14:29large, complex challenges like children's health.
14:33We're joined here by senators, advocates,
14:35governors who I have worked with, and CEOs who I know
14:40who are all ready to begin carrying out this mission.
14:44This is the beginning of a conversation, a national
14:47conversation that we are going to have with
14:49maturity, with nuance for the first time in history
14:52thanks to your leadership, President Trump.
14:55There is a reason that the Maha mom sided with you,
14:58President Trump.
14:59It's because this administration has the
15:02bravery to tell the truth and solve problems through
15:04innovation and not in any state regulation.
15:09President Trump, I'm honored to present you the
15:11Maha report and work with this incredible cabinet
15:15that you have brought together to make our
15:18children healthy again.
15:20Thank you, President Trump.
15:22President Trump, happy birthday.
15:25Happy birthday, little Kid.
15:30Thank you, Abbi.
15:44Three things.
15:45And on behalf of a lot of extremely grateful
15:48Maha Moms who are out there, Secretary Kennedy
15:52and Mr. President, thank you.
15:54I see a Maha Mom and Grandma and our amazing
15:57Chief of Staff right there, Susie Wiles.
16:00I see a Maha Mom and Caroline Leavitt all
16:03across our Cabinet.
16:05Sir, my oldest son, Luke, is here.
16:07Stand up, Luke.
16:08I am a Maha Mom of four, and this hits
16:13particularly close to home for every single one
16:16of us in this room.
16:17That's the first thing.
16:18The second thing is that you mentioned, sir,
16:21in your remarks that we are on track to sign
16:24multiples of SNAP waivers to get junk food and
16:28sugary drinks out of our food stamp system.
16:33And I am so proud to announce that on Monday I
16:38was in Nebraska with Governor Pillen, where we
16:44signed the first one.
16:46An hour ago, I signed the second one for Governor
16:49Braun in Indiana.
16:50He may not even know that.
16:51I've got it right here, sir.
16:53I also signed the third one, Governor Kim Reynolds
16:56of Iowa, about an hour ago.
16:59With a half a dozen more coming down the line.
17:08And, sir, that has never happened before under
17:10Republican or Democrat administrations.
17:13We have never made that happen before.
17:17So I am so proud and so grateful for your
17:20leadership.
17:20The President We have Governor Morrisey here,
17:21who is the first one to apply from West Virginia.
17:23The First Lady Oh, Governor Morrisey.
17:25We will make sure you're at the top of the pile, sir.
17:34I apologize.
17:35Governor Sanders has been a leader.
17:37Governor Polis from Colorado.
17:39It has been remarkable how these governors have
17:41stood up.
17:41That's that's the second thing.
17:42The third and final thing, sir, is we all know that
17:46at the center of making America healthy again is
17:50making American agriculture great again.
17:54Without American agriculture, without
17:58American agriculture at the center of this
18:01discussion, we have the most robust, the safest,
18:06the best agriculture system in the world.
18:09And in partnership with the amazing Secretary
18:12Kennedy and all of these incredible patriots
18:14sitting around this table under the leadership of
18:17the extraordinary President Donald J.
18:20Trump, we will make America healthy again.
18:23And what an honor it is to be a part of that.
18:25Well, thank you, sir.
18:26Thank you, sir.
18:31Mr. Polis, I mean, a big, big policy man here.
18:40So much has already been said.
18:44But in your remarks, Mr. President, you made
18:46clear this is Vince Haley, by the way.
18:50In your remarks and in the and in the report, it's
18:53very clear that there are no sacred cows when it
18:55comes to our children's health.
18:57We are showing the courage to turn over every stone
19:01to figure out, to investigate what is behind
19:04the chronic childhood disease crisis.
19:06And that's what this report represents, sir.
19:08The President Thank you, Vince.
19:10And probably you want to have other people speak.
19:14We've had everybody speak.
19:16Oh, good.
19:17Most have already spoken.
19:18That's very good.
19:19But the fake news wasn't here.
19:22What's going on?
19:23I mean, I want to thank you for your work.
19:27Would you have anything to say to the media?
19:29Thank you, sir.
19:31I think it's a moral failing if you don't
19:34address this, but it's definitely a financial
19:36failing as well.
19:38Fifty percent of children are on Medicaid or on the
19:42CHIP program.
19:43It is an obligation we all have to address this
19:46reality.
19:47As you know, the cost of Medicaid is going up 50
19:49percent in five years.
19:51I thank you very much for the bravery to commission
19:54this report.
19:54And Secretary Kennedy, Secretary Rollins, Lee
19:57Zeldin, everybody else on this panel for being able
19:59to affect what has not been done since this law
20:03for Medicare.
20:03Medicaid was written in 1965.
20:05God bless you.
20:06The President Thank you very much, guys.
20:08A man who's just so highly respected, Dr. Marty
20:16McCary.
20:17Would you say a couple of words, please?
20:19Thank you, Mr. President.
20:20The United States is the best in the world when it
20:23comes to proton beam therapy, CAR-T,
20:26sophisticated operations.
20:27But when it comes to the health of the population,
20:30it's been a 50-year failure.
20:32And we have got to change course.
20:34And it's not until you have had the courage to let
20:38us take on these giant issues, as Vince Haley
20:43said, without any sacred cows that we've been able
20:45to change.
20:46And I think this will transform our healthcare
20:48system from a reactionary system, where doctors are
20:52playing whack-a-mole, to a proactive system.
20:55So, thank you, Mr. President.
20:56The President Thank you very much.
20:57Thank you, man.
20:57Highly respected man.
21:02Jay, please say a few words.
21:04Dr. Jay Shah Thank you, Mr. President.
21:05I said earlier already that it's shocking to me that
21:09what this report says, which is that our kids
21:13will live less long, less healthy, more unhappy
21:19lives than we will, as parents.
21:21We can't have that.
21:22I'm so proud to be part of this moment because that
21:26doesn't have to be the future.
21:28We can change things by doing excellent, gold
21:30standard science, understanding the root
21:32causes of all these problems, reversing it.
21:35And, Mr. President, this is an enormously important
21:38moment because it's from this moment forward, we
21:41will reverse course.
21:42So our kids will live longer than us, will live
21:45more healthy than us, and will be happier than we
21:48have been.
21:49The President Thank you very much.
21:51Thank you, Jay.
21:52Good job, Jay.
21:53I have to say, we have the greatest farmers in
21:57the world, and we love our farmers, and we want to
22:00pay respect to our farmers, and we always
22:03will.
22:04And we won the farmers by a lot in the election, in
22:07every election, all three elections, and we won by a
22:10lot.
22:11And I will never forget that, and they are
22:13foremost in our thought.
22:14And representing, I think, the farmers better than
22:18just about anybody can do is Senator Roger Marshall.
22:21Could you say a couple of words, Roger, please?
22:23Senator Marshall Mr. President, we're not tired
22:26of winning yet.
22:27Congratulations.
22:28What a week you've had.
22:29Overseas, one win after another, one big,
22:32beautiful bill across the House floor this morning.
22:35You're the best closer in the game.
22:37And this is one of the greatest days of my life
22:40professionally speaking, as well.
22:42And I just want to acknowledge my maha mom out
22:45here, as well, that my wife, Laina, was a maha
22:47nurse and a maha mom and a maha grandma.
22:50Now, Laina, will you please stand up, as well?
22:52My wife.
22:52Mr. President, as you know, I spent 25 years
23:01delivering babies most every day.
23:02We saw a huge epidemic of diabetes, of pregnancy,
23:06and this has exploded in so many different
23:09directions now.
23:09We have an epidemic of, in mental health, in our
23:13youth, obesity rates 20, 30 percent, 20 percent of
23:17our children on a prescription drug, 60, 70
23:20percent of adults on a prescription drug.
23:22We can do better than this.
23:23And it does start with the farmer.
23:25It starts with soil health.
23:27And I just want you to know that our farmers are so
23:29committed to this, as well, and so many of them
23:32are already doing great things.
23:33They're making the soil healthier.
23:35They're using less pesticides.
23:37They're doing all the right things.
23:39It's going to take a little bit more effort and
23:41time to get everybody with those practices, but
23:43the American farmer and rancher were the original
23:46environmentalists, the original conservationists,
23:48and they'll be right here working beside us.
23:50And we appreciate your support of them, as well.
23:52Thank you, Roger.
23:53Great.
23:54So, I think I'll close by just saying that
24:01something happened a week ago that was very, very
24:04important, profound, but very important in so many
24:07ways.
24:09For years, I noticed that other countries paid much
24:13less for drugs and pharmaceuticals than we
24:16did.
24:17But I don't mean 2 percent less or 10 percent, which
24:19would be good, but I don't mean 20 or 25 or 30
24:23percent.
24:24I mean, sometimes we paid 10 times more, 12 times
24:28more, 13 times more than other countries, where
24:31people from our country would be seen going into
24:33Mexico and seen going into other countries,
24:37leaving on trips and bringing their drugs home
24:40because they'd get in London.
24:43They'd be able to buy a drug for one-tenth the
24:45price of what it cost in New York City.
24:47And I watched this, and I watched it during my term,
24:50and I didn't like it.
24:51I didn't like it.
24:52And it's a very complex system.
24:54But, you know, we're smart also, maybe much smarter
24:57than they are.
24:58And at some point, we had to figure out.
25:00I heard it was the middleman.
25:02Nobody told me who the middleman was.
25:03Nobody knew who the middleman was.
25:05Nobody ever heard.
25:06All I heard is the middleman.
25:07I said, they've got to be the richest people in the
25:09world, whoever they are.
25:10I don't know.
25:11We don't even know if there is a middleman.
25:12All I know is that the drugs were 10 times higher
25:16and sometimes more than that.
25:18And I really got into it over the last year, and I
25:21figured the whole system out.
25:23And for various and sundry reasons, the United States
25:29of America was being screwed.
25:31And we were being taken advantage of and being
25:34laughed at for years and years.
25:37And I said, it's not going to happen anymore.
25:39And I brought a great gentleman, the head of
25:40Eli Lillian, who's great.
25:44He really is.
25:45He's great.
25:46He's done a fantastic job.
25:47And others also of the companies.
25:50And I'd have it out with them.
25:51I had debates with them, actually.
25:53And pretty much it was a debate that was impossible
25:56to lose.
25:58You had to be a real bad debater to lose that
25:59debate because they couldn't justify it.
26:02They tried to say, well, you know, we pay for
26:04research and development, and the United States has
26:07agreed to pay for 100 percent.
26:08I said, why?
26:09Why are we paying?
26:10And, by the way, that wasn't even the number
26:12because it's still way too high.
26:13If you took all the research and development.
26:16But you have other countries that are a lot
26:19more vicious than us in terms of their
26:22representatives.
26:24And they'd set a price for a drug, and they'd say,
26:26tell the United States to pay for the rest.
26:28We were subsidizing the whole world.
26:30And I said, we're not going to do that anymore.
26:32We've been a laughing stock for so many years.
26:34The last four years, we've been a laughing stock.
26:36I said it.
26:36We were a laughing stock, and now we're the most
26:38respected and we're the hottest country in the
26:40world.
26:41We're going to remain that way.
26:42We're going to do that with drug costs, too.
26:44And so I said, I'm going to do something that's a
26:46very unpopular thing to do with a small number of
26:49people, mainly the people that own the drug
26:52companies and others.
26:54And I'm not even blaming them.
26:55They were able to get away with it.
26:57But it was really other nations that took
26:59advantage of us because the drug companies were
27:02under their thumb.
27:04And they would say, this is what I'm going to pay.
27:08And the European Union was right at the top of the
27:11list.
27:11Let me tell you, we're going to pay $20 for this
27:14and we're not going to pay any more.
27:16And America would pay $240 for the same thing that
27:19they're paying $20.
27:21They said, tell America to pay for the rest.
27:22So, for years, they went along aimlessly and they
27:25did it.
27:26And I started making changes.
27:28And I'll never forget the end of my first term,
27:32which was very successful.
27:33We had the best stock market ever.
27:35We had the best economy ever of any president.
27:38We went up 88 percent in the stock market, as an
27:42example, and I think 116 percent in one of the
27:45other indices.
27:47And we had we're doing well, but I never this
27:49whole thing with the drug costs always bothered me.
27:52And I started really studying it.
27:53And it's very complicated stuff.
27:56And I said, you know what?
27:58We are paying so much more.
28:00And I demanded favored nations.
28:02We're the biggest buyer.
28:03We're the best buyer.
28:04We're the most solid buyer.
28:05We're the one that paid for all of the research
28:08and development.
28:09And I said, we're going to do something that's
28:11earth shattering.
28:12So, at the end of my first term, I was so proud
28:16because it's the first time in 28 years that any
28:20president reduced drug prices during the course
28:24of four years.
28:25And you know what the number was?
28:27One fourth of 1 percent.
28:30But it was down.
28:31One fourth.
28:32Think of it.
28:33A quarter of 1 percent.
28:33It's very little.
28:35Essentially, they remained the same.
28:37But I wanted to get it down.
28:38And I was so proud.
28:40I thought I was the greatest guy in the world.
28:42I took it down one quarter of a percent.
28:44And I had news conferences.
28:46I was bragging.
28:47I'm the only one that did it 28 years.
28:49And then I said, that's not very much because we
28:52were still paying so much more.
28:53And I decided I've got to break the system.
28:56And it's the most powerful lobby in the world, the
28:59drug company.
28:59The most powerful.
29:00They are the most powerful.
29:02And I'm not saying bad, good.
29:03I'm not saying anything, but they have tremendous
29:05power over the Senate, over the House, over the
29:10governors, over everybody.
29:12And they spend more money, billions and
29:15billions of dollars.
29:16And I said, I don't care.
29:17I got to do what I have to do what's right.
29:20And I declared a favored nations, most favored
29:22nations, where the United States, from now on, is
29:26going to pay the exact same price as the lowest
29:30price anywhere in the world.
29:32In other words, if you take.
29:33In other words, if you take the the country
29:44that's paying, and let's say in the certain part
29:46of, you know, there may be some country out there
29:49that pays a little bit less for very good reasons
29:51because of the fact, a thing called poverty or
29:54whatever.
29:54But we take the lowest country, say, European
29:59Union countries as a whole.
30:01That would be fine.
30:02Or take individual countries within the
30:04European Union or take various countries that
30:09nobody's even heard about.
30:10We pay the lowest.
30:11And what that's going to mean.
30:14And I'd like to put somebody to police it
30:16because it should start immediately.
30:17It shouldn't start in two years, three years, five
30:19years.
30:20They'll say, yes, it kicks in.
30:20They always say kicks in.
30:21Marty, it kicks in, sir, in four years.
30:25You know, in the four years they get it
30:26changed, it should mean.
30:29So remember, I told you I was happy with one
30:31quarter of one percent.
30:33It could mean anywhere from 70 percent to 89
30:36percent reduction in drugs and pharmaceuticals.
30:41That's a little different, right?
30:42And I've actually had some congressmen call me and
30:47they say, sir, let can we talk about this?
30:49I said, no, they wanted to talk because, you know,
30:52that's a tremendous power against them.
30:55And I understand that.
30:57And every one of them was covered.
30:59Senators were.
31:00I see Roger smiling and Roger probably was, too.
31:03But you know what?
31:04He wants to do the right thing, right?
31:05He wants to do the right thing.
31:07And we're doing the right thing.
31:08We're taking advantage of and forget the drug
31:11company.
31:11We're taking advantage of by other countries that
31:14insisted with the drug companies that they were
31:16going to pay X dollars.
31:18We're not paying any more and you're not doing
31:20business here.
31:20And they were nasty about it because these people
31:23were almost sort of afraid of them.
31:25And we are going to now get a reduction in drug
31:29costs of up to 89 percent in some cases, but 50
31:33percent would be a low, a bad number.
31:36So think of that 50 percent versus one
31:39quarter of one percent.
31:41Think of that 85, 89, 91, 72 percent.
31:46It's going to be massive numbers.
31:48It's going to be incredible for Medicaid,
31:50incredible for all forms of health care.
31:54Medicare is going to be it's going to have a huge
31:56impact so big that nobody can calculate it.
31:59I mean, this thing could drop by 25, 30 percent.
32:01The drugs are as a very big part of it.
32:04Right.
32:05So very big part.
32:06So it'll affect everything.
32:07It'll affect your whole life.
32:09The amount of money you're going to be saving is
32:11going to be incalculable.
32:13Nobody can believe I had the courage to do it.
32:16I don't think it's courage.
32:17I think it would have been courage not to do it.
32:19I tell you what, not to do it would have taken far
32:23more courage because I was tired of it.
32:25And I was listening to these guys and they are,
32:27you know, they make a lot of money every year,
32:29millions and millions of dollars a year.
32:31And I agree, because at the beginning, because of
32:34the complexity, you'd walk out of a room, you'd hear
32:36them talking.
32:37And, you know, they almost convince you that it's a
32:40great system.
32:41It's a wonderful system.
32:42Even though we were paying 10 times more.
32:44That's why they make $30 million a year, because
32:46they were good, but not any longer.
32:48And one of them just threw up his hands after I was
32:52just pounding on him.
32:53He said, I can't do it anymore.
32:56It's the hardest thing I have to do is trying to
32:58justify this damn thing.
32:59I can't do it anymore.
33:01One of the biggest companies.
33:02I just can't do it anymore.
33:03You're right.
33:04And as soon as he said that, that was like
33:06incredible because I understood exactly he
33:09couldn't do it.
33:10He said it's the hardest thing he had to do is
33:11trying to justify why we're paying $200 for
33:15something and somebody else is paying $12.
33:18That is a neighboring country.
33:20Take Canada.
33:22I mean, people go up to Canada to shop because
33:24their prices are so much less and it's not going
33:27to happen anymore.
33:27So we're going to take the lowest country anywhere
33:30in the world, and that's what we're going to be
33:32paying.
33:32And we'll be saving from 50 to 89 percent.
33:36And these are big.
33:37These are tremendous numbers.
33:39It's not going to be anything where we're
33:40paying 10 times more than somebody else.
33:42And one thing that is very important, and it's got
33:45to be implemented.
33:47It's done.
33:47I've done the order.
33:49It's done.
33:50But we have to get somebody that's got a lot
33:52of strength and a lot of power because you have to
33:55implement it because these countries are going to go
33:57down fighting.
33:59They don't want this to happen because they're
34:00going to go up.
34:01Now, there are many more people involved in the
34:03world than there are here.
34:05So they'll go up a little bit, maybe 15, 20 percent.
34:09And we're going to go down 60, 70, or 80 percent.
34:12But they will fight the drug companies.
34:15The drug companies are very worried that they're
34:17going to fight.
34:17And that's okay.
34:18If they fight, we'll just say, that's okay.
34:21We are not going to let you sell any more cars into
34:23the United States, or we're not going to let you
34:25sell any more wine or liquor or alcohol or
34:28something that's actually much, much more important
34:31to them than the drugs.
34:33And we're going to be able to force that issue if we
34:36need to.
34:37They should do it.
34:38We're basically equalizing.
34:40They should do it.
34:41And, you know, the drug companies should do just as well.
34:44This shouldn't be a hit on their stock.
34:45I don't think it will be.
34:46It's basically, it's going to be the same amount of
34:49money, but it's going to be redistributed.
34:52And it's going to be redistributed, so they're
34:53going to pay a little bit more and we're going to
34:55pay a lot less.
34:56A little bit more because there's so many more.
34:58So, you know, it's a bigger, it's a bigger number.
35:01And so, probably, I'd like to ask you and Dr. Oz and
35:05Marty, perhaps, and Jay, and maybe representing the
35:09world's politicians, I can ask Roger, who's so great
35:12with this whole subject, if you would be very, very
35:16tough and very, very, very powerful in a sense.
35:20It's not easy.
35:21You know, you're going to have to get this done.
35:23The drug companies are going to say, well, they
35:25won't do it.
35:26And maybe they won't.
35:27And if they don't do it, we're going to not do
35:29business with that country or those countries.
35:31But we're going to have to be very tough until it's
35:34totally stabilized and equalized.
35:37And, Oz, I mean, I see your eyes are gleaming
35:40because you've been talking about this for a
35:41long time, but you've never had anyone willing to
35:43do it.
35:44But I'm willing to do it.
35:45And I think it's going to go down as one of the most
35:48important things we've ever done because drug costs
35:51are going down.
35:51Think of it.
35:52Then every year for 21 years, the costs have gone
35:55up, and now they're going down maybe by 85, 80.
35:59And I'm telling you, 89 percent in two instances,
36:0189 percent cut.
36:03Nobody has ever seen anything like it.
36:05So, I'd like to ask Oz in particular, because you
36:09and I know each other.
36:10He's a very tough hombre, this one.
36:12He's tough as hell.
36:14And so, if you can lead the group, and it's not
36:16going to be easy.
36:17You're going to have to get in and you're going to
36:18have to fight.
36:18If you do it, you can have within a period of weeks,
36:21you can have drug costs that drop like a rock.
36:23Okay?
36:24So, you as a group, I have great confidence.
36:27And if you don't do it, I am firing every single one
36:29of you.
36:30So, good luck, Oz.
36:34All right?
36:35Can you handle it?
36:36The companies are all coming in, and we've
36:41heard some very interesting news.
36:43Sorry.
36:43The companies are all coming in.
36:45We've had some very promising interactions.
36:48So, give me a little time to be a tough hombre.
36:51You'll do a great job.
36:52I have no doubt about it.
36:53Thank you very much.
36:54Any help, I will be there to help you.
36:56Okay?
36:57You mentioned something that has not been
36:59discussed in the past.
37:00People have talked about drug prices in a silo
37:03and in isolation.
37:04But when you start going to the countries where
37:06they give discounts to because they're getting
37:07beaten up there and you support these companies,
37:10they see a huge upside potential, even greater
37:13than the numbers you mentioned.
37:14Right.
37:15They should be able to charge more than what
37:17they would historically have been tolerant of if
37:19they had the support of the U.S.
37:20government and you.
37:21And Secretary Kennedy is aware of all these
37:23discussions.
37:24Well, they were artificially low and
37:26artificially high.
37:27We were artificially high.
37:28They were artificially low.
37:29We're not going to let that end.
37:31I think you're going to be able to handle it
37:32pretty easily.
37:33But speed is very important because we can
37:35do this immediately.
37:36This doesn't take two years, three years.
37:38It doesn't take a month.
37:39So, do the best you can.
37:41Thank you very much.
37:42Thank you, everybody.
37:44Thank you very much.
37:48Thank you very much.
37:53Are we concluded, Bobby?
37:54Go ahead.
37:55Why don't you finish it off?
37:56Mr. President, let's all give a hand for
37:59President Trump for his leadership.
38:02Thank you, everybody.
38:15Thank you very much.
38:26You
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