-It has now become clear
in the post-Trump era that the core
ideological principle that binds the Republican Party
together is its contempt for democracy and its commitment
to the deranged lie that the 2020 election
was stolen. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." [ Theme music plays ] The Republican Party has
attempted to rebrand itself in the post-Trump era as some sort of populist
pro-worker party, which is, of course, ludicrous, 'cause it's all just
a [bleep] rebranding exercise. It's the only thing
ever cared about -- branding. For example,
he repeatedly claimed throughout his presidency
that he was taking on the drug companies to lower
prices for Americans, including in
his farewell address just before leaving office. -Last month,
I took on Big Pharma. The drug companies don't exactly
like me too much lately. Big Pharma. And the drug companies
hate me. [ Cheers and applause ]
They don't like me. Big Pharma is not
a big fan of mine. And the drug companies,
Big Pharma, does not exactly like
your favorite president, I will tell you,
but that's okay. Essentially we're holding
Big Pharma accountable. I don't need Big Pharma.
They don't help me. We have Big Pharma against us. We created choice and
transparency in healthcare, stood up to Big Pharma
in so many ways. They do not like me this much.
It's big -- They call it Big Pharma.
-Sometimes I think he says "they call it"
because he wants to get credit for teaching you
a thing you already know. Other times, I think he says it
because he doesn't want you thinking
he came up with that name. "They call it Big Pharma,
but I call it -- wait for this -- Phony Pharma, with Fishy Pfizer,
Mad Moderna, and of course, worst of all,
Jerkson & Jerkson. Of course, that promise
turned out to be empty. All he did was sign a few
meaningless executive orders and promise legislation
that never came. In fact, after he himself
got COVID during the campaign, he announced that he would make
the experimental cocktail he received in the hospital
free for all Americans -- a promise
that suspiciously disappeared after he made it. -I have
emergency use authorization all set, and
we got to get it signed now. I want to get for you
what I got. And I'm gonna make it free.
You're not gonna pay for it. I want everybody to be given the same treatment
as your president. Because I feel great.
I feel, like, perfect. -Well, you look perfect, too.
I wonder how he's doing now? Aah! Oh.
He looks like he drowned in the water hazard
on the 18th hole. When Ted Cruz
flew down to Mar-a-Lago, die he meet with Trump
or the ghost of Trump? Also, anytime
a con artist like Trump promises to give you
something for free, you should be skeptical.
I'm sure, at the end of that lunch,
Trump stuck Cruz with the check. "$600?
All I had was a coffee, and he put his fingers
in it twice." The point is,
Trump pretended he was a warrior against Big Pharma, but,
of course, it was all a lie. Meanwhile, yesterday
the Biden administration actually did take on
the pharmaceutical industry with a historic and
shocking move that surprised almost everyone
and will do immense good. -U.S. trade representative
Katherine Tai delivered lifesaving news
today, when she announced the
Biden administration's support for lifting intellectual
property protections for coronavirus vaccines. The waiver would allow
developing countries to access the information to produce their own
generic vaccines instead of waiting
months or years for adequate supply from
the pharmaceutical companies that developed the vaccines. -Moderna stock is taking a hit.
It's down 8% now. Of course, it dropped yesterday
on the news after the market closed,
but this is really affecting all of these companies
in the vaccine space. If you look at Novavax,
which is expecting Phase 3 data here in the U.S. soon
for its COVID vaccine; CureVac, which is
another mRNA player, which is expecting data soon; BioNTech, of course,
which is Pfizer's partner -- all of these stocks down
about 7% to 9% on this patent news.
-Wow. Joe Biden,
scourge of Big Pharma. Who would have thunk it?
Although, to me, it makes sense, because Biden does have
the energy of a grandpa who refuses to take
over-the-counter meds and insists a swim in the lake
will cure his back pain. "In my day,
if you had a backache, you ate some ground liverwort
and rubbed some vinegar on it. And if it got really bad, you went down
to Dr. Bonkers' medical wagon and drank some of
his magic elixir. It didn't have no Tylenol
or ibuprofen in it. Just straight whiskey
and cocaine." But it's truly difficult
to underscore just how monumental and historic
this is. With one decision, Joe Biden
sent Big Pharma stock prices plummeting and
put people's lives over profits, and he didn't make a big, flashy
Rose Garden announcement or film a weird video where
he's standing near the bushes outside the White House
like he lost his keys and is waiting
for his wife to get home. "Yeah, I know there's a plastic
rock with a key in it. But it looks like
all the other rocks. Yeah, well, they should
make one that says 'key' on it." Biden just did it. Honestly, he should
make a big, flashy announcement. That's the one thing
Democrats are bad at. They like to be boring.
And I get it. After four years of nonstop
heart palpitations, I think we're all craving
some boredom. But Democrats should also be
out there telling voters they're the ones really
sticking it to Big Pharma while Donald Trump and Ted Cruz
hang out at Mar-a-Lago. Or the lobby of a Radisson.
I can't tell. And another thing --
it's amazing and revealing that it's this easy to just
waive the patent protections on a lifesaving vaccine
and save lives. Why can't we do this for other
medicines, like insulin? Because insulin prices
are a national disgrace. A patient paying roughly $175
for a vial of insulin 15 years ago
might pay nearly $1,500 for the same dose today,
and that's horrifying. It's a lifesaving medication,
not a rare Beanie Baby. The price of insulin
shouldn't rise more than the price of Pokémon cards, which -- true story --
are skyrocketing right now for reasons
I do not fully understand. But the bottom line is,
you need to dig through your closet
at your parents' house ASAP and see if you have
a 2002 Charizard, because if you do, you could be
rolling in cash right now, my friends.
I went back through all my Pokémon cards,
and all I had was a bunch of worthless
Rattatattas -- Tattas -- Rattata-tatas. [ Laughter ] Rattata -- Rattata-tatas. I -- I didn't collects them, and I don't know
what these words mean. [ Laughter ] And a 1983 Rollie Fingers.
There we go. And by the way, presumably,
a big part of the reason this happened is because of
pressure from progressives and activists on the left
pushing the Biden administration to do the right thing,
which is how it should be. On the right,
it goes in reverse. The GOP doesn't push Trump.
Trump pushes the GOP. And remember, Trump
is not even in government. He's a retired
semi-Amateur golfer living in
a weird, gothic swamp hotel with a bunch of
Palm Springs radiologists and Russian spies, and still
working Republican politicians have to constantly debase and
humiliate themselves just to please him,
which is why they all make the sad pilgrimage
to Mar-a-Lago to genuflect to him
like Cruz did, or like Kevin McCarthy did
a few months back. Remember this?
Looks like when the star of a movie takes
a picture with his stuntman. "The movie is about
a group of old bank robbers with young wives,
who decide to go for one last score and
rob the Taj Mahal. I play Big Red, the sexy one." It's also why Rudy Giuliani
shows up outside of
landscaping companies, screaming about
nonexistent voter fraud and then has to
keep his mouth shut when Trump stiffs him.
"Boss, I need the cash. I'm at an ATM,
and nothing's coming out." "Rudy, that a claw machine. Oh, boy, Rudy,
you done it again." "Wait, maybe I can grab enough
Beanie Babies to break even. Come on, Rudy. Oh, you got this. Damn it!
Alright, give me a brick!" So, clearly,
Republicans have no interest in actual pro-worker populism. They're just authoritarians,
who desperately crave power, which is why their sole
ideological commitment, the core of their movement, is the lie that the 2020
election was stolen from Donald Trump,
and now they're purging from their leadership
anyone who disagrees with them. Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney
is just the latest and most prominent example. -Do you believe
she needs to go? And if so,
who should replace her? -Yes, she definitely needs do
go, and the speaker the right. We are
a pro-America populist party rooted in
conservative principle, with Donald Trump as our leader. You can't have a Republican
conference chair reciting
Democrat talking points. You can't have
a Republican conference chair taking a position that 90% of
the party disagrees with, and you can't have
a Republican Party chair consistently speaking out
against the individual who 74 million Americans
voted for. -First of all, Jim Jordan,
either dump the suit or wear a jacket.
You always look like you're begging Alec Baldwin for the
"Glengarry" lead. Second, the Democrat
talking points you're referring to
are just reality. Think about how deranged
what he's saying is. "We can't have leaders in our
party who believe in reality." It's like if
I instructed my staff not to question
my Vince Vaughn impression, even though I now conduct
all meetings as Vince Vaughn. "Buddy, buddy, buddy,
this sketch is not working. It breaks my heart to say it,
but it's true. You got to cut it in half
and add more jokes. Now, if you make those changes,
will I do it on the show? Probably not.
I have a reputation to maintain. But give it your best shot,
okay, pal?" "Alright, geez, man, relax."
[ Laughter ] Again, now I think...
[ Laughter ] Now I think the cold
has really brought it out. I think the worst thing
that will happen when my cold goes away
is the reversion to the poorer
Vince Vaughn impression. And again, I don't wanted to
side with Liz Cheney. She's a pro-war
torture apologist who supported Trump in 2016 and helped make the modern GOP
what it is today. I feel B.J. Hunnicutt
speaking up in support
of Charles Winchester. [ Laughter ] But she's not being punished
for any of that. She's being punished
for simply stating reality. The GOP's fealty to a corrupt
and deeply unpopular ex-president
who never won the popular vote, never cracked 50% job approval,
and who fomented a violent insurrection
to overturn the election shows you just how deep
their contempt for democracy is. Rather than actually appeal
to a majority of voters, they'd rather just rig the game
so they always win. That's what they're doing
right now with all these
voter-suppression laws. They're just trying to codify
Trump's big election lie and make it canon.
that's what happened this morning in Florida,
when Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law making it harder
to vote by mail or drop box. And in a bizarre and
deeply unnerving move, the bill signing was exclusively
aired on Fox News, with other media outlets barred
from entering the room. -Governor Ron DeSantis
just signed a controversial voting bill
into law. But you may have missed
that happening live, because local media were
not allowed inside the event. Instead, the governor opted
to only allow one national news outlet
to cover a bill signing that would impact the voters
in the state of Florida. All voters.
-He signed the bill from West Palm Beach,
live on Fox News. -What are you about to sign?
-So, right now, I have what we think is the strongest
election integrity measures in the country.
I'm actually gonna sign it right here.
It's gonna take effect -- [ Cheers and applause ]
So, here we go. The bill is signed.
-Well, I'm sure it's bipartisan if they're signing it
exclusively on Fox News. It's like your spouse saying
they have something to tell you and they want to do it
live on "Maury." They love to pretend these are so-called nonpartisan
election integrity bills. But signing it live
on "Fox & Friends" really gives the game away,
doesn't it? Like when a loan shark
knocks on your door with two goons on either side,
you know what he's there for. "I got your money! I swear! I just have to get it
out of the claw machine!" It's truly shocking to see the
actual business of government turned into a right-ring
cable-news exclusive, and on "Fox & Friends," no less,
the dumbest of Fox shows. Which is saying a lot. It's like livestreaming
emergency heart surgery on "eBaum's World,"
right next to videos called "Top Ten Skateboard Fails" and "Dude Poops His Pants
in a Del Taco." The GOP has attempted
to rebrand itself as a populist pro-workers party,
but it's all a giant fraud. All they really care about
is dismantling democracy and purging anyone who disagrees
with the unhinged lie that Donald Trump actually won
the 2020 election. They don't care
what it means for you so long as Trump can say...
-I feel great. -This has been "A Closer Look." [ Theme music plays ] God's Love We Deliver
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