HOW ARE YOU FEELING GOING IN TOMORROW?

YOU KNOW, I FEEL PRETTY GOOD, AS GOOD AS YOU CAN FEEL BEFORE ANY MAJOR ELECTION.

AND THIS IS A MAJOR ONE.

AND I WANT TO ECHO WHAT YOU JUST SAID IN YOUR OPENING MONOLOGUE THERE LEADING INTO THIS INTERVIEW.

DON'T BELIEVE THE POLLS BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT THE POLLS HAVE A HISTORY OF DOCUMENTED HISTORY OF FAVORING DEMOCRATS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THREE AND FIVE POINTS.

And it gets worse during the summer.

You can see them starting to tighten up now because pollsters realize that it's close to the election and they want to look like they were more accurate than they really are.

THEY'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT IT, WHICH MAKES ME REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT IT IS THAT WE TALK

NOW THEY'RE TELLING YOU WHO THEY'LL GO AFTER NEXT? 51 REPUBLICAN SENATORS AND A REPUBLICAN HOUSE ARE ALL THAT IT'S A SERIOUS ELECTION AND DEMOCRATS ARE UNSERIOUS

very strongly in your opening monologue.

I couldn't agree more.

We have a voting problem with the way that Republicans think and act and vote.

And in a way, it's based on a good instinct, right? Democrats run a machine.

They can have the most insane, weak, crazy candidates, and their people turn out, right? They vote by mail.

They vote from beyond the grave.

IT'S REALLY TOO CONSEQUENTIAL TO EVEN ROLL THE DICE WITH, RIGHT?

But the question is, was it worth it knowing that Donald Trump was the pure beneficiary of

that? I think it was worth it.

And I'm not sure that it is just Donald Trump who's the beneficiary of this, Sean.

I mean, a midterm election, I think, let me stay right up front.

I think the convention was a great idea and I think it will prove to have been a success.

I think you saw the media attacking it to the run-up.

And now I think the Democrats, I'll bet, you'll see the Democrats do this next midterm election because they know it was a good idea.

But Tim Murtaugh, what do you think about the message that we're hearing?

what does he say about the last two years that you think is not just catering to the base, but will grow that vote? for him this fall?

Well, I think you have to tell the absolute facts about what the record of the administration is and what the record of the Democrats is, in fact, and what the record of the what the what the Democrats would do if they got back in power.

The Trump administration really is a story of success for this country.

Crime is down.

The border is more secure than it has, I dare say, ever been.

There are virtually zero Zero illegal aliens released into the interior of the country by federal border agents, which is a radical departure from what was happening under the previous president.

Taxes remain low.

How would you advise the administration to deal with this?

Why, why, oh, why, oh, why haven't we seen a president do this before?

Well, that's a good question there, newsman Dan.

Thanks for having me on again.

This is another reason why I say that Republicans in these midterm elections that are coming up should absolutely 100% not be afraid to run on health care messaging because the administration, the Trump administration, has really done great work on this.

This is going to lead to discounts to all state Medicaid programs, as you just mentioned.

It aligns with the prices in foreign countries.

These drug companies have also agreed to invest almost $20 billion into reshoring U.S. manufacturing here in the pharmaceutical industry, so that's more good news on top of that.

Thank God for 47.

that this isn't just a hoax, this is election interference.

Yeah, 100% is election interference.

There's no question about that.

And it's funny, they want to call it a social experiment.

I mean, honest to God, the entirety of the Democratic Party could be seen as a social experiment, what with the Marxists and the drag queens and all that.

I mean, my goodness.

But now the polling has really, really taken it on the chin.

Do you think he pays a price at all for this?

Start from the beginning, Tim, will you please? What is 340B and why should all the folks care, not just the people who are maybe disaffected by it?

Yeah, well, it's hundreds of billions of dollars, actually, Eric, and it's good to see you.

Good to be with you again, and thank you very much for having me on here.

And as you just said, the reason why this program, the 340B program and some parts of it that we're going to discuss here, I hope, the reason why they're in the news now is that they were created back in 1992 by Congress, and they're supposed to help, as you said, People in the rural parts of this country or people who have financial difficulties, poor people, they're supposed to help them get medical care and the drugs.

But what is happening is that under the 340B program, the companies that access that, the companies that are covered by it and qualify for it, they are not passing the savings on to the customers, to the patients as they are supposed to.

Oh, no.

They are keeping those profits.

Can you explain to the folks what they are and why they become such a big part of the 340B debate?

What do we have to know about this 340 program?

Well, it's pretty crazy.

And it started out, as you just said, as a program to make sure that poor people and rural people have access to cheap prices for drugs.

But what it's done is turned into basically a slush fund for a lot of these hospital operators and health clinic operators.

And mostly what we're focused on is something called an FQHC, which is a federally qualified health center.

And that kind of sounds like a little community health center where you might go and get your B12 shot or something.

But sometimes they grow into multibillion-dollar healthcare enterprises.

But, you know, are people going to buy into sort of the instant gratification of that sales pitch?

It sounds to me that that's part of the problem.

Yeah, the problem is, is that the customers, the patients here in these situations have absolutely no visibility into how the pricing occurs.

These FQHCs, and again, they're called federally qualified health centers.

Most people would think of this as like, oh, like some sort of community-based clinic.

And that's what it's supposed to be.

It's supposed to be passing on the discounts and the rebates that folks get for things like drugs, prescription drugs, pass them on to the patients.

But they don't pass them on to the patients.

I'm sorry, before we get to Ilhan, I'm sorry, but as I'm listening to what you're describing, I'm thinking this has got to be criminal.

Why do you think so few Americans have ever heard of it, despite the fact that billions of dollars move through this program every single year?

Well, I mean, the reason why most Americans have never heard of it is because of an almost complete lack of transparency in the program.

I mean, this is a program that's supposed to provide people who can't afford medications that they need to survive to be able to get drugs at cheaper prices.

But because of FQHCs, these federally qualified health centers that have access to the 340B program, they're supposed to be passing on discounts and rebates that they get for drugs pass those on to consumers, the patients.

But they don't.

They keep the difference between what they're reimbursed for the cost of the drug and what it actually costs them.

That's their profit margin.

How important is it for Americans to understand the role of these FQHCs and this entire 340B ecosystem?

As you look ahead to the midterms, A, what's your analysis? Can Republicans out-kick their historical coverage here and hold the Congress? And B, what's the messaging advice they need to hear in order to pull that off?

Well, I think they very much can, uh, out-kick their coverage here and, and, uh, and, and defeat the historical precedent.

If you look back at history, in 2018, the Cook Political Report, in the midterms in Trump's first term, in 2018, going into the elections, Democrats had a 15-seat edge, 210 to 195, going in, with safe seats, a 15-seat edge going into the midterms.

This time, Republicans, according to Inside Elections, Republicans are on top with safe seats 215 to 206, so they have a nine-seat edge with 14 toss-ups.

That is pretty, pretty, uh, good-

Mm

... positioning for Republicans going into the midterms.

Now to actually have an edge on the safe seats and only have to win, what, three of the toss-ups to get to 218, 3 out of 14, that's...

As you look ahead to the midterms, A, what's your analysis? Can Republicans out-kick their historical coverage here and hold the Congress? And B, what's the messaging advice they need to hear in order to pull that off?

Well, I think they very much can, uh, out-kick their coverage here and, and, uh, and, and defeat the historical precedent.

If you look back at history, in 2018, the Cook Political Report, in the midterms in Trump's first term, in 2018, going into the elections, Democrats had a 15-seat edge, 210 to 195, going in, with safe seats, a 15-seat edge going into the midterms.

This time, Republicans, according to Inside Elections, Republicans are on top with safe seats 215 to 206, so they have a nine-seat edge with 14 toss-ups.

That is pretty, pretty, uh, good-

Mm

... positioning for Republicans going into the midterms.

Now, to actually have an edge on the safe seats and only have to win, what, three of the toss-ups to get to 218, 3 out of 14, that's...

Can he get that done, though, without Congress?

Well, I think he's going to want Congress to buy in, but there's a lot that a president can do.

And as he's shown, I think, already with the drug prices, as you've already talked there, I think the American people have seen what he's done.

getting transparency into the market and bringing prices down he's been doing that without the help of of congress as a matter of fact now according to the polling that you just alluded to it seems that the american people have seen what he's done there and they've said okay that's great we approve that we like we like what you've done there but i think it's the health insurance folks the health insurance executives who are going to be on the hot seat now the president has already identified them congress has already identified them and the real issues as you say are the price healthcare premiums every month through the roof deductibles are sky-high you still shell out out of your pocket before any coverage kicks in and then when you do expect that coverage to kick in you get denials and one thing people are reporting is that because a lot of these insurance companies are now using AI and for the initial processing, that denials have actually increased, and it's not even humans who are denying the people coming to get their coverage.

You know, and I've used this analogy before, but if month after month you put your money into the bank, and then one day you showed up at the bank and said, could I have my money, please? And they said no.

You would freak out.

There would be a run on banks.

Like again, like you just said, what are we paying the premiums for?

What are your thoughts?

Yeah, I think that's a good idea, Dan, and thanks for having me on again.

I know that the president has said that he intends to take the CEOs of these giant healthcare companies to the woodshed.

He says he wants to bring them into the Oval Office for a quote-unquote conversation, and I think we can all guess how that would kind of go.

It would be fairly one-sided.

But this hearing tomorrow with a bunch of CEOs, those same CEOs in front of a House committee, it is very good that Trump and Republican House members... are going to be taking these health insurance CEOs to task.

Because really, here's the basic problem.

Anything else in the plan that stands out to you?

Anything that gives me my money back and lets me control, plus I'm not saying I'm the art of the dealmaker like DJT, but I love a good haggle.

Yeah, I mean, there is a health care crisis going on in this country, and it's a crisis of cost.

There's no question about that.

And if you look at the health care spending overall in this country, and then I would invite your viewers to look at their health care spending in their own lives.

The spending, it's almost all insurance, right? It's your health care insurance costs.

And so this isn't complicated.

Let's look at the shutdown that we just came through was because the Democrats were fighting to protect subsidies for Obamacare, which we all acknowledge is a completely broken law and always was.

American voters, millions of us in

Yeah.

... where it's, it's really actually sort of arbitrary and made up.

You know, the first 100 days, it's just a nice round number, and that's basically the only reason why anybody picks it.

But a lot of the stuff that Trump has been doing is really for the long game.

You know, I think he's setting up...

Think about how many things that he had to undo that Joe Biden and the Democrats had done that have damaged this country.

You know, you're talking about these trade deal, the trade deal with the UK, he's trying to level the playing field.

So, it's, it's a really tough thing for the math to work.

Not continuing resolution, budget reconciliation, thank you.

Yeah.

One big beautiful bill, as, as President Trump likes to call it.

And I think you're gonna...

I mean, there's a lot of stuff in there, but it's the opportunity for Congress to really, uh, cement what is the America First policy, the America First agenda, uh, and really what the MAGA movement stands for.

You know, the president can do a lot, uh, with executive orders, as everyone has seen him doing, uh, but it really, for th- for- to really make some of this stuff stick and last, it- it really should be, uh, done through legislation or in this case, budget res- re- bu- budget reconciliation.

I think there's a few things that you're gonna see.

I, for one, am shocked.

What on earth was that?

Well, I mean, I think it's- there's- there's a case, I think, of a- of a member of Congress who knows that she's not going to have good answers for anything and- and doesn't have anything constructive to say or- or even anything believable or logical or- or anything that would satisfy any viewing audience.

So- so the best- the best option for her, as I'm sure she went through this calculation in her mind really quickly, was to just say, you know, F off and, uh, go about her business.

And so, I mean, I think- I think you see a lot of members of Congress sort of, uh, treating their constituents in that way.

I think you see, uh, in the case of the Democrats, you see they're- I mean, they're holding- they- they got over that now, but- but they- they started out this new Trump administration by holding press conferences standing in the doorway of federal agencies that most Americans have never even heard of.

Thank you.

Yeah.

One big beautiful bill, as, as President Trump likes to call it.

(laughs)

... gives a rip about that, right? The, the...

Especially on the issue of illegal immigration, they are fighting the same fights that the s- the country just told them.

Re- uh, unmistakable message from the entire country to the Democratic Party, "We agree with Trump on illegal immigration." And they still don't get it.

And the media doesn't get it.

None of them get it.

They don't understand when the, when the n- nation looks at them and says, "You know, guys, he's not really from Maryland."

Mm-hmm.

I mean, I, I hear from agency officials and from cabinet secretaries, they say, "You have no idea, not just the staffing of the deep state, but regulatory measures, decisions that were made in the prior administration at the 11, 11:00 PM midnight that can't be undone for a certain period of time or else there's going to be a court injunction." Tim, what also is Donald Trump working on as far as things that Joe Biden left him, the landmines and the decisions that he has to course correct on?

Well, there's, there's one big one that has begun to come to light because President Trump just issued an executive order just last week on this, and, and it's inside the poorly named, I know everyone, uh, loves to name bills on the left, they, they name bills for exactly what they are not, but inside the Inflation Reduction Act, which did absolutely nothing to solve the problem of inflation that Joe Biden left President Trump, inside the IRA there was something that's, uh, been come to be known as the Biden Pill Penalty.

And what that is is Joe Biden favored one form of medicine over another form of medicine.

He favored what are called large molecule medicines, think of things that you have to go to the hospital for, IVs and infusions, injections, those sorts of things, favored those at the expense and discriminated against pill form medicine.

And that's just a ridiculous idea because pills are 71% cheaper on average than other forms of medicine.

They're cheaper to make, they're cheaper for patients, they're cheaper for the entire healthcare community.

And, uh, look, patients groups, doctors groups, yeah, pharmaceutical companies, uh, business groups, conservative groups, everyone told the Democrats at that time, "If you do this, this is what's going to happen." And so it passed with zero Republican votes and what came to pass was exactly what was predicted, 70%, two, three quarters of the R&D dollars have moved away from pills.

So, what did President Trump do l- last week? Remind our audience what exactly he signed and the significance of it.

Can you, can you, can you unpack this for him, Tim?

Yeah.

So it is good news th- to see these industries moving their facilities back into America, and that has been the president's goal.

That's what he's been trying to do.

That's what he campaigned on.

And, and we see it every day.

You're right, headline after headline, and it's working.

Mm-hmm.

So, how important is it to start cutting deals now, do you think? With South Korea, India, Japan, people th- who seem to want to.

I think it's going to be important to cut the deals when, when the deal is right.

Uh, the purpose of tariffs is to try to get the United States to be treated fairly by other countries around the world.

Because, as the president says, uh, it is, it is known, it is not disputed that the United States has been getting ripped off by a lot of countries, not just China, but certainly including China, uh, for a long time.

And when the president slaps tariffs or has the threat of slapping tariffs on, on all of these countries, they come running to the negotiating table.

And the point is to get the best deal possible to make sure that the playing field is fair for American workers.

And so, I mean, the president will know the time is right.

Can you explain that?

that's exactly

what China is doing.

That is exactly right.

And what Jack Dorsey wants is, you know, he owns an AI company.

What he wants to be able to do is use anything that anybody else creates, just rip it and steal it to train the AI to replicate.

Heck, this very program, if you post a clip on this program anywhere online, he wants AI to be able to steal it, replicate it, and use it for his own purposes.

Okay, I'm on board with the laws.

They didn't even know what the hell Joe did, slipping that into the, where was it slipped in? The Inflation Reduction Act or which act?

We will fight this to the end." Um, what's your advice to Xi, if you could offer him any?

Uh, pick up the phone.

That's what, that's what I would say.

Get on the phone with Donald Trump and make a deal.

Because Donald Trump is not gonna bend.

He's not.

He, he has had this in his sights for a long time.

Tell us what Canada has done to Rumble, uh, and what, what the current fight is.

Did you know back then, or did this come to your attention later?

Oh, it came to my attention after the fact.

What it is is the Inflation Reduction Act, first of all, that's some of that same polling that you were talking about.

Three-quarters of Americans think that the Inflation Reduction Act, well, first of all, not only was it wrongly named, it didn't do anything to attack inflation.

But three quarters of Americans believe that it's a failure and upwards of about 88% of seniors are worried about the Biden pill penalty.

And what legislation that Congress passes, and by the way, this passed with this many, zero Republican votes, none, no Republicans voted for this thing.

What legislation can do, it can either create incentives for people to do something or disincentives for people to do something.

Let's be