The Miami Herald on how a ‘meh’ debate performance from Desantis will only fuel Republicans’ push for Trump:
It was the same old Ron Desantis at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee Wednesday.
Sure, the Florida governor hit his talking points. He called the United States “a country in decline.” He vowed to take on Joe Biden and “Bidenomics.” He touted his own COVID response in Florida and bragged about fighting crime by removing two “radical left-wing district attorneys” from office..
He dodged a question on whether he’d support a federal abortion ban. He wiggled away from any talk about Donald Trump’s betrayal of the country, saying we have to focus on the future, not the past. He promised to declare the border a “national emergency,” repeating his well-honed, blood-thirsty line that drug traffickers will be left “stone cold dead.”
He was energetic. He was angry. He was well-rehearsed. He was . . . meh.
And yet that didn’t really matter. Because, despite the pressure on Desantis to win back Republican voters who have soured on him, most of the attention was still on The Man Who Wasn’t There.
Trump, as predicted, dominated from afar. Or as Fox host Bret Baier, rather meanly, reminded Desantis at one point, “he’s beating you by 30, 40 points in many polls.”
The candidates onstage were left fighting over scraps, with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy scoring the biggest wins with his irreverent attitude and calls for “revolution.” But Trump remained the clear favorite: When former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tried to criticize the former president, the hall was filled with boos so loud he had to stop talking for a moment.
Those four indictments? Jan. 6? Not important.
The ex-president, meanwhile, was strutting away over on social media with his pre-recorded Tucker Carlson interview and his promises that “SPARKS WILL FLY.”
On X — the former Twitter — Trump, naturally, cast himself as the victim. He was also the name-caller, the hero who prevented nuclear war and the bully who hit below the belt. He sat out the debate, then attacked his opponents on the Milwaukee stage in a forum where they could not push back. He revived the Ron “Desanctimonius” nickname and threw in his central claim that the 2020 election was rigged.
It was the perfect forum for a man who wants to be president, but who did not want to be forced to defend his disdain for this country’s democratic principles.
Back in Milwaukee, the stage was brightly lit. Desantis was smack in the middle. But a Trump-shaped shadow was cast over everything.
And it showed. When the Fox hosts asked about Trump in the middle of the debate, you could feel the tension rise. Desantis was among those who raised their hands to say they would support Trump if he becomes the nominee. That, even though he recently admitted that Trump lost in 2020.
And yet you have to give Desantis credit. He learns from his failures. He was happy to trot out his Florida record but steered carefully away from using the word “woke” — though he has based much of his campaign on being “antiwoke” — because the term hasn’t been landing with voters outside of Florida, who seem mostly to be confused about what it means. He focused on immigration and law and order, as he has in recent speeches.
He even tried to create a Trump moment of his own. He said presidential adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the White House COVID-19 pandemic response under the Trump administration, should have been dumped. “You sit him down, and you say, ‘Anthony, you are fired,’” he said, to a round of applause.
It was a weak attempt to brand himself as the new standard-bearer for the party, that elusive figure who can carry on Trump’s work without actually being Trump.
Desantis may not have been stand-out but he did fine. Ramaswamy made, perhaps, a bigger splash, if the number of attacks from other candidates was a measure. And Ramaswamy landed a shot on Desantis when he called the others on stage “Super PAC puppets” — a reference to the Florida governor’s leaked debate preparation memo.
But watching the performance Wednesday night — of Desantis and Ramaswamy and Christie and the others — leaves us with one question. Has the Republican Party given up trying to rid themselves of a four-time indicted leader who wanted to overturn a legitimate election so he could stay in power?
It sure looked like it.
The Republican & Herald on how gouging med prices sickening:
The Medicare Part D drug program that was adopted during the George W. Bush administration was written for the benefit of the pharmaceutical industry.
It precluded Medicare, unlike the Veterans Administration and other public and private health benefit administrators, from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The results are predictable. Medicare Part D spent $216 billion on 3,500 prescription drugs in 2021.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats passed into law in 2022, finally authorizes Medicare to negotiate drug prices. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that it would save $98.5 billion for taxpayers over 10 years.
Medicare is scheduled to identify the first 10 drugs by Sept. 1. Pharmaceutical companies face steep financial penalties if they decide not to participate by Oct. 1. The new prices themselves would not take effect until 2026.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and pharmaceutical giants including Merck, Johnson & Johnson Bristol Myers Squibb and Astellas Pharma have sued, claiming the law is unconstitutional.
They have filed separate cases within multiple federal districts, a strategy designed to ensure that the matter ends up before the business-friendly Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, price projections for new a class of weight-reduction drugs show why price negotiations are crucial. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, Novo Nordisk’s average price for an injection course in the United States is $936. Elsewhere: Japan, $169; Canada, $147; Switzerland, $144; Germany and the Netherlands, $103; Sweden, $96; the United Kingdom, $93; Australia, $87; and France, $83.
Taxpayers and consumers need drug-price relief along the lines provided by other countries that regulate drug pricing. The courts should help cure gouging.