 So I want to talk about a story that I think encapsulates every single thing that is wrong with American politics And this is a two-part story. So the first part is going to demonstrate why Donald Trump Isn't just apathetic about issues that impact working-class people. He genuinely hates Americans and he doesn't care about Anything that affects you. He only cares about elites and special interests. This story should make that crystal clear Now the second part of the story It really speaks to this notion that Nancy Pelosi is some sort of political mastermind and any pundit who is Claiming that she's playing nine-dimensional chess against Donald Trump They really are doing a disservice to readers and viewers because this story demonstrates how she got played by Donald Trump once again, and she has no way of Adequately responding to Donald Trump when he chooses to do things that hurt working-class Americans So for the first part, we're gonna talk about Donald Trump's contempt for working-class Americans and just Americans in general Just last week we talked about how his administration would be cutting food stamps for almost 700,000 people but now he is refusing to Allow reform that is the most milk toast reform Imaginable now when he ran for president. He claimed that he wanted to lower the cost of prescription drugs He even was open to the idea that he would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices But now fast forward to today He is actively opposing a bill that would in fact do just that as AP reports The house will hold a showdown vote next week on speaker Nancy Pelosi's bill Empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices expanded Thursday to provide seniors with dental vision and hearing benefits Not currently covered leading Democratic Committee chairman said the Congressional Budget Office has indicated that Pelosi's bill Would save the government five hundred billion over ten years Which they pledged to use for new Medicare benefits and other health care priorities such as the National Institutes of Health and the Opioid crisis while the bill is expected to pass the Democratic controlled house It has no chance in the Republican run Senate most Republicans oppose authorizing Medicare to negotiate drug prices Arguing the job is better done by private insurers who deliver the program's prescription benefit President Donald Trump as a candidate called for giving Medicare negotiating cloud But since taking office he has backed off the White House now strongly opposes Pelosi's bill Arguing it will keep up to one-third of new drugs from coming to market over a decade an estimate far higher than the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has calculated. So here's what's especially damning. This is reform that is Incredibly gradual. It's a step in the right direction. It wouldn't do too much In fact, it would only allow Medicare to negotiate 25 different drugs now it would gradually increase over ten years But it would go from 25 to 35. So this really is the bare minimum. It's the bare bare minimum, right? It's the least amount that Trump could do to really hold up that campaign promise that he wants to lower prescription drug costs But he won't even allow that not even the bare minimum. Why? because I'm assuming this would be seen one as a concession to Democrats and two as You know him spitting in the eyes of his donors his big pharma donors who absolutely love daddy Trump So he doesn't care that you know, this would actually help Americans in a really small way He's against it and Republicans are literally arguing that private insurance companies are Better at negotiating drug prices than Medicare That is a very very bold claim to make considering they're already doing it and we pay How much for prescription drugs? There was just a video that came out last week by Politics Joe where British people reacted to the cost of various, you know healthcare Things and drug prices and whatnot like EpiPens and they were floored. They were absolutely floored Because we pay more per capita than other developed countries. In fact, it's it's absurd. It's laughable Politicians should be embarrassed at how much we pay but yet We have to keep the status quo because according to Republicans. It's working out really well This comes after Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of lowering prescription drug prices How many of Donald Trump supporters Will this impact? Do you not realize what's going on here? He doesn't want to do this because he's protecting the bottom line of big Pharma CEOs Who love him and he loves them back because they donate to his campaigns. How can you defend him? People may die if this bill doesn't get passed this could save some lives not very many But some I'll be it, you know any life that we can save is a life worth saving But Trump won't even allow for the bare minimum. It's gonna be dead on arrival in the Senate if you continue to support Donald Trump then you are Woefully misinformed about politics. You're voting against your own self-interest and It's embarrassing at this point Embarrassing how many campaign promises does he have to go back on? For you to see that he wasn't running because he gave a damn about anyone. He was running because he wanted to Be more powerful Originally, I don't even think he planned on winning. He launched this campaign so we can create a TV network or a book deal Or some shit like that But yet you still support him even after time and again He has proven that he doesn't give a flying fuck about normal Americans. In fact, he's cruel On top of this he tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act His administration is backing a lawsuit that would undo protections for people with pre-existing conditions This is the party of death and destruction that you are voting for Gleefully so so I hope that you feel good about yourself Because you're voting for a party that hates you because they punish immigrants presumably oh And also because they want to make abortion illegal again, I'm assuming Okay, great. Wait, uh, you know cut off your nose despite your face Unbelievable now getting to how weak this bill is Nancy Pelosi went out of her way to make this bill super weak in order to get Donald Trump to Sign on to this right to get Republican support and what do they do? They spit in her face and yet she didn't choose to play hardball. She kept the bill shitty water down This is someone who was whipping votes for the Affordable Care Act She saw firsthand how Republicans would not get on board with the Affordable Care Act Even if they were literally adopting their right-wing proposal, this was cooked up by the Heritage Foundation Still got zero Republican votes So she will never learn that Republicans are never going to work with you bipartisanship is dead It's dead, right and the media is questioning. Oh, why is there no bipartisanship? Well, that question shouldn't even be something that anyone in media ponders and they would be embarrassed to ask it if you did your fucking job Nancy but she Refuses to play hardball and now this led to a dispute between her and the congressional progressive caucus because what they're saying is look Let's improve the bill. It's a good bill, but let's make it even better Let's make sure that we allow Medicare to not just negotiate the cost of 25 prescriptions drugs Let's let them negotiate the cost of all drugs and let's also protect people who don't have insurance because even though this bill Would expand coverage for people currently enrolled in Medicare There are people who don't qualify for Medicare who would need coverage, right? So if we're going to craft some type of health care reform or pharmaceutical industry reform, let's do a little bit better I mean, let's do more than the bare minimum Let's try to improve it a little bit, right and we'll negotiate later on But don't start the process by negotiating never pre negotiate to appease your opponents who are never going to do the same for you But with that being said Nancy Pelosi Being the political mastermind that she is chose to shut progressives like Pramila Jayapal out of this process and Spit in their face. Why? Because she was certain that Donald Trump Republicans might want to you know come to her side But no she spit in the faces of progressives to appease Donald Trump and in return He spit in her face now as David Dayan and Ryan Grimm of the Intercept explain Pelosi and her staff led by top health policy aid Wendell Primus have frozen out progressives from deliberations over the lower drug costs now act Exerting extreme control over the process. They bypassed legislation that representative Lloyd dogged wrote which thanks to progressive Organizing had the support of a majority of the caucus instead Pelosi and Primus sought to find a compromise with the Trump White House Only to see Trump savaged the bill on Twitter indicating that it didn't have his support Despite that reversal all the provisions weakened or watered down to gain Trump support remain in the bill Leaving open large gaps in who will benefit from the effects the tensions over the bill are rooted in a provision that will for the first time Allow direct price negotiations between the government and major drug companies Creating an exemption to a non-interference clause banning such negotiations that was instituted in 2003 as written However, the bill sets a floor of just 25 high-cost drugs that will be negotiated per year Rising to 35 in the 10th year of the bills enactment the CPC and drug affordability advocates believe this floor will operate as a ceiling and That a higher minimum of negotiations ought to be mandated Progressive caucus leaders would also rather see the non-interference clause stricken entirely giving more flexibility to government officials To expand the scope of negotiations. So there's your master legislator right there Getting played by Donald Trump Again, and I'm sure that this will be spun by the media as her just brilliantly owning Donald Trump When that's never the case Nancy Pelosi gets played by Donald Trump again and again and again You watered down your bill to appease Trump and he's rejecting it now. So what do you do? You play hardball Nancy you come up with a stronger bill You will allow the concessions that progressives had Encouraged you to vote on you pass it and then you gloat about this and you tell people Donald Trump Doesn't want to support this bill that would save you X amount of dollars per year on your prescription drugs Better yet come out in favor of Medicare for all and then you can tell Voters that Republicans are against something that would save lives thousands of lives every single year But Nancy Pelosi again her goal is to water down their own proposals in order to get Republicans to support it And then when they slap it down and reject her She then claims that she's a master legislator because she got them to show how horrible they are because they're not supporting her incrementalist reform No, actually They're clowning on you Nancy Pelosi and If you actually listened to progressives like Mark Pocan and Pramila Jayapal and improved the bill That would empower the grassroots to want to fight for it more to fight harder for it You want the grassroots on your side because real change comes from the bottom up and not the top down So you need to craft a bill that will get the grassroots Excited and galvanized and encourage them to organize on your behalf so Republicans do look like shit, but she won't do that So this is what this story tells us Donald Trump does not care if people will die because they can't afford their prescription drugs and Nancy Pelosi has no idea how to deal with Republicans who are obstructionist who refuse to work across work with them and reach across the aisle in spite of you know fear mongering over the lack of bipartisanship in DC in the mainstream media I mean, how is the onus not on Republicans and how is it not universally acknowledged that Republicans are the one that Are leading to increased polarization and making bipartisanship not even something that is a factor not even possible I mean, this is gonna be another bill that passes the house But dies in the Senate because of Mitch McConnell and it could have been a stronger bill That could have gotten, you know, maybe a little bit more leeway if the grassroots were excited about it But you and your health insider top policy aide Wendell Primus who was trying to kill Medicare for all by assuring industry Insiders that you know that'll never pass. Um, you decided to create a bill that really didn't do much I mean, of course, it was a step in the right direction, but it didn't do very much and The grassroots wasn't fired up. Hence, they weren't willing to fight for you This is why when Bernie Sanders talks about needing a political revolution We need a political revolution because like normal legislative process will no longer suffice Like if you actually want change if you genuinely care about lowering the cost of prescription drugs, which every one should Then you need a political revolution where we propose a bill Not one that you think will pass or get Republicans on board But one that will actually deliver and lower the cost of prescription drugs You propose that bill and then you excite people and get them to come out and support you and Take action call their Republican representatives, you know, go to town halls and shame them for not supporting it That's how action is actually should be should be done And that's how you affect change in actuality, but I mean DC doesn't run on grassroots It runs on special interests, which is why, you know, both parties essentially benefit from stagnation and no policies being passed You know, it's certainly demoralizing But if we want to get anything passed ever then we need new leadership and we need Nancy Pelosi to be out of a job so if you truly want progressive change part of that is defeating Nancy Pelosi and You back Shea had but are and you back Michaela Wilkes We've got to get Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer out and also on top of that We kick Donald Trump's ass to the curb in 2020 and we get someone elected like Bernie Sanders who actually cares about people and isn't just going to do the bidding of Big pharma because they're donating to his campaign. So it's kind of just thanking them by allowing them to continue ripping us off I mean fuck everyone like this story just makes me feel Really demoralized about the political process and I'm a political commentator So this shouldn't be a surprise to me But imagine how like an average political consumer reacts when they see stories like this This is why so many people check out But if anything this should encourage you to get more involved in the political process because the more involved We are the less that this type of bullshit can happen Subscribe if you like this video folks Mike's tremendous and he's doing a really really good job Many people are telling me about how wonderful the humanist report is Bigly