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Ryan
You're listening to an iHeart podcast. Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it's It Pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report, it is Ryan here and I have a question for you. What do you do when you win?
Mary Kathryn Ham
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Mary Kathryn Ham
Hey everybody, we are back on normally the show with normalish Takes for when the news gets we. I am Mary Kathryn Ham.
Unnamed Speaker
And I'm Carol Markowitz. How was your Mother's Day, Mary Kathryn?
Mary Kathryn Ham
You know, it was good. I had some fun time on my own. I had some fun time with the kids. Went to a little barbecue in the evening, took some of the kids with me. Not the young ones because they couldn't stay out that late, but we had a good old time. And I got, like, lots of little homemade goodies from my kiddos.
Unnamed Speaker
I love it. Very nice. I just realized I haven't read their cards yet.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Gotta get on that. How was yours?
Unnamed Speaker
It was great. We had a beach day and then we went to dinner at a restaurant called Malka, which I think you and I were at in Tel Aviv.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Oh, nice.
Unnamed Speaker
It was fantastic. Really delicious. If anyone's ever in West Palm, I highly recommend it.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Very nice. And as you and I always say, train your kids early to go to the restaurant and not be on a tablet.
Unnamed Speaker
Oh, yeah.
Mary Kathryn Ham
It is difficult. Climb the mountain and then you get the payoff after you climbed the mountain. It's great.
Unnamed Speaker
That's right. Well, I would even say I see kids on the tablet, on the beach, and that actually. More bananas.
Mary Kathryn Ham
That hurts my heart. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Oh, goodness. All right. Well, in addition to our wholesome weekend, Trump was cooking up some stuff, as always. On Sunday, I was on Howie Kurtz's Media Buzz on Fox, and I'm just going to throw to a sound bite of myself assessing Trump's weekend activities. I actually, on every Monday, just spend some time catching up on weird ideas Trump had over the weekend. Some of them I really do not like. This is our cross. Yeah. I was like, yesterday I was seeing things break, and I was like, you know what? It's Mother's Day. I'm not doing this right now.
Unnamed Speaker
Yep. I was like, I will learn it all tomorrow. I'm not focusing on Qatari airplanes right now. Yep.
Mary Kathryn Ham
But we have since focused on Qatari airplanes. And we will talk about this story in which the apparently the Qatar government at some point has proffered a jet that could become Air Force One as possibly a gift to the Trump administration, which would in theory be refurbished, become Air Force One, and then go with him to his library at some point is sort that those are the basic outlines. Now, there's a lot of fighting about the details here. Yes.
Unnamed Speaker
And the details matter. And so we'll try to get into that here. But it is a confusing scandal because on one hand, the White House is like, hey, we're getting this $400 million plane from Qatar. Qatar, whatever they're doing in full compliance out in the open. And you're like, well, if this was somehow illegal or untoward, they wouldn't do. Be doing it this openly. Right. They wouldn't be showing it to us. But I really don't know what to think.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yeah. I, my gut says this seems like a very bad idea.
Unnamed Speaker
Yes.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Now, the reason they're doing it, I think actually one of the, One of the things I've learned from this story is the continuing saga of what the heck is going on with Boeing.
Unnamed Speaker
Right. Right. Comfortably Smug unearthed the Wall Street Journal story from a few days ago that Boeing is apparently supposed to be making a new Air Force One. And they are very far behind on that.
Mary Kathryn Ham
They were supposed to.
Unnamed Speaker
Their key project. Right.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Well, they were supposed to maybe deliver it last year. Trump wants an updated Air Force One. The other Air Force One is aging. Like there are two jets that are aging. Boeing won a $3.9 billion contract, but is now years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. That's Josh Dossey with the Wall Street Journal reporting on that. It's a series of supplier engineering and manufacturing setbacks. So Trump, being Trump, is impatient for a nicer aircraft. He's rightly annoyed with Boeing. He gets offered something for free. But here's where I think Trump doesn't always doesn't always. Rarely thinks through the moral implications or the security implications of something that he could easily do as a businessman and private citizen.
Unnamed Speaker
Right.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Taking a gift as a businessman and private citizen, fine. But the Qatar government is not a friend to us.
Unnamed Speaker
No.
Mary Kathryn Ham
And taking what could be some weird booby trapped 747 from them that we then have to retrofit to fit the needs of the actual leader of the free world.
Unnamed Speaker
Right.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Sounds dicey to me.
Unnamed Speaker
Yeah. And he kind of makes it seem like if you think it sounds dicey, you're stupid.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yeah, I don't think I am. And this is the thing that concerns me too, which is that Trump, and has always concerned me about Trump is that when he is treated really nicely. Fetish. Fetished by a foreign government, he responds to that. He responds to that just as he does in personal interactions. And so when he's offered this giant gift free of charge, he's like, there is a possibility that he's nicer to them, that he's kinder to them. And I don't want him being kinder to the Qataris.
Unnamed Speaker
Right, Right. He loves to be loved. We've talked about that on here before. It's absolutely a negative, I think, because it allows you to be captured just even emotionally by people. I think we've seen it happen to him. And again, it doesn't matter where you stand on the issue necessarily. Like I think Kim Kardashian did that in the first term. I think she was very nice to him, posed for all the pictures with him, got what she wanted. And even if you're for that, you know the plan that they worked on together to have nonviolent criminals released, you still can see where her maneuvering on it was very emotions based.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yes. And this is my argument for Democrats from the beginning is that y' all should have normalized him from day one because you can walk in, if you can get access to him in his office and you can put something in his ear, he may decide that that's the greatest thing he's ever heard. Like that it, that is just part of how this works. Donald Trump on truth says so. The fact that the Defense Department is getting a gift free of charge of a 740 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One temporarily in a very public and transparent transaction so bothers the crooked Democrats that they insist we pay top dollar for the plane. Anybody can do that. The Dems are world class losers. Maga. While I appreciate the potential savings, I believe we'll be paying for the Boeing planes as well while this is happening.
Unnamed Speaker
Yeah, he's got a point about the public and transparent part of this transaction. Again, I think that he took away an argument from Democrats on this and I think they're scrambling around right now for something to say other than Qatar is not our friend. And I don't think that they really have something. The initial thing that they went for and that they always accused Trump of is being a scammer and just kind of taking advantage of the office. And that's tougher to do here because of the transparency.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yeah. I also think Democrats have trouble arguing on these grounds. This is like Democrats getting super mad about the Pope picture. It's like, guys, we don't believe that you care about the reverence toward the Catholic Church or the Pope. So using that against him is not effective in this case. We don't always believe that you guys aren't keen on talking to all of our adversaries at all times and giving them, I don't know, Iran pallets of cash. So it's harder to make the argument. I do think this is one of those situations where you just suck it up and pay for the thing that you need. And you don't put yourself in a position where you can have this, you know, hung on you. And also, like, what are we getting out of Qatar? What is happening with Qatar? There's reports that are very early that he's going to end up in Qatar as part of this deal for Idan Alexander, the American still in Gaza, who I'm very excited is being released. But what kind of talks are we having with these people? And they need to be extremely stern and clear eyed and not about the interior of a 747.
Unnamed Speaker
Yeah. So I try to give the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt on kind of, you know, there's a story right now that Eden Alexander, when he is released, he'll be taken to Qatar to meet with Trump. I hope that that story is wrong. It isn't sourced super well. So I don't know if it's true. It's also just very hard because there's a lot of internal politics that maybe we're not going to get super into on here. But in Israel, the families of the hostages are fairly left leaning and they hate Netanyahu. And there is this kind of undercurrent of that in a lot of the things that happen. For example, there was a story last week about that Steve Witkoff, the negotiator from the United States, said that Israel doesn't want to end the war. And then I saw this headline and I was like, my God, this is not a good story. But then you go into the story and it's like thirdhand families of the hostages say Israel doesn't want to end the war, which has been their line all along on Netanyahu. So again, I think when people hear things about Israel, they have to understand that they have their own internal politics that we're not privy to and that the stories you might be hearing might not be exactly what you think. So that's why I kind of give the Trump administration some leeway on the stories that come out on this.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yeah. And I would say proceed with caution with most of the stories that come out of this Middle east trip. Wait for verification for anything you find to be, you know, really wild. Because there are going to be weirdly sourced stories. There are going to be people trying to grind axes on all sides of all domestic policy.
Unnamed Speaker
Exactly.
Mary Kathryn Ham
In the countries that he is visiting, there's also our press, which is legendarily untrustworthy. So just as this trip is ongoing, I would keep a grain of salt with you at all times.
Unnamed Speaker
Exactly.
Mary Kathryn Ham
So we'll find out more about this. My general gut is like you should probably turn this down and deal toughly with Qatar about the fact that they're Hamas's buddies on the world stage and what can we do about that? And the fact that they still have all these hostages.
Unnamed Speaker
Exactly. That is, you know, I think as usual, we're pretty aligned on this. I hope that the Trump administration turns this down. I hope they realize that the outcry is very pointed and specific to Qatar. They are not our friend. I don't know. This, this new rehabbing of Qatar is really not for me. I think that they are in a lot of ways the problems that we have in America, a lot of them you can trace back to Qatari influence. I think that the, the mobs that we see on camp, kind of anti American rhetoric. A lot of that is paid for by Qatar and we need to be open eyed about it.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yeah, I think it's an important point that Qatar in particular has a record of buying people, that they're buying education, they're buying educational institutions, they're buying people and institutions all over this country in an attempt to influence us in a different direction. So maybe stay away from that. We have another fun idea from over the weekend. You want to read this one?
Unnamed Speaker
Oh my gosh. Another, another case of I saw this yesterday. I was like, this is going to have to be tomorrow's problem. We'll be right back on normally.
Ryan
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Mary Kathryn Ham
So here's Donald Trump's truth and I'll read it in full so that you have all of it. For many years, the world has wondered why prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals in the United States of America were so much higher in price than they were in any other nation, sometimes being five to 10 times more expensive than the same drug manufactured in the same exact laboratory or plant by the same company. Many question marks. It was always difficult to explain and very embarrassing because in fact there was no correct or rightful answer. The pharmaceutical drug companies would say for years that it was research and development costs and that all of these costs were and would be for no reason whatsoever, borne by the suckers of America alone. Campaign contributions can do wonders, but not with me and not with the Republican Party. We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that tomorrow morning, this is Monday in the White House at 9am I will be signing one of the most consequential executive orders in our country's history. Protection, prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices will be reduced, all caps almost immediately by 30 to 80%. They will rise throughout the world in order to equalize and for the first time in many years, bring fairness to America. I will be instituting a most favored nations policy whereby the United States will pay the same price as the nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the world. Our country will finally be treated fairly and our citizens health care costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before. Additionally, on top of everything else, the United States will save trillions of dollars. Thank you for your attention to this matter. That's my favorite part of all. These truths make America great again. Okay, there's a lot going on there.
Unnamed Speaker
Are there a lot of drugs that are currently price capped? I, I, I, I can't find a lot of information on this. It's just, it's also, it's so hard because the arguments kind of around this are so ridiculous. They're just like from the left. It's like pharmaceutical companies make too much money and so we need to limit that. I don't get a sense that the left knows how to oppose this either because they're, they're basically Trump's doing what Bernie Sanders has dreamed of doing. But it is, it is a giant problem for us because I think when Americans hear that other countries are paying less than we are, it is unfair. It doesn't seem right. However, there's a way that drug prices are determined and our system is so fractured. We have all these different entities that determine the prices, whereas these European countries have just the one entity because they're of socialized medicine system. We just have a different system. And I'm not sure how this gets aligned.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yes, I would start by conceding that, yes, our healthcare system has many, many problems. And I understand why people are upset about that, particularly when they hear that like in Canada, across the border, they're paying so much less for the same drugs. 1. I think we both agree that we're very unsure whether he has the power to do any of this. The central control, whether it's on tariffs or these price controls. I'm not a fan of. The market is generally smarter at doing this. And to the extent that we have pain in this country is it's because there's less of a free market than there should be.
Unnamed Speaker
Right.
Mary Kathryn Ham
For these things. Yeah. So. And he's trying to make it less free markety, which is. That's not the direction I want to be going. I think the problem with this is that like all things with, with all goods, if everyone becomes a socialist, the good disappears.
Unnamed Speaker
Right.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Okay. So the same is true with pharmaceuticals. We do 40 to 50% of pharmaceutical research and development in this country. 100 billion here and 200 billion in the world globally, according to recent estimates. So that's a lot. You would lose some of that if you cap prices on too many things. Because it's just like a, it's like a Hollywood studio. Right. Some movies are tent poles and then you make other things that are less lucrative and you're able to invest in those things that might have a long term research end to it. Right. And you might lose some of that as opportunity cost if you're capping the cost of everything. Because the pharmaceutical company says, well now we can only make these number of things and that will affect the whole world. The other problem we have is that we just have a third party payer system that is not quite socialist, but sort of Frankenstein socialist. And the result is that no one knows what anything should cost ever, nor bears the price of it, because there's all through an intermediary. And so the market can't work to bring down prices in the way that it would otherwise.
Unnamed Speaker
Right. So the thing is that Trump tried this in his first term as well. He tried establishing most favored favored nation pricing for Medicare, and it didn't work out. It was September of 2020, so he was nearing sort of the end of his road. But the idea was to bring pharmaceutical companies to the bargaining table to negotiate better deals.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Right.
Unnamed Speaker
I wouldn't be totally shocked if that was the point here, too. I wonder if pharmaceutical companies will do that instead of taking the Trump administration to court and saying, you're actually not allowed to set our prices.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Right.
Unnamed Speaker
So if it ends up that this is a negotiating technique, like a lot of what Trump does, I guess I'll be happy about it. I don't love the government telling private companies what they can do. I think that that takes us down a dangerous road. It's not going to be just pharmaceutical companies. What other goods do we absolutely need and the government paying too much for? It's a dangerous place to. Having said all that, he did win on this populist thing that I know you and I are not super fond of, but he did run on this. Right? He ran the first. In his first campaign, he kept saying this phrase that would make me crazy, but it was, we're going to take care of everybody.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Right.
Unnamed Speaker
And I was like, oh, that's so not Republican or conservative to say we're going to take care of everyone. The government is not supposed to be taking care of everyone. That's not the role. But people love it and people want it. And if conservatives want something else, we need to be making the better argument for it.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yes. Yeah. No. To that point, the message is going to be popular and liberals are going to be annoyed at how popular it is. And both sides will be annoyed at me because I'll be like, this isn't going to work. And it's not that it won't work. You can force people into putting price caps on things, and there are things that exist. I believe there's a price cap on insulin, for instance.
Unnamed Speaker
Right.
Mary Kathryn Ham
But you can force people to do price caps. You just lose other things in the process, and you end up with less innovation and you lend up, you end up with fewer drugs. And some people would say, oh, well, pharma's bad anyway, and I don't trust them. But, like, look, pharma does a lot of things. They don't just do the things that you're suspicious of. They do a lot of work on rare diseases, on things that are really hurting people on genetic disorders that you could improve. And we see a lot of those innovations regularly. And you do really run the risk when you socialize things of coming up with far less of that or of supplies being way lower than they would otherwise be. That's where you end up in Canada where you have socialized medicine and you can't get a surgery or you can't get a scan or you can't get the drug you need. So it has costs. You're just advertising you're going to fix all of this and then the costs are apparent later.
Unnamed Speaker
Yeah, well, we'll see what happens again if we.
Mary Kathryn Ham
One more thing. I must blame the libs for this from the beginning.
Unnamed Speaker
Blame the libs because that part of.
Mary Kathryn Ham
This because the reason we have a Frankenstein situation in the first place and people don't just pay their health insurance or pay their health care is because in the 30s the Libs were like, you know what? We got to put wage and price controls on companies so that they can't pay their employees what they want to pay them. And when they did that, employers responded by adding health care plans to their packages of compensation to make up for that and recruit good talent. So it starts with price controls and it ends with price controls. Stop doing it.
Unnamed Speaker
Word to your mother. Absolutely. We're going to take a short break and come right back with Normale.
Ryan
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Unnamed Speaker
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We'Re going to end on a lighter topic because I think we got, you know, we had two very complicated into the weeds topics, but I thought that we had to do those. SNL is what are they trying to do? Are they trying to appeal to Americans, like all Americans, not just super lefty Americans.
Mary Kathryn Ham
It's crazy, right? But two times in the past year or so, they have done skits about the founding that people who like the founding in America have found very enjoyable. So this weekend they had. In the past, it's been Nate Bargazzi playing George Washington. And that went so super viral. This time it's Walton Goggins, who's one of my favorite actors. I am just so excited that this weird Georgia boy became an actor with his big teeth and his crazy accent and hair. He's on White Lotus, he's on Righteous Gemstones, all sorts of stuff. Got his career started in Justified, which was a sort of, like, famous cable net series. At any rate, he hosts SNL this weekend and they have him as a founder of sorts in the room. In the room while they're writing the Bill of Rights. Shall we hear that?
Walton Goggins
Now, what shall we discuss next? What is the second most important principle of our nation?
Mary Kathryn Ham
Guns. Excuse me? Guns.
Walton Goggins
I don't hate that. Well, I do. It's ridiculous. Sir, what is your name?
Mary Kathryn Ham
Matt.
Walton Goggins
Matt what?
Mary Kathryn Ham
Matt, don't you worry about it.
Walton Goggins
Well, Matt, what will posterity say of us if the second right we enshrine in this document is simply guns that we don't play? Damn.
Mary Kathryn Ham
That's actually kind of sick. Yes.
Walton Goggins
No, no, no, no, no. The idea is ludicrous. Wait, now, hold on. I mean, we did just make a law that said anyone can say whatever crazy stuff they want, right? Maybe this gun thing would kind of balance that out.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Bingo.
Walton Goggins
Okay. Yes, but by the same token, wouldn't having a gun embolden people to say crazy stuff as well?
Mary Kathryn Ham
Bro. What?
Unnamed Speaker
Yeah.
Walton Goggins
What? Make that make sense. Gentlemen, we cannot just have an amendment that says guns. But what about guns?
Mary Kathryn Ham
Having them? Ooh, love it.
Walton Goggins
Smart. Like, who is this guy? Why isn't he running this? Matt, I am open to discussing guns for a later amendment, but I must insist we move on to a More pressing concern. You're screaming so angry, sir. Where are you from exactly?
Mary Kathryn Ham
America.
Walton Goggins
Yes, but where in America? Which state?
Mary Kathryn Ham
A united one.
Unnamed Speaker
I love it. I mean, the thing is that they don't end up making some sort of leftist argument there, which is surprising. I kept waiting for just comes off as like, yeah, this is what we did because we are bad.
Mary Kathryn Ham
You know, it's great. And Walton Goggins is the perfect person to deliver this message. No, I enjoyed it so much because it feels, as you say, celebratory. It feels like good natured, poking fun at the sort of very wild nature and beginnings of American freedom. And I'm here for that. And I know that I think liberals do sometimes have trouble understanding why we like being like fun being poked when it's actually funny.
Unnamed Speaker
Right.
Mary Kathryn Ham
I just enjoy this very much, just as I did the George Washington thing because there are ridiculous things about our founding that if you put pen to paper and have somebody actually funny and normal doing comes out great.
Unnamed Speaker
Right. It's comedy for most of the country. And I think of SNL or if other late night shows would get back to that, they would see success. They would see kind of that we're not so separate and that laughing at ourselves is important. I think we've talked about it on here before, but Nate Bragazzi, who you mentioned as one of the other founding father, skits on Saturday Night Live. His comedy is so normal. It's not at all political. It's so just about America and just for all of us. I love it.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yeah. He was profiled in Esquire this week because he has this brand new book out called Big Dumb Eyes which is going gangbusters. But his stats are insane. It says last year Nate Bargazzi, the 46 year old comedian from Tennessee, sold more tickets to his stand up shows than anyone in comedy, including Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle and Sebastian Maniscalco combined. That's more than 1 million tickets for an $80 million haul. In October, he hosted Saturday Night live for the second time in 12 months. Two months later, his third hour long comedy special for Netflix premiered. Every week you can hear his musings on the Nate Land podcast. And then his book came out. He in this interview. And I'm so pleased to hear it because I think of him as sort of king of the normies.
Unnamed Speaker
Totally. Yes. That's a perfect description. King of armies.
Mary Kathryn Ham
He's clean. His comedy is clean. I can watch his specials with my kids.
Unnamed Speaker
I do.
Mary Kathryn Ham
He's just goofing on his Normal life. He's married, he has faith. But it's not explicitly like family friendly comedy and it's not religious comedy. It's just comedy.
Unnamed Speaker
I didn't realize that it was family friendly comedy for a long time. Only like after a while did I realize like, oh, my kids are watching this with me. There's no cursing, there's no sex, there's no like explicit content at all. And yeah, he's just fantastic. I have tickets to show. I am one of those people who bought the tickets.
Mary Kathryn Ham
Yeah. And he's also thinking about starting a production company for normie content and a theme park for the normies to visit. So he's like, is he our generations Dolly Parton? Possibly. But again, like, I think he's even less right coded than Dolly Parton is. Now. Dolly Parton is universally loved at this point, but she is specifically faith based. And you know her, her theme park has a lot of that running through it. He says when he's talking about producing things, he's like, I just want to do things that normal people could enjoy. And he says, not explicitly religious. He says, like they're just not going to be navel gazing weirdo signaling payment pieces. And I love that someone this powerful is interested in doing this. And the reason he's powerful is because the market of normies is huge.
Unnamed Speaker
Exactly, exactly. Do stuff for the normies and you will succeed.
Mary Kathryn Ham
I just want to note one fact check for the SNL guys which is appropriate. They're, they're left lefty guy in the founding representing their point of view gets it wrong and says, we just wrote a law saying that people can say whatever they want. It's a bill of rights, comes from God above, does not come from the government and is not granted by the government. But you know, we all. I'm sure that the left leaning audience of SNL learned a little something about the second amendment. Anyway, I just want to point out.
Unnamed Speaker
Not a law guys, they're doing their best over there. They're like, what is in this thing?
Mary Kathryn Ham
Anyway, yeah, we'll get to the Federalist Papers later, but they're getting, you know, they're getting started.
Unnamed Speaker
Well, thanks for joining us on Normally. Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Get in touch with us@ normallythepodmail.com thanks for listening. And when things get weird, act normally.
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Cindy Crawford
Cleans.
Unnamed Speaker
Like Clorox.
Carol Markowitz
And feels like hmm.
Unnamed Speaker
Alright, that could go on for a while.
Mary Kathryn Ham
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Unnamed Speaker
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Ryan
You're listening to an iHeart podcast.
Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Episode: Normally Podcast: Planes, Prescriptions & Punchlines
Release Date: May 13, 2025
Host/Authors: Mary Kathryn Ham & Carol Markowitz (iHeartPodcasts)
[02:46 - 03:57]
The episode opens with Mary Kathryn Ham sharing her personal experience of celebrating Mother's Day. She recounts enjoying quality time with her children, attending a barbecue, and receiving homemade gifts from her kids. Carol Markowitz reciprocates by describing her own Mother's Day activities, which included a relaxing beach day and dinner at a restaurant they both frequented in Tel Aviv.
Notable Quote:
[03:57 - 15:21]
The conversation shifts to political discourse, focusing on former President Donald Trump's interactions with the Qatari government. Mary Kathryn Ham mentions her appearance on Fox's "Howie Kurtz's Media Buzz," where she discusses Trump's weekend activities, particularly his dealings with Qatar.
They delve into the controversy surrounding Qatar's offer of a $400 million jet, purportedly as a gift to be refurbished into a new Air Force One. The hosts express skepticism about the motivations and implications of accepting such a gift from a nation not traditionally viewed as an ally. Concerns are raised about potential security risks and the moral implications of accepting presents from foreign entities.
Notable Quotes:
The discussion further critiques the Trump administration's handling of the situation, highlighting internal conflicts and the challenges Democrats face in opposing the move due to its transparency. The hosts debate the potential ramifications of normalizing relations with Qatar, emphasizing Qatar's influence and alleged ties to anti-American sentiments.
Notable Quote:
[19:33 - 28:23]
Mary Kathryn Ham presents a statement from Donald Trump regarding a significant policy announcement aimed at reducing prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices in the United States. Trump declares an executive order to implement a "most favored nations" policy, ensuring the U.S. pays the lowest prices for drugs globally, potentially reducing costs by 30-80%.
The hosts engage in a critical analysis of this policy, debating its feasibility and impact on the pharmaceutical industry. They discuss the potential benefits of lowered drug prices against the risks of stifling innovation and research within the sector. Concerns are raised about the government's role in price setting and the broader implications for a market-driven economy.
Notable Quotes:
They reflect on past attempts to implement similar policies, noting the challenges faced and the mixed reactions from both the public and industry stakeholders. The discussion underscores the complexity of healthcare economics and the delicate balance between affordability and innovation.
Notable Quote:
[32:31 - 40:23]
Shifting to a lighter topic, the hosts discuss the recent "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) skit featuring actor Walton Goggins as a founding father during the drafting of the Bill of Rights. They commend the skit for its humorous take on American founding principles and its appeal to a broad audience.
Mary Kathryn Ham praises Walton Goggins for his comedic talents and versatility, highlighting his roles in various TV series and his recent surge in popularity. The hosts appreciate the skit's ability to blend humor with patriotic themes, making it relatable and entertaining for "normal" Americans.
Notable Quotes:
They further discuss Nate Bargazzi, another comedian featured on SNL, lauding his widespread appeal and successful career. The segment emphasizes the importance of non-political, inclusive comedy that resonates with a wide audience.
Notable Quote:
Throughout the episode, Mary Kathryn Ham and Carol Markowitz navigate a range of topics from personal anecdotes and political controversies to cultural commentary. Their balanced discussion offers listeners insightful perspectives on current events, policy implications, and popular media, all while maintaining an engaging and conversational tone.
Notable Quotes with Timestamps:
This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and opinions presented in the episode, providing a clear and informative overview for those who haven't listened to the podcast.