The World and Everything in It: July 18, 2024

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like me. My name is Mark Monroe and I live in the little town of Ithaca Michigan where I serve my local church as custodian and assistant to the pastor. I listen to World daily to keep informed, educated and inspired. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! Vice presidential pick JD Vance spoke last night at the Republican National Convention. What are his pros and cons as running mate?

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also President Biden touts slashing drug prices by cutting out the middlemen. Politics or real solution? And a brief history of threats upon the lives of presidents.

MCCARTHY: Protection is a very tough assignment because any mistake can be fatal, no question about it.

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on Donald Trump’s golden opportunity.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, July 18th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Good morning!

REICHARD: It’s time for news with Kent Covington.

USHA VANCE: It is my great privilege to introduce my husband and the next vice president of the United States, JD Vance.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: RNC » Usha Chilukuri Vance introducing Donald Trump’s running mate who proceeded to introduce himself to the Republican party at large.

VANCE: My friends, tonight is a night of hope, a celebration of what America once was, and with God’s grace, what it will soon be again.

Those remarks set the tone for the evening in what was a decidedly positive speech. The U.S. Senator from Ohio did not, in his first speech as Trump’s running mate assume the traditional VP nominee role of attack dog.

He said relatively little about President Biden.

Instead, Vance talked at length about his working class upbringing in Kentucky and rural Ohio and pitched the Trump ticket’s vision to blue collar Midwestern voters.

VANCE: There is still so much talent and grit in the American Heartland. There really is. But for these places to thrive, my friends, we need a leader who fights for the people who built this country.

Republicans also heard last night from, among others, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump Jr.

Tonight, former President Trump himself will take the stage to deliver his first speech since a would-be assassin’s bullet pierced his right ear at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Harris on Vance, shooting » While Sen. Vance brought Republicans to their feet last night, Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t impressed. She said Wednesday:

HARRIS: Trump looked for someone he knew would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda, and make no mistake, JD Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country.

Harris, though, did congratulate Vance this week on his nomination.

The two VP candidates have agreed to debate one another, but their respective campaigns have not yet agreed on the terms or a date for the vice presidential debate.

Biden COVID » President Biden is working from his house in Delaware today. He’s self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. The White House says he’s experiencing only “mild symptoms” and will continue to carry out his duties from home.

Secret Service investigations » The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security has launched an investigation into the Secret Service security failures that led to the almost successful attempt on Donald Trump’s life.

House Republicans are also demanding answers. Speaker Mike Johnson is calling for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

JOHNSON: I think it’s inexcusable, just, just, beyond the classified parts. The things that we all understand. Her explanation to the media.

House Oversight CommitteeChairman James Comer has subpoenaed Cheatle to testify before his committee on Monday.

Lawmakers say they want to know, among other things why the rooftop used by the gunman was not secured.

Jack Smith appeals decision to toss documents case vs Trump » Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump’s classified documents case is appealing a federal judge’s decision to toss out the case. WORLD’s Paul Butler has more.

PAUL BUTLER: U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon this week dismissed the case against former President Donald Trump, finding that the Justice Department unconstitutionally appointed Smith. That’s because he’s not a U.S. attorney and was not approved by the Senate.

Jack Smith’s appeal is expected to tee up a legal fight that could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court. But if the case is revived, it would not be brought to trial before the November election.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

Biden facing renewed pressure to bow out » President Biden is facing renewed pressure to end his reelection bid and pass the torch to a younger Democratic White House nominee.

A prominent Democrat, Congressman Adam Schiff of California has gone public with his plea for Biden to bow out.

He said Wednesday, “Joe Biden has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history.” But he said, “I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November.”

Biden continues to insist he’s in it to win, and he’s not going anywhere.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: More analysis of this week’s Republican Convention. Plus, presidential assassination attempts in perspective.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 18th of July.

You’re listening to The World and Everything in It and we’re glad to have you along today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

First up, the theme of unity at the Republican National Convention continues through wrap up tonight.

Last night’s speech from Vice Presidential nominee J. D. Vance may raise questions both pro and con as to his fitness as a candidate and presumptive successor to Donald Trump as leader of the Republican party.

REICHARD: Joining us now to put things in perspective is Hunter Baker. He’s the provost of North Greenville University, and a commentator for WORLD Opinions.

Hunter, good morning!

HUNTER BAKER: Good morning. Happy to be with you.

REICHARD: Glad you're here. Well, we have a before and after to talk about. Before the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday, there were certain expectations for the RNC. After that day, though, things changed. So what were the expectations then versus now?

BAKER: Well, before the assassination attempt, things were still looking good for Trump. I mean, we had just been through a solid two weeks of discussion of whether Joe Biden was simply too old to be the president and whether he would be replaced. Plus, Trump had often led in the polls even before that debate performance. If we go back to to 2016 and 2020, I don't think Trump ever really led in those years. So things were looking pretty good for his campaign even before the assassination attempt. And then, of course, when the assassination attempt happened, that moment is a revealing moment. Anything could occur there. He could have panicked. He could have looked like a coward. Instead, he jumped up, and he was defiant, and he looked courageous. And of course, I'm sure we've all heard lots of anecdotes of people we know who aren't really political reacting positively to the way Trump conducted himself. A lot of people who don't follow politics all the time, they look at that and they say that looks like a leader to me.

REICHARD: Well, let's turn to the question of running mates. Some names on the short list were North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, but it was Ohio Senator J. D. Vance who got the nod. What does Vance bring to this ticket? And let's talk about the positives first.

BAKER: Yeah. So first of all, this pick is a pick that shows a lot of confidence in the prospects of the campaign. By choosing Vance, he is not choosing somebody to shore himself up in any particular area. Instead, it looks like he has chosen a successor, an ideological successor, because Vance shares many of the economic views that Trump has been promoting for some time now. The other thing to say about Vance is, is that he is young. He is extremely well known because of his super best selling book, Hillbilly Elegy, which was made into a Netflix movie that a lot of people have seen. And he is going to do very well on the public stage, you're talking about somebody who came from nothing, who went through the Marines, went through Ivy League, legal education, became a successful venture capitalist, and now as a senator. And so, you know, he's gone a long way, and he's going to, he's gonna do well during this test, I think.

REICHARD: Well, nobody's perfect. And so let's talk about what the potential drawbacks are with Vance as the vice presidential pick.

BAKER: Yeah, the biggest drawback is that he is different from a classic Reaganite conservative. When we think about Ronald Reagan, we think about somebody who wanted to reduce the size of government. We think of somebody who is is suspicious of big government, somebody who wanted to to pursue free trade. J.D. Vance is different from that, and he's different from that in the same way that that Donald Trump is much more of an economic nationalist, much more someone who is prioritizing domestic production on American soil, someone who is concerned that free trade agreements actually damage the prospects of American workers. So that's a term, and the Republican Party is made up of a coalition of different kinds of people, and those people who are most comfortable with a Reagan type of almost libertarian outlook, they're going to be unhappy with J.D. Vance.

REICHARD: Well, Trump is scheduled to speak tonight, Thursday night, at the end of the convention. He said that this attempt on his life changed him. So what will you be listening for?

BAKER: Yeah, this is fascinating. I don't know that we have ever seen anything quite like this. When Ronald Reagan was shot and almost killed, there was a considerable period of time before he was actually running – that was very early in his first term. Here we have something happening right before the Republican National Convention. And of course, Trump's comments have been very suggestive, right, that he is kind of doing some soul searching, that he maybe has changed the kind of speech that he intended to give, that he would aim at unifying Americans. So I'm going to be watching to see, whether, whether he can really do that, can Trump do something different? I will say this, if he can do it, if Trump can can offer a more unifying message, I think that his prospects for winning will go way up. I think that he will pull over some of those people who have disliked him, people who have found him to be aggressive or unpleasant, you know, unlikable. I think he has the chance to pull some of those people over, especially women, especially suburban women, which has been an Achilles heel for him. And so that's, that's what I'm looking for, is, can he show something more of a measured and compassionate side in this speech.

REICHARD: Final question here: there’s a rarified air about this convention given what we’ve just been through. Anything else about this RNC that stands out to you compared to previous ones?

BAKER: We see a real chance for unity here. Right after this assassination attempt, you see Nikki Haley at the convention with a speaking role, and what this shows is is probably people who have been the most at odds with Donald Trump joining him right here at the end, and so I think that the convention is probably feeling more positive, not only about potential victory, but about how how they are seeing each other right now.

REICHARD: Hunter Baker is Provost of North Greenville University and a contributor to World Opinions. Hunter, thanks so much!

BAKER: Thank you.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: middlemen and drug prices.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission released an interim report that accused certain workers in the prescription drug supply chain of artificially inflating drug prices.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Those workers are called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. They have great influence over where prescription drugs go and at what price.

Think of a talent agency in Hollywood. Not a perfect analogy, but they negotiate between talent and studios… much as PBMs negotiate among insurance companies, pharmacies, and manufacturers to try to lower drug prices.

BROWN: The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the FTC is poised to sue the three largest pharmacy benefit managers for unfair business practices. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has touted his efforts to lower drug prices by cutting out PBMs altogether.

Some analysts wonder whether that action is based on evidence or politics. WORLD Radio’s Mary Muncy has our story.

JOE BIDEN: He wants to get rid of… the ability for us to negotiate with Big Pharma companies.

MARY MUNCY: During last month’s presidential debate President Joe Biden accused former President Donald Trump of wanting to keep drug prices high. Then Biden touted his own record on lowering drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for the first time.

BIDEN: We got it down to… $35 dollars for insulin instead of $400 dollars.

The administration changed the rule two years ago with the Inflation Reduction Act, and now it’s starting to go into effect. Right now, the legislation only applies to ten high-cost drugs, things like heart medication and blood thinners—and those negotiations will finish in 2026. Then the administration plans to expand that to more drugs.

Biden says just the insulin savings will be significant.

BIDEN: That reduced the federal debt by 160 billion dollars in the next ten years because the government doesn’t have to pay the exorbitant prices.

President Biden’s plan effectively cuts out pharmacy benefit managers.

After the change, several pharmaceutical companies sued the administration, saying the rule is unconstitutional and could stifle innovation by effectively implementing price controls.

So what are PBMs and why are they there?

AARON KESSELHEIM: It is an organization that is oftentimes an outshoot of your health insurance company that manages your prescription drug insurance coverage.

Aaron Kesselheim is a primary care doctor, lawyer, and professor at Harvard Medical School.

KESSELHEIM: They take steps to try to ensure that you are taking the medications that your physician prescribes you, and they negotiate with pharmaceutical companies regarding the price of the drug.

The first PBMs started in the 70s and became more common over the next 20 years as drug prices started to rise and insurance companies began covering prescription costs.

KESSELHEIM: We don't have a system of negotiating drug prices at the at the government level, as as happens in every other high-income country.

So, PBMs started to act as buyers clubs—negotiating bulk prices between insurance companies, manufacturers, and pharmacies.

Kesselheim says PBMs started off as helpful middlemen, but over the last two decades, they’ve likely become too integrated to effectively negotiate.

KESSELHEIM: PBMs have merged with each other, and they have merged with other players in the pharmaceutical supply chain, including specialty pharmacies and larger general purpose insurance companies.

The FTC’s report says that vertical and horizontal integration means PBMs don’t have the right incentives to get the lowest prices for consumers.

And now, the report says three of the largest PBMs manage nearly 80 percent of the prescriptions filled in the U.S.

KESSELHEIM: I think that's why the FTC exists; to try to ensure that consolidation occurs for the benefit of consumers, rather than in ways that can, that can hurt, hurt consumers.

Kesselheim pointed to PBMs allowing the list prices of drugs to be high and then negotiating rebates. He says that works for a lot of patients, but hurts those who don’t have insurance or who have to pay their coinsurance based on the list price.

Kesselheim says the Inflation Reduction Act could also help fix that.

KESSELHEIM: What Biden is suggesting we do is negotiate the list prices to try to restrain the list prices from from getting too high.

He says the model could be expanded to the private market.

But not everyone thinks PBMs are the problem.

JOEL ZINBERG: No one forces any of the participants in the drug distribution market to use PBMs.

Joel Zinberg is a physician and economist with the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

ZINBERG: Most of the health plan sponsors are pretty sophisticated entities, yet they've all chosen to use PBMs. And then, same token, all the other participants, the men, the manufacturers, the wholesalers, they're all negotiating with PBMs, and they're doing it because they find value in the PBM services.

The FTC has investigated PBMs before and not only did they find fair trade practices, they also reported that PBMs were saving consumers money.

But the FTC’s interim report didn’t grapple with that research. Instead, one of the commissioners that voted for releasing the report said they based most of their findings on public comments. Another one said releasing an interim report is rare and they didn’t have enough information to analyze the market.

ZINBERG: They've relied on two case studies of cancer specialty drugs, without any indication that these are generalizable to the entire market.

FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak dissented in the vote to release an interim report. She accused the commission of using inflammatory language for political purposes.

ZINBERG: Melissa Holyoak said that this report fails to address how PBM practices are affecting consumer prices, and she's absolutely right on that score, and that's what's missing.

Zinberg says it doesn’t always make sense to cut out the middlemen. Stores like Costco provide value for consumers, because they have a lot of buying power and can negotiate discounts for buying in bulk. He says the same principle holds for PBMs, and even as PBMs, pharmacies, and manufacturers integrate, he says there is enough competition in that market to keep consumer costs low.

For now, the FTC says it will be conducting more research and it’s not certain what its next action will be.

But no matter what the outcome, Kesselheim says the goal should be to help patients.

KESSELHEIM: I think the PBMs play a very important role in the healthcare marketplace right now. But they've also developed those negotiating strategies in ways that don't always help every patient. And that's the kind of… opportunity for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate to make sure that that on net, they help patients rather than hurting them.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: A crowd cheers on Wednesday as the mayor of Paris went for a swim in the Seine River.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo wanted to prove she trusted the water is clean enough for Olympians to swim in later this month.

MAYOR HIDALGO: [Speaking French]

The mayor explaining this is a legacy project ahead of the games to clean things up. It’s been illegal to swim in the Seine due to pollution since 1923.

But heavy rains recently, er, flushed those plans last month. That swim had to be delayed due to lingering high levels of bacteria.

Not only that, but Parisians tired of the disruption and billion euro price tag threatened to recontaminate the river in protest. I’ll spare you the details of that…

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Can you say “prophylactic antibiotics?”

BROWN: It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: This is WORLD Radio and we thank you for joining us today! Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: assassinations and attempted assassinations in this country.

It’s a sad fact that our American past includes those horrific acts, beginning with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865.

REICHARD: Assassins took the lives of two more presidents while they were in office: James Garfield in 1881 and William McKinley in 1901.

President Theodore Roosevelt survived an attack in 1912 while he was seeking office a second time.

BROWN: Here’s WORLD’s Kristen Flavin with an historical account of a handful of assassination attempts over the last 61 years.

TIM MCCARTHY: We take the oath, we train for it…

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Tim McCarthy was a Secret Service Agent for two decades.

MCCARTHY: But we never know if we're going to do it when that critical incident takes place, that if you're going to respond to your training…

He was just 10 years into his career when his training was put to the test.

AUDIO: [Shots fired] 

March 30th, 1981, the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, the last known assassination attempt on a president, ex-president, or presidential candidate before last Saturday’s attack on former President Donald Trump.

SOUND: [Chaos following shooting]

Reagan was leaving the Hilton in Washington when shots rang out—six in less than two seconds. Three men around the president lay wounded. Press Secretary James Brady—shot in the head, policeman Thomas Delahanty—shot in the back, secret service agent Tim McCarthy—shot in the chest.

MCCARTHY: I saw a little blood on my shirt and I heard the gunshots, of course, right away so it didn’t take much to put two and two together. 

It was McCarthy who stood between the president and the shooter. Special Agent in Charge Jerry Parr tackled Reagan into the limousine.

Experts believe Parr’s actions saved the president from being shot in the head. Parr examined Reagan as they sped for the White House.

JERRY PARR: He said, “I think I’ve cut the inside of my mouth.” He reached into his pocket, took out a napkin and it was covered with bright red frothy blood. And I looked at that blood and I knew from my training that it was oxygenated. It had been in his lungs and now it was in his mouth and there was a lot of it. It was abundant. It was spilling down in front of him and on my coat and I just made a quick decision and I said, “I’m taking you to the hospital.”

There they found out Reagan’s wounds were extensive. One of the bullets had ricocheted off the limousine and struck Reagan in the side—breaking a rib and puncturing his lung. The president needed 12 days at the George Washington University Hospital to recover.

That was the most recent attempt on a president—it failed.

Rewind 20 years, a CBS news bulletin interrupts regularly scheduled programming.

AUDIO: In Dallas, Texas three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting.

One hour later, newsman Walter Cronkite is back on the air.

CRONKITE: From Dallas, Texas, the flash—apparently official—President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. central standard time. 2 o’clock eastern standard time. Some 38 minutes ago.

John F. Kennedy’s assassination, November 22nd, 1963—the beginning of a string of assassination attempts on public figures over the next decade.

Beginning just five years after JFK’s death…

KENNEDY: So my thanks to all of you and on to Chicago and let’s win there. [Applause, cheering]

… an assassin took the life of his younger brother, Robert, a candidate for president in 1968.

REPORTER: Senator Kennedy has been shot, is that possible? Is that possible?

RFK was campaigning in Los Angeles having addressed supporters in a hotel ballroom. His security team warned him not to, but he left the venue through a crowded kitchen passageway.

A reporter at the scene captured footage of what happened next.

REPORTER: Hold him, hold him! We don’t want another Oswald!

Robert F. Kennedy, pronounced dead 26 hours later—June 5th, 1968.

Next election cycle—1972—Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace.

AUDIO: [Cheering turns to screaming, gunshots]

Wallace was shot four times at a campaign rally in Maryland May 15th.

AUDIO: [Screaming]

Wallace survived, but the gunshots left him paralyzed from the waist down, and he’d quit the race a month and a half later.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford escaped two attacks just weeks apart. He was not injured in either one.

The attack on former President Trump comes 52 years after the attempt on Wallace, more than 40 years after Reagan, and serves as a reminder to former Secret Service Agent McCarthy.

MCCARTHY: Protection is a very tough assignment because any mistake can be fatal, no question about it.

As McCarthy watched the shooting last Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, he noticed similar security lapses in the attack on Reagan.

MCCARTHY: If a protectee of the Secret Service is injured, it's not a victory, it's a failure. So this is a failure. And now we're going to have to look at what happened and what can be corrected so it doesn't happen again.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

REICHARD: Historic audio for this report came from CBS, ABC, and C-SPAN.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, July 18th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. World commentator Cal Thomas now on Donald Trump’s opportunity to change the tone for the Republican party.

CAL THOMAS: When Donald Trump takes the stage Thursday night and accepts the Republican Party’s nomination for president a third time, he faces an opportunity and a temptation.

The temptation is to launch a full-bore attack on Democrats, President Biden, the left and the media. The opportunity is to use the sympathy he has garnered since last Saturday’s assassination attempt to pursue a loftier goal. He should choose opportunity.

After Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinkley in 1981, he told his wife Nancy at the hospital: “honey I forgot to duck.” That leaked comment immediately endeared him to many Americans, including I suspect some who had not voted for him. Reagan’s display of humility and his refusal to condemn Hinkley astounded many, though it was consistent with his character. Two weeks after being shot, he returned to the White House and wrote in his diary: “Whatever happens now I owe my life to God and will try to serve him in every way I can.”

In Washington if you can fake humility you can fake anything, but this is where Trump has a chance to demonstrate a thought Calvin Coolidge once expressed: “It is a great advantage to a President, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.”

Americans have always appreciated stories about changed lives. “I once was blind, but now I see” is a lyric from “Amazing Grace,” a hymn popular even among the unchurched. A preview of what might be coming Thursday was the expression on Trump’s face and his demeanor as he appeared Monday night inside the Milwaukee convention hall. As the crowd roared, he seemed to be applauding them and repeatedly murmured “thank you.” The gauze bandage on his right ear covering where he had been shot added further weight to the moment.

Trump should begin his speech by thanking those who contributed to saving his life. What message does he take from being spared? He should tell us. What has the experience taught him about the brevity of life and his own mortality? He should minimize, or eliminate, any attacks on President Biden and talk optimistically about the future and what he plans to do if given another opportunity. He shouldn’t appear to be faking it. As he knows from his TV experience, he ought to lower the tone of his voice and speak as if directly to one person. It would go a long way towards changing the political temperature, at least temporarily.

Someone close to him might share this profound thought from Proverbs chapter 15: “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.”

Trump should pledge in his speech that he intends to focus less on personalities and more on what he regards as the failed policies of the present administration, how he plans to reverse them, and how that reversal will benefit the most people.

Optimism about the future is what people want to hear. They know and can feel the problems, especially economic ones. To that end I offer this useful quote: “All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort — a sustained effort — to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.”

I’d love to see the reaction from the delegates and the media if Trump dared to use that quote from Barack Obama in his acceptance speech.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet joins us for Culture Friday. And, we’ll have a review of a film based on a true story, The Young Woman and the Sea. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Psalmist writes: “I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand.” —Psalm 17:6, 7

Go now in grace and peace.

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