Democrats May Have Untied Trump’s Hands on Pharma

The conventional wisdom coming out of the 2018 midterm elections is that President Trump is likely to be aggressively “checked” by the incoming Democratic House of Representatives. And, to some extent, that is clearly true, in view of the oncoming flood of investigations and possibly impeachment hearings for Trump and others. If nothing else, such actions are likely to prove a nuisance for the president, as well as a potential quagmire that could slow down his administration’s actions on any number of fronts.

However, while Democrats are likely to try to tie Trump’s hands in any number of other areas, there is one area where their election may actually give him more leeway to pursue his agenda. I speak of Trump’s potential battle with the pharmaceutical industry.

Firstly, recall that President Trump is no fan of Big Pharma, and hasn’t been since he ran for president in the first place. On the stump, candidate Trump accused the industry of “getting away with murder.” Nor are they fans of his – the industry donated more to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign than to all other candidates. Since taking office, moreover, Trump has struck an antagonistic note in dealing with the industry, and has appointed officials – like Food and Drug Administration (FDA) head Scott Gottlieb and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar – who have committed to getting tough on Pharma. And in many ways, they have, most notably via Trump and Azar’s decision to weaponize Medicare negotiations against the industry, and via Trump’s orders to now-retired Attorney General Jeff Sessions to sue the industry for its role in the opioid crisis.

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