Much of the public and a good part of the medical community rooted for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head up the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This stems from the belief that the entire American medical establishment and the mainstream media have been corrupted, if not captured, by the big drug makers – Big Pharma. Kennedy has this perspective and wants to do something about it.
But can he or will he be able to do anything from his perch as Secretary of HHS, where he will now oversee the FDA, the CDC and the NIH, which are all perceived as captured and corrupt?
Billions of taxpayer dollars are at stake.
In recordings obtained by and played on the No Agenda Podcast and elsewhere, Kennedy promised three basic initiatives. All are consequential and the third is a threat to the status quo and affects the media itself.
Kennedy wants to release the data held by the CDC and other agencies regarding drug efficacy and the adverse effects of vaccines. This also means doing real safety research and not testing on the general public with scant lab or controlled testing. His claim is that data is being hidden and the public is not being informed about the dangers of certain drugs and vaccines.
Kennedy also wants to go after the various medical journals for colluding with the drug companies to include and exclude studies based on their results. He suspects a racketeering aspect to the entire system of research publishing and says he may refer much of it to the Department of Justice for RICO violations.
In addition to that, he believes that the various medical governing boards, such as the American Medical Association, the American Board of Pediatrics and other certifying bodies for doctor licensing, need investigating. This stems from the censorship generally promoted by these bodies regarding mRNA vaccines and their safety.
But the understated whopper of Kennedy's targeting concerns the legality of prescription drug advertising, especially (but not limited to) TV advertising. These are referred to as DTC (direct to consumer) ads, which are illegal everywhere in the world except the USA and New Zealand.
At this point in the world of mass media, these ads are propping up the TV networks and local stations to an extreme.
The GLP-1 weight loss mania is a direct result of these advertisements.
These ads began in 1983 and worked so well that they blossomed from an ad expenditure of $166 million in 1993 to $6 billion in 2016. The estimates for 2024 are $19 billion.
An interesting example of this influence (and excess) is the fact that in one month alone (August 2024), one pharmaceutical brand – Skyrizi -- had an estimated national TV ad spend of $32.4 million.
These ads dominate mainstream TV, with many shows dependent on drug advertising. This dependency bleeds into news coverage of anything that has to do with pharmaceuticals. Vaccines are promoted every flu season like clockwork, whether they work or not. No negative reports are allowed if it involves any story about prescription drugs. Newspapers and TV stations are literally beholden to the drug companies, no matter how they try to cover it up.
Best case scenario, they don’t report anything negative about Big Pharma; worst case, they literally do its bidding. This is especially true for the cable news networks, them from CNN to FOX.
It's officially out of control and must be stopped. Kennedy promises to eliminate this DTC advertising, but you can imagine the backlash from the news media that depends on this money. If you thought the mainstream was largely liberal and anti-Trump now, you have to imagine how far they will go if they collectively lose what amounts to a $20 billion income stream.
It's not going to be pretty but it must be done. The best bet would be to wait until after the 2026 midterms, then pull the plug. — JCD