Former Trump advisor Steve Cortes, founder of the League of American Workers (LAW), said he hopes “Trump proposes” a “return to a previous ban on advertising drugs.”
“Yes, Big Pharma’s lavish spending on corporate media advertising and sponsorship is clearly payola, paying for favoritism from the biased legacy press,” Cortes posted on X. “An easy fix, which I hope Trump proposes: return to previous ban on advertising drugs!”
Cortes’ post was in response to a post by “The Vigilant Fox,” which featured Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with “former Pharma insider” Calley Means.
“Former Pharma insider tells Tucker Carlson that the true goal of pharma ads on TV is not to sell drugs but to BUY OFF the news media,” posted The Vigilant Fox. “This is described as an “open secret” within the pharmaceutical industry.”
Holy smokes. Suspicions confirmed.
Former Pharma insider tells Tucker Carlson that the true goal of pharma ads on TV is not to sell drugs but to BUY OFF the news media.
This is described as an "open secret" within the pharmaceutical industry.
TUCKER: You're saying that pharma… pic.twitter.com/2YMMWIM5Hs
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) February 3, 2024
The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries that allow direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical ads, and the American Medical Association (AMA) actually called for a ban on such advertising in 2015.
Cortes was a spokesman and advisor to President Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He previously traded global currencies and interest rates for 25 years for large international hedge funds. He has been an on-air broadcaster for CNBC, Fox News, and CNN.
He founded LAW in 2022 with the mission of promoting “policies to protect the priorities of laborers.”