Jon Stewart, a comedian who has built a lucrative second career sneering at conservatives and especially at Donald Trump, has now been forced to acknowledge that the president has done something undeniably good for Americas veterans.
According to The Blaze, Trump on Saturday signed an executive order designed to speed research into and access to psychedelic drugs including ibogaine compounds, psilocybin, and LSD as potential treatments for serious mental illnesses such as PTSD and depression.
The move, rooted in a willingness to challenge bureaucratic inertia and medical orthodoxy, stands in stark contrast to the risk-averse, regulation-heavy approach typically favored by the left.
The order directs Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary to cut review times for psychedelic drugs that have already received breakthrough therapy designations for treating mental illness. Trump also instructed the FDA and the Drug Enforcement Administration to establish a clear pathway for eligible patients to obtain investigational psychedelic treatments, a step that could prove life-saving for veterans trapped in a failing status quo.
Under the executive order, the Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA must coordinate with the Department of Veterans Affairs and private-sector partners to increase clinical trial participation, data sharing, and real-world evidence generation regarding psychedelic drugs, and shall prioritize drugs that have received a Breakthrough Therapy designation." The initiative also allocates $50 million for state-level research into ibogaine, signaling a serious federal commitment to exploring nontraditional therapies where conventional pharmaceuticals have fallen short.
The White House fact sheet underscored the urgency of the effort, noting that more than 14 million American adults suffer from serious mental illness and that suicide rates remain disturbingly high.
Most sobering of all, the suicide rate among veterans is more than double that of the nonveteran adult population, a grim indictment of the existing mental health system and a moral call to action.
Podcaster Joe Rogan, speaking at the signing ceremony, disclosed that the initiative began after he sent President Donald Trump some information about ibogaine. In a political culture where celebrity influence usually pushes policy leftward, Rogans outreach helped spur a conservative leader to champion an innovative, data-driven approach to treating mental trauma.
Trump confirmed Rogans account, explaining that Rogan wrote me a little note about this, and I had it checked out. I didn't just do it. ... I went to [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] and [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz] and went to some of the people that work for you, real pros, and everybody came back with the same answer." That process-oriented explanation undercuts the caricature of Trump as reckless, instead portraying a president willing to consult experts while still cutting through red tape.
"Everybody thought it was incredible, and I told Bobby, I said, 'Bobby, let's just do it, and get Oz involved," added Trump. His remarks highlighted a bias toward action that many conservatives see as sorely lacking in the entrenched federal bureaucracy, especially when lives are at stake.
At the signing, Trump emphasized that "these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential for those suffering from severe mental illness and depression, including our cherished veterans." For a conservative audience that prioritizes honoring military service and addressing the VAs longstanding failures, the focus on our cherished veterans underscores the moral dimension of the policy.
On the April 20 episode of his show, Stewart told his liberal viewers he wanted to "give credit where credit is due. We don't, obviously, often do this." His admission implicitly acknowledged the partisan reflex to attack Trump regardless of substance, a reflex that has long distorted media coverage of conservative policy achievements.
"The president did a solid over the weekend," said Stewart. "President Trump signed an executive order in front of his fraternity brothers fast-tracking the FDA process for novel psychedelic drug treatments for veterans suffering from all forms of PTSD and other psychiatric conditions, including addiction." Even as he laced his commentary with snark, Stewart could not escape the reality that this policy directly serves those whom the left often claims to champion but rarely helps effectively.
After airing footage from the signing and instinctively mocking Trumps off-the-cuff remarks, Stewart caught himself and admitted, "I'm sorry. I'm falling into old habits. It's good. You did a good thing. I'm nitpicking. I apologize." That moment of candor, however brief, revealed how deeply ingrained anti-Trump bias has become in liberal media circles, even when the issue is veterans lives.
Stewart went on to concede, "A lot of the people are going to get the help they need." For millions of struggling Americans and especially for veterans abandoned by a bloated but ineffective mental health bureaucracy that understated line may prove more important than any punchline, as a conservative-led initiative opens the door to treatments that the establishment has been too slow or too timid to embrace.
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