NASHVILLE—Nearly 100 students, bright-eyed and hungry for change, gathered at the Tennessee State Capitol Building Friday morning, some having driven all night to make it to the event.

There, in a room full of young conservatives, a group of Tennessee officials, including Senator Marsha Blackburn (R), announced a partnership with Turning Point USA. Soon, every high school in the state will have a chapter of Club America, TPUSA’s high school affiliate.

Club America, like all of TPUSA, aims to advance the mission of the group’s late founder, Charlie Kirk: make being a conservative cool.

“The founding of the country, the Constitution, capitalism,” TPUSA Senior Director Josh Thifault told The Daily Wire. “The branding is meant to feel like it’s something that everybody wants to be part of because I mean, who doesn’t want to be part of Club America? We wanted to create a presentation to high schools that would be very tough to say no to.”

Blackburn was joined by women’s sports activist Riley Gaines and Tennessee Senator Jack Johnson for the announcement. The Volunteer State joins Texas and Florida, which have also taken steps to launch Club America chapters throughout their states.

One of the last in-depth conversations Thifault had with Kirk before the latter was assassinated in September was about expanding Club America. Thifault said with Republican states fully backing the mission, TPUSA can get to Kirk’s goal of 20,000 chapters.

“I’m very thankful for all the commitments that Tennessee made,” he said Friday. “There’s a lot of wonderful people who worked a lot to make this happen. Also, I have to give special credit to Riley Gaines because she’s the one who, as soon as it became pretty clear we were working something out, shouted it from the rooftops.”

Gaines spent nearly an hour after the partnership was announced taking pictures with the students who traveled to Nashville for the event. The former Kentucky swimmer and new mom challenged the students to bring five friends to a Club America event and keep the movement growing.

“I think we’ve now understood that Tennessee, especially with the recent congressional race here in this district, is not immune,” Gaines said. “I think so many of us almost develop a sense of complacency because we think it can’t happen to me. Nobody is immune to the cultural chaos that is plaguing this nation and even plaguing this state.”

Credit: Anna Katherine White

One of the students who drove hours to be at the State Capitol on Friday was Riley Belt. The junior out of Providence Christian in Johnson City said Tennessee’s partnership with TPUSA makes her excited for her peers.

“Our generation is definitely a turning point,” Belt said. “We just want to be able to help teach kids like us how to help change our nation and lead us back to conservative values and back to Christ. That’s what it’s all about.”

Since Kirk’s assassination, Club America chapters in Tennessee have grown from 30 to 104. Belt helped start her school’s chapter in November. Because of the pact formed Friday, that number is only expected to grow.

“One person can’t do it on their own, but we’re surrounded by people who also share these values and want to make America what Charlie wanted it to be,” Belt said. “That’s what we’re fighting for.”

Perhaps the only thing Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on these days is that the pharmaceutical industry is bad. In particular, there has been bipartisan movement in recent years to ban direct-to-consumer drug ads, which are only permitted in the United States and New Zealand. Some supporters, like The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, have called these ads dangerous.

But even those who don’t feel that strongly about the issue aren’t jumping up to defend these ads, which generally feature a bunch of shiny, happy stock-photo models dancing around while a narrator speed-reads through a list of side effects ranging from nausea to death.

In this provocative piece, Stephen Moore does just that. A noted economist and political commentator, Moore served as a senior economic adviser to President Donald Trump and was instrumental in crafting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Moore not only argues that pharmaceutical ads help patients, but that banning them could have negative downstream consequences. We hope you enjoy. — Tim Rice

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Chevrolet’s newest holiday ad is tugging at America’s heartstrings.

The spot follows a family’s classic Chevy Suburban through decades of memories — kids tumbling around the backseat, tearful college drop-offs, and that quiet, bittersweet moment when the house becomes an empty nest. The ad ends as the couple parks their old Suburban beside a shiny new one, welcoming their grown children and grandchildren home for the holidays.

It’s the kind of commercial American companies have long excelled at: emotionally evocative in all the right ways, tapping into nostalgia, family, and the warmth of the season — and, yes, selling a product. Holiday ads have become part of our cultural fabric. Think of Coca-Cola’s polar bears, or the Budweiser Clydesdales. These ads don’t just market products; they help set the tone for the season.

Ads like these may not survive if Washington continues down a troubling road of restricting TV commercials for politically unpopular — but legal — products. At the top of this list is pharmaceutical ads, which Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wants removed from the airwaves. In that fight he has an unlikely ally: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This may seem like a rare instance of bipartisan cooperation. And in today’s political climate, dinging pharmaceutical companies is almost certain to prove popular.

But we already have strict advertising laws against including false or misleading claims in ads, and severe penalties for violations — and appropriately so. Banning pharmaceutical ads would be regulatory overkill, and could have negative consequences its advocates aren’t considering.

Contrary to what critics say, prescription drugs preserve life and improve health. Because of this, advertising can be a social good. An ad that makes people aware of a new drug’s benefits can literally save lives and alleviate suffering.

Some politicians and regulators say these ads only serve to artificially drive up demand. And they do drive up demand — for treatments that work. That’s a good thing.

Think about what would happen if we had a new wonder drug to help cure or stop the spread of breast cancer. Now imagine that the government prevented the pharmaceutical company from promoting this treatment to patients.

It could take months before patients get access to this miracle cure.

Plus, if lawmakers succeed in chipping away protections for advertisers, it will only empower future government censors. Imagine a future Democrat administration that wants to ban ads for gas-powered cars or disposable diapers in the name of “protecting the environment.”

Pharmaceutical ads may not be the most popular thing in the world. But that doesn’t change the fact that they have a real benefit — or the fact that banning them would do more harm than good.

Stephen Moore is a co-founder of Unleash Prosperity and a former senior economic advisor to President Donald Trump.