Right to try: Trump’s decisiveness can save children with rare diseases

Published May 8, 2026 7:00am ET



When it comes to results, few people deliver like President Donald Trump. 

During my four years in the White House as special assistant to the president for legislative affairs and then deputy assistant to the president for strategic initiatives, I had a front-row seat to watch it.

But he cannot fix a problem he does not know about. Case in point? The Food and Drug Administration’s lethargy on approving treatments for children with rare, and often fatal, diseases.

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