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From 72 Recommended Vaccines to 14: Jim Pfaff on Rush to Reason | Aug 10, 2026

Published: August 10, 2026
Network: Rush to Reason with John Rush (Denver)
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff

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President Trump’s vaccine executive order keeps only the childhood vaccines worth keeping — by Jim Pfaff’s count, 14 left standing out of the 72 that had been recommended — and the Conservative Caucus president called it “perfect” on the August 10 edition of Denver’s Rush to Reason with John Rush. Pfaff and Rush also worked through the latest Trump-Iran exchange: Tehran’s demand that America rebuild it, and the counter Pfaff called “the perfect retort.” They closed on the Democrat socialist takeover of the Democrat Party, where Pfaff sees “a growing ick factor” that could cost Democrats their shot at retaking Congress. Pfaff opened with a wry memory of the days when he left Thomas Massie’s office to help Pat Neville run the House Caucus staff — when getting a driver’s license took nothing but a birth certificate.

Topics Covered

• Iran’s Demand to Be Rebuilt — and Trump’s Retort
• The Vaccine Executive Order: 72 Recommendations Cut to 14
• The Democrat Socialist Takeover and the Growing Ick Factor
• Key Takeaways

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Iran’s Demand to Be Rebuilt — and Trump’s Retort

Rush opened by asking for Pfaff’s read on Trump’s latest with Iran — “that little back and forth,” as Pfaff put it. What struck him first: “the arrogance of Iran to say that we have to rebuild them.” He conceded that, “sadly, we may end up doing” it anyway. But the American side didn’t let the demand sit. “They came right back with the perfect retort. What about what you guys owe?” Pfaff wants the conflict over — “I just want this thing to be over somehow” — but says the exchange proves how hard that was always going to be:

“the Islam is not a religion of peace. It is a religion of destruction”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Rush noted Trump appears to be going after the economic side of things, though Iran is “already decimated economically” — unless the Chinese are delivering money, since Russia has nothing to spare. Pfaff pushed past the economics entirely: “at the ground level of all this has nothing to do with economics in what Iran was doing. They’re just trying to delay more.” The regime sits around thinking up the next way to screw with the situation, “and Donald Trump countered it perfectly.” Still, Pfaff thinks the endgame arrives soon — at some point, and probably really soon, Trump is “gonna have to, you know, put out some big beautiful bombs. I hate to say that.” Both men are against war as a general principle; that is exactly why this kind of fight, “seemingly inextractable,” is so distasteful. His confidence: “I have more confidence in Donald Trump than anyone else has preceded him other than Ronald Reagan.” And the exchange brings something closer to home to his mind:

“every one of the Democrat socialist, Islamofascist people who are winning these nominations, Democrat nominations around the country, they’re exactly like the Iranian mullahs. There really is no difference.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The Vaccine Executive Order: 72 Recommendations Cut to 14

When Rush turned to the executive order on vaccines, Pfaff’s verdict was immediate: “Well, it was perfect. He did a couple of things all at once.” The president “addressed the issue that is really on the minds of all Americans when it comes to vaccines” — a concern that predates RFK’s ascendancy to running HHS. “This has been brewing for a long, long time,” and every American parent has been concerned about it for decades. Pfaff was careful to stake out where he starts from — even during COVID, while rejecting the mRNA vaccine:

“I’ve said for a long time that vaccines are one of the greatest medical advances that we’ve ever had in world history.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The problem is the vaccines excessively placed upon children. The order maintains recommendations but modifies them for hepatitis — “long overdue,” in Pfaff’s words: “There’s no need for babies to be given hepatitis vaccine.” Most of the hepatitis vaccines being forced on young babies are for hepatitis “that transmits most commonly through sex.” And it limits the recommended list to, by his count, “the, I think, 14 that he left.” His review of what survived: “The list that I saw, all those are good, useful vaccines.” He allowed there will be “some controversy over maybe a handful that some doctors think you need and some you don’t.” As for the ones that didn’t survive:

“the reality is that the vaccines that are of the 72 vaccines that have been recommended for people, most of those and the ones that were dropped off mostly are ones that were thrown on so that pharmaceutical companies can make extra money.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Rush, who works this ground with Dr. Kelly Victory in his Thursday first hour, traced the rot to its root: “when we allowed immunity to the drug companies when it came to vaccines and the fact that nobody could sue them if something went haywire.” Pfaff answered with his own upbringing — a mother who had been a former nurse in training and made doctors’ lives horrible by pushing back on reflexive prescriptions, “because even antibiotics aren’t always necessary.” He and Rush grew up exposed to a lot of things kids simply aren’t now — “frankly, I think we were healthier for it.”

The Democrat Socialist Takeover and the Growing Ick Factor

The segment closed on the Democrat socialist takeover of the Democrat Party. Rush’s read is that the only surprise is Democrat leaders privately telling the movement it isn’t time yet. Pfaff agreed — “Well, it is” — and pointed to Andrew Cuomo going on Fox News to argue that Mamdani is going overboard. Cuomo, he said, is “only trying to run again and try to pretend like he’s any different,” when, as Pfaff said during last year’s race, “he’s no different than Mamdani in any significant way.” The socialists aren’t a deviation from the party; they’re the party saying the quiet part out loud:

“Everything that’s happening with the DSA is everything that Democrats have been pushing for, right, for at least 2.5, 3 decades. And they got caught with their pants down on this because they never wanted to say publicly what they really think.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The DSA members are saying it, “which is why Democrat voters in some areas are nominating them because they also agree with this.” But Pfaff sees the openness cutting the other way with the broader public — a dynamic we have tracked since the Madison protests and socialism’s polling problem:

“I’m observing what I think is a growing ick factor with all this that will accrue worse to Democrats who already are at their lowest level of acceptance in the American public in general.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

His hope is that the ick factor is one of the things that keeps Democrats from taking back Congress. And if that succeeds, the next effort is already defined: “trying to get the Republican Party to actually be a reasonable party again.” Find Pfaff and the Caucus at TheConservativeCaucus.com.

Key Takeaways

1. “It was perfect” – Pfaff’s verdict on Trump’s vaccine executive order: recommendations maintained but modified on hepatitis, and the list limited to the 14 vaccines he calls “good, useful vaccines.”
2. 72 minus the pharma padding – Of the 72 vaccines that had been recommended, the ones dropped were mostly “thrown on so that pharmaceutical companies can make extra money.”
3. No hepatitis shots for babies – “There’s no need for babies to be given hepatitis vaccine” — most of those shots target hepatitis that transmits most commonly through sex.
4. Cassidy pays the price – Bill Cassidy slammed the order; Pfaff says the senator is “totally beholden to the pharmaceutical companies” and that is why he won’t be back in Congress.
5. Iran is stalling, not bargaining – Tehran’s demand to be rebuilt “has nothing to do with economics”; “They’re just trying to delay more,” and Trump “countered it perfectly.”
6. The ick factor is growing – The DSA takeover is what Democrats have pushed for 2.5 to 3 decades, and Pfaff sees it accruing against a party already at its lowest level of acceptance with the American public.

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About The Conservative Caucus:
The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization, formed in 1974. Headed by President Jim Pfaff, the Caucus is committed to advancing free enterprise, limited government, and traditional values.

Originally broadcast Aug 10, 2026 on Denver’s Rush to Reason with John Rush.