“He Literally Pardoned Cocaine Dealers Though”: Trump Vows to Mandate Death Penalty for Drug Crimes

Michelle HollandNov 11, 2023

Minute Read

Former president Donald Trump has posted a new video on his social media detailing his policy approach to dealing with drug crime, particularly fentanyl. He captioned the clip “Biden’s crooked border policies has led to hundreds of thousands of fentanyl deaths…”

Blaming Immigrants

In a classic Trump move, the former president blamed the more lax borders under Biden’s administration, implying that migrants are the cause of the crisis. He vowed to ask Congress to pass a federal death penalty mandate for those who would be arrested under his second presidency.

Trump’s Death Penalty Promise

Trump claimed that he would “send federal law enforcement to round up the gang members and street crews, charge them with crimes, and get them behind bars or get them out of our country,” adding that he “will ask Congress to ensure that drug dealers, kingpins, and human traffickers receive the death penalty.”

Stopping Drug Dealing

Trump continued, “The death penalty is going to stop drug dealing in America just like it does in numerous other countries. If you don’t do that you’re just playing games.”

Unclear Definitions

One of the many issues with Trump’s plan is that right-wingers don’t all agree on what constitutes a “drug dealer” or a “human trafficker.” Anyone who shares drugs with another person or is arrested with drugs in the vehicle belonging to someone else could be branded a “drug dealer”, whereas those that help migrants cross the border — including religious groups and non-profits — could be considered “human traffickers.”

Trump’s Inconsistency

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During his presidency, Trump pardoned 13 people in the last few days of his term who were convicted of drug trafficking or drug-related offenses. Many people have called out his inconsistent views on the issue, both online and in the media.

Alice Johnson’s Clemency

After first announcing his death penalty policy, Trump was quizzed by Fox News anchor Bret Baier who pointed out that had it been enacted in Trump’s presidency, Alice Johnson, a woman the former president pardoned, would have been executed.

Johnson’s Conviction

Johnson had been convicted back in the 1990s for distributing cocaine, qualifying her as a drug dealer under Trump’s new manifesto. She was serving life in prison before being pardoned by Trump and later went on to feature in a Super Bowl ad for his reelection campaign promoting his work on criminal justice.

A Question of Severity

When pressed, Trump went on to clarify that his plans would account for severity when determining who received the death penalty. He also reassured Baier that Johnson would not have committed the crime if faced with the threat of the death penalty at the time.

A Better Way

Many people wondered why Trump and other hardline conservatives could not see the more humane alternatives to the death penalty. “Strange that none on the right ever seem to call for rehabilitation,” one person observed. Another wrote that “A lot of Christian fundamentalists are absolutely against therapy,” which could explain why they lean towards more permanent measures.

Different Rules for Different Drugs

“He literally pardoned cocaine dealers though,” one forum commenter said, referencing the clemency of Johnson and many others. “Cocaine is a drug for the rich,” someone countered. “He’s talking about poor people drugs like crack.”

“Weird Flip-Flop”

Another person shared an anecdote of how Trump’s criminal justice reform impacted their own local community. “He pardoned a cop killer and drug dealer local to me,” they stated, calling it a “weird flip-flop.”

Trump’s Legal Battles

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Many commenters highlighted the irony of Trump advocating for the death penalty while currently embroiled in his own serious legal dramas, including four criminal cases. “Death penalty for drug dealers? Jeez, imagine what you’re gonna get for mishandling and storing nuclear secrets in your bathroom,” someone said, referring to the classified documents found on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

“A Weird Fetish”

“This has been a weird fetish on the right for a long time, well before Trump,” one poster noted. Another responded, “The GOP didn’t really hate the Soviets they were just jealous of their secret police and gulags.” Someone else described the right as “a death cult.”

Doubtable Effectiveness

Some users questioned whether the policy would actually be effective at ridding the US of drug crime. “Gonna see a lot more violence and death in the streets if dealers think they’re going to get executed,” one person speculated.

Pandering to the Base

Others considered the proposal to be a ploy to appeal to increasingly extremist members of his party. “Trump has no values,” one poster insisted. “He does say whatever he thinks his base wants to hear though and they love talking about killing people. Especially when the majority of people that would be killed are minorities and lower class.”

Political Punishments

“He just wants to be the one to decide the punishment for people,” one person suspected. “If they support him, they should be treated differently from his non-supporters according to him. And of course, he wants the law to treat him differently than other people.”

“Literally Losing His Mind”

This latest development was just another in a long line of Trump actions that further confirmed people’s views of him being incompetent, immoral, and unfit to lead. “He is literally losing his mind day by day,” someone wrote. Others called him a “carnival act,” “incoherent” and “stupid beyond belief.”