President Donald Trump allegedly favors instituting the death penalty for drug dealers, a Sunday night report from Axios claims.
Trump cites Singapore as a place that knows how to deal with a drug dealers — they’re executed. A source told Axios that Trump frequently applauds Singapore’s draconian legal measures for drug trafficking — while one of his senior officials did go on the record saying Trump does support lethal measures for drug “kingpins.”
One unnamed source says Trump frequently notes how Singapore has apparently eradicated illegal drugs “He says, ‘When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] ‘No. Death penalty’.”
But according to the report, Trump hasn’t limited his remarks to commentary about Singapore, often equating drug dealers with serial killers who are all deserving of the death penalty.
According to another senior member of the Trump administration who is referenced in the Axios story, Trump “often jokes about killing drug dealers. He’ll say, ‘You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them.’”
Sources also claim that Trump doesn’t put much stock in trying to reform drug peddlers — that kids need to see severe consequences for selling and using drugs.
But while Trump is convinced that he is right about his approach to drugs, he apparently freely acknowledges that its one that likely isn’t ever going to implemented in the United States.
According to the one named source that talked to Axios, Trump does express harsh policy options for drug dealers but only for those who are responsible for killing thousands of drug users.
“The president makes a distinction between those that are languishing in prison for low-level drug offenses and the kingpins hauling thousands of lethal doses of fentanyl into communities, that are responsible for many casualties in a single weekend,” White House Counsel Kelllyanne Conway told Axios.
Conway insists there is a legislative will for some tougher judicial measures to combat the drug trade.
“There is an appetite among many law enforcement, health professionals and grieving families that we must toughen up our criminal and sentencing statutes to match the new reality of drugs like fentanyl, which are so lethal in such small doses,” she told Axios.