Trump Calls for Death Penalty for Drug Dealers

Former President Donald Trump announces he is running for president in the 2024 presidential election during an announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 15, 2022. Alon Skuy/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump previewed a key campaign policy during his Tuesday night speech announcing his run for president in 2024: give the death penalty to certain drug dealers.

“We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their pain,” Trump remarked at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He was apparently referring to dealers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which has caused hundreds of thousands of overdoses in recent years.

It’s unclear if Trump could unilaterally change the criminal code without the approval of Congress. Without the approval of some Democrats in the House and Senate, such a proposal appears unlikely to pass.

The 45th president also announced he would “wage war on the cartels and stop the fentanyl and deadly drugs from killing 200,000 Americans per year” and that he would ask Congress to pass a law that ensures drug dealers “who are responsible for death, carnage and crime” to receive capital punishment.

Overdoses

Law enforcement officials say fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin and about 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. It was responsible for more than 100,000 drug overdoses last year, according to data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized approximately 47,000 rainbow-colored fentanyl pills, 186,000 blue fentanyl pills, and 6.5 pounds of meth hidden in a floor compartment of a vehicle at the Nogales port of entry on the southern border with Mexico on Sept. 3, 2022. U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that in recent days, Mexican drug cartels have brought “fentanyl across the border in record amounts” and that “Texas [Department of Public Safety] alone has confiscated enough lethal doses to kill every man, woman and child in America.”

“This past year we’ve seen a record number of people lose their life because of fentanyl, the precursors of which are made in China and shipped to Mexico. Cartels make them into drugs that are then sold in the United States,” Abbott said. “Last year alone in Texas, we had almost 1,700 people who lost their lives because of fentanyl overdoses.”

Other Statements

Also in his speech, Trump, 76, told the audience that the only force “strong enough to defeat the massive corruption we are up against is you—the American people,” and added: “Together we will be taking on the most corrupt forces and entrenched interests imaginable. Our country is in a horrible state. We’re in great trouble.”

The former president targeted the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden for what he said are disastrous policies that have sparked high inflation, the threat of nuclear war, and a surge of illegal immigration.

“We will launch an all-out campaign to eliminate America’s dependence from China,” Trump also remarked.

In remarks to the press, Biden, who is slated to turn 80 this month, has said he plans to run for a second term. If Biden does, he likely won’t face a challenge from other Democrats.

Trump appears to be the first Republican to announce a bid for president in 2024. Other possible candidates include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—who has not given any indication he would run—as well as former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.