No one ever accused Donald Trump of having a deep understanding of the U.S. Constitution (other than Trump himself, who says “no one loves” constitutional amendments more than he does, which is inevitably followed by Trump displaying his ignorance of how the Constitution works).
Nowhere is there a better example of Trump’s gross ignorance of the law than his constant calls to impose the death penalty on criminals he finds heinous the minute they’ve been detained.
His tune changes considerably when the criminal is a domestic violence abuser or sexual assault perpetrator, though.
Due process is only for white people.
It is no surprise, then, that Trump is an advocate for levying the death penalty against drug dealers. In a country with the highest rate of incarceration in the world, for a crime that is proportionately committed among racial groups but is six times more likely to get a brown person convicted, Trump privately tells anyone who will listen that what the United States needs is an echo of Singapore’s drug laws.
According to an Axios report:
‘In Singapore, the death penalty is mandatory for drug trafficking offenses. And President Trump loves it. He’s been telling friends for months that the country’s policy to execute drug traffickers is the reason its drug consumption rates are so low.’
According to multiple sources, it is a favorite topic of Trump’s.
‘He says that a lot. He says, “When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] ‘No. Death penalty.””
‘Additionally, the death penalty comments go further than just sarcastic ideas or jokes, as sources also claim Trump goes on serious rants about how drug traffickers are as evil as serial killers and should be sentenced equally. Despite dealers already making up a sizable amount of the prison population, Trump believes that softer sentencing is a bad idea.’
Fortunately, the Constitution does protect Americans from such violations of human rights, but how frightening is it to think that the leader of the free world holds such views? Of course, this is Donald Trump, who has already shown publicly that empathy and humanity are not exactly his strongest traits.
Featured image via Getty/Pool
