Joe Biden “was a key figure in passing the 1994 Crime Bill, which disproportionately harmed Black communities through harsh sentencing laws and increased incarceration rates,” Donald Trump’s campaign reminded<\/a> voters last week. If elected, Trump promised in a speech<\/a> at the Libertarian National Convention two days later, he will free Ross Ulbricht<\/a>, who is serving a life sentence<\/a> for running Silk Road, an online marketplace used by illegal drug vendors.<\/p>\n

Trump’s criticism of disproportionate drug penalties contradicts<\/a> his own platform<\/a>, which threatens<\/a> defendants like Ulbricht with death. The former and possibly future president wants to have it both ways, slamming Biden for his long history<\/a> as a zealous drug warrior while portraying himself as even tougher.<\/p>\n

Trump has been practicing this dance for a while. During his 2020 presidential campaign, he attacked<\/a> Biden from the left on drug policy, castigating him for\u00a0pushing harsh laws\u00a0that disproportionately hurt black people.<\/p>\n

That stance was part of a political strategy aimed at attracting support from African Americans and white moderates troubled by Biden’s criminal justice record. The strategy also included Trump’s commutations<\/a>\u00a0for nonviolent drug offenders and his\u00a0support<\/a>\u00a0for the FIRST STEP Act<\/a>, a package of sentencing and prison reforms that he signed in December 2018.<\/p>\n

One beneficiary of Trump’s clemency was Alice Johnson<\/a>, a first-time offender who had received a life sentence for participating in a Memphis cocaine trafficking operation. “You have many people like Mrs. Johnson,” Trump\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Fox News in 2018. “There are people in jail for really long terms.”<\/p>\n

Trump highlighted Johnson’s case during his 2019\u00a0State of the Union address<\/a>, in a 2020\u00a0Super Bowl ad<\/a>, and at the 2020\u00a0Republican National Convention<\/a>, where Johnson gave a moving speech. As a black woman hit with a draconian sentence under inflexible drug laws, Johnson was a useful exhibit in Trump’s case that African-American voters should be grateful to him and wary of Biden.<\/p>\n

Trump later complained that his support for sentencing reform did not yield the political benefit he anticipated. “Did it for African Americans,” he\u00a0told<\/a> a New York Times<\/em> reporter in 2022. “Nobody else could have gotten it done. Got zero credit.”<\/p>\n

One reason for that might be the contradictory signals that Trump was sending even as he bemoaned<\/a> “very unfair” drug penalties. He expressed admiration<\/a> for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who likened<\/a> himself to Adolf Hitler while urging<\/a> the murder of drug users, and repeatedly recommended<\/a> the death penalty<\/a> for drug dealers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump re-upped<\/a> that policy proposal when he launched his current presidential campaign, resulting in a 2023 interview<\/a> where his mercy collided with his blood lust. When Fox News anchor Bret Baier noted that someone like Johnson would have been “killed under your plan,” Trump was flummoxed.<\/p>\n

“No, no, no,” Trump said. “It would depend on the severity,” he added. He also noted that the death penalty he imagined would not apply retroactively to Johnson herself and suggested that, had it been the law at the time, it would have deterred her from getting involved in drug dealing.<\/p>\n

Now Trump says Ulbricht, who received<\/a> a double life sentence plus 40 years for connecting drug dealers with drug consumers, deserves a second chance. “He’s already served 11 years,” Trump told<\/a> the Libertarian delegates. “We’re gonna get him home. We’re gonna get him out.”<\/p>\n

Trump did not do that<\/a> as president, which is not the only reason for skepticism. The life sentences that Johnson and Ulbricht received were plainly unjust, Trump says, but death sentences would have been appropriate. Drug laws that disproportionately hurt African Americans are troubling, he thinks, but they should be enforced more aggressively.<\/p>\n

Trump decries “increased incarceration rates” even as he promises<\/a> a crackdown that would imprison more people for conduct that violates no one’s rights. Biden was bad, according to Trump’s campaign, but Trump is better because he is worse.<\/p>\n

The only logic here is political. Even that may prove fallacious if voters notice Trump’s incoherence.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Copyright 2024 by Creators Syndicate Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Trump Decries Disproportionate Drug Penalties While Threatening Dealers With Death<\/a> appeared first on Reason.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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