If President Donald Trump had his way, he would “love to have a law” that sentences major drug dealers to death.
According to Axios, the president is fascinated by countries like Singapore and the Philippines that don’t seem to have a rapid drug problem because of the death penalty for major offenders.
“He says that a lot,” a source who has spoken at length about the subject with the president told Axios. “He says, ‘When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem, [the prime minister replies,] ‘No. Death penalty.’”
The source acknowledged that Trump knows he’d have a hard time getting such a law to pass, but he would support tougher sentences, including a five-year minimum for dealers caught with as little as 2 grams of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that is ravishing white America.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whom the president seems to admire when it comes to how he handles drugs in his country, has given police the authority to execute drug peddlers. CNBC notes that Duterte has even admitted to killing criminals himself! This has obviously turned into a human rights situation amid widespread reports of extrajudicial killings.
But that doesn’t stop the president from “joking” about “killing drug dealers,” a senior administrative official told Axios. “He’ll say, ‘You know the Chinese and Filipinos don’t have a drug problem. They just kill them,’” the official said.