Trump Touts Plan for Drug Dealers: Kill Them All

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 11, 2018 2:43 PM CDT
Trump Touts Death Penalty for Drug Dealers
President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Atlantic Aviation in Moon Township, Pa., Saturday, March 10, 2018.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

On Saturday, President Trump again supported the idea of killing off America's drug dealers. Speaking at a rally in Moon Township, Penn., he said the presidents of China and Singapore inspired him with their policies, USA Today reports. "You kill 5,000 people with drugs because you're smuggling them in and you are making a lot of money and people are dying," Trump told the West Pennsylvania crowd. "And they don’t even put you in jail." Then he quoted the president of Singapore: "He said, 'We have a zero tolerance policy. That means if we catch a drug dealer, death penalty.'"

Dozens in this pro-Trump district nodded in agreement as he spoke, the Washington Post reports. "We love Trump," a man shouted, and a woman cried out: "Pass it!" Trump's talk often veered from the planned subject of Rick Saccone, a Republican running for a US House seat in a tight race with Democrat Conor Lamb. Trump called Saccone "handsome" and dismissed his opponent as "Lamb the sham," then wandered onto other topics. As for drug dealers, Trump has talked execution before—in particular for solving the opioid epidemic. After the rally, Kellyanne Conway said Trump would pursue a more "nuanced" approach, Salon reports. (More drug dealer stories.)

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