After Donald Trump announced that he wants to hand down the death penalty to drug traffickers in certain cases.
The White House announced Sunday that it intends to seek the death penalty for certain drug traffickers “where appropriate under the law†in a bid to slow down the country’s opioid epidemic.
The White House also said that President Trump would call on Congress to pass legislation lowering the amount of drugs that would invoke mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers.
Trump was expected to formally announce the plan on Monday during a visit to New Hampshire. He will be accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, who has shown an interest in the issue, particularly as it pertains to children.
CNN’s Van Jones wasn’t a fan of that.
Jones said, “I met with sheriffs, I met with pastors, nobody is saying what we really need is the death penalty for drug dealers, what we really need is tougher sentences. I don’t know where he’s getting that stuff. That is — that is 180 degrees from what the people on the ground are saying. They’re saying people need more help, more compassion, more education. Sometimes they say they need more — better Bible studies. That would be higher on the list than the death penalty for drug dealers. And that’s the kind of stuff that becomes a poison pill for people who are on the ground and know what’s going on and people who understand the drug war is a failure and it’s going to stop us from working together. If he would take that crap out and focus on what the people on the front lines, they need more beds, they need more help, they need more hope, they need more jobs. Like I said, they need more Bible study. All that’s on the list. This death penalty thing is a complete non-starter and it’s divisive and it’s stupid. I think it’s an offense to the people who are really trying to solve this problem.â€
He continued, “When you have ideas and he’s bragging on these countries that are killing people, like the people in the Philippines who are just shooting people in the streets, he thinks that’s a good way for America. Nobody is expecting for that to work. The other thing too is when you look at how the death penalty gets applied, the super enhanced penalties get applied, they don’t get applied to the big drug kingpins that got a gazillion lawyers, they get applied to little people who got caught up and it’s just not the way to go. I applaud the positive parts but take the nonsense out.â€
Van Jones is purposely distorting the truth to scare people. For starters he isn’t talking about people are addicted to drugs or even small time dealers he’s specifically talking about big-time traffickers. These are people who are drug king pins and not people who are just addicted to drugs. These people are funneling drugs into our country destroying peoples lives and you think drug traffickers need more compassion? The next misleading part is the obvious race baiting involved. He knows that the drug war is an open wound in many communities that don’t like Donald Trump. By acting like Trump is going to just kill everyday people who were doing drugs he is able to strike fear in communities across the country.
