President Trump has been telling friends for months that he loves the drug policies in Asian countries that kill drug traffickers and "would love to have a law to execute all drug dealers here in America, though he's privately admitted it would probably be impossible to get a law this harsh passed under the American system," Axios reports. "He says that a lot," one source who has spoken with Trump about drugs at length tells Jonathan Swan at Axios. "He says, 'When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] 'No. Death penalty.'"
A senior administration official tells Axios that Trump "often jokes about killing drug dealers. ... He'll say, 'You know the Chinese and Filipinos don't have a drug problem. They just kill them.'" But five sources tell Swan that Trump isn't joking, and often "leaps into a passionate speech about how drug dealers are as bad as serial killers and should all get the death penalty." White House counselor and de facto opioids czar Kellyanne Conway told Swan that Trump is talking about high-volume drug dealers, especially those who traffickers deadly synthetic opioids like fentanyl — though that isn't the standard in the Asian countries whose drug policies Trump apparently envies.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The countries around the world without jury trialsThe Explainer Legal systems in much of continental Europe and Asia do not rely on randomly selected members of the public
-
How did the Wagner Group recruit young British men for arson attack?Today's Big Question Russian operatives have been using encrypted messaging apps to groom saboteurs across Europe
-
The best graphic novelsThe Week Recommends These inventive illustrated books will transport you to another world
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff displaySpeed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loomSpeed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panelsSpeed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
