Trump's clumsy about-face on condemning drug traffickers

President Joe Biden “played a key role in passing the 1994 crime bill, which disproportionately harmed black communities through harsh sentencing laws and increased incarceration rates,” former President Donald Trump's campaign reminded voters last week. If elected, Trump promised in a speech two days later at the Libertarian National Convention that he would free Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence for running Silk Road, an online marketplace used by sellers of illegal drugs.

Trump's criticism of disproportionate drug sanctions contradicts his own agenda, which threatens death for defendants like Ulbricht. The former and perhaps future president wants to have it both ways, criticizing Biden for his long history as a zealous drug fighter while presenting himself as even tougher.

Trump has been doing this dance for a while. During his 2020 presidential campaign, he attacked Biden from the left on drug policy, lambasting him for promoting harsh laws that disproportionately harm Black people.

The stance was part of a political strategy to attract support from African Americans and white moderates troubled by Biden's criminal record. The strategy also included Trump's commutations for nonviolent drug offenders and his support for the First Step Act, a package of sentencing and prison reforms he signed into law in December 2018.

One of the beneficiaries of Trump's clemency was Alice Johnson, a first-time offender who received a life sentence for participating in a cocaine trafficking operation in Memphis. “There are a lot of people like Ms. Johnson,” Trump told Fox News in 2018. “There are people in prison for very long sentences.”

Trump highlighted Johnson's case during his 2019 State of the Union address, in a 2020 Super Bowl ad and at the 2020 Republican National Convention, where Johnson gave an emotional speech. As a black woman given a draconian sentence under unyielding drug laws, Johnson was useful evidence in Trump's case that African American voters should be grateful to him and wary of Biden.

Trump later complained that his support for sentencing reform had not brought the political benefits he had hoped for. “I did it for African-Americans,” he told a New York Times reporter in 2022. “No one else could have done it. I didn't get any credit.

One reason for this could be the mixed signals Trump was sending, even as he deplored “very unfair” drug sanctions. He expressed admiration for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who compared himself to Adolf Hitler while calling for the killing of drug addicts and repeatedly recommended the death penalty for drug traffickers.

Trump reiterated this policy proposition when he launched his current presidential campaign, resulting in a 2023 interview where his mercy clashed with his bloodlust. When Fox News anchor Bret Baier noted that someone like Johnson would have been “killed as part of your plan,” Trump was taken aback.

“No, no, no,” Trump said. “It depends on the severity,” he added. He also stressed that the death penalty he imagined would not apply retroactively to Johnson herself and suggested that, if that had been the law at the time, it would have deterred her from getting involved in drug traffic.

Now, Trump says Ulbricht, who was sentenced to double life plus 40 years for connecting drug dealers and drug users, deserves a second chance. “He’s already served 11 years,” Trump told Libertarian delegates. “We’re going to take him home.” We're going to get him out.

Trump has not done this as president, which is not the only reason for his skepticism. The life sentences handed down to Johnson and Ulbricht were patently unfair, Trump said, but death sentences would have been appropriate. Drug laws that disproportionately hit African Americans are troubling, he thinks, but they should be enforced more aggressively.

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

The only logic here is political. Even that could prove disingenuous if voters notice Trump's inconsistency.

Jacob Sullum is the editor-in-chief of Reason magazine.

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