Trump forgives drug pivots as he degenerates American drug war rhetoric: NPR

President Donald Trump has long called to intensify the American drug war against Mexican cartels and wants more strict sanctions for dealers selling fentanyl and other street drugs in American communities. “I am ready for that, the death penalty, if you treat drugs,” Trump saidDuring a meeting with the governors of the States in February, where he said that the dealers were too often treated with a “wrist slap”.

But despite his difficult rhetoric, Trump triggered the controversy by forgiving an increasing number of convicted drug traffickers, including this week’s decision to grant Larry Hoover, 74 years old Crimes linked to his role at the head of the disciples gangster based in Chicago.

Already in the first months of his second term, Trump gave a leniency to at least eight people sentenced to federal drug accusations. A few, including Hoover, have a large criminal record involving violence and firearms fees.

“There are a lot of mixed messages and mixed signals (from the White House) which creates a kind of chaos and uncertainty,” said Jeffrey Singer, analyst in drug policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian reflection group. “On the one hand, you threaten even more stringent sanctions on people who deal with drugs, while, on the other hand, you release prisons drug traffickers.”

The case of Larry Hoover and the Gangster Disciples

Ron Safer, a former American lawyer in Chicago, who helped continue the members of the gangster disciples in the 1990s, said he was shocked and dismayed by Trump’s decision to birth of Hoover’s sentence.

He stressed that Hoover’s gang was one of the most important and violent drug unions in the United States, operating in 35 states according to the United States Ministry of Justice. Hoover himself was found guilty of state and federal accusations, including murder and use of a firearm during drug trafficking.

“Larry Hoover was the most pernicious and effective medication manager in the United States,” said Safer. “They sold more than $ 100 million in drugs a year in the city of Chicago. They were responsible for countless murders. They supported their drugs with ruthless violence.”

Hoover was imprisoned for the first time in 1973 after being found guilty of murder. In the 1990s, he was found guilty of the federal accusations linked to his role leading the disciples of gangster.

Hoover should now be transferred from a Federal Supermax prison to a State correctional establishment in Illinois, where it will remain behind bars, for the moment, due to the conviction for murder at the level of the state. Hoover has already asked for the leniency of Illinois officials, but his last parole offer was rejected massively by a state review committee in December 2022.

But a White House spokesman, commenting on the history because he was not allowed to speak publicly, told NPR that the administration expects that Illinois officials will follow the example of the federal government by releasing Hoover.

“There have been many defenders saying that the time (Hoover) purged in prison was adequate,” said the spokesperson.

In the midst of calls for difficult sanctions, a leniency for high -level drug traffickers

Trump’s leniency for Hoover and other drug offenders follows a model that started during his first mandate in the White House. While promising difficult action against drug traffickers, Trump has forgiven or commissioned the convictions of at least thirteen people found guilty of federal drug crimes Between 2017 and 2021, including high -level dealers linked to violence or convicted of the main traffic rings.

In 2020, Trump administration also released a senior Mexican military official Arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles for helping drugs in drug trafficking in the United States under pressure from the government of Mexico, officials of the Ministry of Justice of Trump abandoned the pursuit of General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda.

During the first month of his second term, Trump also forgiven Ross Ulbricht, a former, a former technological entrepreneur serving a mandate for life in federal prison For the creation of Silk Road, a dark web website that has become a major duct for drug traffickers.

“Ulbricht has also demonstrated a desire to use violence to protect your criminal business and the anonymity of its users, requesting six murders for hiring in the context of the exploitation of the site, although there is no evidence that these murders were really carried out”, ” Federal prosecutors said in a press release After Ulbricht was sentenced in 2015.

Commenting on the history, the White House spokesman said that there was no contradiction between hard rhetoric on Trump’s decays and his decisions to release certain people involved in drug trafficking.

“The punishment does not always correspond to the crime,” said the spokesperson. “The president is open to see if these people are worthy of redemption.”

Certain criticisms of the United States war have praised cautiously praise for the use by Trump of the presidential authority to release drug offenders.

“The potential decision of President Trump to grant lenient to people with drug convictions offers a crucial buoy to affected people and affirms what communities have known for a long time: the criminalization of drugs is ineffective and harmful,” said Kassandra Frederique, chief of drug Policy Alliance, in a statement sent to the NPR.

But Frédérique criticizes Trump’s wider position on drug policy. “These individual acts of leniency strongly contrast with difficult rhetoric on crime and its continuous efforts to dismantle vital health services,” said Frederic.

Some consider Trump to forgive “transactional”

During his last days in power, President Joe Biden has forgiven thousands of offendersMany of them have incarcerated on federal drug charges. Biden said this decision reflected his growing discomfort with the war against drugs.

“This action is an important step towards the recovery of historical wrongs, the correction of disparities in determining the sentence and the possibility of putting the deserving individuals to return to their families and their communities after spending too much time behind bars,” said Biden.

Drug policy experts interviewed by NPR said it was difficult to find a coherent philosophy behind the use of mercy by Trump. According to the singer of the Cato Institute, Trump’s pardons often seem “transactional” and often reflect the influence of powerful individuals.

“He actually promised before the libertarian party convention that if he was elected, he would forgive Ross Ulbricht. It was a promise he made hoping to obtain the support of libertarians,” said Singer. “It is not as if there was an ideological thread that crosses the decisions (from Trump).”

During this campaign appearance in 2024, Trump openly linked his journey of Ulbricht’s sentence to his candidacy for the White House. “If you vote for me, on the first day, I will commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence to a purged time,” Trump said, causing applause of Ulbicht supporters.

The release of Larry Hoover, on the other hand, was defended by the artist Ye – formerly Kanye West – who thanked Trump this week on the social media platform X. “Words cannot express my gratitude for our dedicated sustainable president Donald Trump for having released Larry Hoover”, ” Ye wrote.

During his first mandate, Trump pardoned and released Alice Marie Johnson after the The reality star Kim Kardashian called his release. Johnson was condemned in 1996 and condemned for life behind bars for his non -violent role as part of a Memphis, Tennessee, cocaine traffic ring. Earlier this year, Trump named it to serve as a “forgiveness”.

In an article on social networks, Johnson also praised the president’s latest series of pardons.

“Today, 26 deserving individuals have obtained strings and pardons. Each represents a story of redemption, rehabilitation and resilience”, ” Johnson said on the X platform. “Their second chance is a second life to life.”