SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Trump Is Petrified That Pro-Weed Forces Will Roast Him:
The president and some of his team, already obsessed with the potential drop-off of various demographic groups that make up his battered coalition, have begun openly worrying that the drive to legalize or decriminalize marijuana might hurt him and fellow Republicans at the ballot box.
According to two GOP strategists who've independently discussed the topic with Trump this year, the president believes that inclusion of marijuana initiatives on state ballots could supercharge turnout for voters who lean toward Democratic candidates and causes. The president, according to one of the sources, asked for updates on critical swing-states that could see such ballot measures in the 2020 elections.
"The president is keenly aware of how presidential elections [nowadays]... can be won at the margins," one of the Republican strategists said. "The pot issue is one of many that he thinks could be a danger... He once told me it would be very 'smart' for the Democrat[ic] Party to get as many of these on the ballot as they could."
Decades ago, Trump had publicly advocated full-on legalization, arguing that "we're losing badly the war on drugs," and that "you have to legalize drugs to win that war. You have to take the profit away from these drug czars." During this iteration of his political identity, he put the blame on politicians who "don't have any guts" to tackle drug legalization.
But by his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump had come out "strongly" against legal weed. By the time he reached the Oval Office, he was enthusiastically proposing executing drug dealers by firing squad. And his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, revoked an Obama-era guidance that discouraged the feds from prosecuting marijuana-based criminal cases in states where it was legal.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday August 26 2020, @03:01PM (4 children)
Forget W, there's a lot of people who think the current president and/or members of his family might well be coked up right now.
The War on Drugs has never really been about the drugs though: The DEA's founder Harry Anslinger explained his real motives to Congress, Nixon's people admitted as much, and lots of drug warriors since have made sure that in practice the Wall Street guys can continue to enjoy their hookers and blow without government interference.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @05:21PM (3 children)
What a load of bullshit.
Trump doesn't even DRINK, much less use illegal drugs.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @06:04AM (2 children)
"Colored students at the Univ. of Minn. partying with (white) female students, smoking [marijuana] and getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution. Result: pregnancy."
"Two Negros took a girl fourteen years old and kept her for two days under the influence of hemp. Upon recovery she was found to be suffering from syphilis."
"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday August 27 2020, @06:10AM (1 child)
Three "quotations" , no reference.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @07:00AM
Gray, Michael (1998). Drug Crazy: How We Got Into this Mess and How We Can Get Out. Random House. ISBN 0-679-43533-6.
Inciardi, James A. (1986). The War on Drugs: Heroin, cocaine, crime, and public policy. Palo Alto: Mayfield Publishing Company. p. 231. ISBN 0-87484-743-5.
David E. Newton (2017). Marijuana: A Reference Handbook, 2nd Edition (Contemporary World Issues) 2nd Edition. ABC-CLIO. p. 183. ISBN 978-1440850516.