Donald Trump Thinks He Can End The Fentanyl Problem By… Hitting Drug Smugglers With Tariffs
from the high-on-his-own-supply dept
What a surprise. The man who clearly doesn’t understand tariffs doesn’t understand drug trafficking. President Trump has repeatedly claimed the flow of illicit Fentanyl into the United States justifies hitting countries like Mexico, China, and Canada(???) with super-high tariffs, under the weird assumption that starting a trade war is the best move to make in a drug war.
Of the many things Trump doesn’t understand (or doesn’t care to understand) about tariffs, this latest bit of Truth Social activity (at nearly 1:00 am on a school night) makes it clear Trump also doesn’t understand how drug trafficking works. His April 1st post on his own social media service contains the expected free-form, randomly-capitalized, stream-of-unconsciousness we’ve come to expect from Trump social media missives.
But the most inadvertently hilarious part of this tirade is the assumption that tariffs can somehow make it unprofitable for people to illegally export products.
Here’s a screenshot of Trump’s original post:
If you can’t read this or see the embed, consider yourself somewhat lucky. But since we’re discussing the content of this post, here’s what it says:
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy. They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels. The Senate Bill is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four, in that it is not going anywhere because the House will never approve it and I, as your President, will never sign it. Why are they allowing Fentanyl to pour into our Country unchecked, and without penalty. What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS? Who can want this to happen to our beautiful families, and why? To the people of the Great States of Kentucky, Alaska, and Maine, please contact these Senators and get them to FINALLY adhere to Republican Values and Ideals. They have been extremely difficult to deal with and, unbelievably disloyal to hardworking Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Party itself. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
That’s what the man said on main: we have to slap tariffs on illegal imports of illicit drugs. Somehow, the Democratic party is failing the Make America Great Again version of America by refusing to slap tariffs on a product that is being smuggled into the country far more frequently than it’s being declared at border crossings.
Canada isn’t even the problem, even if we agree with half of this non-logic. No one honestly considers Canada to be part of the mostly imagined “border crisis.” And, even if we give Trump far more credit than he deserves, this statement makes it clear Trump actually believes he can curb illegal drug trafficking by making it far more expensive to move fentanyl legally across the US/Canada border. All this does is increase the market for illegal, unregulated fentanyl because acquiring it legally will no longer be the less expensive and/or easier option.
And for all the talk about fentanyl being “terrible and deadly,” there are actual legitimate medical uses for the synthetic opioid. Patients who could be helped by this drug will be forced to use other, less effective options or, in worst case scenarios, be priced out of the market entirely.
The worst part of all of this is that it’s merely performative. Trump doesn’t actually care about fighting fentanyl trafficking or limiting abuse of the drug. He just wants to keep throwing tariffs at Canada because pretty much every politician in the country has told Trump to fuck right off with his “51st state” bullshit. And he’s literally stupid enough to believe that slapping tariffs on legal drugs will limit the flow of illicit drugs into the US. And no one will be able to convince him otherwise — not only because no one in his party will even make the attempt, but because he’s so self-deluded it’s literally impossible to change his mind.
Filed Under: donald trump, fentanyl, immigration, tariffs, truth social, war on drugs
Comments on “Donald Trump Thinks He Can End The Fentanyl Problem By… Hitting Drug Smugglers With Tariffs”
This is also kind of why black markets for illicit drugs exist. Decriminalizing drugs, at a bare minimum, would decrease their costs because making and transporting them would be much easier than having to do it all on the down-low. It would also put pressure on the people making those drugs to keep said drugs safe so they don’t face liability for accidental overdoses/bad batches.
Murkowski is virtually the only Republican left that is near immune to Trump’s bullying tactics and the efforts of his cult.
Also, thinking someone from Alaska would be excited to harass their closest economy is just another highlight of Trumps imbecilic behavior.
the reason you cant change his mind
He cant change his mind because after committing to a position he feels like he would lose face to back down. The only way he ever changes is if it makes him look like he won. As an example, just before the pause on tariffs he announced that 51 countries are seeking to negotiate terms.
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“51 countries are seeking to negotiate terms”
If you asked Trump how many countries were negotiating with him three times in a row, you would get three different numbers.
Re: Re: “51 countries are seeking to negotiate terms”
TrumpGPT?
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“He cant change his mind […]”
Do keep in mind that we’re talking about someone who can’t read. He. Is. Illiterate.
There’s no hope of changing his mind because he doesn’t have one.
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They were more begging or crying to negotiate tariff, because, you know, Trump has so much charisma that everyone in the World is dreaming to be used as a doormat to avoid Trump’s shoes to be dirty.
Then Trumps wakes up, and starts crying “theses bullies are so mean to me!”
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Big, strong countries with tears in their eyes saying “sir, we accept your big, beautiful, perfect tariffs”
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Except when he changes his mind like the fooken wind anyway.
Just need the right people to plant an idea in his head, or make one available for him to steal, that he can be convinced is his own idea. No guarantees though, because wind.
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Or you could ask him to name two of them.
Both countries named would quickly deny the talks.
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Poison
They are considered a problem. Criminal gangs, not wanting to get caught, have changed strategies over the years, and are now taking advantage of the lax enforcement along the northern boarder.
Trump believes that Canada needs to step up enforcement operations before drugs get smuggled across the border. Canada will be much more motivated to cooperate if there are steep tariffs. Conversely, if Canada does not cooperate, and trade traffic slows to a crawl, it will make it significantly easier to inspect the few cargo shipment that attempt to cross.
Fentanyl is not being used for medicinal purposes, certainly not at the dosages being consumed. It is being used at a recreational level, and opioid overdose deaths have skyrocketed in the years since heroin use switched to fentanyl. These are not patients. These folks are addicts. They need rehab, not cheap access to more intoxicants.
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I don’t listen to people who want to talk about the border “crisis” while misspelling “border”.
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It’s part of the broader crisis.
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Broader? I BARELY KNOW ’ER! 🙃
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Don’t tell Koby how he should write, he has already too much difficulties with how he thinks.
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Be nice, English might not be his first language.
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What percentage of the ‘crisis’ comes across the northern border?
Re: you got the border problem backwards
More drugs come from the US to Canada than the other way around.
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[citation needed]
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Oh shit son that’s gonna hit you right in the pocketbook.
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“Fentanyl is not being used for medicinal purposes…”
Fentanyl has been used for medical purposes for at least 35 years that I know of. You’ve never had any type of surgery I take it. Morphine doesn’t work on everyone, that’s why they use Fentanyl. Not too bright are ya…
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What did republicans do about oxycontin? Nothing. Alcohol? Nothing. Guns? Nothing.
That any republican wants to save lives or protect Americans is a joke.
Republicans are still trying to kill 9/11 responders.
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“Fentanyl is not being used for medicinal purposes,”
Son, something like half or more of general anasthaesia has fentanyl in the mix.
You can apologise for being both wrong and stupid at your convince.
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True, I always punch my friends in the nose when they aren’t doing what I want them to do even if I don’t understand the actual situation. They’re always more cooperative and even like me more after I hit them out of the blue for seemingly no reason! How do I know? I said so, so it must be true!
Someone should tell Donald that April fool is only the 1st April and not all the other days.
We should place tariffs on Trump Talking.
I know, I know. Most of you are probably thinking “That is the 2nd dumbest thing on this web page”. But Does Trump know that? I suspect he doesn’t. And if he were convinced there were such tariffs, there is probably a 1% change he might stupid himself out of commission trying to get around it.
Trump routinely gives “reasons” that make less sense than “ice cream causes drowning”, but there’s no shortage of people who sanewash and craft parallel constructions for every terrible decision and pretense Trump and Elon Musk make. That’s before you even consider the psychopaths who knowingly cheer on human trafficking, respond to simple facts with long-debunked “nuh-uh”s, and make their whole personality about asking (also debunked) “do you still beat your wife“-type loaded questions.
Honestly I’m not sure if Trump really believes this, or he just understands that it would go badly for him if he says his real reason out loud.
But it doesn’t matter either way.
Borders?
If all that is happening is the Canadian Border, Why not get More people to monitor and Search vehicles and trains??
Easier to Hire another 1000 People and Equipment then Do all the rest of this crap.
Sleepy Donald
I think our senile old president needs to get some sleep, stop posting on social media and retire.
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The last time he had to retire did not go down all that well.
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That’s because they did not retire him in accordance with the procedures used in the Bladerunner. People retired according to the Bladerunner never cause any more problems.
If this kind of thing worked,Mexico would have put a immense tariff on American made guns decades ago.
Trump Derangement Syndrome
Fun fact: syndromes are named after the first confirmed case.
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TIL: John Langdon Down had Down syndrome.
Proper titles please
I never cease to be amazed at the people who forget to use the proper titles for His Serene Grace Donald J. Trump, Duke of Dorkshit, Earl of Slurry, Tweetabator Extraordinaire, Federal Secretary of Silly Tweets, and Master of Tweetabation (Theoretical and Applied) – apparently he acquired that Masters degree from Trump University. But sadly even he forgets to use his full titles, those titles he so much deserves, and has so thoroughly earned.
But yes, he doesn’t have a clue on what smuggling involves, does he?
Tariffs would only tend to increase black market activity, since smugglers don’t pay taxes by their very nature. At least the guy on the street corner I buy my eggs from says that’s how it works…
The irony
is that there is a way to use customs and border patrol to cut down on illegal imports, but it’s not tariffs. It’s staffing up and doing more physical inspections of shipments.