Former president Donald Trump called for drug dealers to receive the death penalty among a series of harsh policies about crime during his first speech in Washington since leaving office on Tuesday.
He made the remarks while speaking at a summit led by the America First Policy Institute, which features many former administration officials.
Mr Trump used his speech to talk about rising crime rates, though there is some evidence that gun violence is worse in Republican states. The former president called for “very, very severe” penalties.
“If you look at countries throughout the world, the ones that don’t have a drug problem are those that institute a very quick trial death penalty sentence for drug dealers”, he said.
Mr Trump acknowledged that it sounded horrible to carry out swift executions but said it was better than having someone on death row for several years.
“You execute a drug dealer and you save 500 lives, because they kill on average 500 people”, he said. “It’s terrible to say but you take a look at every country in this world that doesn’t have a problem with drugs, they have a very strong death penalty for the people that sell drugs.”
The former president said that he spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping and asked if the country had a drug problem, which the Chinese president denied. Mr Trump said that the leader of the Chinese Communist Party told him that if someone who sells drugs is executed.
Mr Trump said that Republicans should strengthen protection for police officers if they win back the majority in November.
“They have to become our heroes”, he said. “They are mine. But some people, they don’t feel that way. They’re going to have to feel that way if we’re going to have a great country and a safe country.”
The former president also called for taking large parts of inexpensive land and creating high-quality tents with medical professionals.
“Which can be done in one day”, he said. “What’s horrible is what’s happening now.”
Mr Trump’s address in Washington comes the same day that his former vice president Mike Pence delivered an address to the Young America Foundation’s National Conservative Student Conference on Tuesday.
The former president has not been to Washington since he left office last year after President Joe Biden was sworn just two weeks after supporters of Mr Trump’s broke into the US Capitol and tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
