Power Line's Paul Mirengoff writes a short column in which he demonstrates President Trump has flip-flopped on tough sentencing for drug dealers - breaking a campaign promise to be tough-as-nails. Trump's support for the FIRST STEP legislation is unfortunate.
I understand President Trump's interest in courting black voters, as African-Americans are incarcerated in disproportionally high numbers. Research has shown, however, that these numbers result from excessive criminal behavior much more than from discrimination in law enforcement and sentencing.
COTTonLINE joins Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR, no relation) in opposing this legislation, as we have written here and here. Our nation does not have an over-incarceration problem. What we have too much of is repeat-offender crime.
