It is astounding who Donald Trump has been pardoning: From the world’s worst drug dealers to corrupt former politicians. Considering the horrific levels of fentanyl deaths in Alaska, Congress should be standing up and fighting against letting drug dealers loose. Instead, Nick Begich and Dan Sullivan have stood by silently while Trump makes a mockery of our police, prosecutors, and the rule of law.
Trump’s most appalling pardon is of Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the “Silk Road” dark web drug marketplace. Ulbricht made tens of millions of dollars selling drugs purchased with Bitcoin. In pardoning Ulbricht, Trump conflated massive drug dealing with libertarianism. Under that logic, we would defund the police and close our prisons. That is an insane position. We should arresting, prosecuting and jailing drug dealers — not pardoning them. Senators Dan Sullivan and Nick Begich should demand that Trump come and have a face to face meeting with family members who have lost loved ones to drug dealers and overdoses, not standing by Trump while he coddles the world’s worst criminals.
Cryptocurrency is the central tool used by drug dealers to enrich themselves. As a recent article by the Air Force’s Western Regional Counterdrug Training Center Commandant explains:
Cryptocurrency has become their primary means to move and launder money in exchange for illegal activities, particularly the illegal drug trade. Given a nationwide opioid epidemic, a flooded market of fentanyl, and a decrease in law enforcement availability to focus strictly on drugs, cryptocurrency has allowed drug dealers to move historical amounts of money without having to deal with the issues associated with cash.
Pardoning crypto drug lords means more Alaskans will die of drug overdoses.
Trump’s pardons appear closely linked to his family’s World Liberty cryptocurrency. Trump has been trading public policy for Arab dictators and Chinese special interests buying Trump’s own bitcoin. It is an unprecedented level of corruption, and Trump’s pardon of Ulbricht makes it clear Trump will do anything to protect the dark web transactions that are core to drug dealers, human trafficking and other horrific crimes. If Congress was doing its job, they would be cracking down on criminals’ attempt to launder money, traffic drugs and keep their activities secret by buying off Trump’s family.
In the week after Typhoon Halong hit Western Alaska, Trump moved faster to pardon former Congressman George Santos, a corrupt New York politician who defrauded a disabled Navy veteran. Trump reportedly is even contemplating the rapist and sex trafficker Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was also convicted of racketeering. Of the convicted rapist and sex trafficker, Trump said “I was very friendly with him. I got along with him great, and he seemed like a nice guy.”
We have never had a president who is systematically attacking the rule of law, pardoning drug dealers, encouraging money laundering through the dark web, and even cashing in on bitcoin while trading favors using his public position. It would be bad enough if Trump’s corruption was simply a drag on our economy, without immediate effects on public safety. However, since Trump is pardoning drug dealers and doing the bidding of crypto money launderers, his corruption has immediate public safety consequences for every state that is struggling to fight back against drug traffickers. Between 2022 and 2023, Alaska overdose deaths from fentanyl shot up 40%. The state has a campaign to raise awareness about fentanyl — “One Pill Can Kill” — yet Trump and his enablers in Congress are protecting the very drug traffickers who are laundering money through crypto and murdering Alaskans.
Donald Trump is not bound by conscience, morality or ethics. It is Congress’ responsibility to maintain a balance of power, including by maintaining public safety. Instead, Trump acolytes — essentially every Republican in Congress except Lisa Murkowski — are standing by silently while Trump opens a limitless supply of laundered money to fuel the drug trade.
Zack Fields represents Downtown Anchorage in the Alaska House of Representatives.
Zack Fields
This post is a submission to The Alaska Current. Please send submissions to news@thealaskacurrent.com.
