He didn’t want to trip up.
Former President Donald Trump chuckled slightly at the notion of Congress doing shrooms to improve its performance when asked about his thoughts on psychedelics.
Podcaster Lex Fridman suggested during an interview with Trump that “we would probably have a better world if everybody in Congress took some mushrooms” when pressing for his thoughts on the matter.
“So we put out a statement the other day,” Trump replied, referencing his recent Truth Social post that spoke favorably of a marijuana ballot measure in Florida.
“We’re gonna put another one probably next week to be more specific,” Trump continued. “But it’s coming up, and we’ll see how it does. I will say it’s been very hard to beat it. You take a look at the numbers, it’s been very hard to beat it…But you want to do it in a safe way.”
Trump, 78, steered clear of commenting directly on psychedelics specifically during his exchange with Fridman, who has gone on an ayahuasca retreat and conversed with guests about their spiritual experiences on drugs.
The 45th president had sought to stake out some middle ground on the question of marijuana last week on Truth Social, arguing that it is not necessary to “ruin lives” by arresting adults with weed on them.
Simultaneously, he maintained there are safety concerns about “fentanyl-laced marijuana” and a public interest in ensuring “we do not smell marijuana everywhere we go, like we do in many of the Democrat-run cities.”
“Medical marijuana has been amazing. I’ve had friends and I’ve had others and doctors telling me that it’s been absolutely amazing — medical marijuana,” he told Fridman.
“We can live with marijuana … it’s gotta be done in a really concerted way.”
Trump touted Florida’s approach, seemingly alluding to the Amendment 3 ballot measure, as “very good” and stressed that there need to be restrictions, such as age.
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The Republican presidential candidate has previously claimed that he hasn’t had so much as a glass of alcohol and strongly advised people not to start on drugs.
His late elder brother Fred Trump Jr. died from a heart attack related to his alcoholism in the early 1980s.
“It’s gotta be done in a good way. It’s gotta be done in a clean way. You go into some of these places like in New York, it smells all marijuana,” Trump lamented on the podcast about marijuana legalization.
“You’ve gotta have a system where there’s control.”
During his 2024 campaign launch, Trump mused about using the death penalty against drug dealers.
“We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts,” he said in the November 2022 speech. “Because it’s the only way.”
Throughout his 2024 bid, Trump has, at times, exhibited something of a libertarian flair relative to his past two campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
For example, he’s expressed opposition to any potential ban on TikTok, amid lobbying from GOP mega-donor Jeff Yass and Congress passing a bill to force parent company ByteDance to divest the popular video sharing platform or else face a ban.
Recently, Trump roiled the pro-life community by suggesting that Florida’s six-week abortion ban is “too short.” He’s also opposed a national abortion ban, instead deferring to the states.
Trump attended the Libertarian 2024 convention in May, powering through boos while asking for their endorsement.
During his speech, he proclaimed, “If I wasn’t a Libertarian before, I sure as hell am a Libertarian now.”
Still, some of his other positions, such as support for heavy tariffs and stance on immigration are typically opposed by libertarians.
