Trump says 'country is going to hell'

 National Review:

Returning to Washington, D.C., for the first time since leaving office, former president Trump delivered a speech at the America First Policy Institute on Tuesday in which he accused the Democratic party of abdicating its responsibility to preserve law and order and promised that Republicans would pursue a laundry list of “brutally tough” solutions to crack-down on the “insanity” taking root in America’s cities.

“Our country is going to hell,” Trump declared. Under Democratic leadership, the nation has deteriorated into a “cesspool of crime…blood, death and destruction,” where the “streets are covered in needles and soaked with the blood of innocent people,” he said.

Over the course of his speech, Trump railed against the lax criminal-justice policies pushed by left-wing prosecutors that have led to surging violent crime rates in nearly every major American city. He described in graphic detail multiple recent senseless tragedies in which innocent victims, in Philadelphia and other Democratic-run cities, lost their lives to violent criminals who had previously been charged with crimes and released under cashless bail policies.

There is “no higher priority than stopping drugs from pouring in,” Trump said, advocating for the speedy prosecution and execution of drug dealers and flirting with the draconian approach of quasi-authoritarian countries, to stop the flow of narcotics into the country and clean up the streets.

“Countries without a drug problem are those that institute very steep punishment for drug crimes,” he said, praising China as a role model. By sentencing drug hustlers with the death penalty, “you save 500 lives because they kill on average 500 people,” he said. “It’s terrible to say.”

But even if the U.S. ferociously goes after drug smugglers, “it’s never going to be quite like China,” Trump lamented.
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As for the homeless encampments taking over urban areas, Trump suggested that homeless people be relocated to special facilities on the outer edges of urban centers, where they would be housed in temporary shelters and provided drug and mental-health rehabilitation.

“People say ‘oh that’s horrible,” Trump said. “No, what’s horrible is what’s happening now.”

Trump then remarked on the gender ideology craze taking K-12 schools by storm, eliciting loud applause from the audience. He urged a stop to the “sexualization of minor children,” commenting that those who facilitate the gender transition of children via puberty blockers or reconstructive surgery, “are breaking the law and should be held fully accountable.”
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I suspect many Americans agree with him on these issues.  The polls show he is more popular than any potential Democrat at this point.