Have to be sunny out immediately, as a result of Republicans are flip-flopping far and wide. In response to new Gallup polling, Republican help for hashish legalization cratered from 55% in 2023 to only 40% in 2025—the bottom stage in a decade. In the meantime, 74% of Republicans imagine the Trump administration is “making progress” on the unlawful drug downside, up from 12% who felt that means beneath Biden.
Let’s be clear about what occurred right here: Republicans did not uncover new proof that hashish is harmful. They did not learn groundbreaking analysis altering their minds. They merely adopted their chief. Trump began bombing alleged drug boats with out trials or proof, designated cartels as terrorists to bypass constitutional protections, and ramped up drug conflict rhetoric. Republicans, who spent a long time claiming to oppose authorities overreach and extrajudicial killing, abruptly determined that due course of is elective when their man is pulling the set off.
This is not principled policymaking. That is cult conduct masquerading as politics. Twenty years in the past, if a Democratic president ordered army strikes on civilian vessels in worldwide waters primarily based on undisclosed “intelligence” with out Congressional authorization or judicial oversight, Republicans would have screamed about tyranny, constitutional violations, and the slippery slope to dictatorship. Now? They applaud loss of life from above as a result of Trump ordered it.
The irony is that hashish help stays a majority place nationally—64% of Individuals favor legalization regardless of the Republican drop. Democratic help held regular at 85%. Independents sit at 66%. The one group abandoning hashish legalization is Republicans, they usually’re doing it not as a result of the coverage modified, however as a result of their Pricey Chief informed them to neglect what they believed final 12 months.
The Numbers: A Nation Nonetheless Needs Authorized Weed (Besides Out of the blue Republicans Do not)
Let’s look at what the Gallup ballot truly reveals. General help for federal hashish legalization stands at 64%—nonetheless a commanding majority, although down from the all-time excessive of 70% in 2023. This represents the bottom help since 2019, however it’s essential to know the place that decline originated.
Democratic help: 85% in 2025, primarily unchanged from 2024 and down simply barely from the 2023 peak of 87%. Democrats have not wavered.
Unbiased help: 66% in 2025, down from 72% in 2022 however comparatively secure over the previous three years (69% in 2023, 69% in 2024). Independents stay solidly pro-legalization.
Republican help: 40% in 2025, down from 53% in 2024 and 55% in 2023. This represents a 13-point drop in a single 12 months and a 15-point collapse from the height. Republicans are the only real driver of declining nationwide help.
What modified? Coverage? No. Proof? No. Trump’s messaging? Completely. The identical ballot reveals that 74% of Republicans imagine Trump is making progress on unlawful medicine, in comparison with simply 33% of Democrats and 34% of Independents who really feel that means. Republicans satisfied themselves that bombing boats and tariff threats represent efficient drug coverage, and concurrently determined hashish legalization—which they supported simply two years in the past—is now dangerous.
This correlation is not delicate. As Republican notion of Trump’s drug conflict success elevated, Republican help for hashish legalization decreased. The variables moved in lockstep as a result of they’re each reflections of the identical phenomenon: Republicans adjusting their acknowledged beliefs to match no matter Trump does, no matter consistency, proof, or precept.
The Unprincipled Politics of Extrajudicial Killing
This is the place Republican flip-flopping turns into really grotesque. The Trump administration has carried out greater than a dozen army strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels since September, killing over 60 individuals whom they label “narco-terrorists.” The Protection Division hasn’t offered identities of these killed. They have not introduced proof of what medicine or how a lot these vessels had been carrying. They have not sought Congressional authorization. They have not obtained warrants or judicial approval. They simply bomb boats primarily based on “intelligence” we’re presupposed to belief blindly.
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth posts unclassified movies of strikes on X, saying that “intelligence confirmed” vessels had been smuggling medicine alongside “recognized narco-trafficking routes.” No specifics. No transparency. Simply belief us—these individuals deserved to die.
Twenty years in the past, Republicans constructed their whole political id round opposing this precise conduct. They screamed about Obama’s drone program. They demanded transparency and accountability for army actions. They invoked the Structure consistently, citing checks and balances, due course of, and limitations on government energy. The Tea Occasion motion emerged partly from issues about authorities overreach and unchecked government authority.
Now? Silence. Or worse—enthusiastic help. As a result of when Trump bombs civilian boats with out proof or oversight, it is not tyranny. It is “getting robust on medicine.” When Trump designates cartels as international terrorist organizations to bypass prison justice protections, it is not shredding constitutional rights. It is “taking the struggle to narco-terrorists.”
That is unprincipled politics at its most bare. There is not any constant philosophical framework right here, no adherence to constitutional rules, no concern for due course of or rule of regulation. There’s solely tribal loyalty: if Trump does it, it is good. If anybody else did the identical factor, it could be unconscionable.
And let’s tackle the apparent query no one’s asking: who income from these strikes? Each missile fired prices tons of of 1000’s of {dollars}. Each bomb dropped enriches protection contractors. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman—they’re creating wealth hand over fist from Trump’s drug conflict theatrics. Comply with the cash. These strikes aren’t lowering drug availability within the U.S. They are not stopping cartels. However they’re producing income for the military-industrial advanced whereas offering political theater that Republicans eat up.
The Terrorist Designation: Shredding Rights by Altering Labels
The designation of cartels as international terrorist organizations represents one of the crucial harmful expansions of government energy in latest reminiscence, and Republicans who as soon as claimed to worry authorities tyranny are cheering it on.
This is what that designation does: it strips people related to designated organizations of the authorized protections usually afforded to prison defendants. Felony justice requires proof, warrants, trials, convictions. Counterterrorism permits extrajudicial killing primarily based on government department “intelligence” with out judicial oversight.
By labeling cartels as terrorists quite than prison organizations, Trump’s administration claims authority to kill suspected cartel members with out arrest, trial, or conviction. They declare authority to freeze belongings with out due course of. They declare authority to conduct army operations with out Congressional authorization. All justified by saying the magic phrase: “terrorist.”
This could terrify anybody who values constitutional limits on authorities energy. As a result of as soon as you identify that the chief can designate individuals as “terrorists” and kill them with out judicial oversight, there is no limiting precept. Immediately it is alleged drug traffickers. Tomorrow it might be anybody the administration labels harmful. The precedent being set is that government department intelligence businesses—infamous for mendacity, manipulating proof, and serving political agendas—can decide who lives and dies with none verify on that energy.
Republicans used to know this. They used to quote the Founding Fathers about tyranny and unchecked energy. They used to invoke the Structure as sacred scripture. Now they’ve determined constitutional protections are elective inconveniences when utilized to individuals they have been informed are dangerous guys.
The people being killed in these strikes are, at worst, civilians engaged in prison exercise. They need to be arrested, tried, and if convicted, imprisoned. That is how civilized societies with rule of regulation function. Bombing them from drones as a result of the chief department calls them terrorists is how authoritarian regimes function. Republicans have grow to be enthusiastic supporters of the latter whereas pretending they nonetheless imagine within the former.
The Broader Betrayal: When Trump Does It, Every little thing’s Completely different
The collapse in Republican hashish help is only one symptom of a broader phenomenon: Republicans abandoning each precept they claimed to carry the second Trump informed them to.
They’re abruptly in favor of latest wars within the Center East after spending Trump’s first time period praising his reluctance to start out conflicts. They’re cheering bombing campaigns in Yemen and threats towards Iran regardless of Trump campaigning on ending infinite wars. They’re supporting large tariffs that elevate client costs after a long time of claiming to help free commerce. They’re applauding authorities surveillance growth after years of privateness issues. They’re defending deficit spending that might have precipitated Tea Occasion riots beneath a Democrat.
The sample is constant: Republicans do not have rules. They’ve staff loyalty. No matter Trump does turns into retroactively justified, and no matter they believed earlier than Trump did it will get memory-holed.
Hashish legalization is especially revealing as a result of it is such a clear-cut instance. Republicans supported legalization in growing numbers all through the 2010s, reaching 55% in 2023. This wasn’t partisan loyalty—it was real coverage evolution as proof amassed that prohibition failed and legalization labored. Then Trump ramped up drug conflict rhetoric and began bombing boats, and abruptly 15% of Republicans determined they had been towards legalization in any case.
These aren’t individuals who studied new analysis and adjusted their minds. These are individuals who alter their acknowledged beliefs to match no matter Trump indicators they need to imagine. It is unprincipled. It is authoritarian. And it is harmful as a result of it means there is no limiting precept on what they will help if Trump calls for it.
The Neocon Playbook: Smearing Critics as Antisemites
The Republican institution’s response to dissent completely illustrates this dynamic. Tucker Carlson—hardly a progressive—faces smears of antisemitism from neoconservative Republicans as a result of he questions unconditional help for Israeli army actions. The accusation is not primarily based on something Carlson truly stated. It is primarily based on the neocon playbook that anybody questioning Israeli coverage have to be motivated by antisemitism quite than reputable international coverage issues.
In the meantime, strange Individuals categorical discomfort with being complicit in actions leading to large civilian casualties, together with tens of 1000’s of youngsters. Slightly than participating these issues, neoconservatives accuse critics of antisemitism, successfully shutting down debate by making dissent socially unacceptable.
That is Orwellian. Republicans spent years claiming to oppose cancel tradition and defending free speech. Now they’re weaponizing accusations of bigotry to silence international coverage debate. They’re utilizing the precise ways they condemned when progressives deployed them, as a result of when Republicans do it, it is completely different. Similar to extrajudicial killing is completely different when Trump orders it, and deficit spending is completely different when Trump does it, and authorities surveillance is completely different when Trump expands it.
The Sticky Backside Line: Weed’s Nonetheless Well-liked, Republicans Are Simply Unprincipled
Hashish legalization stays in style in America. Sixty-four p.c help—together with 85% of Democrats and 66% of Independents—represents commanding majority backing. The one group retreating from legalization is Republicans, they usually’re doing it not as a result of coverage modified however as a result of Trump informed them to.
These aren’t principled conservatives reconsidering positions primarily based on new proof. These are unprincipled partisans whose beliefs alter to match no matter their chief says. Twenty years in the past, they opposed authorities overreach. Immediately they cheer extrajudicial killings. Twenty years in the past, they demanded Constitutional limits on government energy. Immediately they applaud designation of civilians as terrorists to bypass these protections. Two years in the past, they supported hashish legalization. Immediately they oppose it as a result of Trump ramped up drug conflict rhetoric.
That is fanaticism. It is harmful as a result of it means there is no limiting precept on what these individuals will help. If Trump determined tomorrow to invade Mexico, they’d justify it. If he declared martial regulation, they’d applaud it. If he suspended elections, they’d name it needed. As a result of they do not have rules—they’ve staff loyalty that overrides every part.
The federal government everybody voted for—even some on the left who satisfied themselves Trump was an anti-war candidate—has delivered one other betrayal of epic proportions. The “no new wars” president is launching strikes throughout worldwide waters. The “constitutional conservative” social gathering is shredding constitutional protections. The “liberty motion” is cheering extrajudicial executions.
I write this at the moment with out worry of retaliation, however with full consciousness that trajectories matter. As soon as Palantir has the surveillance infrastructure absolutely built-in and the precedent is about that executives can designate anybody as terrorists justifying extrajudicial motion, even articles like this may represent “supporting terrorism” or “endangering nationwide safety.” The equipment being constructed does not simply threaten drug sellers—it threatens anybody who questions authority.
Have to be sunny out immediately, as a result of all these Republicans are flip-flopping about. Ideas deserted, Structure forgotten, due course of elective, and hashish legalization rejected as a result of Pricey Chief stated so. In the meantime, nearly all of Individuals—together with most Democrats and Independents—nonetheless help legalization primarily based on proof, efficacy, and particular person freedom. The query is whether or not principled coverage or tribal fanaticism will in the end prevail. Based mostly on present Republican conduct, I am not optimistic.
CANNABIS UNDER TRUMP 2.0, READ ON…
