Trump and the Republicans have been too tightfisted to muster the will to do much of anything to combat an opioid epidemic that even Trump himself called a national emergency, but here, you peasants: Have a memorial.
There is something oddly icky about President Garbage Fire going out of his way to promote a temporary, touring memorial to opioid victims even as his administration blusters through demands to combat opioid use without spending more than a token amount of actual cash. Perhaps it is his utter lack of grace. Perhaps it is his cheap demand to start executing unspecified "dealers," bending a largely medical problem into, as usual, the rhetoric of authoritarianism. Perhaps it is the pomposity with which he (successfully) self-promotes his stagnant, flaccid efforts to the press.
Trump has put combating opioid abuse at the center of his domestic agenda, traveling to New Hampshire — a state especially hard-hit by opioid abuse — earlier this month and announcing a set of administration proposals for combating addiction.
No, Politico, he sincerely hasn't. He's made a few speeches; it pales in comparison to the vehemence of his demands to build walls or even the vigor with which he promotes certain Fox News programs.
But sure, have a memorial. For a week, mind you, and no more. It still has more dignity than Kellyanne Conway’s epidemic-thwarting advice to young Americans to “eat the ice cream, have the french fry, don't buy the street drug,” at least.