Official Federal Bureau of Prisons photo of U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, where the new round of executions is scheduled to be carried out later this year or next year

Trump’s Always Been A Fan Of The Death Penalty

And now he apparently thinks it’ll be a winning campaign issue

Nobody’s been executed by the federal government in 16 years: that covers a lot of President George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump until now.

But that’s all about to change as Attorney General Bill Barr ordered the execution of 5 federal inmates this morning. Look at the list, and there’s no doubt they’ve all been convicted of grisly, horrible crimes. Still, it’s interesting Trump’s folks have decided to embark on this initiative at a time when capital punishment has long been on the decline in this country. And we think potentially more importantly, when it can be turned into a potent campaign issue against any Democratic candidate (we’ll explain why in a sec.)

Trump hasn’t talked about the death penalty much in his time as President until now, but back in May, 1989 he took out this now-infamous full page ad in all 4 major New York newspapers at the time, calling for its reinstatement in the State of New York for the so-called Central Park 5. Even though by the time Trump placed that ad, there were already serious questions about whether the 5 black teens who had been arrested had actually committed the brutal rape for which they were all eventually cleared. Trump this year was asked whether he would apologize for…