A critical part of President Trump's America First agenda is the restoration of the rule of law after decades of the Left ignoring, distorting, abusing, and weaponizing the legal system for its malign political ends. The result has been a catastrophic erosion of enforcement, rising crime and chaos, and the collapse of safety, security and our quality of life.
President Trump made reimposing law and order a cornerstone of his first term and has promised to do so again in his second. At the core of his enforcement agenda is the cataclysmic fentanyl crisis, which must be addressed immediately and with the most determined, experienced leadership. The deadly illicit drug's presence in virtually every American community proves that an erased border impacts us all.
During President Biden's first three years in office, over 220,000 Americans died of fentanyl overdoses. This is a straight-up national emergency, directly caused by the Biden-Harris administration's "no borders" policy and criminally negligent approach to China, which produces fentanyl's precursor chemicals; Mexico, which allows their importation and fentanyl's final production and distribution via the cartels; and overall law enforcement. The Biden-Harris administration has allowed a devastating chemical attack on America—and it's long past time to end it.
This is why Florida's former Attorney General Pam Bondi is exactly the right choice to lead the Department of Justice. Intelligent, strong and a proven, fierce fighter for the American people, Bondi understands what is required to defeat powerful criminal forces and get control of an overwhelming drug problem.
When Bondi took office as State Attorney General in 2011, Florida was in the harrowing grip of a massive pill mill crisis. So many addicts from across the country flocked to Florida to take advantage of lax regulations that it was nicknamed the "Oxy Express." At one point, seven Floridians per day were dying from prescription opioids.
Across Florida, so-called pill mills were dishing out oxycodone with abandon. These euphemistically-named "pain clinics" were staffed with doctors who prescribed powerful medications without any legitimate reason.
Bondi set her sights on shutting down these pill mills and tackling the flow of drugs to them in the first place. She supported landmark legislation that required stringent reporting requirements for the dispensation of controlled substances and was credited with securing its passage.
Dave Aronberg, a Democrat currently serving as State's Attorney in Palm Beach County, said at the time, "That landmark bill we passed this year would not have happened without her. She made it a priority."
Bondi approached the fight against these wicked pill mills in a bipartisan manner, appointing Aronberg, who at the time was a former Democrat state senator, as her drug czar.
Bondi's tenacious dedication paid off for the people of Florida. In 2014, the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville endorsed Bondi for re-election, writing, "She went after the pill mills and helped shut them down with allies in the Legislature. No longer are seven Floridians dying each day from prescription drug abuse."
When Bondi took office in 2011, 98 out of the nation's top 100 oxycodone-dispensing doctors were in Florida. Three years later, there were none in the top 100 in Florida. In fact, CDC's then-Director Dr. Tom Frieden called it an "unprecedented national achievement" that Florida saw a 52 percent decline in oxycodone deaths in the years after Bondi assumed office.
Her fight against drugs wasn't limited to oxycodone, of course. She acted quickly to pull so-called "bath salts" from shelves and emergency scheduled over 130 synthetic drugs via executive order. Bondi was also entrusted by President Trump during his first term to help author a 131-page report on fighting opioids.
This is precisely the sort of relentless focus we need in the next U.S. Attorney General.
Under Biden-Harris, fentanyl has become the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18-45. We cannot continue to allow multiple generations to be destroyed by this evil. Americans overwhelmingly voted for President Trump to deliver on his promise to put an end to the fentanyl crisis. He will do it with the help of the fearless, successful leadership of Pam Bondi.
I hope that members of the United States Senate understand the urgent need to restore law and order, effectively address the fentanyl calamity, put in place courageous leadership to stop the flow of illicit drugs and save American lives—and to swiftly confirm Pam Bondi to lead the Department of Justice.
Monica Crowley is the Host of the Monica Crowley Podcast and served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 2019-2021.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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