MSNBC news programs: on Crime

Mary Fallin: 2011: OK to experiment with drugs used in lethal injection

In April, when the State Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on the execution of Clayton Lockett, citing concerns about the constitutionality of that law, Fallin decided to ignore it. The Supreme Court's "attempted stay of execution is outside the constitutional authority of that body," she declared. "I cannot give effect to the order by that honorable court." (The Court eventually reached a different conclusion on its own, it said.)

"You have a political figure who unnecessarily rushed forward an execution, under the veil of secrecy, that led to the torture of an individual at the hands of the state of Oklahoma," [one opponent said].

Pat Buchanan: Stop gun rampages by requiring press silence

Pat Buchanan: Prompt death penalty would stop mass murderers

Donald Trump: You can't teach a criminal not to be a criminal

Indeed, it often seems as if the Republican Party is wholly unaware of the fact that it has a criminal leading its 2024 ticket. Trump himself recently declared with confidence, "You're not going to teach a criminal not to be a criminal," as if the maxim were just common sense. A day later, the former president echoed the line at an unrelated event.

"A criminal is a criminal," the GOP nominee said. "They generally stay a criminal and we do not have time to figure it out."