The Trump administration is cracking down on flavored e-cigarettes.
As Fast Company reported, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently working on a plan meant to eliminate all non-tobacco e-juice flavors from the market.
The administration’s sudden decision came following an “outbreak” of a mysterious lung illness thought to be related to vaping. The illness is not directly related to vaping, however — it is linked to contaminated, counterfeit THC products sold on the streets, and not to nicotine e-juices sold in stores.
Nevertheless, the Trump vaping ban will affect the entire industry once in place, which has irked vapers across the country.
The decision could also have tremendous political and electoral implications for the president, according to a new report from Axios .
The report reveals that President Donald Trump’s conservative allies are growing increasingly concerned by the effect the administration’s flavored e-juice vaping ban could have on his re-election prospects.
Data gathered by conservative operatives and presented to the White House “reveals that the number of adult vapers in key battleground states greatly outweighs the margins by which Trump won those states in 2016.”
In other words, by issuing an effective ban on vaping out of supposed concern for minors, the president may have hurt his chances in key battleground state, which carried him to victory in 2016.
As Paul Blair, the director of strategic initiatives at Americans for Tax Reform explained to Axios , the numbers are simply not in Trump’s favor.
“While parents may be concerned about e-cigarettes, the people who genuinely care about vaping as a voting issue so far outweighs the number of people Trump needs to win in 2020 that they are royally screwing themselves by doing this.”
In the state of Florida, for instance, where Trump won in 2016 by 113,000 votes, there were approximately 873,000 vapers.
Furthermore, more than 4 million people in so-called swing states regularly use e-cigarettes, according to a 2016 study, and that number has almost certainly increased since, according to experts.
Not even the most loyal of Trump allies are on board with the ban. The president’s 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale publicly decried the decision, tweeting that banning e-juices is “not on brand with MAGA.”
The White House has made attempts to soften the blow of the controversial order, even scheduling a meeting meant to address the issue. Invited to the meeting — which has since been canceled — were the Goldwater Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Vapor Technology Association.
E-cigarette panic is ruining “biggest public health opportunity” in 120 years, scientist says https://t.co/bp0tLTyGSP pic.twitter.com/wmVj2V4tQN
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 20, 2019
According to an insider who spoke to Axios , the White House is not handling the pushback well.
“They’re in chaos mode on this stuff because the backlash has been so resoundingly overpowering,” the insider said.
According to White House officials, the meeting is expected to be rescheduled, which suggests that Trump may not follow through with the ban.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , polls have consistently suggested that Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden would beat Trump in the general election.
