America UnCanceled: Mercedes Schlapp & Anne Funder

Mercedes Schlapp and Anne Funder, who is an “angel mom”, had a conversation on America UnCanceled. Anne lost her son Weston to fentanyl in 2022, who was a 15-year-old freshman in high school. Anne is committed to bringing awareness to the dangers of fentanyl. Mercedes highlighted how over 73,000 Americans died of fentanyl related overdoses in 2022. The issue of fentanyl has, according to Mercedes, “decimated communities and destroyed families”.

Anne explains how these fentanyl related deaths are a direct result of destructive border policies. Weston, her son, she adds, grew up in a normal family environment in California, going to Dana Hills High School. Weston had been prescribed Percocet by his doctor, but Anne didn’t want him to take it, so he decided to find other ways to get the drug. The drug he found, Anne adds, wasn’t Percocet at all but merely powder mixed with fentanyl. Anne says Weston was her first child of four and “taught her how to love.” That is why she is so enthusiastic about bringing awareness to the dangers of fentanyl. 

Anne explains how her faith was affected by being feeling alienated from God and that she felt abandoned. She, however, was asked to speak at the Republican National Convention and felt a renewed sense of faith and purpose because spreading awareness about the dangers of fentanyl would help other families and save lives. 

Anne stresses that “this can happen to you, we were the all-American family, we had a beautiful life”, and that parents need to communicate with their children about peer pressure and the dangers of drugs. 

She blames the Biden Administration and California Governor Gavin Newsom for the rampant influx of fentanyl over the southern border, “ we need to work on this country, we can't just allow people to pour over our borders and we can’t allow the cartels to ‘run a muck’, that we can’t allow China to ship whatever they want to our country and to the cartels that are going to bring it over our borders, it was dangerous what was happening over the past four years. I think that if President Trump were still in office that my son would probably still be alive because in under 100 days, he has gotten everything under control”.

Mercedes then highlights the Trump Administration’s commitment to reducing illegal migration, “first 100 days, 150,000 arrested under President Trump, 135,000 deported, they are working day in and day out over at the Department of Justice to stop the fentanyl from coming into this country. So efforts are definitely being made to stop the fentanyl from coming in”.

Mercedes and Anne stress that America is headed in the right direction under the Trump Administration and that stopping illegal drugs and saving lives should be a cause for bipartisan support. Many Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D), have instead given direction to illegal immigrants on how to resist searches and how to avoid warrants. Anne says that, “instead they [Democrats] themselves should be investigated…I don’t see her [Ocasio-Cortez] protecting Americans”. Anne then highlights how past Democratic administrations, such as the Clinton or Obama administrations, deported millions of illegal immigrants, and that there is nothing wrong with protecting Americans. 

Watch the full conversation from Mercedes Schlapp and Anne Funder on Rumble @CPAC