J L, He IS a mobster. He has been for a long time. Greg Olear wrote a beautiful piece in 2020 summing up that history. His odious father was involved with the mob also. Construction in NY and elsewhere was how they maneuvered. Nothing “like a mobster”.
"(Among Cohn’s other clients at the time was Rupert Murdoch, whom he introduced to Trump in the seventies; you would be hard pressed to find three more atrocious human beings)."
Mind boggling read! The Russian mob owns a large percent of the condos in Trump Tower, but ala AG Barr ‘there was no Russian interference’ in the 2016 election! The connections are so blatant, why did Muller tip toe around the evidence? Frat boy Kavanaugh who wrote the final whitewater report on Bill Clinton concluded he should be impeached! Why didn’t Muller categorically called for trumps impeachment??
Mueller was in the early onset on dementia which increasingly affected him and, apparently, no one knew but it was a body of good work. It was Barr who is to blame for the fact that he only touted a part of it. I read the Mueller Report. Nothing wrong with it. He had some people who helped him. Before the Hearing, you could tell he wasn't articulate and strong enough to assert himself. It was very sad, I thought.
A lot to process there, in more detail than I have seen.
I have yet to hear a rational explanation for why "shell corporations" are even legal. I have been assured by several authors that they have "legitimate uses", but even assuming that is true, their usefulness to major crimes surely outweighs whatever can be said in their favor.
After reading that - still wonder how the he** he keeps falling in shit & coming up smelling like a rose - well, no not smelling good - just coming up ahead! So much information of his "wrongdoings" throughout law enforcement - but yet continues to be allowed to do as he pleases (really - president?)
Thank you Elizabeth. I also subscribed. That brilliant article confirms underlines capitalizes that Tfg is indeed the scum descended from scum. I now refuse to call him anything related to animal or any vital living thing.
I see him as more Mob-cosplay. He is very performative, and behaving like he's scary and crazy (well, he really IS crazy!) has served him well over the years, but I really doubt he's all that scary in any kind of a real way.
Anyone can yell and scowl and loom over others (if they're tall enough), but you notice every time he's ever been physically threatened, he flinches or runs away like Brave Sir Robin! :D
This article is a deep dive into DJ Trump's mob associations, an excellent history of his work for the Italian, Russian mobs and also work w the FBI! It may be the one you meant Elisabeth.
Trump is a want-a-be. He would never soil his hands. Wait until he is convicted (the big if). If he actually has to serve some time, the bluster will disappear. If he has to be with intermingled ethnicities . . . .
This is reminding me of the Nazi party rise to power. Why do nations go ugly when faced with hardship. We have weathered covid, but it has changed us. Adolph Hitler had worked out what he was going to do before getting into power or he would not have had the concentration camps running within 3 months of taking power. Trump is dangerous, and I hope he can be brought to justice. I think of the current Republican party, dominated by the MAGAt faction as The New American Nazi Party, just as the AfD in Germany is the New German Nazi party. The anti-immigrant message of this party is all about racism, not about immigration. Immigration is just code for brown and black skinned people, and does not include the Ukrainians or even the Russians or other Europeans coming here.
Alabama is just doing what Alabama has ALWAYS done and, in some ways, what was also always done since the founding throughout the US.
Here is a problem, one that Dr. Richardson does manage to avoid saying.
At the time that the "founding fathers" put in place the "rule of law", human bondage, human whipping, human enslavement and torture was codified either openly in law (like in Virginia), or openly in practice (like in Alabama).
So, even though white men (and only white men) were covered by the "rule of law", LOTS of humans in America were not. Black slaves were not. White women were not. Native human beings were definitely NOT.
And? "the rule of law" that Dr. Richardson lauds remained like that (only for white men) until, well, black folks might say until now. I might say until the 1965 Civil Rights Act.
So? It is not new for white men in MOST of America to feel they are above the law while simultaneously being protected BY the law. Because? They were. For a long time.
Not new at all. One might say; it was the American norm for MOST of American history.
In fact, the absence of the rule of law was built into the founding of our country, although, like I said, Dr. Richardson does routinely avoid pointing this out. I will say, a couple of times she HAS pointed that out. But, when she really wants to highlight the founders intent for themselves, she leaves out the fact that they were quite happy to leave black slaves and women and native Americans out of the "rule of law".
So, in some ways, Alabama is just doing what Alabama has ALWAYS done.
It’s obvious by being Alabama and by being Texas these states replicate what in 1860 represented rebellion against the United States. Texas is demonstrating threat also to international Law along with open and defiant violation of the River and Harbor Act of 1899.
President Biden by being a Peaceful Law Abiding President allows the DOJ and the Federal Courts to adjudicate these seditious criminal acts. But the country has every right to consider these Acts of Defiance to the Union as menaces to Public Safety and could begin activating military Federal Action just as John F Kennedy and Lyndon Baynes Johnson were forced to do to end open segregation in the former Slave Holding States.
It appears Alabama is operating on the same principles of exaggerated States Rights fostered by the current Republican Party and considers itself free of the constraints of United States Constitutional Law if it applies to Black Americans.
George Wallace’ declaration "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” is obviously a permanent motto for Alabama.
In late 1860 South Caroline did secede from the United States formally. However, prior to that, from that "state's" inception, white men were protected by the rule of law, and only white men were protected by the rule of law in that state (and probably not even all white men, just wealthy ones).
Texas and Alabama, today, are NOT seceding from the US. They are just doing what has always been done in America. They are applying the "rule of law" to white men and nobody else.
Which was exactly how the law was applied since South Carolina inception and exactly the way the rule of law was applied after Reconstruction was over and the Union Army moved out UNTIL 1965 when black folks could, sort of, almost, go to school with white folks (not really) and sort of, almost vote with white folks (not really).
So, 1860 is not really special where the "rule of law" is relevant. Only during Reconstruction was the rule of law attempted to be properly applied in SC during its ENTIRE history basically.
Black folks, native humans, women?
Did not get the rule of law. At any time really. Up to and including now.
This is all pretty terrifying especially early in the morning. Until trump reared his ugly little head, there was room to believe that minorities/women/immigrants could feel that they had made traction and were protected in this country. But when this narcissistic hormonal toddler on steroids actually became president (I still can't believe it), his behavior, expunged of any semblance of decency, gave permission to every White A*****E to get rid of any false veneer of civility they had been hiding under and expose themselves as the real bigots/misogynists/xenophobes they truly are.
As much as oppression and nastiness have spurted up throughout our history, so has the forces of goodness, compassion, and the kind of anger, that properly channeled, produce change. I'm putting all of my eggs in the basket of our youth. They are watching all of this...and they are getting ready to vote....
If TX and AL are openly violating federa! Laws, why not withhold federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act they openly voted against until they begin obeying federal laws?
Prior to that event, and after the Union Army pulled out, SC was NOT in open rebellion BUT was still not applying the rule of law to anyone but white men, and, mostly just wealthy white men.
Let's not forget that Eisenhower, a Republican president, sent troops to Little Rock to ensure that Black students integrating the pubic high school were safe.
Yes, and in many cases those black students were the only students in those schools. White children were kept home. And it was not only the southern states. South Boston was wracked by anti busing riots. Truman had desegregated the Armed Forces by executive order.And we women had to wait a few more years to enter federally funded service academies. It was an ugly time for sure.
Now school segregation exists in Chicago, which has always had segregated schools in many places because the communities are segregated. I live in the Obama's former community and here the public schools are integrated, but predominantly Black. My friend told me that when her daughter was little and on their way to her ethnically and color integrated private school in our neighborhood they would walk by the local public school, and her daughter would ask why all the children there were Black. Not all were, but most. That is what one notices. That is how segregation was kept in Chicago when schools integrated, by White people sending their children to private schools and allowing, fighting for disinvestment in the public schools. This has allowed Charter schools to develop and most of them are not worthy of the children that attend them. A lot of money is spent on select enrollment schools, which are less integrated than one would think. The high schools are competitive test in places, and are filled with students coming to them have been so segregated growing up that there is a lot of color and ethnic tension in the schools which gets reported on occasionally by the local press.
To undo this we would have to get rid of housing segregation, and that is slow to happen. However the biggest segregation is by income so that is quite telling. I have always felt that restitution to descendants of slaves in the USA, should not be for everyone, but for those living below a certain income level, because they are the ones who have been truly harmed by systemic racism. Those who are doing well financially, whatever it has taken are not the ones who have been held back. I think that we need to be paying for at least 20 years for a group to get income, health insurance covering eye care, mental care and teeth care too paid for by the government, as well as a middle class income. I know this is not the political climate for this to happen though. However, it is school desegregation that creates the understanding that moves us beyond the issue of race in a larger way.
Clearly, Ike was an outlier to the Repubs mind set! The man and his staff planned the D-day invasion! He had hundreds of thousands of troops to command! He knew evil first hand!
Heather, in her podcasts, as well as in these pages, repeatedly makes the point that the founders intent for control of the rule of law was for white male citizens only. I don't know how you could miss that, Mike S.
Yes, I noted that, intermittently here, she does point out that the Constitution was written for the Founders themselves and white men. But, she leaves that out in some cases where it might be helpful to include it. Like today.
Yes, Mike. The U.S. was built this way. I often think it is reverting--getting back it’s figure as it were--losing the human rights lbs. It is snapping back to it’s original form. It seems like such a long time since those early exploiters (and I do mean exploiters, not explorers) first set foot here but it hasn’t been all that long given the span of human life on this planet. When States start picking and choosing which federal laws they want to follow we no longer have a Union. We are delusional if we tell ourselves what AL is doing it is just a one-off or what TX is doing is just a two-off or it’s all going to work itself out eventually. We are just getting back our youthful figure.
"I often think it is reverting--getting back it’s figure as it were--losing the human rights lbs. It is snapping back to it’s original form."
I wonder if that is the case OR, if it is the case that you and I were just blind to the way it actually was and is.
For example, when I went to Texas A&M, College Station, 1978-1982, it was widely known that there were only 38 black young people on campus: ALL of them on the football team.
Honestly, I bet that there were MORE black folks at A&M than Harvard then.
Then, when I went to grad school at UT Austin, my Chemical Engineering department had ONE black guy as a grad student (under my own professor). And? That was super rare back then, most grad schools had ZERO black guys.
Then??? When I went to work, in a 40 year career in engineering, I met?
THREE black engineers TOTAL out of HUNDREDS at three big corporations.
So, perhaps it is not that we are "snapping back" but that we "ALWAYS WERE and ARE".
This is what being “woke” is all about. The half has never been told. We’ll never “overcome” as long as people are sleepwalking through the American history.
Human rights have always taken a backseat to power and greed. We’ve been living with lies and propaganda for way too long.
Now we have an entire political party ready to tear it all down for the sake of maintaining white supremacy and patriarchy.
It remains to be seen what will happen to the “American Experiment”.
Yes, indeed, the American experiment is ongoing. Me? My skin is light skinned (although I have a minority name). So, my exposure to the lack of human rights is mostly limited to odd comments, a very low rate of promotion relative to my white colleagues, and, once, a real estate agent that would not show me houses in white areas.
Also, when I first moved to Rochester, nobody would rent to me.
But, that is minor compared to dark skinned folks who are shut out of white housing, white schools, white money, white jobs, you name it.
Yes and the founders (white supremacist, racist) world was forever challenged in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln stood tall in the middle of the Civil War and pledged " a new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that 'all men are created equal' ".
Yes, I did point out she includes the exclusive nature of the "rule of law" sometimes. Today, she left it out. Even though Alabama has always functioned in the manner of exclusive application of the "rule of law".
Republicans are BIG on cutting welfare, so, I say lets extend those cuts to include welfare for white people. Like construction grants to white owned companies, etc.
My theory has more to do with the how than the why. Almost 12% of the adult US population is illiterate. And almost 50% of the adult US population reads at or below 6th grade level. So 1/4 of that 50% are illiterate.
This is not a bug of the Republican education model. It is a feature.
How do these people get their political information? Word of mouth and through the telly.
And these people aren't hanging around with the woke woke for the most part. And when they watch the telly? I'm guessing Fox News or other right wing babble.
The FL Dept of Education just released new standards on teaching the history of slavery requiring teachers to mention the skills slaves learned that could make them valuable to society.
The big difference is that Hitler actually helped Germany recover from the post-WWI depression by rebuilding and getting inflation under control before he tore it to hell. The Republicans just want to be in power without the hard work of MAGA. Of course, they don't have a clue how to make America great, so their counting on the uneducated to put them back in power.
When you read The Death of Democracy and Strongmen, you find what Hitler did for Germany was done at the expense of targeted groups. Sure he rebuilt the economy, but do not ignore how he did it. What we are fighting right now from the previous administration is the sunami of corruption from the top down. Virtually every person in that administration could and should be charged and tried for breaking laws. They just thought their oath as a bunch of words and not to be followed.
Obviously the Republicans are doing the same thing. And Trump has already signaled he would pull the FCC licenses for any network that isn't toeing the Trumpian line.
After watching Trump fire the non-sycophants in the administration, it seems likely he would try to silence CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, etc.
The truth is that Africans brought skills with them including rice cultivation and all types of agricultural and other knowledge. Interesting that White folks allowed Black people to nurture their children and white men made it a practice to force sexual relations on Black women.
The idea that slavery was a benefit to Black people is not just insulting-it’s vicious. Law and order is a code word for keeping people in their place. Have you ever read any of the laws during slavery or the Black Codes established after Reconstruction.
The law (and flouting the law) is what keeps certain White men in power.
May I say that as an American I find this attempt to lie to children, officially, by their schools, deeply offensive? I'm not Black, and I loathe what DeSauron, backed by those in Fla state legislature, is attempting to do to Florida's children. Our history is what actually happened, and trying to lie about it - to CHILDREN - to perpetuate the lie that slavery wasn't really all that bad for those enslaved, is despicable, and beneath contempt. Ignorance would be better than falling victim to a lie of this magnitude.
And this particular lie, as it is phrased, is insidious, because children do not have the years of learning or the critical analytical skills to see it for the lie that it is. Of course people, free and enslaved, were learning trades at the time, willingly or because they had to obtain skills to keep body and soul together, but the schoolbook's implication is that, first, enslaved people chose the skills they wanted to learn, and, second, after learning the subject skills, enslaved persons were able to use those skills for their own personal benefit in their own discretion. This is the lie. Enslaved persons' skills, like their bodies, were used at the whim of and for the exclusive benefit of their masters; their masters might permit them to use these skills for the enslaved person's benefit, but that permission was not a given and could be limited or withdrawn in the master's sole discretion. Free people with the same skills were able to choose to remain in that profession, remain in the area or leave, or leave the profession altogether. Enslaved persons were not able to do any of these things, and their dis-ability to do so was enforced by law. That is the very definition of slavery. to teach children that the skills they learned they could use for their personal benefit is to imply that somehow enslaved persons were not actually enslaved. This is a lie. And lying to children is despicable, if not worse.
Their, they’re, there now; grammar and spelling are one thing, and are very nearly universally mangled at one time or another. One of my favorite adages is “knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” Catching yourself is knowledge. Wisdom is calling yourself out for it.
The grammar police will give you a warning today. 😜
We ignore typos, and some wordos. Someone on the thread wrote "flaunting" when he meant "flouting", and, so as to avoid having to put ANOTHER $5 in my "Correcting Other People's Grammer Without Being Asked" jar, I let it go, although my gracious I was tempted! Anyway, chill - it's fine.
Illiteracy is the direct result of defunding our public schools. Which in some communities is the direct result of desegregation - in the thread somewhere above, the segregation of Chicago schools is discussed. I remember the busing riots in Boston, although they didn't affect me directly, and the rise of exactly what the commentor was discussing - white parents removing their children from the public schools and either homeschooling them or sending them to some private, sometimes religious-affiliated school, the rise of the so-called Charter schools - all of which drained funds from the public school system. And then, horrifyingly, just in June of 2022, SCOTUS, in yet another of its indefensible rulings (Carson v. Makin, 596 U.S. ___, see, https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/carson-v-makin/ ), held that the State of Maine cannot withhold taxpayer funds for tuition for students attending religious-affiliated schools. So, instead of all my my tax dollars going to the Maine public schools, some is paying for kids to receive religious instruction, or dare I say indoctrination, because otherwise some parents' free exercise of their religion is interfered with by the State. And this increases literacy throughout Maine how?
The defiance of Alabama and Texas, as noted by Professor Richardson, is a signal that this movement (its moved beyond being labeled MAGA now) is on a war footing. In 2020 Trump and his crowd were seditious. Now the constituted public authority in two states is defying the law openly. They are no doubt counting on Project 2025 to come to fruition and thus they feel invulnerable.
The United States, in the parlance of the day, is getting bitch-slapped.
I agree. I was just commenting on the Hartmann Report Substack that this escalating of outrageous behavior is in the Nazi party playbook, so that when they actually take power they have all systems go. These governors are inviting the Feds to shut them down, counting on that to make them look like victims of Federal overreach to their people. I am hoping that it has the opposite effect of taking their power away. They should both be governing from prison the way I see it. That is also true of the states that are ignoring their state courts and the supreme court in fixing their racist, anti democratic gerrymandered maps. It is clearly a battle of the red and the blue ideologies. It is the cold war as a civil war. Fascism or freedom.
I think this is a brilliant statement by you - a ruthless plain cutting through to the hear of the matter. I could not be more in agreement (and was surprised it wasn’t the topic wasn’t the most galvanizing of Today’s newsletter.
No longer do governors respect the Supreme Court - it’s been co-opted. Sure, we will see the odd bone thrown to people desperately hopeful for a return to legitimacy, as we did in late spring decisions this year before the bombshells of the final week reasserted the agenda. Those are “smokescreen decisions” - designed to obscure a chillingly precise ideology. And they inevitably come in the less important case. And now we see the state governments ignoring them entirely. “See you in [our] court, Mr. President.”
I no longer see a future without violence. The redcoats are becoming more brazen in issuing decisions that promulgate their worldview. DeSantis’ approved slavery curriculum is so anti-historical that one suspects he has used it as a trial balloon, ready to pivot to a less extreme but still bloody untruthful version which will earn him white brownie points.
These slum dwellers of the mind and heart do not yet own the core of the American heart. There must be a swift and legally savage, thoroughly co-ordinated response that shows that justice can bare its fangs. We need a leader in the Churchillian mode:
In War: Resolution,
In Defeat: Defiance,
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Good Will.
But there will be moments of teeth chattering nerves.
This bravado and willingness to always push farther must be stopped.
Eric, thank you for posting about Project 2025–I posted a link a couple of times upthread; whoa, it’s insidious. I’ve only read bits—mostly the Heritage Foundation intro & scanned the table of contents of the whole publication & a few pages (a lot to digest), but it seems like they are going for everything from the big Kahuna down to the janitor in “remaking” this country’s govt.
20s and 30s Germany in the wake of Germany's defeat, punishment in the Versailles Treaty, threats from the successful Communist revolution in Russia, the massive inflation of the early 20s wiping out savings of millions of ordinary Germans, the insane collapse of the American financial system which spread worldwide esp into Europe, all contributed to the rise of the Nazis, one fascist, anti-democratic movement among others which swept much of Europe... are a very different situation from what even the GOP are working on today, or likely in Europe, though for sure it's a big deal. Dictatorship Nazi style though? And do remember that while modern autocratic movements are Pro traditional Christian, Naziism crushed religious institutions into utter subservience. Dissenters were fodder for the concentration games / gang violence.
More directly I just see the Dixiecrats on the rise. But, the ideology is the same as the Nazi party. It is an openly racist government. The behavior of the governors in Texas and Florida are about getting rid of people, and if they die so be it. It is not the same as open extermination, but right now they don't have the power to do that, other than through their prison system and I would say, many are unfairly in those prisons who will then lose their lives. Watching the behavior of the MAGAt Republican party, which is continuously escalating the outrageous things they do, they are acclimating their people to just such atrocities.
Linda, I posted this link up-thread, but am posting it again. Apparently this is what the Heritage Foundation and Republicans are going to be organizing to take back the WH in 2025. I find it very unnerving: https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/project-2025 (this site also links to the full publication). At first I thought it might be a parody, but I guess not (tho’ who knows these days!).
This may explain one reason why TFG wants to purge the FBI. To also destroy any documentation of his status as a CI and anything else with his name in it.
Being born and raised in South Jersey (Philly suburbs) I can say this piece hit Trump smack head on. Once a mobster, always a mobster but as a probable CI he burns the candle at both ends.... soon to extinguish with lack of fuel.
Very interesting piece. I have always said Trump should be tried by the RICO act, but I can see why he would not be if he is a CI. Still, his mobster behavior is very obvious. One of them being to threaten people's physical well-being if they don't capitulate to his demands.
I think I remember Prof. Joyce Vance talking about that too. I was relieved to see that she mentioned RICO, because as I had been thinking about charges for Trump, before the investigation was very far, I did look up the RICO laws and felt they applied. Not being a lawyer it is hard to know these things. I am glad he is not able to quash her indictment of him.
JL, he has asked repeatedly (starting when he was displeased with Jeff Sessions) “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” He also said that JFK had the right idea when he installed his brother as Attorney General. With Trump, the overriding concern is that he gets to do as he wants and that he looks good doing it—if that requires breaking a few laws, that’s what his Roy Cohn is for.
Trump talks like a mobster. It would not be his only connection with the "mob".
J L, He IS a mobster. He has been for a long time. Greg Olear wrote a beautiful piece in 2020 summing up that history. His odious father was involved with the mob also. Construction in NY and elsewhere was how they maneuvered. Nothing “like a mobster”.
Great Olear article
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/tinker-tailor-mobster-trump
For anyone to read. Worth it!
Just got started reading this, Elisabeth. “1947, when Donald was still in diapers (the first time around).” Already loving it! Thanks for the link.
This is entirely too precious!
"(Among Cohn’s other clients at the time was Rupert Murdoch, whom he introduced to Trump in the seventies; you would be hard pressed to find three more atrocious human beings)."
Bob Levinson is mentioned. Can be traced to his death in Iran, He was a member of the FBI-Intelligence and very knowledgeable about Russia.
Elisabeth, this article explains so much, like tfg’s assertion that he could shoot someone and get away with it!
Elisabeth , that was probably my favorite O'Lear article. It perfectly summed up Trump.
I agree, Linda. He gave just the right nicknames to them all and hit the proverbial mob nail on its mob head!
Double Thanks!. I was looking for that..in the meantime, now I'm a subscriber.
He is great
Mind boggling read! The Russian mob owns a large percent of the condos in Trump Tower, but ala AG Barr ‘there was no Russian interference’ in the 2016 election! The connections are so blatant, why did Muller tip toe around the evidence? Frat boy Kavanaugh who wrote the final whitewater report on Bill Clinton concluded he should be impeached! Why didn’t Muller categorically called for trumps impeachment??
Mueller was in the early onset on dementia which increasingly affected him and, apparently, no one knew but it was a body of good work. It was Barr who is to blame for the fact that he only touted a part of it. I read the Mueller Report. Nothing wrong with it. He had some people who helped him. Before the Hearing, you could tell he wasn't articulate and strong enough to assert himself. It was very sad, I thought.
Because Trump is a Confidential Informant???
Thanks Jeri and Elisabeth. Olear is definately worth subscribing to, too.
Good grief!!
This is a long read, but everyone reading the comment area should take the time to read this!!!!!!!!
I did. It was very, very good.
Thank you so much
Thank you! Eye-opener, indeed.
This was an incredible article and thank you for posting. Frightening for sure but being informed is vital.
re-reading it. Thanks for posting it.
I read it. OMG!
No wonder Trump wants to get rid of the FBI!
Of covert it to a loyalist "Republican Guard".
Wow, good blog! Donny Two-Scoops has always been about doing whatever would benefit him, so this is right in keeping with how he does stuff!
Thanks!
Wow! Thanks!!!!!
A lot to process there, in more detail than I have seen.
I have yet to hear a rational explanation for why "shell corporations" are even legal. I have been assured by several authors that they have "legitimate uses", but even assuming that is true, their usefulness to major crimes surely outweighs whatever can be said in their favor.
After reading that - still wonder how the he** he keeps falling in shit & coming up smelling like a rose - well, no not smelling good - just coming up ahead! So much information of his "wrongdoings" throughout law enforcement - but yet continues to be allowed to do as he pleases (really - president?)
Entrenched plutocratic corruption.
Thanks so much for this link! I've shared it with my fb friends who will also profit from it. 😊
2nd Generation Mobster.
Maybe third
Thank you Elizabeth. I also subscribed. That brilliant article confirms underlines capitalizes that Tfg is indeed the scum descended from scum. I now refuse to call him anything related to animal or any vital living thing.
My two are death star and mafia don.
Real mobsters would consider him soft and a looser. (except for that POTUS thing)
The bully pulpit was a perk that he still thinks he has. So does MSM. A vicious bully with the repubs on board.
I always thought the mob wouldn't want him or give him anything important - to self-involved. He'd never do what he was told.
If Olear’s article is true (and it certainly reads so,) about Trump being a CI, do we assume that Wray, Garland, and Smith have that knowledge?
Yes.
I missed this article. Do you have the link to it?
Go back to beginning of comments. Elizabeth Iler posted the link.
I see him as more Mob-cosplay. He is very performative, and behaving like he's scary and crazy (well, he really IS crazy!) has served him well over the years, but I really doubt he's all that scary in any kind of a real way.
Anyone can yell and scowl and loom over others (if they're tall enough), but you notice every time he's ever been physically threatened, he flinches or runs away like Brave Sir Robin! :D
A useful stooge for a number of unsavory actors. Dangerous nevertheless.
He can’t even fire people in person (to me a common courtesy), unless it’s scripted and on TV….no he has to Tweet it or make an offhand announcement.
This article is a deep dive into DJ Trump's mob associations, an excellent history of his work for the Italian, Russian mobs and also work w the FBI! It may be the one you meant Elisabeth.
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/from-trump-to-trump-how-the-mobs
Elisabeth:
Trump is a want-a-be. He would never soil his hands. Wait until he is convicted (the big if). If he actually has to serve some time, the bluster will disappear. If he has to be with intermingled ethnicities . . . .
I just want him someplace he doesn’t get hair dye or hairspray.
This is reminding me of the Nazi party rise to power. Why do nations go ugly when faced with hardship. We have weathered covid, but it has changed us. Adolph Hitler had worked out what he was going to do before getting into power or he would not have had the concentration camps running within 3 months of taking power. Trump is dangerous, and I hope he can be brought to justice. I think of the current Republican party, dominated by the MAGAt faction as The New American Nazi Party, just as the AfD in Germany is the New German Nazi party. The anti-immigrant message of this party is all about racism, not about immigration. Immigration is just code for brown and black skinned people, and does not include the Ukrainians or even the Russians or other Europeans coming here.
Linda,
Alabama is just doing what Alabama has ALWAYS done and, in some ways, what was also always done since the founding throughout the US.
Here is a problem, one that Dr. Richardson does manage to avoid saying.
At the time that the "founding fathers" put in place the "rule of law", human bondage, human whipping, human enslavement and torture was codified either openly in law (like in Virginia), or openly in practice (like in Alabama).
So, even though white men (and only white men) were covered by the "rule of law", LOTS of humans in America were not. Black slaves were not. White women were not. Native human beings were definitely NOT.
And? "the rule of law" that Dr. Richardson lauds remained like that (only for white men) until, well, black folks might say until now. I might say until the 1965 Civil Rights Act.
So? It is not new for white men in MOST of America to feel they are above the law while simultaneously being protected BY the law. Because? They were. For a long time.
Not new at all. One might say; it was the American norm for MOST of American history.
In fact, the absence of the rule of law was built into the founding of our country, although, like I said, Dr. Richardson does routinely avoid pointing this out. I will say, a couple of times she HAS pointed that out. But, when she really wants to highlight the founders intent for themselves, she leaves out the fact that they were quite happy to leave black slaves and women and native Americans out of the "rule of law".
So, in some ways, Alabama is just doing what Alabama has ALWAYS done.
It’s obvious by being Alabama and by being Texas these states replicate what in 1860 represented rebellion against the United States. Texas is demonstrating threat also to international Law along with open and defiant violation of the River and Harbor Act of 1899.
President Biden by being a Peaceful Law Abiding President allows the DOJ and the Federal Courts to adjudicate these seditious criminal acts. But the country has every right to consider these Acts of Defiance to the Union as menaces to Public Safety and could begin activating military Federal Action just as John F Kennedy and Lyndon Baynes Johnson were forced to do to end open segregation in the former Slave Holding States.
It appears Alabama is operating on the same principles of exaggerated States Rights fostered by the current Republican Party and considers itself free of the constraints of United States Constitutional Law if it applies to Black Americans.
George Wallace’ declaration "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” is obviously a permanent motto for Alabama.
Art,
In late 1860 South Caroline did secede from the United States formally. However, prior to that, from that "state's" inception, white men were protected by the rule of law, and only white men were protected by the rule of law in that state (and probably not even all white men, just wealthy ones).
Texas and Alabama, today, are NOT seceding from the US. They are just doing what has always been done in America. They are applying the "rule of law" to white men and nobody else.
Which was exactly how the law was applied since South Carolina inception and exactly the way the rule of law was applied after Reconstruction was over and the Union Army moved out UNTIL 1965 when black folks could, sort of, almost, go to school with white folks (not really) and sort of, almost vote with white folks (not really).
So, 1860 is not really special where the "rule of law" is relevant. Only during Reconstruction was the rule of law attempted to be properly applied in SC during its ENTIRE history basically.
Black folks, native humans, women?
Did not get the rule of law. At any time really. Up to and including now.
This is all pretty terrifying especially early in the morning. Until trump reared his ugly little head, there was room to believe that minorities/women/immigrants could feel that they had made traction and were protected in this country. But when this narcissistic hormonal toddler on steroids actually became president (I still can't believe it), his behavior, expunged of any semblance of decency, gave permission to every White A*****E to get rid of any false veneer of civility they had been hiding under and expose themselves as the real bigots/misogynists/xenophobes they truly are.
As much as oppression and nastiness have spurted up throughout our history, so has the forces of goodness, compassion, and the kind of anger, that properly channeled, produce change. I'm putting all of my eggs in the basket of our youth. They are watching all of this...and they are getting ready to vote....
If TX and AL are openly violating federa! Laws, why not withhold federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act they openly voted against until they begin obeying federal laws?
Excellent idea! Or why not just throw them out of a federal government they disdain and openly reject?
But they were in open rebellion.
Yes, Art, SC was in open rebellion by seceding.
Prior to that event, and after the Union Army pulled out, SC was NOT in open rebellion BUT was still not applying the rule of law to anyone but white men, and, mostly just wealthy white men.
Let's not forget that Eisenhower, a Republican president, sent troops to Little Rock to ensure that Black students integrating the pubic high school were safe.
Yes, and in many cases those black students were the only students in those schools. White children were kept home. And it was not only the southern states. South Boston was wracked by anti busing riots. Truman had desegregated the Armed Forces by executive order.And we women had to wait a few more years to enter federally funded service academies. It was an ugly time for sure.
Now school segregation exists in Chicago, which has always had segregated schools in many places because the communities are segregated. I live in the Obama's former community and here the public schools are integrated, but predominantly Black. My friend told me that when her daughter was little and on their way to her ethnically and color integrated private school in our neighborhood they would walk by the local public school, and her daughter would ask why all the children there were Black. Not all were, but most. That is what one notices. That is how segregation was kept in Chicago when schools integrated, by White people sending their children to private schools and allowing, fighting for disinvestment in the public schools. This has allowed Charter schools to develop and most of them are not worthy of the children that attend them. A lot of money is spent on select enrollment schools, which are less integrated than one would think. The high schools are competitive test in places, and are filled with students coming to them have been so segregated growing up that there is a lot of color and ethnic tension in the schools which gets reported on occasionally by the local press.
https://courses.lsa.umich.edu/urop-spring-symposium-2021/symposium-presentati/discrimination-in-selective-enrollment-chicago-public-high-schools/
https://www.npr.org/local/309/2019/09/26/764447510/after-desegregation-ends-at-chicago-s-top-schools-more-racial-isolation
https://www.npr.org/local/309/2022/05/04/1096740581/racial-issues-unaddressed-at-c-p-s-jones-college-prep-students-say
I assume Chicago, the Blue Capital in a True Blue state is not so different from other cities in this country.
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/14/1111060299/school-segregation-report
https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/segregation-new-york-city-schools-continues/
https://news.usc.edu/199812/new-segregation-index-shows-u-s-schools-remain-highly-segregated-by-race-ethnicity-and-economic-status/#:~:text=Since%201991%2C%20LAUSD%20has%20been,schools%20inside%20LAUSD's%20geographic%20boundaries.
https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-education/detroits-school-crisis-century-making#:~:text=After%20these%20schools%20finally%20were,the%20school%20board%20to%20integrate.
https://www.minnpost.com/education/2023/05/minnesota-supreme-court-takes-school-desegregation-case-to-the-kids/
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/11/opinion/massachusetts-public-schools-are-highly-segregated-its-time-we-treated-that-like-crisis-it-is/
To undo this we would have to get rid of housing segregation, and that is slow to happen. However the biggest segregation is by income so that is quite telling. I have always felt that restitution to descendants of slaves in the USA, should not be for everyone, but for those living below a certain income level, because they are the ones who have been truly harmed by systemic racism. Those who are doing well financially, whatever it has taken are not the ones who have been held back. I think that we need to be paying for at least 20 years for a group to get income, health insurance covering eye care, mental care and teeth care too paid for by the government, as well as a middle class income. I know this is not the political climate for this to happen though. However, it is school desegregation that creates the understanding that moves us beyond the issue of race in a larger way.
Clearly, Ike was an outlier to the Repubs mind set! The man and his staff planned the D-day invasion! He had hundreds of thousands of troops to command! He knew evil first hand!
Yes, and as I think was pointed out here, he wrote a letter taking full responsibility if D-Day failed. Uncommon, indeed.
Wallace admitted he was wrong about segregation when he got older, as I recall. So it is possible for rockheads to learn.
Yes, he lamented but not Alabama
I was getting ready to draw out that George Wallace quote myself, Art.
Heather, in her podcasts, as well as in these pages, repeatedly makes the point that the founders intent for control of the rule of law was for white male citizens only. I don't know how you could miss that, Mike S.
Hi MaryPat,
Yes, I noted that, intermittently here, she does point out that the Constitution was written for the Founders themselves and white men. But, she leaves that out in some cases where it might be helpful to include it. Like today.
On her podcasts, with no word limit, she expounds on it at length. Here she does not have that luxury.
Yes, Mike. The U.S. was built this way. I often think it is reverting--getting back it’s figure as it were--losing the human rights lbs. It is snapping back to it’s original form. It seems like such a long time since those early exploiters (and I do mean exploiters, not explorers) first set foot here but it hasn’t been all that long given the span of human life on this planet. When States start picking and choosing which federal laws they want to follow we no longer have a Union. We are delusional if we tell ourselves what AL is doing it is just a one-off or what TX is doing is just a two-off or it’s all going to work itself out eventually. We are just getting back our youthful figure.
"I often think it is reverting--getting back it’s figure as it were--losing the human rights lbs. It is snapping back to it’s original form."
I wonder if that is the case OR, if it is the case that you and I were just blind to the way it actually was and is.
For example, when I went to Texas A&M, College Station, 1978-1982, it was widely known that there were only 38 black young people on campus: ALL of them on the football team.
Honestly, I bet that there were MORE black folks at A&M than Harvard then.
Then, when I went to grad school at UT Austin, my Chemical Engineering department had ONE black guy as a grad student (under my own professor). And? That was super rare back then, most grad schools had ZERO black guys.
Then??? When I went to work, in a 40 year career in engineering, I met?
THREE black engineers TOTAL out of HUNDREDS at three big corporations.
So, perhaps it is not that we are "snapping back" but that we "ALWAYS WERE and ARE".
Thanks Mike for stating the truth.
This is what being “woke” is all about. The half has never been told. We’ll never “overcome” as long as people are sleepwalking through the American history.
Human rights have always taken a backseat to power and greed. We’ve been living with lies and propaganda for way too long.
Now we have an entire political party ready to tear it all down for the sake of maintaining white supremacy and patriarchy.
It remains to be seen what will happen to the “American Experiment”.
Gina,
Yes, indeed, the American experiment is ongoing. Me? My skin is light skinned (although I have a minority name). So, my exposure to the lack of human rights is mostly limited to odd comments, a very low rate of promotion relative to my white colleagues, and, once, a real estate agent that would not show me houses in white areas.
Also, when I first moved to Rochester, nobody would rent to me.
But, that is minor compared to dark skinned folks who are shut out of white housing, white schools, white money, white jobs, you name it.
Yes and the founders (white supremacist, racist) world was forever challenged in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln stood tall in the middle of the Civil War and pledged " a new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that 'all men are created equal' ".
- How the South Won the Civil War by HCR
MC,
Jim Crow laws were put in place immediately following Reconstruction.
https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws
Lincoln was dead, his words blown away by gun of a murderer who was angry about the possibility that black men would be equal to him.
So true MIKE S but there's the rub. Were his ideas blown away ? or are they foundational to USA?
MC,
I would say: His ideas were blown away for blacks in the south, without a doubt. But, for white men, his words, sometimes, rang true.
:-)
True enough, Mike, but Dr. Richardson has analyzed that very matter in much, maybe most of her writing in this series.
In her podcasts she does not have the word limits of this Substack site, and goes into great (and adamant) detail on this issue.
Yes, I did point out she includes the exclusive nature of the "rule of law" sometimes. Today, she left it out. Even though Alabama has always functioned in the manner of exclusive application of the "rule of law".
Today is nothing new.
for sure. Cut off federal dollars.
Republicans are BIG on cutting welfare, so, I say lets extend those cuts to include welfare for white people. Like construction grants to white owned companies, etc.
My theory has more to do with the how than the why. Almost 12% of the adult US population is illiterate. And almost 50% of the adult US population reads at or below 6th grade level. So 1/4 of that 50% are illiterate.
This is not a bug of the Republican education model. It is a feature.
How do these people get their political information? Word of mouth and through the telly.
And these people aren't hanging around with the woke woke for the most part. And when they watch the telly? I'm guessing Fox News or other right wing babble.
The FL Dept of Education just released new standards on teaching the history of slavery requiring teachers to mention the skills slaves learned that could make them valuable to society.
The big difference is that Hitler actually helped Germany recover from the post-WWI depression by rebuilding and getting inflation under control before he tore it to hell. The Republicans just want to be in power without the hard work of MAGA. Of course, they don't have a clue how to make America great, so their counting on the uneducated to put them back in power.
When you read The Death of Democracy and Strongmen, you find what Hitler did for Germany was done at the expense of targeted groups. Sure he rebuilt the economy, but do not ignore how he did it. What we are fighting right now from the previous administration is the sunami of corruption from the top down. Virtually every person in that administration could and should be charged and tried for breaking laws. They just thought their oath as a bunch of words and not to be followed.
Obviously the Republicans are doing the same thing. And Trump has already signaled he would pull the FCC licenses for any network that isn't toeing the Trumpian line.
After watching Trump fire the non-sycophants in the administration, it seems likely he would try to silence CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, etc.
The truth is that Africans brought skills with them including rice cultivation and all types of agricultural and other knowledge. Interesting that White folks allowed Black people to nurture their children and white men made it a practice to force sexual relations on Black women.
The idea that slavery was a benefit to Black people is not just insulting-it’s vicious. Law and order is a code word for keeping people in their place. Have you ever read any of the laws during slavery or the Black Codes established after Reconstruction.
The law (and flouting the law) is what keeps certain White men in power.
May I say that as an American I find this attempt to lie to children, officially, by their schools, deeply offensive? I'm not Black, and I loathe what DeSauron, backed by those in Fla state legislature, is attempting to do to Florida's children. Our history is what actually happened, and trying to lie about it - to CHILDREN - to perpetuate the lie that slavery wasn't really all that bad for those enslaved, is despicable, and beneath contempt. Ignorance would be better than falling victim to a lie of this magnitude.
And this particular lie, as it is phrased, is insidious, because children do not have the years of learning or the critical analytical skills to see it for the lie that it is. Of course people, free and enslaved, were learning trades at the time, willingly or because they had to obtain skills to keep body and soul together, but the schoolbook's implication is that, first, enslaved people chose the skills they wanted to learn, and, second, after learning the subject skills, enslaved persons were able to use those skills for their own personal benefit in their own discretion. This is the lie. Enslaved persons' skills, like their bodies, were used at the whim of and for the exclusive benefit of their masters; their masters might permit them to use these skills for the enslaved person's benefit, but that permission was not a given and could be limited or withdrawn in the master's sole discretion. Free people with the same skills were able to choose to remain in that profession, remain in the area or leave, or leave the profession altogether. Enslaved persons were not able to do any of these things, and their dis-ability to do so was enforced by law. That is the very definition of slavery. to teach children that the skills they learned they could use for their personal benefit is to imply that somehow enslaved persons were not actually enslaved. This is a lie. And lying to children is despicable, if not worse.
Worse, I notice the Florida Board of Education defends the vicious lie by releasing a statement that their claim is based on the “historical record.”
I am very anxious to learn just what historical record they used in their research.
Speaking of uneducated, I noticed I used "their" instead of "they're". Ouch.
There, there now 😉
too funny John.
Their, they’re, there now; grammar and spelling are one thing, and are very nearly universally mangled at one time or another. One of my favorite adages is “knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” Catching yourself is knowledge. Wisdom is calling yourself out for it.
The grammar police will give you a warning today. 😜
We ignore typos, and some wordos. Someone on the thread wrote "flaunting" when he meant "flouting", and, so as to avoid having to put ANOTHER $5 in my "Correcting Other People's Grammer Without Being Asked" jar, I let it go, although my gracious I was tempted! Anyway, chill - it's fine.
You mean "grammar." ;)
See! (although I spelled it that way deliberately on the jar as a reminder).
Illiteracy is the direct result of defunding our public schools. Which in some communities is the direct result of desegregation - in the thread somewhere above, the segregation of Chicago schools is discussed. I remember the busing riots in Boston, although they didn't affect me directly, and the rise of exactly what the commentor was discussing - white parents removing their children from the public schools and either homeschooling them or sending them to some private, sometimes religious-affiliated school, the rise of the so-called Charter schools - all of which drained funds from the public school system. And then, horrifyingly, just in June of 2022, SCOTUS, in yet another of its indefensible rulings (Carson v. Makin, 596 U.S. ___, see, https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/carson-v-makin/ ), held that the State of Maine cannot withhold taxpayer funds for tuition for students attending religious-affiliated schools. So, instead of all my my tax dollars going to the Maine public schools, some is paying for kids to receive religious instruction, or dare I say indoctrination, because otherwise some parents' free exercise of their religion is interfered with by the State. And this increases literacy throughout Maine how?
Been saying this for years, Twitter and fb didn’t like it.
The defiance of Alabama and Texas, as noted by Professor Richardson, is a signal that this movement (its moved beyond being labeled MAGA now) is on a war footing. In 2020 Trump and his crowd were seditious. Now the constituted public authority in two states is defying the law openly. They are no doubt counting on Project 2025 to come to fruition and thus they feel invulnerable.
The United States, in the parlance of the day, is getting bitch-slapped.
I find these stories exceptionally worrisome.
I agree. I was just commenting on the Hartmann Report Substack that this escalating of outrageous behavior is in the Nazi party playbook, so that when they actually take power they have all systems go. These governors are inviting the Feds to shut them down, counting on that to make them look like victims of Federal overreach to their people. I am hoping that it has the opposite effect of taking their power away. They should both be governing from prison the way I see it. That is also true of the states that are ignoring their state courts and the supreme court in fixing their racist, anti democratic gerrymandered maps. It is clearly a battle of the red and the blue ideologies. It is the cold war as a civil war. Fascism or freedom.
I think this is a brilliant statement by you - a ruthless plain cutting through to the hear of the matter. I could not be more in agreement (and was surprised it wasn’t the topic wasn’t the most galvanizing of Today’s newsletter.
No longer do governors respect the Supreme Court - it’s been co-opted. Sure, we will see the odd bone thrown to people desperately hopeful for a return to legitimacy, as we did in late spring decisions this year before the bombshells of the final week reasserted the agenda. Those are “smokescreen decisions” - designed to obscure a chillingly precise ideology. And they inevitably come in the less important case. And now we see the state governments ignoring them entirely. “See you in [our] court, Mr. President.”
I no longer see a future without violence. The redcoats are becoming more brazen in issuing decisions that promulgate their worldview. DeSantis’ approved slavery curriculum is so anti-historical that one suspects he has used it as a trial balloon, ready to pivot to a less extreme but still bloody untruthful version which will earn him white brownie points.
These slum dwellers of the mind and heart do not yet own the core of the American heart. There must be a swift and legally savage, thoroughly co-ordinated response that shows that justice can bare its fangs. We need a leader in the Churchillian mode:
In War: Resolution,
In Defeat: Defiance,
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Good Will.
But there will be moments of teeth chattering nerves.
This bravado and willingness to always push farther must be stopped.
Eric, thank you for posting about Project 2025–I posted a link a couple of times upthread; whoa, it’s insidious. I’ve only read bits—mostly the Heritage Foundation intro & scanned the table of contents of the whole publication & a few pages (a lot to digest), but it seems like they are going for everything from the big Kahuna down to the janitor in “remaking” this country’s govt.
20s and 30s Germany in the wake of Germany's defeat, punishment in the Versailles Treaty, threats from the successful Communist revolution in Russia, the massive inflation of the early 20s wiping out savings of millions of ordinary Germans, the insane collapse of the American financial system which spread worldwide esp into Europe, all contributed to the rise of the Nazis, one fascist, anti-democratic movement among others which swept much of Europe... are a very different situation from what even the GOP are working on today, or likely in Europe, though for sure it's a big deal. Dictatorship Nazi style though? And do remember that while modern autocratic movements are Pro traditional Christian, Naziism crushed religious institutions into utter subservience. Dissenters were fodder for the concentration games / gang violence.
More directly I just see the Dixiecrats on the rise. But, the ideology is the same as the Nazi party. It is an openly racist government. The behavior of the governors in Texas and Florida are about getting rid of people, and if they die so be it. It is not the same as open extermination, but right now they don't have the power to do that, other than through their prison system and I would say, many are unfairly in those prisons who will then lose their lives. Watching the behavior of the MAGAt Republican party, which is continuously escalating the outrageous things they do, they are acclimating their people to just such atrocities.
Good observation, Linda.
ALL ! of MANKIND !, Have GOT TO WAKE UP !! The SHOAH ! cannot ! Be REPEATED !!! ( THANKS ! Linda W. )
Linda, I posted this link up-thread, but am posting it again. Apparently this is what the Heritage Foundation and Republicans are going to be organizing to take back the WH in 2025. I find it very unnerving: https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/project-2025 (this site also links to the full publication). At first I thought it might be a parody, but I guess not (tho’ who knows these days!).
Barbara, thank you for posting this link. The dystopia that we live in laid out in Black and White.
Trump and mobsters shared the same lawyer: Roy Cohn
Here’s the link to Olear piece: https://gregolear.substack.com/p/tinker-tailor-mobster-trump
This may explain one reason why TFG wants to purge the FBI. To also destroy any documentation of his status as a CI and anything else with his name in it.
Wow, Elizabeth. That is quite a read! Thanks for sharing. And yes, The Wire is one of the best of all time.
Being born and raised in South Jersey (Philly suburbs) I can say this piece hit Trump smack head on. Once a mobster, always a mobster but as a probable CI he burns the candle at both ends.... soon to extinguish with lack of fuel.
Very interesting piece. I have always said Trump should be tried by the RICO act, but I can see why he would not be if he is a CI. Still, his mobster behavior is very obvious. One of them being to threaten people's physical well-being if they don't capitulate to his demands.
I believe Fani in GA is about to do a local RICO charge against the dumpster.
I think I remember Prof. Joyce Vance talking about that too. I was relieved to see that she mentioned RICO, because as I had been thinking about charges for Trump, before the investigation was very far, I did look up the RICO laws and felt they applied. Not being a lawyer it is hard to know these things. I am glad he is not able to quash her indictment of him.
Or like King Louis XIV: "L'état, c'est moi" (I am the state). Trump, however, is no Sun King. Sin King, maybe. The Sin King is sinking . . .
Nice wordplay, Susanna
Trump worked with and publicly admired mobsters. It’s no surprise he emulates them.
JL, he has asked repeatedly (starting when he was displeased with Jeff Sessions) “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” He also said that JFK had the right idea when he installed his brother as Attorney General. With Trump, the overriding concern is that he gets to do as he wants and that he looks good doing it—if that requires breaking a few laws, that’s what his Roy Cohn is for.
https://www.npr.org/2018/01/07/576209428/president-trump-called-for-roy-cohn-but-roy-cohn-was-gone
Yes, his statement is certainly his mafia don persona.
That Roy Cohn was his mentor, and his ideal for an attorney says it very well
Trump has always been a mobster.