Is Trump inadvertantly indicating how much trouble he's in?
Nothing has come more clearly into focus this week than the
fact that Donald Trump has been running a criminal enterprise, likely
for decades, in which he surrounded himself with criminals willing to
commit criminal acts.
Now, it's also becoming clear that federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have applied their mob boss playbook to taking down Trump. In just one week, they secured the guilty plea of Trump's top lawyer, and we also discovered they granted immunity to both his chief media ally and lead finance guy. Of course, that would be Michael Cohen, David Pecker, and Allen Weisselberg.
In essence, they found people's legal liabilities and turned them against each other, ultimately isolating their boss by choking off all exit strategies around him. Weisselberg, by almost all accounts, is the biggest fish when it comes to Trump world and the Trump Organization, the family business where he has worked for decades.
And Trump himself has sounded more and more like the mob bosses those prosecutors have taken down. "I know all about flipping," he told Fox News this week, adding that he had been watching "flippers … for 30, 40 years." Flipping, i.e. disloyalty, "almost ought to be illegal," he concluded.
He's also referred to "rats" in recent texts, co-opting the language of none other than famous fictional mob boss Tony Soprano. And he began his tenure in the White House by demanding a loyalty pledge from then-FBI director James Comey, asking him to see his way clear to just "let this go" with embattled aide Michael Flynn, and finally axing Comey when he wouldn't do exactly as Trump wanted.
“It’s the kind of subculture that most people avoid,” said Michael D’Antonio, one of Mr. Trump’s biographers, told the New York Times. “You cross the street to get away from people like that. Donald brings them close. He’s most comfortable with them.”
Fortunately for the nation, flipping isn't illegal, because you're never gonna stop the activity of a crime boss by merely taking out his underlings. There are always more conspirators to be found, as long as the head is intact. New York prosecutors know that and they've clearly got their eyes on the top prize: Trump.
It’s not their first rodeo, and that’s becoming more pointedly obvious by the day.
Now, it's also becoming clear that federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have applied their mob boss playbook to taking down Trump. In just one week, they secured the guilty plea of Trump's top lawyer, and we also discovered they granted immunity to both his chief media ally and lead finance guy. Of course, that would be Michael Cohen, David Pecker, and Allen Weisselberg.
In essence, they found people's legal liabilities and turned them against each other, ultimately isolating their boss by choking off all exit strategies around him. Weisselberg, by almost all accounts, is the biggest fish when it comes to Trump world and the Trump Organization, the family business where he has worked for decades.
He has overseen the Trump Organization's finances, been involved in the Trump Foundation, the president's charity, and has managed Trump's private trust alongside his eldest sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.Anyone who has listened to former federal prosecutors from the Southern District or from the FBI's criminal division has certainly heard them talk about how the Trump case has so classically tracked with that of the mafia cases they have prosecuted in the past.
And Trump himself has sounded more and more like the mob bosses those prosecutors have taken down. "I know all about flipping," he told Fox News this week, adding that he had been watching "flippers … for 30, 40 years." Flipping, i.e. disloyalty, "almost ought to be illegal," he concluded.
He's also referred to "rats" in recent texts, co-opting the language of none other than famous fictional mob boss Tony Soprano. And he began his tenure in the White House by demanding a loyalty pledge from then-FBI director James Comey, asking him to see his way clear to just "let this go" with embattled aide Michael Flynn, and finally axing Comey when he wouldn't do exactly as Trump wanted.
“It’s the kind of subculture that most people avoid,” said Michael D’Antonio, one of Mr. Trump’s biographers, told the New York Times. “You cross the street to get away from people like that. Donald brings them close. He’s most comfortable with them.”
Fortunately for the nation, flipping isn't illegal, because you're never gonna stop the activity of a crime boss by merely taking out his underlings. There are always more conspirators to be found, as long as the head is intact. New York prosecutors know that and they've clearly got their eyes on the top prize: Trump.
It’s not their first rodeo, and that’s becoming more pointedly obvious by the day.
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