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Donald Trump resembles John Gotti
Slate: A Mafia expert explains why Trump feels so much like a mobster
Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted that the “transcript” of President Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “reads like a classic mob shakedown.” Many in the anti-Trump parts of Twitter have been echoing this line of attack this week, but it’s far from the first time we’ve noticed that Trump sounds like someone from The Sopranos. (Remember “Because a long time ago, he did me a favor” and “I know all about flipping”?)
But how far does this analogy go? And does the American public, conditioned by years of moviegoing and media coverage to love a brooding Mafioso, see “a mob shakedown” as a bad thing? Selwyn Raab, a former investigative reporter for the New York Times who covered organized crime, is the author of Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires. I caught up with Raab on Friday to ask what he thought about the latest Trump-Mafia comparisons. Our conversation, which Raab began, has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Selwyn Raab: It’s important to remember that Trump learned his ABCs for success from Roy Cohn, who was mixed up in the Mafia, defended them, and mentored Trump exactly how to succeed in life. “Always be aggressive, take no prisoners …” ...
The subtlety is like … “Do me a favor.” Gotti would never say, “Hit that guy.” He’d just say, “Do me a favor, get rid of that stone in my shoe.” He would just say, “He’s a problem.” You never caught Gotti saying, “Let’s do a hit job on him,” but the understanding is clear to their acolytes. They know what the code words mean.
[more]
https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/09/trump-mafia-behavior-analogy-ukraine-transcript.html
Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted that the “transcript” of President Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “reads like a classic mob shakedown.” Many in the anti-Trump parts of Twitter have been echoing this line of attack this week, but it’s far from the first time we’ve noticed that Trump sounds like someone from The Sopranos. (Remember “Because a long time ago, he did me a favor” and “I know all about flipping”?)
But how far does this analogy go? And does the American public, conditioned by years of moviegoing and media coverage to love a brooding Mafioso, see “a mob shakedown” as a bad thing? Selwyn Raab, a former investigative reporter for the New York Times who covered organized crime, is the author of Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires. I caught up with Raab on Friday to ask what he thought about the latest Trump-Mafia comparisons. Our conversation, which Raab began, has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Selwyn Raab: It’s important to remember that Trump learned his ABCs for success from Roy Cohn, who was mixed up in the Mafia, defended them, and mentored Trump exactly how to succeed in life. “Always be aggressive, take no prisoners …” ...
The subtlety is like … “Do me a favor.” Gotti would never say, “Hit that guy.” He’d just say, “Do me a favor, get rid of that stone in my shoe.” He would just say, “He’s a problem.” You never caught Gotti saying, “Let’s do a hit job on him,” but the understanding is clear to their acolytes. They know what the code words mean.
[more]
https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/09/trump-mafia-behavior-analogy-ukraine-transcript.html
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