MOBLAND, D.C.
THIS PAST MONDAY, DJ Trump pardoned Scott Howard Jenkins, the former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, who had been convicted on federal bribery charges in December 2024. Jenkins had been found guilty of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing individuals as auxiliary deputy sheriffs. The badges these “deputies” wore were essentially purchased, and those receiving them did not undergo vetting or proper training. Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison until Trump set him free.
No doubt it was Jenkins’ corruption that appealed to Trump. It’s always the sleaze that lights Trump’s path. We’ve seen this predilection over and over, starting with his relationship with Roy Cohn. Cohn first represented the Trump family in 1973 for their racist rental practices at the thousands of apartments they owned.
Never forget that Roy Cohn was the master to Trump’s apprentice. In an excellent Politico piece in 2019, Michael Kruse wrote this about Cohn:
He didn’t pay his bills, all but daring his creditors to sue him for what he owed—tailors, locksmiths, mechanics, travel agencies, storage companies, credit card companies, stationery stores, office supply stores. He didn’t pay people back, “friend or foe,” wrote his biographer, Nicholas von Hoffman, who reported that a captain of his yacht called Defiance “had a mental map” of “ports we couldn’t go into because we owed thousands of dollars.”
He didn’t pay his taxes, either, racking up millions of dollars in liens. Taxes, he believed, went to “welfare recipients” and “political hacks” and “bloated bureaucrats” and “countries whose people hate our guts.” He ceaselessly taunted the IRS, calling it “the closest thing we have in this country to a Nazi or Soviet-type agency”—subpoenas from which, he said, went straight into “the wastebasket.”
Cohn had clients like New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, Aristotle Onassis, Studio 54’s Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, Rupert Murdoch, the Archdiocese of New York, New York Mafia figures Tony Salerno, Carmine Galante, and John Gotti. In 1986, a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court disbarred Cohn for unethical and unprofessional conduct, including misappropriation of clients' funds, lying on a bar application, and falsifying a change to a will.
Trump seems to have made himself Cohn’s clone in all disreputable ways, and this became a blueprint for his future. But from Mary Trump’s book, we know that even before Cohn’s malignant influence on Trump, his father, Fred, was a bully who emotionally abused his children. The Trump siblings grew up in a toxic environment with Mary Trump describing her grandfather as “a high-functioning sociopath." So Trump was primed for his criminal, dishonorable future, and he began gathering his lieutenants.
Roy Cohn with President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan at the White House in 1982
In 1979, Cohn introduced Trump to political consultant Roger Stone. They got along famously. Stone worked on the campaigns of Republican politicians including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, and George W. Bush. But on November 15, 2019, after a week-long trial and two days of deliberations, the jury convicted Stone on all counts: obstruction, making false statements, and witness tampering. He became the sixth person in Trump's inner circle to be convicted of charges brought by the Mueller investigation. After the trial, one of the jurors emphasized that the conviction had not been based on Stone's political beliefs.
Of course, Trump pardoned Stone.
Stone’s business partner and Cohn associate Paul Manafort was also convicted of Conspiracy against the United States and Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice. Manafort too was pardoned by Trump. Stone and Manafort are both loyal soldiers to Trump. They have viciously promoted and protected his dishonesty as well as their own.
Skip ahead to Trump’s lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen who was a loyal soldier for years until he flipped. He later went to jail on multiple charges and now is loudly, brazenly on the anti-Trump side. With his background and knowledge, he is a powerful commentator. His Substack is called Truth or Consequences. And he should know.
IT’S HERE THAT I want to introduce the crossover aspects of mob bosses and authoritarianism. When you think of it, it makes total sense. Najja K. Baptist and Kenneth A. Clark at the University of Arkansas published a piece directly related to this: “Unmasking the Authoritarian Mob Boss: A Critical Analysis of Donald Trump’s Political Leadership.” (This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from 54th NCOBPS Annual Conference: Democracy on the Brink: Are We Headed into an Era of Authoritarianism?)
This article comprehensively examines Donald Trump’s political leadership, arguing that his tenure as the 45th President of the United States exhibited characteristics commonly associated with authoritarian mob bosses….It explores how his rhetoric, characterized by demagoguery and the demonization of opponents, mirrors the tactics employed by mob bosses to consolidate their power and suppress dissent. Moreover, the study uncovers the striking similarities between Trump’s administration management and the hierarchical structures of organized crime, highlighting his reliance on loyalty, personal connections, and a disregard for institutional checks and balances. Furthermore, this research delves into Trump’s autocratic tendencies, as evidenced by his disdain for the free press, attacks on the judiciary, and attempts to undermine the integrity of democratic processes.
Upon his re-election as President of the United States, Trump set about to turn our democracy into his own Mobland, D.C. JD Vance has become his Underboss (though he’ll never have the power of Trump), and with the help of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, Trump has installed a full roster of Capos: Pam Bondi is shaking down the Department of Justice, Tulsi Gabbard is taking down National Intelligence, Pete Hegseth is gutting the Department of Defense, Kristi Noem is making a mockery of Homeland Security, Linda McMahon is shaking down Education, RFK Jr is destroying Health and Human Services, and Marco Rubio is humiliating himself and our country as Secretary of State. The same pattern continues through the whole list of Trump’s cabinet. These are people unfit for their jobs—most were chosen for that very reason. They’re tossing out the rule of law, disregarding the Constitution, and disrespecting the courts. But the point is, they’re doing the Don’s bidding. They are loyal to the Trump Family Mob. And I suspect Trump thought it a plus that most of them would be incompetent. He’s one of those people who’s afraid of someone sharp outshining him.
Below the Capos are the Congressional soldiers, who are striking the blows of their votes in the House and Senate to shake down the majority of American citizens, enriching the 1%. Making sure white men and women will be in charge, while erasing any equity or diversity. Enshrining racism. Erasing the future of the middle class but especially the poor—doctors and medicines, much needed food, school breakfast and lunch programs, any leg up to merely survive. Doing all the dirty work it takes to take down our democracy.
And as a true mob boss and authoritarian, Trump is illegally selling out his country and enriching himself day by day.
In The New Yorker’s May 27th newsletter: “In a matter of weeks, the flood of cash swirling around the White House swamped whatever bulwarks against corruption remained in American law and culture,” Evan Osnos writes, in a deeply reported piece, from this week’s issue, on the new rules of buying influence in Trump’s Washington. Part of the strategy has been sheer brazenness, what one lobbying veteran describes as “outer-borough Mafia shit.”
On May 28th, David Frum has an article in The Atlantic titled “The Trump Presidency’s World Historical Heist, He is taking self-enrichment to a scale never seen before in America.” We’re all watching it play out in real time. (Click the link and read. This piece is a gift to you.)
And what about that unscrupulous sheriff from Virginia? In the bigger scheme of things, he’s a nobody. On May 27th, The New York Times has a doozie of a case.
President Trump will fully pardon the reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted three years ago of evading taxes and defrauding banks of more than $30 million to support their luxurious lifestyle…
According to the Justice Department, the Chrisleys conspired with a former business partner to defraud banks around Atlanta into giving them more than $36 million in personal loans. They submitted false bank statements, audit reports and personal financial statements to obtain the loans, the Justice Department said, and spent the money on luxury cars, real estate and clothing, while also using new fraudulent loans to repay older ones. After spending all the money, the Justice Department said, Mr. Chrisley filed for bankruptcy.
But nothing will ever top Trump pardoning all the criminals who were convicted for the January 6th, 2021, attack on our beloved United States Capitol. And if this isn’t the move of an authoritarian mob boss, I don’t know what is.
The estimated cost of the property damage at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6th attack was $2.73 million. This figure included the immediate cost of repairing damages like broken windows and doors, as well as the cost of future repairs and increased security measures. Additional costs associated with the event, including expenses incurred by the Capitol Police and other agencies, brought the total cost to taxpayers to $2.7 billion. But that doesn’t include the physical and psychic damage of the Capitol Police and the resulting suicides.
Trump constantly signals to the scurrilous among us that if you’re corrupt, a criminal, a doer of bad deeds, then he is your friend. His administration is your friend, and he will set you free as long as you help enforce his agenda, no matter what hell it rains down on your friends and neighbors. In fact, the point is to rain hell on everyone he can.
With Trump, crime does pay.
Please send any questions or comments, so our community can address and respond to them.
Peace. We are one.
And please take care of yourselves. Spend time keeping up your spirits, and don’t give up. Find ways to nurture yourselves with inspiration and hope. Remember: Light will always overcome darkness.
A Few Of My Favorite Social Media Posts And Memes Of The Week:
Great takedown Beth! And, of course, we know how most Mob bosses ended up - either in jail or felled by a bullet. Few got away to live a long life. When you destroy the rule of law you also make it possible for others to destroy you.
It is really sickening to read this. Thank you for shining a light on this.