Kent Nelson, Sartell
In his latest book, A Higher Loyalty, Truth, Lies and Leadership, James Comey in one of his accusations says Trump acts like a mob boss. Trump in his usual eloquent, lucid, presidential and mob-like manner calls Comey a liar, leakier, slippery James, not smart and says he should be locked up –kind of like crooked Hillary – who isn’t locked up and yet his mob followers continue to chant at his outings, “lock her up,” much to his amusement.
Trump’s mob friends and associates know he is in complete control; they are all loyal and lie about all things big and small and revolve in a silent circle of assent; loyalty to Trump above morality or truth. So lets take a look at some of the characters in Trump’s mob. The first three include Trump, the president; Elliot Broidy, Republican National deputy finance chairman; and David Pecker, owner of the National Enquirer. Every mob needs chippies, playmates, sex toys or molls as the mob refers to their girlfriends. Enter Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal and Shera Behnard. Next the mob needs a fixer, pit bull, or a bag man – someone who takes care of the payoffs and intimidation. That would be Michael Cohen. Even mobs have standards they operate by so Cohen arranges the following: For a one-night stand with Trump, Stormy Daniels gets $130,000, a 10-month fling with Trump gets playmate McDougal $150,000 and a dalliance and pregnancy by Broidy gets playboy model Behnard $1.6 million. Not wanting proof of the fling, a decision had to get made and Broidy explains, “She alone decided she did not want to continue with the pregnancy and I offered to help her financially during this difficult time.” Talk about loyalty and, “ouch” shouted the Republican religious evangelicals still supporting Trump.
Now every mob needs a PR person. Someone who can spin mob activities to make them acceptable. Hey, the mob says drugs, prostitution, gambling serve a social need and we provide them, all at low costs. Who better to spin the message then the owner of the National Enquirer, David Pecker. Inquiring minds want to know is the message Pecker promotes. So he prints a picture of Ted Cruz’s father and Lee Harvey Oswald together, and Trump accuses Cruz’s father of being part of the assassination plot of Kennedy. Just what inquiring minds want to know. Also, the PR man needs to be able to prevent negative stories that impact the mob. Such is the tactic known as “catch and kill.” McDougal has a story that shouldn’t get out if Trump is to be safe. Enter Pecker, buys her story for $150,000 and then kills it. Stormy has a story that shouldn’t get out so a strong man meets her in a parking lot and tells her not to say anything about her fling and then looks into the back seat of her car, sees her daughter and says it would be too bad if her daughter didn’t have a mom growing up. So Cohen has Stormy sign a non-disclosure agreement and gives her $ 130,000 and the story disappears. Until now, Trump thinks he is safe on both counts.
Mob members lookout for each other and support each other. Broidy and wife contributed $614,000 to the Republican campaign; Pecker is a frequent guest of Trump’s Mar-a-Laga – birds of the feather flock together.
And so dear reader, you put all these characters and activities together and you’ve got a mob.
