The Crime Boss In The White House.

Over the past two years, the party of Reagan has become the party of Trump. And it is now clear that no Republican can defy Trump without paying a price. The question is: What are they afraid of? Why are so many Republicans afraid to vote against Trump’s initiatives? Why do the so-called fiscal conservatives refuse to speak out against Trump’s massive deficit spending? Why do they refuse to hold Trump accountable for his racism and his refusal to denounce white nationalists? Why are so many Republicans afraid to vote against Trump’s power grab from Congress? Why do they not speak up about his corruption and his coziness with the world’s worst dictators?

And, most puzzling, why does Sen. Lindsay Graham – once a never Trumper – not defend the legacy of his long-time friend Sen. John McCain against Trump’s attacks? Why the change? What is Graham afraid of?

This is only a guess. But I believe Trump has always acted as a crime boss. He uses the language of a crime boss in referring to his long-time consigliore, Michael Cohen, who turned on him as a “rat.” He has run his business as a crime boss by bullying and refusing to pay vendors. By suing anyone who spoke out against him. By buying the silence of some critics. And by associating with a variety of other mob bosses – the Italian mafia, the Jewish mafia and, especially, the Russian mafia.

As a result, I believe that Republican dissenters fear retaliation. Likely, Trump’s political contributors – Robert Mercer, Sheldon Adelson and Charles Koch – have made it clear that they will not donate to the campaigns of the dissenters. Indeed, they have probably made it clear that they will fund primary opponents. And they no doubt fear that Trump will campaign for their primary opponents.

But I think their fear runs deeper. I think that, like every other crime boss, Trump has dirt on his opponents. Could it be that Trump knows the never-married Sen. Graham is a closeted gay? How would that play in bright red South Carolina? And, if so, what dirt does Trump have on other Republican leaders? Given his past, they have to know that Trump would use anything at his disposal to gain and maintain power.

I truly believed that special counsel Robert Mueller would be our modern-day Elliott Ness – someone who would put Trump in the place he deserves. But now that Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General, William Barr, has delivered a letter to Congress stating that the Mueller investigation did not recommend charges for conspiring with Russians and left the case for obstruction up to the DOJ, Trump has been emboldened. Like other crime bosses who have skated on serious charges, Trump now believes he is the Teflon Don. He believes that no charges can stick to him. And if there’s a chance they might, he has learned that he can manipulate the system by firing and hiring the people necessary to protect his very large behind.

That’s what crime bosses do.