President Mafioso

The big news today is that the President of the United States is, basically, a gangster, and isn't even smart enough to try to hide it. First off, we have Trump telling Parnas and Furman to 'take out' Ambassador Yovanovitch. Neither Parnas nor Fruman has any authority to fire a U.S. ambassador, so this phrasing is highly suggestive of thuggery.

Next up, we have the threat to put Republican senators' heads on pikes should they vote to convict the president. While I doubt that actual pikes are meant, this still does constitute threatening witnesses.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham is trying a novel defense of the president, the idea that he doesn't think he did anything wrong. I'm sure that John Gotti didn't think he did anything wrong when he ordered the assassination of Paul Castellano. Gotti didn't think twice about threatening witnesses either.

Damn, if only the Republican senators would grow a spine. I know that if I were being threatened by some asshole, I'd hit him back as hard as I could.