I’ve brought this up a couple times before recently, so apologize for the redundancy, but as I listen to the Crimetown podcast I really am struck by similarities with Trump, his world view (if you can call it that) and his fans. Today I listened to the episode about Raymond Patriarcha’s death. They had a guy on talking about what a sweet man he was, a guy who took care of everybody on Federal Hill in Providence; he talked about how all those poor people who got a turkey at Thanksgiving and oil in winter when they ran out came out in the thousands at his funeral.

That is exactly how organized crime works.

I was in Japan not far away when the Kobe earthquake hit in 1995. The fucking PM Mori was on a golf course. The government couldn’t react to help immediately on the streets. Who showed up right away with blankets and soup? The yakuza.

When you either take away the ability of government to respond or corrupt government in how it responds, you create fertile ground for groups like the mob to take advantage. They “come to the rescue”; they provide the stability the cops no longer provide; people see that Thanksgiving turkey and think, “hey, at least the psychopaths were thinking about me!”

It’s not just Trump, though he is trying to make it happen if but through instinct. It’s the whole GOP. Keep up the grift that shifts wealth to the 1%, claim we can’t afford to pay for entitlements, then watch the neo-mob move in. Pay-day lenders, insurance scammers, reverse mortgagers, etc.

ETA: I forgot about the podcast parallel with supporters. With Patriarcha, it wasn’t “he could shoot someone on 5th ave.” He literally ordered multiple murders and the mass of his community didn’t give a shit. That’s where we are with Trump.