Former FBI director James Comey once compared Donald Trump’s gang of loyalists to the Mafia. “Holy crap, they are trying to make each of us an amica nostra — friend of ours. To draw us in.
” And draw in people Trump did: cabinet members and other officials, campaign workers, lawyers, talking heads at Fox. The very apt comparison with gangster politics played itself out once again at the Republican National Convention. The cast of characters indicted and convicted was worthy of Mafia status, starting of course with the ex-President, a felon.
There’s Peter Navarro, fresh from his four-month prison term: "I went to prison so you won't have to," Navarro told the audience. "I am your wake-up call." (He got a one-minute standing ovation.
) Then there are Rudy Giuliani, convicted in the fake electors scheme; and Paul Manafort, pardoned by Trump for his role in the Russia election interference case. (Apparently not attending were Michael Flynn, the disgraced former national security adviser whom Trump pardoned and has promised to bring back; Steve Bannon, who is in jail on contempt of Congress charges; and Roger Stone, Trump’s henchman, also pardoned.) We’ll probably meet all of these people again if there’s a Trump II.
Election deniers from the states were well represented at the RNC. As reported by NPR, there were three fake electors from Arizona (including two state senators), five from Nevada, three from Georgia, and two from Michigan. They are all under federal cri.