Jonathan Swan at Axios:
Sources in Trumpworld who spent their careers attacking McConnell as a weak and corrupt totem of the “establishment” are now praising him for ramming through Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation without flinching.
It makes sense that someone in Trumpworld would use "gangster" as a compliment. Trump has long had extensive Mafia connections.
- “A straight-up gangster,” said one source who had previously dedicated a significant amount of time to trying to destroy McConnell.
And a mob boss likely served as a role model of sorts. In the 1970s, when Trump was coming of age in New York, mob boss Joe Colombo became a celebrity by brazenly denying that he was a mob boss, indeed denying that the Mafia even existed. Not only did he proudly declare such falsehoods, but he also mobilized white ethnic resentment by launching the Italian American Civil Rights League, claiming that people like him were the real victims of discrimination.
