The video of Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, endorsing Donald Trump looked like a man with a gun being held to his back. The impression is so staggering, Christie defended himself to CNN, declaring he was not being held hostage.
The
notion of a gun being held to Christie, figuratively or literally, is not from
left field if one has a firm grasp of the mob-related corruption in New
York-New Jersey. I grew up in upstate New York. Knowledge of
political-organized crime corruption is bred into us.
I
was a reporter at the Times-Union when the large Capitol complex was being
built in Albany at the cusp of the Seventies. Everyone knew someone who worked
in construction. The construction crews burned down at night what had been
built during the daytime. It was common knowledge. It was just damned hard to prove that the fire
had not been started by night crews to keep warm and got out of control by accident.
To
identify Trump as a builder in New York construction, and his less successful
casino ventures in New Jersey, is to say that he has been in bed with the mob
for a long time.
Politifact,
in a balanced, well-researched article, points out that Trump may not have been happy to deal with the mob, has
never been charged with a crime, and provides evidence of the longstanding
ties.
David
Marcus, at the avowedly conservative The Federalist, reports:
"The
Atlantic City story starts with Trump’s purchase of a bar, at twice its market
value, from Salvatore Testa, a made man in the Philadelphia mafia and son of
Philip “Chicken Man” Testa, who was briefly head of the Philly mob after Angelo
Bruno’s 1980 killing. Harrah’s casino, half owned by Trump, would be built on
that land, and Trump would quickly buy out his partner, Harrah’s Entertainment,
and rename the casino Trump Plaza.
"Author
Wayne Barrett lays out a slew of suspicious dealings and associations.
Trump
Plaza’s connection to the mob didn’t end with the land purchase from Testa.
Nicademo “Little Nicky” Scarfo (who became boss after the elder Testa was blown
up) and his nephew Phillip “crazy Phil” Leonetti controlled two of the major
construction and concrete companies in Atlantic City. Both companies, Scarf,
Inc. and Nat Nat, did work on the construction of Harrah’s, according the State
of New Jersey Commission of Investigation’s 1986 report on
organized crime," concludes Marcus.
Not
coincidentally, Christie is New Jersey and literally has family connections to
crime.
It strains my credulity that Christie, with his fat ass stuffed on
manicotti, has not kissed the ring of a mob boss or two. In fact, Christi complained
that he looked like a mob boss in a photo on Time magazine cover.
What can one say but, "If it looks like a duck, maybe it is a duck." Does it walk like a duck?
The New York Times reports that Christie visited Tino Fumera, a mob boss
and family relation, in prison. In 2002, he recused himself as New Jersey top
prosecutor when Fumera was involved. As
with Trump, the connections span time. It looks like a duck, it walks like a duck, and in the endorsement video, I submit it quacks like a duck.
But
the Kennedys had class and idealistic values, qualities Donald Trump lacks.
Republican
Party elders are saying they have to support this Fascist meglomaniac if he
wins the popular vote. This is a deal
with the Devil. The Republican Party in
Weimar Germany believed that Hindenberg was the only person who could stop
Hitler from being elected. Hitler was appointed vice chancellor to Hindenberg
and arrogated power to himself when Hindy died in office. Then Hitler
disbanded the elected Reichstag.
Appeasing bullies is a slippery slope to Hell.
It did not turn out well for Germany or Europe the last time appeasement of a
power-made lunatic was tried.
The
only firewall between Trump and power at this point is the Democratic
candidate. Hillary does not fill me with hope. Polls and surveys suggest she is
perceived as unlikable. She carries her own corruption baggage. As in the case
of Trump, no political slime has resulted in criminal charges. But perception,
not truth, is what prevails in today’s over-mediated society.
Bernie
Sanders is the only candidate whose stacks up in likeability to Trump's obscene reality-show posturing and charismatic strong-man bullying.
Political
analysts suggest that Trump represents the authoritarian strain in US politics.
No secular organization is more authoritarian than organized crime. It’s dog
eat dog, kill or be killed, and Trump is a bully in the stamp of a godfather. The
nouveau riche gaudy gold trappings of his vision of what success means is
straight out of the Sopranos’ playbook.
America,
be very scared when Trump starts offering the Republican Party a deal they are
saying they can’t refuse.
