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Even before entering politics, Donald Trump has consistently displayed the mentality of a mobster. Whether it’s his criminality, which culminated in a felony conviction last year, the scams he is running constantly, the blatant corruption, or the emphasis on loyalty above all else, Trump has always talked and acted like a mafioso.

To be fair, in today’s America, the line between “rich businessman” and “organized criminal” is quite blurry because neither thinks that the rules ought to apply to them while both believe that taxes are for suckers. 

Therefore, if Trump had never run for president, he would have been just another ethically challenged billionaire who is using his wealth and influence to get away with not paying contractors, running scams, and groping women who are too afraid to come forward and complain about it.

After all, the prospect of going up against an army of lawyers is not any more pleasant than having to deal with the enforcers of a mob boss. 

However, as president, Trump is now in a league of his own. He runs the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nation like a crime syndicate and uses all legal and not-so-legal means to get what he wants… from individuals, businesses, and entire countries.  

Like the contractors he used to stiff, the women he assaulted, or a small business that pays a gang for “protection,” most of them do not put up a fight because, ultimately, the trouble isn’t worth it.

That is why media companies are settling bogus lawsuits with Trump, why law firms are agreeing to do pro bono work for him, and why countries whose economies depend on doing business with the United States are doing what he wants. 

Like local business owners being shaken down by career criminals, they have to grind their teeth and go along with it because, after all, what recourse is there? 

While the president and his supporters then celebrate their submission as a victory, what we are witnessing is really just a bunch of extortion rackets. 

We saw that earlier this year, when Trump tied vital (in the truest sense of that word) military aid to Ukraine signing away some of its mineral rights to the US. 

(We think it helps to imagine the following quote in the voice of Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino).

“Ey, Ukraine, dat’s some nice minerals youse got. Maybe put some of them in Old Donny’s pockets to make sure nothing happens to your country.”

Of course, in the case of Ukraine, we don’t actually have to invent the quotes, because they are on tape. 

Back in 2019, Trump tried to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into investigating Joe Biden, then his potential opponent in the 2020 election, by threatening to block the payment of a military aid package that, as we now know, the country sorely needed. 

On that call, which includes the famous phrase “I would like you to do us a favor though…,” the president, who was rightfully impeached for this despicable behavior, sounded more like a two-bit gangster than a US president. 

This week, we are witnessing the latest iteration of Trump’s extortion scheme. 

This time, he is dictating to smaller, poorer countries the terms of their future trade relationships with the United States. 

There are no negotiations here, just a crime boss setting rates for the cost of doing business in his neighborhood. 

And, in the case of Brazil, Trump went a step further.

First of all, it’s important to remember that the president is justifying his tariffs with the fact that the United States has a trade deficit with most countries (that in itself is not even a problem, because this is in large part a reflection of the wealth of Americans and their ability to buy stuff from all over the world). 

However, Brazil is one of the few nations that imports more from the US than it exports.

In other words, there is absolutely no economic justification for slapping tariffs on the country, especially not the 50-percent levy that Trump threatened to impose on Brazilian goods.

But, as the president made clear, this isn’t about the economy at all. 

Instead, Trump is trying to bail out a “friend of the family,” i.e., another right-wing leader who attempted a coup after losing an election and is now facing justice back home.

“The way that Brazil has treated former President [Jair] Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” Trump wrote in a letter to Brazil’s current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “This Trial should not be taking place. It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”

Trump added that he is imposing a 50-percent tariff beginning on August 1 “due in part to Brazil’s insidious attacks on Free Elections and the fundamental Free Speech Rights of Americans.”

Once again, he sounds like a mafioso trying to intimidate a juror, a witness, or a local judge to let another mobster off the hook.

Initially, Lula sounded defiant. 

“Brazil is a sovereign country with independent institutions that will not accept being abused by anyone,” he said in a post on X. “The judicial process against those who planned the coup d’état is the sole responsibility of the Brazilian Judiciary and, therefore, is not subject to any kind of interference or threat that undermines the independence of national institutions.” 

That sounds nice, but, in the end, the US is in a stronger position, and Trump may bend Brazil to its will. 

But that’s not a victory.

Because, just because one can bully and extort others doesn’t mean that one should.

In the long run, Trump is doing great harm to the United States. Because all of these countries that he is coercing into action right now are going to remember, and they will try to forge new partnerships to get out from under his boot. 

Ultimately, the US is going to lose a lot of partners over these tariffs (and all the other bullying that Trump does). 

After all, only other criminals like to be associated with the mob.

In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.