If President Trump calling people who testify against him "rats," heaping praise on those who don't "break," suggesting "flipping" be "outlawed," and demanding personal "loyalty" from law enforcement leaders sounds like mafia talk — and several people have noticed the similarities — well, it isn't just critics saying that.
Trump's comments reflect his fundamental belief "in an ethic of loyalty rather than a traditional conception of justice or the rule of law," one Trump White House alumnus tells Axios. Axios' Mike Allen and Jonathan Swan explain the talk about "flipping" as part of Trump's "long habit of declaring what he thinks laws and the legal system should be, and ignoring what they are," and they cite some examples. On CNN, Thursday night, Anderson Cooper had some examples, too.
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