Trump Is Using Classic Mob Boss Tactics to Carry Out His Wishes

The president-elect is already handing out clues to his allies about who he wants to go after next.

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Donald Trump’s comments during a Sunday interview with Meet the Press had the classic markings of a mob boss, according to The New Abnormal co-host Andy Levy on the latest episode.

Levy noted Trump’s comments, where he said of former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and the Jan. 6 committee: “Honestly, they should go to jail.” When pressed by Welker if he would direct his FBI director or attorney general to “send them to jail,” Trump replied, “no, not at all. I think that they’ll have to look at that–I’m going to focus on drill, baby drill.”

For Levy, the implications of Trump’s comments are simple: “He says things, but he doesn’t actually direct people to do things in so many words, he just lets them know what he would like. And then he has the sort of plausible deniability of saying, ‘I didn’t tell them to arrest that guy.’

“I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that’s what he’s doing here.”

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Then, Melissa Murray, a professor of Law at NYU Law, walks us through the complicated legal territory Trump needs to cross to end birthright citizenship in the United States—including a post-Civil War section of the 14th Amendment that says that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

“You cannot do this through an executive order. It will be subject to an immediate legal challenge,” Murray said. “Someone will bring this legal challenge, it will go through the courts. I think even the federal courts that are stocked with movement conservatives would have a very difficult time trying to get around this provision of the Constitution.”

Plus! Trump fans are suffering from Tony Soprano syndrome. Joining the show to explain is Adam Serwer, who wrote a piece for The Atlantic explaining how some conservatives are embracing their inner villains.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, , Amazon and Stitcher (update links).