TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RUNS LIKE THE MAFIA

Last week underscored how Washington works under Donald Trump, running more like the Mafia with obedience, above all, to the Don.
The national security team made a huge blunder in sharing, on an commercial app discussions and attack planning against the Houthis, inadvertently with a journalist. The participants included Defense Secretary Hegseth and National Security adviser Michael Waltz who organized the group including Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg.
Goldberg revealed the conversations after the March 15 attack. Hegseth, Waltz and the White House could have acknowledged that while the mission succeeded, this was an inexcusable security breach.
Instead they doubled down, attacking Goldberg, insisting here was no classified information revealed in these Signal exchanges. So Goldberg, justifiably, disclosed most all the text which included specific times planes took off and when to hit the targets.
They were caught in blatant lies, Hegseth, not surprisingly given his sordid past, and Waltz, who in contrast had a good reputation. He even lied about knowing Goldberg who he included on the call.
The intelligence breach was serious and should be investigated though given this Administration won't be. But the political damage would have been minimized if they acknowledged a mistake and told the truth.
But with Trump that's impossible. His code, learned as a young man from his mentor, the ultra sleazy lawyer Roy Cohn, is attack, deny, lie, vilify any opposition and demand total loyalty.
How many times can you recall Trump acknowledging he was wrong. The Cohn disciple sees that as a sign of weakness.
Like the Mafia's Don Corleone, the underlings better follow or else. I don't defend Waltz' duplicity; he had no choice, however, if he wanted to stay in the job. You have to always please the Don who despises Goldberg.

Actually when an honest politician face up to a mistake it can help them. Famously, President Kennedy, at the start of his Administration, authorized an invasion of Cuba, the so-called Bay of Pigs, that failed spectacularly.

Kennedy accepted responsibility and his favorability with the public shot up to 83%,

That would be unthinkable for Trump or his supporters.
There was another episode this week that illustrated how Washington should work.
The Trump Administration, in its revenge tour, said it was punishing the Wilmer Hale law firm, taking away security clearances and other penalties for any of its employes. Why ? The firm had employed Robert Mueller, who the Trump Justice Department tapped as special prosecutor to investigate any collusion between Trump and the Russians in the 2016 Presidential election. Mueller left the firm, but Trump is lashing out at all those who investigated him.
Rather than capitulate to this indefensible abuse of power, the way big law firms like Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps ,Wilmer Hale fought back. .
The firm, one of their top partners is Seth Waxman, enlisted Paul Clement to represent them.
Both Waxman, a liberal and Clement, a conservative, are former U,S. Solicitors General. They have often opposed each other in prominent cases.
But they share something in common that transcends partisan politics; a belief in the Constitution.