Republican 'Five Families' aren't just acting like mobsters — they're bragging about it: analysis

In December Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) casually mentioned to podcaster Steve Bannon that the Republican caucus has split up into what she called the "Five Families" and then added, "You know my reference.”

As The New Republic's Timothy Noah noted, that comment was an admission that Republicans are proudly comparing themselves to the Mob, in particular the division of territories by the Mafia identified in congressional hearings in 1963.

Noah writes that years ago Donald Trump expressed his admiration for Mario Puzo's bestseller "The Godfather" which spawned three popular films and now it seems the GOP is taking its cues from how the mob ruled New York as they divvy up power.

According to the analyst, "In The Godfather, the fictionalized Five Families 'go to the mattresses,' i.e., to war. In the Republican Conference, dissident members went to war in early January against McCarthy, denying him the speakership on 14 ballots until he bought them off and won victory in the 15th. Now, as negotiations start to get serious over the debt limit, warfare among the Five GOP Families threatens to plunge the country into default and untold financial calamity."

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"In The Godfather, loyalty and omertà (i.e., never squeal) are paramount virtues. It’s like that in Trumpworld, too—with the caveat that the Donald is never obliged to reciprocate," he wrote before adding, "Trump is gone but the Trump cult, and therefore Trump’s own Godfather cult, lives on in the designation of the House Republicans’ five warring caucuses as the Five Families."

As additional evidence he reported, "The Godfather came up yet again on the day of the January 6 Capitol insurrection in 2021, when Donald Trump Jr., texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, 'this his [sic.] one you go to the mattresses on. They will try to f*ck his entire legacy on this if it gets worse. I’m not convinced these are trump supporters either btw so we should be looking into that.' From the context provided in Don Jr.’s interview with the House select committee on January 6, the president’s son was pushing Meadows to get his father to condemn the insurrection. But the 'they' Don Jr. was referring to was pretty clearly any Democrat or Never Trump Republican with the temerity to make anything of the attack. It was never cleared up whether Don Jr. proposed 'going to the mattresses' against the Capitol rioters, against Trump himself for refusing to condemn them, or against the Trump opponents out to 'f*ck his entire legacy.' Asked about that, Don Jr. said vaguely, 'It’s just a reference for going all in. I think it’s a Godfather reference.'"

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