Donald Trump is turning America into a mafia state | Jonathan Freedland

The pattern is inescapable - with just one caveat: organised crime bosses occasionally display more honour

Behold Donald Corleone, the US president who behaves like a mafia boss - but without the principles. Of course, one hesitates to make the comparison, not least because Donald Trump would like it. And because the Godfather is an archetype of strength and macho glamour while Trump is weak, constantly handing gifts to America's enemies and getting nothing in return. But when the world is changing so fast - when a nation that has been a friend for more than a century turns into a foe in a matter of weeks - it helps to have a guide. My colleague Luke Harding clarified the nature of Vladimir Putin's Russia when he branded it the Mafia State. Now we need to attach the same label to the US under Putin's most devoted admirer.

Consider the way Trump's White House conducts itself, issuing threats and menaces that sound better in the original Sicilian. This week the president said that a deal ending Russia's war on Ukraine could be made very fast" but if somebody doesn't want to make a deal, I think that person won't be around very long". You didn't need a translator to know that the somebody he had in mind was Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist