A Deal She Can't Refuse

Sarah Kliff is reporting at Vox.com that Donald Trump is threatening to make  life difficult for all Alaskans unless Senator Lisa Murkowski drops her opposition to Trumpcare:

Wednesday afternoon, Alaska’s two Republican senators got surprising phone calls from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke insinuating that the Trump administration would punish the state should Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) continue to oppose Obamacare repeal efforts.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) told the Alaska Dispatch News about the discussion:

"I'm not going to go into the details, but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop," Sullivan said.

"I tried to push back on behalf of all Alaskans. … We're facing some difficult times and there's a lot of enthusiasm for the policies that Secretary Zinke and the president have been talking about with regard to our economy. But the message was pretty clear," Sullivan said. The Interior secretary also contacted Murkowski, he said.

Sullivan said the Interior secretary was clear that his message was in response to the no vote Murkowski cast Tuesday on the motion to proceed with debate on the House-passed health care legislation.

Sullivan told the Alaska Dispatch News that Murkowski, who voted against the bill, received a similar call. 

David Cay Johnson reported back in 2016 on Trump's ties to the New York mob: 

Beginning three years earlier, he’d hired mobbed-up firms to erect Trump Tower and his Trump Plaza apartment building in Manhattan, including buying ostensibly overpriced concrete from a company controlled by mafia chieftains Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno and Paul Castellano. That story eventually came out in a federal investigation, which also concluded that in a construction industry saturated with mob influence, the Trump Plaza apartment building most likely benefited from connections to racketeering. Trump also failed to disclose that he was under investigation by a grand jury directed by the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, who wanted to learn how Trump obtained an option to buy the Penn Central railroad yards on the West Side of Manhattan.

Recent reports suggest that Trump has been laundering Russian mob money for years. His treatment of Murkowski is straight out of Don Corleone's playbook. He plans to make her a deal she can't refuse.

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