Trump's White House is pure mafia in substance and style

Behold Donald Corleone, the US president who behaves like a mafia boss but without the principles.

- Jonathan Freedland

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. Last 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.

By ending the supply of military aid and the sharing of US intelligence, as he did, he had effectively put a Russian revolver to Ukraine's temple, its imprint scarcely reduced by Trump's declaration last Friday that he is "strongly considering" banking sanctions and tariffs against Moscow, a move that looked a lot like a man pretending to be equally tough on the two sides, but which should fool nobody. He expects Zelenskyy to sign away a huge chunk of Ukraine's minerals, the way Corleone's rivals surrendered their livelihoods to save their lives.