As retired Admiral Mark Montgomery recently put it, the strategy of Donald Trump is not unusual “if you’re watching the Sopranos.” It is unprecedented for a president. In a single word, our commander in chief is an extortionist. He makes threats that exceed his authority, and he counts on his targets recognizing that it is cheaper to give in to those threats than it is to fight them. Seven months into the extortionist’s reign, almost every target has caved.
“Extortion” is a bold word. Let’s be precise about its meaning. Extortion involves the attempt to get something of benefit from another person through the wrongful use of force, threats, or coercion. The critical word in that sentence is “wrongful”: If the Department of Justice believes in good faith that a target has committed a criminal or civil wrong, and threatens prosecution unless that target settles, that is not extortion. But if a government official threatens prosecution or the withholding of a contracted benefit when the target has done no wrong, then that act is extortion. And conceivably, the target’s giving in could even be viewed as the payment of a bribe.
The clearest examples of this pattern so far have been Trump’s extortion of law firms. Almost immediately after coming to office, Trump issued a series of illegal executive orders targeting law firms that had represented clients adverse…
