Earlier this month, Donald Trump claimed gangster Al Capone was treated better than his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was found guilty of numerous crimes earlier this week.
On Friday, National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch referenced the 1920s mob boss in an attempt to defend the president and ― spoiler alert! ― it was kind of bizarre.
Speaking on the group’s streaming platform NRATV on Friday, Loesch attempted to say Trump’s alleged infidelities are the reason he’s facing legal battles, but that Democrats are using campaign finance laws as an excuse to go after him.
“The moral argument over the president’s infidelities would never result in legal trouble. So they believe they have to take a lesson from the Clinton years and find a way to make it a legal problem,” she said in a video saved by the progressive media watchdog Media Matters. “And that’s exactly what they’re using campaign finance for, an already unconstitutional set of laws to pull it off.”
Then Loesch decided that if Trump could use an Al Capone analogy, she could too, but she went one step further and turned the mob boss’ name into a verb.
They’re trying to Al Capone the president. I mean, you remember, Capone didn’t go down for murder. Eliot Ness didn’t put him in for murder. He went in for tax fraud.
Prosecutors didn’t care how he went down as long as he went down. The same goes for Democrats. Whatever avenue is needed to bring down the president, they’ll take it.
RawStory pointed out that Loesch’s attempt to blame Trump’s potential legal troubles on the Democrats had serious flaws:
It should be noted here that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is a Republican. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a Republican, appointed by a Republican president, confirmed by a Republican Senate. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is a Republican, appointed by a Republican president, confirmed by a Republican Senate. FBI Director Christopher Wray is a Republican, appointed by a Republican president, confirmed by a Republican Senate.
Here’s the whole Loesch segment, courtesy of Media Matters:
Some Twitter users wondered why Loesch was comparing Trump to a noted gangster.
Others thought Loesch’s comparison was right on the money:
And then came the mockery. Lots of mockery.