your papa never told you about right or wrong

To honour the 20th anniversary of the debut of “The Sopranos”, HBO Canada has been running condensed episodes of America’s most compelling dysfunctional family.  I can’t be the only one to see the parallels between Tony and Trump.

Both are New York area tough guys with similar accents.  They had fathers who started them in the family business, although Tony probably didn’t get the $400,000,000 that Donnie did.  They had to claw their way to success by deceiving and betraying most everyone in their path.  They put family above all else, unless they were boinking a mistress.

Their primary distinction is that Tony had better staff retention, even though he occasionally killed them.

We’ll never know Tony’s fate, but Donnie’s seemed to solidify this week as the bad news piled up to Mount Everest levels.  It peaked (just for the week) when it came out that the FBI has investigated the possibility Trump has worked on Russia’s behalf.  Let that sink in for a moment.  I’ll wait.

If that proves to be accurate, it means that the buck has stopped.  Donnie would be out of scapegoats and excuses, unless he claims he never met himself.  But don’t rule that out.  With the Mueller probe wrapping up and the House Dems back in power, I don’t see how the Trump presidency survives 2019.  (Full disclosure: I was consistently wrong about him winning the election.)

So as mighty forces unfold at the pace they see fit, I will now watch the best weekend of pro football kick off with the Chiefs-Colts game, with a side order of the KU-Baylor basketball game.  And during commercials, I will amuse myself with the Soprano-Trump metaphor.

Let’s see: Melania as Carmela, Ivanka as Meadow, Donnie Junior as Christopher, Eric as A.J., Dick Cheney as Junior Soprano, Mike Pence as Paulie Walnuts, Jared Kushner as Hesh, Omarosa as Livia, Kellyanne Conway as Janice, Robert Mueller as Agent Harris, Lindsay Graham as Big Pussy, Jeff Sessions as Tony’s lawyer . . .