Good article and so is this one by the same author:

Gangster Party
As gangsterism, it all makes sense.

Much of the ongoing confoundment with Donald Trump's governing style comes down to what metaphor you apply to him. Is he a wannabe strongman? Sure. A fascist? Of course. An autocrat, an authoritarian, an aspiring dictator? Yes, clearly, though there is no guarantee that he knows what those words mean. Leave those terms in the textbooks. There is a much more accurate way to describe who Donald Trump is: He is a gangster. He governs like a gangster. And if you think of him not as any variety of politician but rather as a gangster--who sits atop not a political party, but a gang--his actions make perfect sense.

If Trump was out to Bolster The Republican Party, he would only be slashing budgets in blue states and protecting red ones. Instead he is lashing out at everything, ignoring every rule. The humiliating ritual of forcing Republican allies to come and beg him to restore cuts he has already made is the point. This process reflects the success of the system that Trump wants: All control of all things in his own hands. Rules and laws--even the ones that Republicans traditionally like!--are impediments to his own control of all decisions. Therefore rules and laws must be smashed, discarded at a whim, openly violated, ignored. Do not search for some archaic form of ideological conservatism at work here. The goal of all this is not "remaking the government in a conservative image""it is "if you want anything, you have to ask me for it." The rules that governed how the government works are tossed out and replaced with "Trump's will." That's how mob bosses rule.