"In summer 2016, Vanity Fair published the article, "How Tony Soprano Paved the Way for Donald Trump," which argues that the protagonist of the lauded television series The Sopranos explains the allure of Donald Trump. The article is written with a blasé air as if to say, "Trump may be a charming sociopath like Tony Soprano, but it's not like he's ever going to be president.""
"In the first Trump term, skittish advisers nudged him away from ideas like shooting protesters or sending in the armed forces to seize voting machines. This time, there are no guardrails, and the Tony Soprano presidency has reached an inevitable plot point: the "bust out." A bust out is when the mob seizes a business from an indebted civilian, bleeds its resources, bankrupts it, and then maybe burns it down for the insurance money."
Observers compared Tony Soprano to Donald Trump in 2016, linking a charismatic sociopath's appeal to a political figure's allure. By 2025 the analogy deepens: early restraints that prevented violent or overtly illegal actions have vanished, producing a presidency resembling a mob "bust out." A bust out occurs when a mob seizes an indebted business, drains its assets, bankrupts it, and may destroy it for insurance gains; the nation is likened to a once-thriving store consumed from within for the benefit of a corrupt few. The moral tension centers on public fascination with violence and the failure of critique to outweigh entertainment.
Read at The Nation
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