# Is Trump Really Just a Mob Boss? | Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/defending-democracy-with-marc-elias-5919693/is-trump-really-just-a-mob-boss-former-u-s-attorney-barbara-mcquade Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/defending-democracy-with-marc-elias-5919693/is-trump-really-just-a-mob-boss-former-u-s-attorney-barbara-mcquade.md Podcast: [Defending Democracy with Marc Elias](https://stenobird.com/podcast/defending-democracy-with-marc-elias-5919693) Published: 2026-06-17T19:44:36+00:00 Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/democracydocket/episodes/Is-Trump-Really-Just-a-Mob-Boss---Former-U-S--Attorney-Barbara-McQuade-e3kub3j Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO3326684917.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/defending-democracy-with-marc-elias-5919693/episodes/is-trump-really-just-a-mob-boss-former-u-s-attorney-barbara-mcquade Duration seconds: 2163 ## Resource Former U.S. attorney and University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade spent decades prosecuting organized crime, corrupt officials and con men. In her new book, "The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government," she makes the case that what's happening in Washington right now looks very familiar. In this episode of Defending Democracy, Marc Elias sits down with McQuade to break down how Trump has turned the Department of Justice into a tool of political retribution, why major law firms and media companies caved to White House pressure and what everyday Americans can do to fight back. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/defending-democracy-with-marc-elias-5919693/episodes/is-trump-really-just-a-mob-boss-former-u-s-attorney-barbara-mcquade/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/defending-democracy-with-marc-elias-5919693/is-trump-really-just-a-mob-boss-former-u-s-attorney-barbara-mcquade.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.