Is a former president modeling his leadership style after mob crime boss John Gotti?

There is a fine line between a country being governed as a democracy and being governed as a dictatorship. A political party can evolve into a dictatorship party when a single individual influences the majority of its members.

A political party often dictates how its members are to pursue public offices. If a candidate does not follow the party's directions, they are openly condemned by the party. When the party is controlled by large donors or a single individual, it essentially becomes a dictatorship. Voters only have to consider the path former President Donald Trump has taken to understand this concept. Even congressional committees, a part of a democracy controlled by the party, can resist correcting the directions of the party perceivably in fear of upsetting voters supporting those in charge — officially or otherwise.

Trump appears to have significant influence over the Republican Party. He appears to have modeled his leadership style after the mob bosses of New York City, where he grew up. One mobster in particular, John Gotti, appears to be Trump’s preferred model. During Gotti’s era, he became widely known for his outspoken personality and flamboyant style, which gained him favor with some of the general public.

While his peers generally avoided attracting attention, especially from the media, Gotti became known as "The Dapper Don," for his expensive clothes and personality in front of news cameras. Gotti manipulated our legal system to escape many prosecutions that resulted in him finally becoming known as “Teflon Don.”

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He demanded loyalty of his followers and “eliminated” those who failed to meet his demands. The long arm of the law finally caught up with Gotti and imprisoned him for racketeering based on evidence provided to the FBI by his underboss. Gotti died of throat cancer on June 10, 2002, in prison. He had been convicted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law.

Former President Trump and his co-conspirators are charged under the RICO law that allows authorities to punish offenders engaging in criminal activities, particularly racketeering. RICO law punishes crime bosses who order their subordinates to carry out criminal activities for them. Without the RICO law, these crime bosses could claim innocence because they technically were not the ones to directly carry out the crimes.

Trump’s influence within the Republican Party may ultimately result in a wider spread of RICO charges as many of his Republican followers seem willing to support him in criminal ways ― such as storming our nation’s capitol. It is up to the Republican Party to correct this situation. There seems to be resistance to do so, however, possibly for fear of losing votes across public offices nationwide.

This situation, if allowed to continue, will result in a single political party dictating the direction of a democracy, resulting in a dictatorship. If Trump is elected in 2024 and he remains in control of the Republican Party, he will “come after” those who opposed him as he has stated.

How can the average voter impact this trend? Here are a few thoughts:

● Never vote for a candidate who is strictly repeating and adhering to a party line in their campaigning. Make sure their platform addresses the issues of the people they propose to represent and, most importantly, driven by the foundation of a free America.

● Never vote for a candidate whose platform is only about discrediting the incumbent or someone of a different political party. This approach is a political trick to influence the emotions of voters.

● Carefully evaluate how a candidate uses certain words like liberal, woke or conservative. These words have different meanings for different people.

● Keep in mind that no one individual will have full constitutional authority to implement some of the changes they propose. It begins with a Congress that represents the people. Presidents have limited authority but can influence their own party members in Congress.

● Never vote strictly for a political party without regards to their candidate.

It is not just the presidential election that is at stake. Many local elections are influenced by national politics. The policies of a party that permit RICO-type activities become insidious and point more toward a dictatorship across our nation. We have some of the authoritarian/dictator-style individuals in Oklahoma. Many of them resemble former President Trump’s leadership style.

As the indictments against Trump play out, we should monitor how the Republican Party reacts. This will help us understand the intent of the Republican Party and how to vote in the future.

Richard C. Hall, of Norman, served 30 years in federal civil service and retired as a division manager.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guest: It's your choice. Do you choose a democracy or dictatorship?