Reason #25: Svengali
Why do we need to defeat Donald Trump and ensure that a Democrat occupies the White House?
I have stated that Donald Trump never pursued graduate education. That was not entirely correct. He studied advanced ruthless business methods for years under the tutelage of his father Fred C. Trump. Donald Trump was also mentored by one or the most notorious lawyers in American history, Roy Cohn.
After graduating from Columbia Law School at age twenty, Roy Cohn participated in the controversial prosecution and execution of Julius and Ethyl Rosenburg in the early 1950s, including inappropriate private telephone conversations with the judge, urging that they be executed.
He moved on to sit next to Senator Joe “tail gunner” McCarthy as his chief counsel during the McCarthy hearings, during which many lives were destroyed by accusations of former Communist associations and homosexuality. (Cohn was himself homosexual). McCarthy and Cohn made an enormous mistake when they tried, unsuccessfully, to get the release of David Shein, another McCarthy aide, who Cohn had a crush on. The Army refused and McCarthy initiated the “Army Hearings”, investigating Communists in the military. When McCarthy attacked a young colleague of the Army counsel, Joseph Welsh, he brought down McCarthy and Cohn with his famous quote; “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” and subsequent question “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” during televised hearings.
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html
McCarthy went into an alcoholic tailspin and early death, while his eminence gris Cohn slunk off to New York City to a private practice of law. He represented mafiosi from all five families including the boss of bosses, John Gotti. Although Gotti had murdered a man in a bar with multiple witnesses, Cohn got him off on a manslaughter conviction for which Gotti served only two years. Thereafter, he was a virtual consigliere, representing many members of the five families of the Cosa Nostra.
The state of New York indicted Cohn on multiple charges three times. In each instance, Cohn adopted an aggressive counterattack and was ultimately not guilty three times and had a mistrial on another.
Another client, jurist Alan Dershowitz, characterized Cohn as “the quintessential fixer”. Cohn also served as an advisor to Republican presidents Nixon and Reagan. He features in multiple documentary films, including Matt Tyrenhauer’s 2019 “Where’s My Roy Cohn?”, which can be rented on Prime Ticket and is portrayed as a villain in the 2024 film, “The Apprentice”, scheduled to air in the U.S. in October 2024..
Roy Cohn was disbarred in 1986 for attempting to defraud a dying client. He died of AIDS shortly thereafter. Is it possible to imagine a sleazier attorney?
What does all of this have to do with Donald Trump? The documentary title referenced above “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” is a direct quote from Donald Trump.
The basic information that the Trumps would call on such a repellant individual to represent them is self-accusatory. We previously discussed 1973 federal charges brought against the Trump Organization for violation of the Fair Housing Act, in discriminating against renting apartments to African Americans in properties managed by the Trumps. We will discuss this case and Cohn’s continuing relationship with Donald Trump tomorrow.
Have a heart; use your mind, search your conscience, and vote for Democratic candidates – across the ballot – on November. 5th.
Please share this message with your friends and please, add your thoughts, to expand upon what are only brief sketches here.
Fred Grannis
August 11, 2024