Roy Cohn is still up to his same old tricks

Reincarnation has never been one of my core beliefs. Not until I read a gripping new book by noted biographer Kai Bird and his wife Susan Goldmark: “American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump.”

Now I am convinced that Roy Cohn didn’t die in 1986. He was simply reincarnated and is now president. President Trump is Roy Cohn incarnate.

Cohn was one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century, whose influence in the 21st century is as strong as ever. That doesn’t mean he was one of the most likeable. In fact, the portrait of Cohn painted by Bird and Goldmark is pure evil. It’s fascinating reading, but I felt like I needed to take a shower at the end of every chapter. From serving as Sen. Joe McCarthy’s (R-Wis.) pit bull during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954 to representing mafia dons in New York and Las Vegas, Cohn gained a reputation as a ruthless, unscrupulous, amoral, rule-breaking, judge-busting attorney who would lie, cheat, and steal to serve his clients and then brag about getting away with it — until he was finally disbarred in 1986.

Cohn met his most famous client in October 1973, when Trump and his father had been sued by the Justice Department for refusing to rent apartments to Black families. “What do you think we should do?” Trump asked. Cohn’s response was classic: “Tell them to go to hell and fight the thing in court and let them prove you discriminated.” Trump hired Cohn on the spot and went on to become his most........

© The Hill