Bette Dangerous Podcast Ep52 - American Monster - Roy Cohn

***The American Monster series is for paid members. I am offering a 30% discount for a first year membership this weekend so please join our growing community of pro-democracy global citizens at a great rate and share with allies. Our next members’ ‘Speakeasy’ zoom salon is with Ruth Ben-Ghiat on July 30.***

The following is an excerpt from this podcast, based on my print report ‘American Monster - Roy Cohn’ - the third in a series about convicted US criminals who accelerated the world toward authoritarianism.

‘Situational Immorality’

According to author Sam Roberts in a Marie Brenner report for Vanity Fair, Trump inherited ‘situational immorality’ from Cohn.

“Roy was a master of situational immorality . . . He worked with a three-dimensional strategy, which was: 1. Never settle, never surrender. 2. Counter-attack, counter-sue immediately. 3. No matter what happens, no matter how deeply into the muck you get, claim victory and never admit defeat.”—Sam Roberts

It’s important to note that in studying the conflicted life of Roy Cohn and his handling of the media, that Trump has been doing a Roy Cohn schtick his entire adult life.

Watching Cohn try to discredit the prosecutor in one of his indictment cases is no different than watching Trump try to discredit Jack Smith — like Cohn, he plays the victim, turning the spotlight away from criminality and toward a vendetta, all the while hugging a flag and calling it patriotism.

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(Roy Cohn, in 1964, government archives)