Twisted legacy

Narrow face, scar running down his nose, ending in a huge bulbous bump, living on Park Avenue Roy Cohn dodged the draft at the end of World War II; political gamesman, finagling, after he got a law degree he cut a deal, got a patronage job as Assistant US Attorney, landed in ‘The Trial of the Century’ – Russian spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg ended up in the electric chair for stealing nuclear bomb secrets.

Moving on to Washington, joining arms with Fighting Joe McCarthy as his legal counsel, Cohn said the U.S. Army was riddled with communists; that didn’t sit well with the Five Star General sitting in the White House – Dwight Eisenhower upended Cohn, instead of grilling communists in courtrooms Cohn found himself being grilled in the Army-McCarthy hearings. That sunk him. And McCarthy.

Back in Manhattan, gaming reporters, playing New York tabloids like a fiddle, partying with Barbara Walters, Andy Warhol, Cohn turned himself into a celebrity; lawyer, fixer, he got indicted three times – for perjury, jury tampering, bribery – but celebrity topped scandals. His law practice boomed.

One night in the 1970’s partying in upper-class Le Club bar twenty-seven-year-old Donald Trump told Cohn he was being sued for not renting apartments to Blacks, asked what to do.

Cohn shot back. ‘My view is tell them to go to hell.’

Cohn sued the people suing Trump, was Trump’s lawyer, fixer, until he died of AIDS. Cohn introduced Trump to Washington dealmaker Roger Stone – when Trump ran against Hillary, Stone explained to a reporter how Trump learned to use the media, and learned the power of celebrity, from Cohn, adding: ‘There’re a dozen Trump-isms he got from Roy. For example, you’d ask Trump a question, instead of saying yes, he’d say, ‘100 percent.’ That’s Roy. ‘Forget about it.’ That’s Roy. ‘A lot of people say.’ That’s Roy. Those are Roy-isms.’

Eyes locked on celebrity Trump beat Hillary, moved into the Oval Office, the plague struck; standing behind the White House podium giving a coronavirus briefing, as cameras whirred, rambling the celebrity asked Doctor Deborah Brix if injecting bleach would kill coronavirus. That’s Roy Cohn’s legacy. Maybe it’s time to go back to electing farmers.