No Ms. Dowd, Trump is not simple. As disgusting and repulsive as he is, he is not simple. He's focused on himself with a sole focus on gaining wealth and power, but he is not simple. He's a pathological narcissist with serious learning disorders and short attention span, but he is not simple.
He has a charisma that is hard to understand for many of us. I'd never turn my back on him; but, I've never met him. Still, people who ought to know him better still get sucked in by the aura. The ultimate case was the charade Donald pulled when he publicly, deliberately, embarrassed Mitt Romney into believing that he could be Secretary of State and then dumped him. Romney should know that Trump hated his guts, but got charmed past that.
Trump has a history of trampling all over everyone around him that cannot be used. Contractors, associates, bank directors, heads of state and 35% of the electorate all seem to swoon under the charismatic spell. Some of them eventually learn, particularly banks and heads of state, who can't afford to be conned twice. His subcontractors, associates, and voters, not so much.
115
Interesting ...
Maureen Dowd was eager to broadcast the news whenever Donald Trumo, the crude candidate, returned her phone calls. And she spent many happy hours, and column inches, demeaning and insulting Hillary.
So Donald Trump didn’t actually “stumble” into the presidency. He had lots of eager, entertained sycophants, excited by a naughty mean jet-setter, following on his tail.
Look in the mirror, darlin’.
171
How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball...!!!
There are millions.
31
It appears that you do not publish comments that are critical of your essayists. I refer to my earlier comment criticizing Ms Dowd for her dislike of Hillary Clinton and apparent support for Trump during the campaign.
71
“A fool for love, held in thrall by Trump. How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball”
Exactly,Maureen. You should ask yourself that question. You and your anti-Hillary articles helped get him elected.
124
But...but...her emails!!!!
Isn’t that right, Maureen?
108
"It has been apparent for some time that the president is a con man, racist, cheat and liar." Where was this clear-eyed assessment when Maureen wrote her fluff pieces on Trump during the 2016 campaign? Can her berth at the Gray Lady to someone who gets it (and as a bonus isn't still frantic about Hillary and Barack)?
67
"It has been apparent for some time that the president is a con man, racist, cheat and liar."
And I earnestly hope someday soon Ms. Dowd you will share with us why you never saw this during your three decade friendship. I just don't get it. You are a very smart social observer and know how to express yourself so very well.
87
The title is 'The Sycophant and the Psychopath' by which you mean Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan, right?
29
Not another word, Ms. Dowd, until you 'fess up and admit that you voted for THAT.
Not another word.
93
I consider a person's reaction to Trump to be both a moral and intellectual I.Q. test. He infatuates those who are stupid; and he enlists those who are immoral. There en lies the danger of Fascism.
59
Just which fictional character does Maureen Dowd thinks portays her own character well?
The woman who loved Trump. Until she hated him.
The woman who routinely referred to President Obama by a nickname that he himself never used.
The woman who values snark over thoughtful critical analysis.
The biggest name-dropper on the page (and she’s got some mighty stiff competition).
One could go on....
Waiting for the apologies, Ms. Dowd.
84
Me. Dowd, perhaps even just a soft apology to Hilary Clinton? She was a flawed candidate but would have been a so-much better president than this criminal sociopath.
97
Name a cult that ended well.
28
Fascinating how during the Cohen hearing not one Republican came to Trump's defense. Not one rose to defend the honor of their party's leader -- because they know he has no honor, obviously. Neither do they. And that's our problem. We have a major political party that on every level is putrid. Back in 2000, Gore Vidal predicted that the GOP will be considered an outlaw party some day and be banned. That day can't come soon enough.
The humorous moment of Cohen's testimony: When he said that Trump said that his son Donald Jr. is an idiot. "Donald Junior has the worst judgement in the world," Cohen said, quoting Trump. I spit out my coffee and laughed out loud.
34
Trump attracts a certain kind of person, the nonperceptive. The one who in spite of all evidence, believes otherwise. I am no great judge of character, but I remember years ago, probably in the late seventies seeing him on one of the afternoon talk shows, shaking my head and thinking, "what an idiot" and dismissing him. No effect on my future or my family's. If people wanted to eat his steaks, or attend his fake U, or stay at one of his gilded monstrosities well, it's a free country. Unfortunately, the Michael Cohens, and the Michael Cohen wannabes that comprise his base have foisted this ignorant, incurious, very limited con man on the rest of us. Donald is a sociopath, incapable of change and I am becoming convinced that his supporters lack the ability to ever behold the truth. Any parent who continues to support Trump after watching Otto's poor, distressed, used and discarded parents should have a moment of revelation. Do you think that's gonna happen?
38
Armchair pomposity. If you have been conned over a long period by a psychopath you will have some understanding of Cohen's position. If you have not, you will be clueless, as I consider the writer of this to be on the subject.
19
Great column!
Now you go after him? You are a hypocrite of the first order, the time you should have done this and supported HRC was 2015. Too little too late and too much self righteousness. Fail.
73
"The Sycophant and the Sociopath."
Some topic! Who would this piece be about? Which sociopath? Trump? Kim? Putin? Which sycophant? Cohen? McConnell? The entire Republican Congress? The cabinet? Fox? Ms. Dowd herself who did her part to give us Individual One? Mr. Cohen was credible. He told us about the Trump criminal enterprise. He pulled the curtain back on the Trump cult.
48
One of the many reasons Cohen was not invited to DC is his lower class thug accent. Most professionals work hard to modify speech that does not rise to their place in life. That voice served him well when he threatened 500 people...but to Ivanka and Jared, it is beyond the pale for their Upper East Side (former) friends. He's just too vulgar to have a the television every day.
Their snobbery has really come back to bite them!
32
I think it’s time for “The Trump Crime Family” to come into the vernacular.
15
Cohen is a broken man, self serving and morally bankrupt. He is believable but not redeemable.
9
A two plus hour anti-socialist speech? Why? What's Coming? This was antidote before coming poison.......
4
Geesh....I plowed thru this article hoping to be enriched somehow but....alas....
7
Sorry, I can not feel for Michael Cohen. What kind of idiot begs people to come to his SON'S Bar Mitzvah - not his Bar Mitzvah. If it is not meaningful to be there for the boy, DON'T COME. It is not about Michael (or any other parent).
As for Trump, he is just like many of the real estate people I worked with (regardless of ethnicity, sex, religion, etc.). Prosectors need to look more broadly into the whole industry rather than just focusing on the Trump organization.
Trump is giving the country what he promised - running the country like it is his real estate business. The Democrats only have themselves to blame for his election. A younger, more visionary candidate would have excited the electorate in a way Hilary could not.
4
I still can’t read a Maureen Dowd column without remembering just how frequently and viciously she attacked Hillary before the election. Thanks Ms. Dowd. 80,000 votes in three states. Way to use your platform. Not sure I can ever read you without feeling nauseated. Maybe your tag line could include “helped elect Trump.”
60
“When Trump somehow stumbled into the presidency...” This is where Maureen Dowd blame usually surfaces. Alas! But your entertaining and enlightening piece left out the most salient factor for Cohen’s sycophancy, MONEY. It was all about getting rich and Trump’s coattails was the play.
8
When I read this and other pieces I am so ashamed to be American and say this man is our president and represents me on the world stage. How could we fall so far? After Iraq I thought Bush was the bottom, now I wonder how low can we go?
38
Some folks seem surprised that trump stays around 40% in the polls, trump gave that 40% a chance to put immigrants, minorities and Muslims " in their place" they will stick with him until the bitter end, which is nigh.
14
Well done Maureen!
Last night (3/2/19) I was watching the CNN documentary about the 2000 years decade. I started watching at the time of the McCain-Palin recounting. Palin was fabulous when she had a well-crafted script to read via the teleprompter. But once the media started interviewing Palin without the teleprompter safety-net, her lack of intellectual prowess and mental acuity frightened a lot of us.
In fact, many in the media were alarmed that if McCain won, the greatest threat to US safety was Palin being president should anything happen to McCain.
Later, in 2009, Gail Collins (NYT, 7/3/09) wrote “…campaign aides found it almost impossible to get Palin to prepare for her disastrous interview with Katie Couric. And there is no sign, Purdum reported, that Palin has made any attempt to bone up on the issues so that next time around, she could run as a candidate who actually had some grasp of the intricacies of foreign and domestic policy.”
This was the interview where Couric asked Palin what media she read; Palin couldn’t cite one paper or magazine. “I read lots, you know, all of them” was about all Palin could say.
Sound familiar?
While commentators described the political ignorance – by her own words – of Palin, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I was so surprised that I spoke to myself, out loud:
"OMG, donald trump is the reincarnation of Sarah Palin, without the lipstick!"
Sarah Palin does have the nuclear codes, after all!
Bomb shelters anyone?
21
This is the testing point for Mitch McConnell and all republicans and we watch with fearful hearts.
8
Michael Cohen is one of those people who were born to be some stronger person's lackey. Hollow himself, he needs a stronger man's confidence, prestige and power to fill the emptiness and give himself any sense of worth. His old master and protector having cast him off as no longer useful, he has now found a new one -- the state. He will be useful to that new master only insofar as he has brought information that corroborates anything he is now willing to say in order to curry favor.
2
What does "Make America great again" really mean, anyway? And, why do the Trump supporters care about MAGA? Lets ask them to define it, and explain what it means to them. (And then lets give them a history/civics lesson.)
13
What people will stoop to for money and power never cease to amaze me. My only hope is that Karma will have the last word.
6
Who wouldn't be stars truck by the prospect of working in the White House.
I thought he had $45MM worth of NY taxi medallions. True?
1
Republicans were surprised and outraged that the Democrats had called a “known liar” to testify.
It is difficult, if not down right impossible, to get someone of sterling reputation from Trump’s inner circle to testify. Few of unstained character seem willing to be sullied by association.
14
Every time I read Maureen Dowd about Trump
I can't help but think how happy she must be at the place we are in given how she loved to tear down the last democratic candidate for President. Thanks Maureen!
40
I drove down a side street yesterday and saw a family sitting on the curb, on their old couch, trash bags of their belongings on the ground. Evicted! It's winter out here! There were kids. That is sad.
But when a psychopath (somehow sounds appropriately harsher than sociopath) like Trump says "sad!" or "very sad!" he is mocking someone - with glee - without compunction. It's bad enough when he mocks the high and mighty, but it is despicable when mocks those who have been kicked to the ground.
Most people have known and interacted with psychopaths their throughout life. Psychopath exist, and some are very good at their game. Don't deny it. Some are merely heartless and untrustworthy, but others cause significant harm. By training and experience I know something about how they operate. First rule: Accept the fact that, no matter how sophisticated you are, you can still be taken in - at least initially. John Edwards (what unprincipled opportunist was) seemed like such a nice fellow - guess not.
Trump knows how to pull the right levers. He's gifted in a perverse way. But until his base wakes up and until he is removed from power, we are in significant danger. Ultimately, when it serves him, he will even betray his most loyal apologists and water carriers. Forewarned, he is no one's friend.
Hate to say it, but, as one of my mentors put it, sometimes you have to know how to "out psychopath" a psychopath.
Good luck with that.
13
Michael Cohen's testimony at the hearing was laughable. Donald Trump had nothing to do with Michael Cohen's bank and tax fraud. Those were all Michael Cohen's own doing. As was his raking in millions for his "insights" into and connection to the newly-elected Donald Trump. That he blames his woes on Donald Trump is pathetic.
Donald Trump has his faults. Boy, does he. But he also has his strengths. He is the only president in my long life who understands how to take risks, and is willing to take them. And who knows that failure is a big part of any success. Too many people, especially presidents, focus on hiding their faults instead of using their strengths. They try to avoid risks and failure and end up without any real successes.
Early on I was far from being a Donald Trump fan. But I look at what he has done and I'm impressed. Michael Cohen's grandstanding didn't show anything of any import. Robert Mueller has come up empty. The economy is humming and peace, while not total, is replacing conflict.
You can hate Donald Trump, Maureen Dowd. But I'll take him.
5
God, it’s getting clear to me why Trump mistreated Cohen. Cohen was the ugly face which Trump did not want juxtaposed with his face. Always more interested in appearances that substance, Trump painted a picture of himself as a fantastically successful businessman and celebrity, more by branding through the tabloid press despite his real business problems. Then sewing up the image with his reality television persona on “The Apprentice”. His underhanded methods and indifference to keeping to agreements needs someone to clean up the messes in Trump’s preferred way of making people feel throughly beaten and thinking Trump rolled right over them, but not in person, outside of the view of the mass media. Preserving the brand.
Trump kept the details of his businesses and personal wealth secret. There was only his puffery and the complaints of the losers in his business affairs from which to choose. Trump has no convictions and he attracts people with no or soft ethics who buy into his branding who think that he will let them share in his fantastic success. Cohen was just another of Trump’s would be “apprentices”.
6
Let me peruse this, the Trump loyalists say Trump is lying now when he contradicts the earlier lies for which he was convicted. Those previous lies were ones which exonerated Trump, so does that not mean the current lies are true?
Pardon me if I am confused.
4
I don't know what Cohen could say or do to get a reprieve from the cynics who claim he is just faking his turnaround cause he got caught. He sits there and say he was a fool in front of his family and the world. He says he is sorry and wants to make it right. He says he won't take profiting from a book off the table. He is honest on all fronts, it seems to me. I believe the guy. Let's turn the page on Cohen, hope for the best on his path through redemption, and focus on the corruption still spinning lies in the White House.
12
We are lost. Day after day for the years of the presidential campaign and Trump's presidency, reasonable journalists and citizens point to his lies, self-dealing, ignorance, refusal to study and learn, and immoral actions and words. But nothing changes and Republicans continue their support for this man. How much damage has been done to our standing in the world, our ability to move forward with innovation, and our national conversation. How many young people will go forward thinking that this is how the United States operates and this is how they should treat others.
13
it truly is amazing that Trump's many supporters seem to laugh-off Cohen's testimony. This sangfroid behavior bodes ill for Democrats in 2020 as some astute writers (e.g., David Eggers) have noted. we underestimate this evil threat to our nation at our peril. we can only hope that the better angels in our country will vote in 2020. do not impeach Trump and make him a martyr to his rabid base....his kind then will never go away. the wiser path is to destroy him at the ballot box. the challenge is for moderates and progressives in the Democratic party to develop a winning formula and to stay on that message! A message that is convincing to the independent voters!
15
Remind yourself, this is what we have as President of the United States of America.
That is reality.
The world is watching.
12
I have despised Trump since the 80s; that is how old I am, though not as old as he.
It is funny, my now deceased father admired him, and a friend of mine told me that her relatives were admirers.
You know, you like your own folks, but if you are me and my friends, you hate Trump with a passion.
I live in Colorado Springs, which is very red. People are polite here. We talk the weather; you can always do that.
4
People say liberals need to talk to these heartland voters. I have been talking to them for 20 years. I know they are purposely misinformed and don't want to do the work to get the facts.
All those American heartland Republicans just got the 2017 Republican tax law that has increased the deficit from $600 Billion to over $1 Trillion.
The estimated increase to the debt over the next ten years is $12 Trillion which is $80,000 per taxpayer.
This debt will be given to us, our children, and grandchildren and with cuts to Social Security and Medicare for our parents and grandparents.
Those Republican voters in the heartland don't know this. Why?
And this is after 8 years of Republican relentlessly railing against the debt when it was Obama.
I live in the South and have neighbors who still believe the Clintons had Vince Foster murdered and Obama was born in Kenya.
And I never hear anyone say those heartland voters should talk to some liberals to understand what they are thinking. Why is that?
29
"Republicans on the Hill who so obsequiously stand by [Trump] will eventually learn it wasn’t worth it...." In fact, they did what they had to do to survive politically and that was their top priority. If they mirror their constituents' Trump love as it eventually arcs into Trump revulsion. all it will have cost them was their self-respect. It isn't clear how much that matters to them.
7
Trump should know that everyone has their Sammy the Bull.
5
"How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball, much less offer to take a bullet for him or make 500 threats on his behalf?"
*****
IMO, this question is on the same scale as is there a deity or not. I don't think that anyone will be able to understand those who votd for and support a man whose public life and private life seem to be of one thread. Corrupt, amoral, indecent.
18
Just a chuckle...Have read only the very beginning of this column so far and got to "...trouble in paradise with Kim." I immediately wondered, "Who is she?"
I'm early-morning groggy, but let's face it, everything is so twisted in TrumpWorld.
4
The TrumpTrain has always had an Abuse Caboose.
8
ACDC may have written Trumps theme but Cohen's been singing Steely Dan's Dirty Work.
2
For those who need to be reminded a "sociopath" is defined as "a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience." In the case of Donald Trump he suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) formerly megalomania. I say that as a psychologist with a "duty to warn" despite the infamous Goldwater rule against diagnosing at a distance. Anyone who looks, say at the Mayo Clinic description of NPD, will immediately see that Trump has this mental illness meeting ever single criterion.. As such, he lacks empathy while needing constant adulation and admiration (aka loyalty) and will viciously attack all who refuse to offer it. His delusion of grandeur can entrap others like Michael Cohen as they have entrapped him with his belief that he's win a Nobel Peace Prize for bring "peace in our time" with North Korea. Trump is a mentally unstable autocrat who has been relentlessly undermining the Constitution (for example, the "separation of powers" with a "fake news" national emergency to steal Congressionally authorized funds for other purposes to build a wall) as he has anyone whose ever crossed his path. With his Non-Disclosure Agreements he's sought to build his own personal wall to protect him from being attacked. That wall has now been breached by Michael Cohen. The alarm bells are ringing on the Trump Titanic with a "sycophant" sinking that has finally pierced its fake facade.
27
Thanks, Maureen. You got it just right!
2
The two people who came to mind while reading this article were Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler.
I will admit to being largely ignorant of the details of the rise of Josef Stalin. Was he simply in the right place at the right time with the right mind to be ruthless and to gather power? Stalin purged countless enemies and as a dictator was probably worse than Hitler. But in 1956, Nikita Khrushchev gave a secret speech repudiating Stalin. The Russians had come to their senses.
But Hitler had the benefit of a "good message" to present to receptive Germans who has lost the war, had seen great economic disruption in the 20s, and were now in the Great Depression. People were ready to listen and he moved slowly and cunningly. By 1933 he had gathered power that no right thinking German would have given him. Sort of a "boil the frog" approach with soothing words to the frog.
Is 2017 - 2019 really different with Trump? Trump is not the evil of Hitler or Stalin, but does his less malignant motivation excuse the same ends?
Truly intelligent or caring Germans with backbones did not speak up... and then it was too late and and it was too dangerous. If there are Republicans and otherwise "truly intelligent or caring" people, will they fail to speak up? Will it become too dangerous?
It is certainly not too late.
11
I'm not always on the Dowd bandwagon, but thank you SO MUCH for this: "Unlike many Republican TV commentators who can wash away past sins about Sarah Palin and the Iraq war — and get a big payday and liberal love — by trashing Trump, Cohen is not destined for reputation rehab."
1
I think Maureen Dowd should apologize for calling everybody from Long Island (and Queens and Manhattan and so on) a mob boss because we mostly all have a specific accent. What the heck was that all about? Michael Cohen sounds exactly like every one of my friends, relations and acquaintances. Most people don’t have the benefit of a fancy uppercrust education. What a rotten swipe!
14
When I first saw the title of this article, I thought it was about Mike Pence's relationship to Trump, not Cohen's.
4
Trump has even stained the word “love” —
7
I miss Obama, more and more, every day.
28
I wouldn't even hire Trump as a babysitter.
3
I know this is a bit off-topic, but maybe not. Yes, Cohen is a disgrace, just like his ex-boss. But there’s an elephant in this room and it isn’t the Reep mascot. Most of the commenters have mentioned it: the voters who voted for a con man knowing full-well his character.
He won the Electoral College by 70,000 votes spread across three (or four?) swing states. Yes, the anti-democratic Electoral system has got to go, Hillary could have campaigned better, Putin put his finger in the scale, and the “heartland” voter is way more misogynistic than s/he will ever know, but there was something else going on back in 2016 — and is still going on: opioid addiction — in precisely the swing states that swung just enough his way.
My theory is that not all of these addicts are passed out in the gutter. Many are functional, but warped. Too many of them are to this day thrilled by a warped President. How many functional addicts are Trump acolytes? Maybe more than enough to have gotten him the Electoral votes. How many at his rallies are secret addicts? Does this theory sound too cynical? Look at the last two plus years of POTUS antics and his adoring base.
6
What does John Edwards have to do with any of this? Oh, well, I guess we should be thankful that for once, at least, you didn't throw in the Clintons or Obama.
23
Donald Trump also said: Charles Manson told me before he died that Sharon Tate had attacked him when he dated her, and so she deserved all she got. Since Manson was serving a life sentence at the time, he had nothing to gain by lying to me—except maybe a pardon, which I doubt, from such a strong leader. So, I take Manson at his word.
Or something similar.
2
We already knew that Trump is a narcissistic bully who is lacking in basic character traits. Cohen confirmed what Trump had shown us in plain sight over the last decades. Our president thinks of running the U.S. government as a mission to expand the Trump brand. Nothing more. And Republicans who do not mind the shredding of the U.S. constitution by Trump will be adjudged traitors when the history of these years is written.
8
"... Cohen was merely Renfield to Trump’s Dracula..."
Fine.
But where is Jonathan Harker and his bowie knife?
(That's right, Dracula was dispatched with two knives, one across the throat and the bowie through the heart, not with a wooden stake.)
1
"The portrait Cohen drew of Trump was not surprising. It has been apparent for some time that the president is a con man, racist, cheat and liar."
I wonder if this description of Trump is synonymous with "politician" for Trump supporters, and that is why they love him as president.
2
While the facts of Michael Cohen’s testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee was what could have been expected of a man’s life’s achievement was being a “fixer” for con man, Cohen showed himself to be a lawyer skilled in responding to hostile questioning. He did not lose his train of thought and interjected tactically effective and well timed counters to the Republicans’ haplessly repeated, “you’re a liar!” complete with their silly poster. And, he repeated his mea culpas at about the right intervals to have the message stick.
For a decade, Cohen obviously cajoled himself into ignoring Trump’s well known depravity for the sake of a shot at the billionaire brass ring. Of course, that demonstrates his willful blindness to the corruption. But he was no dummy. His summary warning to the Republicans, “I’m responsible for your silliness . . . I protected Mr. Trump. That puts you in the same position that I’m in,” was probably the best defense that a lawyer with a weak case could argue. He both showed up the Republican questioners’ similar willful blindness and provoked whatever sympathy that he might elicit from the courts that will address his pleas for leniency.
8
Donald Trump must be incredibly charismatic in person. Somehow he manages to get reasonably bright people to do very stupid things out of awe, or loyalty, or a desire to please. The number of people who have resisted his charms is apparently quite small. A much larger number comes staggering away from him muttering, "what was I thinking?"
2
And spare a thought for the rest of what we call “the Free World,” who have been the continuing collateral damage of the Trump presidency. Trump has given succour to populist demagogues like Orban, Salvini, Bolsonaro and Duterte at every turn, while systematically slagging off stalwart allies like Canada. He has emboldened the murderous hegemony of Putin, pooh poohed the state ordered execution of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khassoghi by his “brother in arms” (pun intended) Mohammed bin Salman, and written “love letters” to mass murderer Kim Jong-un.
The 60,000,000 Americans (and the Electoral College) who put a weak, unstable conman into office didn’t just inflict him on the U.S. but on the rest of the world as well. We should be thoroughly ashamed.
19
“So cartoonish as to be ridiculous”
Remind me, who’s he talking about?
Fred Trump Sr. must have been one of the most pathetic, miserable, and despicable fathers who ever walked the earth. He turned his namesake, Fred Jr., into an alcoholic who drank himself and Donald into a needy, amoral, empty money, power, and status addict who's in the process of manifesting his worst fears - that he's exactly what daddy hated most - a major league loser. Which helps explain why Donald can't help but berate, belittle, and destroy fools who jump through hoops to win his approval the way he jumped through hoops (and failed) to win daddy's approval.
14
Cohen is Jacob Marley, congressional GOP is Scrooge. But the ending won’t be joyous.
1
"It has been apparent for some time that the president is a con man, racist, cheat and liar."
Although the sociopathic characteristics noted about Trump may have "been apparent for some time" to some, many still voted for him and continue to support the sociopath currently residing in the Oval Office.
Trump's character flaws have obviously not been apparent to many "for some time" or character really does not matter to a large number of the American people. My take is that character is not that important, unfortunately, to the many continuing to support a president that "is a con man, racist, cheat and liar."
4
Isn't it a shame that we Americans spend so much time focused on our imbecilic president. How sad that we have gone from a daily hour of Walter Cronkite to 6 hours of news & commentary, on one station alone; many others are the same. Most programs make more sense than this somewhat disjointed piece by the formerly humorous Ms. Dowd.
2
"A fool for love, held in thrall by Trump. How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball, much less offer to take a bullet for him or make 500 threats on his behalf?"
For one thing, Cohen appears to be one of those star-struck adults in arrested adolescent development, who is awed by celebrity, and I would not discount the fact that Cohen was paid for his adulation of Trump—by Trump.
But, probably not really well paid or reliably paid on time, since Trump is infamous for being cheap and renigging on his promises and contracts.
But the more important question is why does about one third of our citizenry continue to swoon over Trump, who acts like some tacky, vapid-headed, narcissistic movie star, and who may be as instrumental, self-serving, manipulative, deranged, and ultimately destructive of other people's lives as Michael Jackson? Or Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes….
Why?
3
Michael "Little Finger" Cohen like many other trump leeches got turned out with the trash. To witness nearly an entire Republican Congress do the same is pathetic. Are there no decent, moral Republicans left in government.
14
Trump marches through people like Sherman marched through Georgia. t least Sherman did it to defeat an enemy.
1
Enough, enough, enough already on the Crazy Man in the White House! Maureen always makes me laugh with her brilliant use of language coupled with her Irish wit. Yet I wonder: how can the Madman still be so popular with his base, how can I read articles saying he may win a second term, how can elected members of Congress abdicate their roles to protect the Constitution? What have we come to as a species to have elected someone this craven?
5
Mr. Cohen reminded me of the fine art of "code talk" referred earlier.......
“When a president of the United States in the Oval Office says something like ‘I hope’ or ‘I suggest’ — do you take that as a directive?” Sen. Angus King (I-ME), asked.
“Yes,” Comey replied, before referencing a request by Henry II in 1170. “It rings in my ear as, kind of, ‘Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?'”
3
A whole column dedicated to the fixer - one who has also worked for the Clinton’s - and who is a convicted liar. I’m looking for any reason to say he’s a credible witness.
This set of observations is embroiled in the confusing middle scale, what does it clarify?
Dean’s recent OpEd Ed took an historic point view.
Emotionally, our broken electorate, voted for a broken man and his overly groomed broken henchman — all swirling in a soup of viagra, rogaine, steroids, adderol and ketamine.
4
Masterful, Ms. Dowd. Love it!
At the end of the televised "hearing", I needed a pry bar to lift my chin off of my chest: Watching hour after hour of Republican "representatives" slice up Cohen for being a liar in defense of a "president" who has lied more times in the last three years along than I have eaten meals during that time was the ugliest form of disgusting circus.
Cohen is a convicted liar while Trump is a proven liar. Yet there sat Trump's new fixers all enraged about Cohen and his veracity.
Yes, this is exactly what the folks in that hall in Philly in 1787 had in mind.
13
It matters little if you think Trump is a bum and Cohen has had a come to Jesus moment to me nothing changed last week. Calling Trump a racist, con man and cheat drew a yawn. Most of Trump's base could care less if he does not have the character of an Eagle Scout. There been have many sports figures who were despicable human beings on one hand but knew how to win games on the other hand. The quest is not who you would bring home to meet your mother the quest is who do you think will fight for you. To the chagrin of many on The Left Trump's poll numbers are actually going up. If The Left keeps trying to make rock stars out the new faces in congress they are going to give Trump another term. Cohen's testimony this week reminds one of Sammy The Bull testifying against his Don John Gotti. Both Sammy and John were criminals and murderers but the public swooned of The Teflon Don. Trump's base could care less if he is a scoundrel.
Who are the "many Republican TV commentators" getting "liberal love by trashing Trump"? Am I supposed to feel guilty about watching Nicole Wallace on MSNBC?
2
Most of the Republicans on House Oversight Committee probably believe Michael Cohen regarding Trump's lack of character, but they are cowards and are terrified of losing their positions of power. In the years to come most will still be unwilling to admit even to themselves that they are cowards. What sad, pathetic excuses of men.
7
The only reason we know about Cohen as Renfield is because a limitless Special Prosecuter was set up to harrass this President for specious reasons by staff quislings. Imagine any President weighed down with such a ball and chain by deep state functionaries, furious that their billion dollar pant suit juggenaut could be derailed by deplorables, from the very start, no honeymoon, certainly no reasonless Nobel Prize. If only George W. Bush had a Bob Meuller perjury trapping all his henchmen. Of course, W did have Meuller, only then he was, like everyone else, loyally backing Bush's WMD lies for calamitous war.
Mitch McConnell, is our "shadow president"! Vote with your minds and for our Republic in 2020. Think!!
2
Trump's supporters persist because by siding with the progressives or Democrats about Trump's border "wall" they fear being seen as complicit in violating the metaphorical "wall" that many Americans see as the preservation of all they hold dear. This metaphorical “wall” is the boundary between saluting the flag and kneeling when the anthem is played. It is the fence that guards against gay couples joining the community of married couples. It is the invisible barrier to any atheist every holding high office in America. It is the social barrier that makes Bud Light the national beverage and marijuana possession a crime. It is the barricade between women and control of their own reproductive choices.
The metaphorical “wall” is holding back what they believe are “barbarians at the gate,” a phrase used to describe a people or forces deployed to destroy social institutions, a culture, or an empire.
Donald Trump is the Republican “wall.” They don’t believe in him any more than they believe in a thousand miles of concrete on the Mexican border. Virtually none among Congressional Republicans initially supported Trump’s candidacy. They were as surprised as the rest of us that he won. He may be an idiot, but he’s their idiot - a useful idiot as the expression goes. They know that abandoning Trump will be seen as allowing the inevitable changes of progressivism to overwhelm the floodgates.
4
Spot on as is the title.Sociopath is not hyperbole.
3
The GOP is the new Cohen
2
Bring back Charles Rangel. Nobody tougher.
A liar brought down by a liar. Can anyone in the Trump Mob spell
"KARMA" ?
2
How many columns like this will be written until everyone finally says, please stop giving us the same story, over and over again.
By now, NYT readers know who and what Trump is. It’s not opaque. It’s a clear picture. We all know who and what the problem is. It’s like loud police and fire engine sirens every day sounding the alarm signaling that something is on fire somewhere. It’s Orwellian news. The war in Asia. The war in the Middle East. Big brother’s face is on every screen and on the front page of every newspaper. What are the solutions?
8
Who knows what Michael Cohen saw in Trump. My question is, what do Trump supporters see?
Trump has less in common with his fans than any president, ever. He has wealth, trophy wives and girlfriends, plays golf instead shooting guns, does not go to church, has avoided military service, hates kids and pets. His word is worthless. The single thing he has in common with ordinary, decent Americans is that he doesn't like paying taxes.
Yet, people go to his rallies and cheer each lie, every ugly and un-presidential insult. Why? Is it like watching Jerry Springer? Is that the attraction?
32
"Sociopath" is the right word; "narcissist" lacks the sense of nastiness required to understand Trump. The thing to know about sociopaths is that they are incurable; it is a mental/emotional disorder with no known cure or even effective ameliorative treatment. Perhaps if journalists had been willing to use this more accurate term, Republicans way back in the day, say, 2016, might have abandoned hope that Trump would change and have opposed him more rigorously. As it is, they are now as trapped by the sociopath's "force field" as Michael Cohen was.
17
You've written the screenplay--go make it into a movie, girl!
2
"How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball, much less offer to take a bullet for him or make 500 threats on his behalf?"
Easy and old answer - for money and access to power, or at least the appearance of power. All proving yet again that humanity is still fraught with the same venal failings as our ancestors.
6
Trump can’t tell the truth . He always lies . When he said Cohen is lying then , since Trump lies all the time , Cohen is telling the absolute truth .
10
"When Trump somehow stumbled into the presidency, he and his family did not think Cohen was up to snuff to come to Washington."
This has to be the most laughable line in the column. Since when are Trump and his family "up to snuff" to come to Washington? Maybe they saw too much of themselves in Cohen and didn't want to be reminded.
At least Cohen made money from his association with Trump. But what are all the voters who fell for Trump's political con job getting in return? Answer: A kick in the teeth, starting with more expensive health care. Voting Republican is dangerous to your health.
17
Hired all the best people, indeed.
9
Perfect description. We knew it would be like this. We knew that Trump would destroy those closest to him. It’s still sad and painful to watch. Cohen was not a good guy. He fell for a crass empty shell of a man. We’ve been number to it. Everything Trump touches turns ugly. People need to listen to Cohen and save themselves.
5
Cohen's most cogent moment was when he warned the GOPers that his fate awaited them.
Look in the mirror, Jimmy J.;
'I am become Trump, destroyer of myself'! (Laugh emoji here)
'Gaze ye not long into the Trump abyss, lest the Trump abyss gaze into thee!' (Laughing cat emoji here)
(Note on JJ; He's not too bright either.)
So, down into ignominy they all will sail, along with Trump.
But, it will take more time and the damage to us and the world will grow. Just last week we saw him strutting about on the world stage with another psychotic narcissist.
It will take a couple decades of hard dedicated work to unravel the Trump mess. I don't know if it will ever be completely accomplished in my lifetime.
PS: Was the Edwards digression really required?
9
The author is quite correct in her view of Trump.
Frankly, anyone who has had even the remotest interest in Trump the businessman has known this of him for many many years. Sadly, many millions of Americans have and still agree with his corrupt and corrupting views and actions.He has single handedly dragged the country through the gutter,divided the nation through hatred and made America a laughing stock around the world.
For all Trump's many grotesque and appalling failings,it is the fact that so many Americans are happily willing and eager to support this man that is troubling .....and rather worrying for the years ahead.
13
Every time you turn over a rock Trump touched, creepy and crawling creatures come scurrying out. John McCain famously said regarding the Trump investigation that shoes dropping were provided by a centipede like creature.
Trump was home once again with his creepy and crawlies at the CPAC rally. These people form a cheering conga line for a President who they worship. There are so many of them. Trump likes to talk about an infestation from the Southern border, whereas the true infestation is home grown in Trump's poisoness garden.
15
Cohen was a hustler, had his law degree by 1991 and was practicing in 92, private practice by 2003 and partnership in 2006. Cohen is smarter than Trump what Trump couldn’t think up Cohen could they fed off each other. So much smarter than Trump he taped him, kept copies of checks, and is spilling his guts in the southern district of NY. Trump never wanted to be president never thought he could win and now has realized that he is way over his head.
7
We all have had friends or family members who have been romantically involved with terrible people.
We also often know people who fall into the wrong crowd, enrapt with a charismatic criminal.
And history is replete with the majorities of countries backing tyrants.
Some of these people know they are with a rogue, a thug, a tyrant. Others turn a blind eye until everything crashes around them.
The worst though are those who are eyes wide open and still follow, but do so simply for personal gain.
The gain can be great sex, money, fame, feeling of belonging, or some individual issue.
For Cohen it sounds like he was addicted to Trump for the proximity to fame.
For the GOP as a whole, politicians and pundits, who know better it is out of laziness. Easier to ride the wave than fight for what’s right.
This wave will crash and then these backers will sound like Cohen and be just like to detritus left on any beach.
Broken, odiferous things.
11
Absolutely Brilliant! It is intoxicating at the top and none of us are immune. This is why many lottery winners lose it all. Not just the money but their marriages, families and health. It’s a con that money buys happiness. Michael Cohen is a perfect exsmple of what could happen to any of us when we are targeted by a Sociopath like Trump.
5
"Trump isn’t a long-term thinker."
That is a trait that all psychopaths exhibit. It is their achilles heel and the reason most of them get caught. While it is a great competitive advantage to lack a conscience, the inability to foresee or care about the probable outcomes, their complete lack of empathy makes them socially disabled. Trump's sadistic cruelty and his graphic descriptions of torture and murder in cases like Wambier and the imaginary sex victims being smuggled across the unwalled border demonstrate his psychopathy. Researchers have shown that when normal people wince or withdraw from scenes of humans being hurt, psychopaths lean in and their eyes open wider. They are enthralled. That is Trump. He revels in the suffering of others and is always looking for opportunities to inflict it.
12
"But Cohen was chugging Trump Kool-Aid." There's much irony in that statement. The one member of the Oversight Committee who probably understands cults better than any other is Jackie Speier, who in 1978 went with Rep. Ryan to Jonestown and escaped with her life.
4
I really cannot add much more to the comments beyond what the commenters have already said. Spot on headline however. Trump is indeed a sociopath. As much as I knew his presidency would be bad and felt complete dispair on November 8, 2016, the actual presidency is much worse than I imagined. That so many of my fellow citizens support this horrible human being is heartbreaking. I notice that Fox etc. try to make our resistance about resisting Republicans. While I certainly would not have wanted Mitt Romney as my POTUS, I would have never felt this disenfranchised from my fellow citizens as I do with Trump.
This isn’t about tax policy and courts. It is about a SOCIOPATH sitting in the WH. PERIOD.
16
Cohen sold his morals and integrity not unlike the Republicans and Evangelicals who sold theirs with their vote for Trump for President. The biggest fraud in Congress now is Mitch McConnell who is dismantling our democracy day by day and putting our national security at risk.
17
'When Trump somehow stumbled into the presidency ...' Really?
I must take exception to that statement as should everyone else
who knows how to spell the words Russia and collusion, then put them into the same sentence. Isn't that what this whole sordid mess is really about? Plus, I'm still shaking my head trying to figure why and how John Edwards, his mistress, his slave (all forgotten asterisks by now) and Bunny Mellon got into or really belong in this thought salad of disjointed paragraphs.
Sorry about that.
4
Cohen never went to Prague. Which is why we are talking about salacious details of Trump's personal life. Otherwise, the headline would have been different.
2
Cohen is the equivalent of the mob guy who hands out the threats, the beatings, and ultimately the murders for the mob boss until the day that he decides for whatever reason to whack the boss and he does it by talking to the feds and putting the boss behind bars.
It was really funny watching the Republicans attempting to take down Cohen by calling him a liar when the all time champion of lying criminality is Trump. Plus the Republicans kept pretending that this kind of thing has never happened before when there is a history of murdering underlings in the mafia taking out the boss by telling everything that they know.
8
Some signs you're in a cult:
- The leader is the ultimate authority
- The group suppresses skepticism
- The group delegitimizes former members
- The group is paranoid about the outside world
- The leader is above the law
- There is no financial transparency
17
While many commentators refer to Trumpworld being similar to a mob family, it’s more like the gang that can’t shoot straight due to their incompetence once they got to the big stage of leading a national government.
Sure, Cohen laid out a path of corruption and this could be Trump’s eventual undoing as Prosecutors and House leaders build their cases.
Don Corleone had ambitions that his son Michael could become , “ Senator Corleone or President Corleone” as he transitioned to legitimate business as we saw in “The Godfather.”
But the people surrounding Trump like Michael Cohen and his sons could never be Roy Cohn and that is magnified by his own incompetence and corruption made worse by an inability to love them.
1
It is appalling to read some of these comments, some even that are flagged by the Times, that because Cohen is not a particularly nice person, he ought not to be believed. Ms. Dowd does a pretty good job of character assassination, even going so far as to mention his “Goodfellas” NY accent. Who cares?
It matters not at all that Cohen is not a nice man. It only matters that he tell, and told, the truth. As a line attributed to Ben Bradlee in "All the President's Men"; 'When is someone going to go on the record?'. Well, that's exactly what Cohen did, and to his credit, produced documents that provide Congress with a road map to some of Trump's high crimes and misdemeanors. Cohen can be the the second most despicable person on the planet but if he is telling truth about the most despicable person on the planet, good for him. I hope his book, when it comes out, makes him a fortune.
I think we can be certain, as much as certainty is possible in this world of moral and ethical relativism, that Cohen is being truthful, and those documents don't lie. He swore to tell the truth in the only forum that can benefit his upcoming Rule 35 hearing. He certainly will never get a Trump pardon, so he will surely serve those three years, although with good behavior he'll be out in two. The judge who hears his Rule 35 could shave a year off his sentence so he could be back out on the street in, say, 14 months. Again, who cares, as long as Congress uses his testimony to get Trump.
9
Cohen was another big nothing burger - and shame on Dems for trying to undermine the President during the recent summit. Now Nadler, Schiff and Waters will do Clinton’s bidding as her little errand tribe to ease her pain at wasting over $1 Billion in donations by losing to Trump. Socialist agenda and Socialist tactics = GOP landslide in 2020.
Exactly when is this going to stop? Trump is vile. Period.
5
The Trump con persists because Trump is surrounded by those who--for their own reasons--perpetuate the con. Rush Limbaugh and the various nattering nabobs of non-conservative negativism, Fox news, Republican politicians, all are co-conspirators in conning the American people for their own wealth, power, or proximity to power. If even a fraction of them stopped blowing smoke or repeating nonsense, the con would likely eventually collapse, leaving Trump even more forlorn and pathetic than he already is. So, blame Trump but his sycophants share the responsibility for our plight.
8
As for Cohen looking like the abused puppy dog while spilling the beans on his long time idol and benefactor — he is hardly a victim of anything but his own greed for millions and the illusion of power that came from playing hit man for a utterly self absorbed, ruthless billionaire.
All that really matters is that D.J. Trump still occupies the Oval Office to the monumental detriment and disgrace of the nation.
4
Trump isn't the cause of our collective inanity. He is the result.
Good luck America.
5
Well, Maureen, I'm first reminded by all of this of the trenchant and bitter--but essentially true--line of Harry Truman: "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." Oops, guess that won't appeal to DJT--he's kicked his "dog" once too often!
What ever one would say about Michael Cohen's past, I give everyone - including Michael Cohen - credit for redemption.
At great risk to his person and family, he is attempting to provide detail and clarity around the life of corruption, tax evasion, money laundering, racism, misogyny, conspiracy, threats and mobster behavior of Donald Corleone.
Michael Cohen may have been a sycophant, but no longer. Now the Republican Party are his sycophants, screaming with rage at any accuser of a man who is a traitor and a danger to this nation.
When the Republican Party became the Party of Trump, they no longer exist as a party with principled philosophy and members true to such. The Party of Trump act like the 1930's Brown Shirts, loyal only to their leader, not to espoused principles.
Michael Cohen is part of the solution to dismantling the myth of Trump.
Remember when Trump made an issue of President Obama releasing his grades from Harvard? This is the projection for which Donald is so famous (I call him Donald).
Imagine sending threatening letters not to release any information indicating his actual intelligence, while claiming to be a stable genius and demanding am actual elected brilliant President must release his grades to the public.
Imagine Donald's gall in demanding an investigation into the 4 star rated Clinton Foundation while the Trump Foundation was dissolved "for a shocking pattern of illegality."
Trump's churlish name calling is his projection of himself.
9
Excellent synopsis of "the Fixer" and his bossman. Only one thing missing here: excoriation of the craven GOP congress persons so intent on grandstanding, and on flaying Cohen during last week's hearings that they couldn't spare a moment's consideration for the serious charges brought against their Grifter-in-Chief.
4
To me, having Trump as President is like dealing with winter...each day that passes where I’m not confronted with the worst winter can bring I am grateful. On days when winter does bring its worst attributes, I bear down and deal with it. What is always constant each winter day is that I’m one day closer to the first sunshiny warmth of a spring day. I like to apply the same positive thoughts each day Trump’s term as President comes closer to its end...food for thought for some.
13
Nothing went on with Cohen and Trump that the majority of the 1%ers in New York and Washington don't do on a daily basis. A contemptuous of most of us upper class that includes the NY Times editors, media CEO's, Wall Street organized crime bankers and stockbrokers and our society's worst sycophants the economist priest hood and university and think tank PhD'w who will cook up a "study" that proves the earth is flat for a high enough fee. And most or much of their rigging and manipulation of our society and its laws and regulations to include causing anarchy via all manner of false accusations racism, anti Semitism, sexual assault ... are sleazy BUT NOT ILLEGAL. So what we have regarding the 1% assault on Trump is the simple dynamic of selective condemnation and prosecution of some who partially betrayed his Robber Baron class. Because he dared to pretend to threaten their trillions in unearned profits gained from free trade agreements that allow 80% of the world to cheat, and our nobility of business owners 'open borders' access to billions of no rights, slave-wage workers overseas and their alleged "right" to ever more millions of desperate immigrants imported for use as business plantation slaves within the USA.
9
Michael Cohen reminds me of the company embezzler who could never retire for fear his replacement would discover his illegal actions or like the guy who married the Boss's daughter, but now wants a divorce. In their minds, there is no way out.
The GOP believes Cohen perjured himself by denying he ever desired a position in the Trump Whitehouse. Cohen knew he had to pledge allegiance to the newly elected POTUS or else possibly be dismissed as Trump's "fixer" I doubt Cohen really wanted a job in the chaotic toxic West Wing. In the hearing, he was not given an opportunity to fully explain.
Cohen has done us all a service by voluntarily appearing in front of Congress. I think he is remorseful and wanted to redeem himself in the eyes of his family. After all, at this point he has nothing to lose. The GOP cannot push him any farther down from the impenetrable barrier of his current rock bottom position.
25
The best judge, so far, of Cohen's credibility is Mueller & Co. who told the sentencing judge he had given them substantial assistance. So, whether Cohen has changed or can ever change his spots is irrelevant to me.
28
If Cohen's assertions can be corroborated, his character does not matter. Ad hominem attacks often suggest the absence of a strong counter argument, which is why Jordan and his colleagues never asked any relevant questions about Cohen's testimony. If only the testimonies of angels were permitted in a trial or hearing, there would be very few revelations about criminal activities.
24
You wrote this:
"This time, it wasn’t just lust, betrayal and secrets splayed across Page Six. This time, it was in Congress, part of an investigation that could lead to legal jeopardy for the Trumps or impeachment for the president."
I hope it will be the former, because I feel strongly that Pence in his religiosity will do far more damage.
14
The Donald would turn on his family in a second if it came down to a question of survival. I have hopes that we see this play out in the coming months and years, as the SDNY continues its investigation of the Trumps.
24
Yep. I’m waiting for the presser where he days that the two sons, the son-in-law, and the daughter were never really all that close.
6
The SDNY might wait until trump is out of office so he doesn’t pardon his family.
Having grown up back East, and weathered the election out here as a Coloradan of 40 years...I was stunned to see the lack of media coverage on Trump's NY 1980-2000 behavior. New Yorker's knew of Trump's underhanded, immoral, illegal actions and were well informed about Roy Cohn's handling of Trump's many law suits and bankruptcy issues.
But farmers, ranchers, and rural voters were completely unaware of Tump's past, and were enamored by him. They were more focused on conservative federal judiciary placements and anti-abortion rights.
Who knows whether Michael Cohen's testimony will enlighten Westerners now. Certainly, the land grab for oil and gas on federal/BLM lands, Bears Ears/Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments take down have caught their attention. Greater than 78% of Coloradans now identify as conservationists. Purple-ish!
34
Everyone who writes about investigations or hearings re Donald Trump should mention that Christopher Steel was first hired to investigate Trump's Russia ties by the conservative Free Beacon for the purpose of defeating Trump in the GOP primary.
Trump and Republicans keep parroting the false claim that the Democrats first hired Christopher Steel and that his dossier was the "basis" of the special counsel investigation. In reality, it was Republicans who first hired Steel and the dossier was one small component of the evidence presented to the FISA court.
Trump and protectors hammer the lie about the dossier's origins nearly every day. There must be push back with facts.
50
Totally agree but Trump is an expert in getting people to follow him and drink the kool aid. He knows to distort the facts enough times people will begin to believe it. If the economy keeps doing well Trump will get in again in 2020. The only thing that will stop him is when people start to feel financial pain. For most people it’s only about money and having a president that has integrity and decency is irrelevant.
16
I question Cohen's contrition; it's more like he's really really sorry he got caught. But contrition has nothing whatsoever to do with whether he's telling the truth. Which mostly he is.
14
I agree it’s hard to see him changing if he didn’t get caught but when you think about it who does?
2
He reminds me of Scarlett O’Hara that Rhett said she is not sorry of the bad things she’s done, but sorry that she got caught. Still, I rather feel for him misplacing his loyalty.
"Trump doesn’t give loyalty or deserve it. "
So why were you? You attacked his enemies with nearly every column until and after he was elected. You did your part and now you'd like us to think you were against Trump all the time.
41
I disagree with Maureen’s premise that “by trashing Trump, Cohen is not destined to reputation rehab.” Au contraire, for the fact that Cohen could defend himself with rabid Republicans chomping into his leg, and give names, sources, methods, and other pertinent information for Congress, SDNY, and Mueller to follow, he has already begun rehabilitation from the renegades who would destroy this country. Narcissists might hold their powerful sway over others for a time, but when your eyes are open and you see them for the first time clearly, you see their masks removed like Dorian Gray, and the hideous flawed creatures with their lying, racism, and misogyny.
As Cohen admitted, he is flawed, but the man has a conscience especially about damage done to his family. Trump has led his to the brink.
23
Before the GOP became sycophants to trump there was a moment of truth.....
"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it." Lindsey Graham
And they certainly do deserve to get destroyed. In the biggest way possible.
52
I find the comparison of Trump to John Edwards odd. Yes, Trump apparently collects acolytes but they are usually in it for the money. Edwards was charismatic, that is what drew people to him, what made people do stupid things to be around him. Trump is anti-charismatic in my opinion.
18
Being attractive and being charismatic are not necessarily the same things. And Edwards, it turned out, was also pretty sleazy.
1
What’s interesting is that Cohen’s testimony, or Omorosa’s revelations, or finding out that Trump overruled sensible people to give Kushner a security clearance—none of this is surprising. It’s what any thinking person has known since the campaign.
Trump lies? He’s racist? His SAT’s are bad? Did anyone expect something else? No, there’s no surprises here, especially to the GOP who pegged him perfectly during the campaign, but cower now in his shadow.
Cohen’s testimony didn’t tell me one surprising thing about our President.
35
This column is too late by more than two years.
But on the subject of Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight Committer, the man was credible. The GOP members overplayed their hand with their adolescent taunts of "Liar, liar" while not even attempting to defend their master-in-chief. AOC, Katie Hill and other Dem freshmen elicited concise answers with their sharp questions that opened up new avenues of investigation into the crime syndicate now operating out of the White House
Back to the timing of this column, it Is far too late to do any good for a nation whose legal and political norms are under assault by a sociopathic grifter and his GOP enablers. You, Ms. Dowd, Les Moonves, CNN and so many in the media decided that taking down Hillary Clinton was more important (and satisfying for you) than seriously casting an unflinching critical eye on Donald Trump. All e-mails, twenty four hours a day. Sure, the former Secretary of State made mistakes, but how could any person not see that she was the most qualified if the two by dent of experience and temperament?
You did not and the United States of America may suffer irreparable damage for it.
.
51
Indeed! Who can ever forget Maureen's almost sociopathic attacks on Hiliary. If I didn't know better after reading her articles I wouldn't have voted for Hiliary
3
This characterization of Trump is accurate, but only by half. There's another side to him which makes him a compelling personality. If 150 million people love someone its not because he's a Dowd cardboard cut-out.
1
As much as I appreciate these little attempts at crowd hyperinflation, that other half of Trump is actually more vomitous that Dowd’s saying it is.
But prove me wrong. Explain Trump’s many gifts to, say, charity.
6
When will we have what we need to remove the worst president ever, an obvious criminal, both embarrassing and dangerous, from an office for which he is vastly unqualified and which he has desecrated?
How much more harm must we allow?
18
The last paragraphs address something I’ve come to believe: his material wealth aside, our President isn’t very smart. And since he has quashed his transcripts, we may never know. Why didn’t he bring Cohen into the White House?
11
This would not have happened if the religious right had not been willing to burn down everything else in society to stop abortion.
19
As Maureen Dowd mentioned her tour of Trump world in 2016, she was also seduced with Trump's glitz as she said positive things about him
27
Donald Trump, racist, con man, cheat. We already knew that. But Cohen's testimony provided us with more illuminating insights into the dark world of Trump and the swamp world of Republicans in Congress.
Cohen gave us names of the people who know the details of the operations of Trump's crime world. From Trump organization CEO, Allen Weisselberg, down to Trump's former executive assistant, Rhona Graff. These people can corroborate Cohen's testimony and add even more clarity to how Trump deceived, conned, cheated, threatened his racist way in his life. The young man who refused to rent to blacks in the 1970's "matured" into the man who said in 2017 that White-Nationalists marching in Charlottesville were "very fine people."
But that's not all. Cohen's testimony gave Republicans an opportunity to make a choice: morality and patriotism or sycophant fixers to a criminal presidency. They chose the latter.
Republicans put on a grand display of phony outrage but also genuine venomous hatred. After two years of Trump in the White House they cannot claim they don't know he is a sleazy, corrupt, authoritarian. But what Cohen testified to, they did not want to hear, did not want the nation to hear.
Republicans in Congress did more than tell America not to believe Cohen, they told America and Cohen they are out to destroy him. And his family. Republicans are Trump's swamp fixers. They showed America that they are Trump's swamp sycophants and protectors. Regardless of Trump's crimes.
19
We knew that that the president is a con man, racist, cheat and liar even before he won the Presidency beating Mrs. Clinton in our overnight nightmare.
What Cohen did was sacrifice of the welfare of his family to follow the con man and followed his schemes , and then continued to lie and now going to jail.
But the angry republicans showed no self respect by screaming at Cohen, who had no reason to lie anymore, it was an open forum, and lying will not do him any good.
Every single person worked for trump has diminished themselves except perhaps for General Mattis.
There will be a downfall of trump soon, this could not continue for long and then no one will extend their hand to lift him up.
9
Trump’s supporters are like Cohen - blinded by the bling. They live his crudeness and his sadistic nature. Watch out Lindsay - you are in the pipeline for the Sessions treatment. Trump’s adulation of Kim is his play for the Nobel Peace Prize and he was willing to betray the young man murdered in a N Korean prison. How exactly do his supporters continue in the adultation of someone who uses them for personal gain?
15
the Count had a lot more class
3
@Gene 99 Amen!
Income inequality and a weakened government drove Trump to office. Citizens unable to take part in the wealth generated by increased productivity, along with a government incapable of meeting citizens' needs created vulnerability, just what opportunistic sociopaths take advantage of.
13
All I hope is that the Boss goes down too.
Many lives have been destroyed due to their loyalty to this monster. There are people serving time as I write who have done less than this POTUS. I really wish the bank fraud and tax stories had come to light before he took the oath. But unfortunately if you have money, you get away with a lot. Maybe just maybe this penultimate white collar crime family will get what they deserve, at least if the SDNY has a say.
10
The truth is the truth. Yes, it matters to us but it matters most to the judge for all eternity.
Galatians 6:7: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
Eternity is a long time...
5
Cohen provided a lot of info about the setting, but virtually nothing about substance. Let's hope Mueller does a better job.
1
“He’s never had to deal with the people he has face-planted coming back to haunt him — ever. He’s been doing this to people for decades,” O’Brien said. The difference now? “He never had law enforcement turning people on him and essentially weaponizing them against him.”
Uh, sorry, I don't see any difference. Trump has been president for two years. He has destroyed or diminished most of the cabinet members and aides in his orbit, praised neo-nazis, been played by vicious dictators from North Korea, Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, and orchestrated the most pathetic, chaotic and divisive presidential administration the U.S. has ever seen. He has suffered massive, humiliating defeats on his two most touted campaign promises, repealing Obamacare and building a border wall. The nauseating praise he has heaped on himself regarding the North Korea threat is laughably unwarranted. His new "Finish the wall" refrain is a direct attack on the substance of reality, with not a single mile of new wall yet constructed.
What price has he paid for these, and many other, disgraceful and incompetent actions? His approval rating remains at a rock solid 42%. Almost no Republican members of congress dare cross him. The raft of books and statements from insiders and journalists describing Trump's lack of knowledge, understanding, or even interest in governance has failed to dent his popularity. He's done a hundred things that would destroy another president, yet they bow to him. What's different?
11
Wow! Over the years I have aquired a distaste for Mo’s mockery, believing her to be actually dishonorable when she went after Howard Dean and probably deprived us of a caring and competent president. But this time her vinager is well justified and well applied.
4
One thing Trump is best at:
Showing the world what a flaming personality disorder looks like. The man is flat out dangerous to the well being of our nation. Let’s hope Cohen opens the door for Allen Weisselberg to start singing.
9
I just don't get Mr. Cohen? I mean 10 minuets of listening to Donald Trump and you know the man is no good. It is not rocket science, it is about being human.
4
@scott t .
When you put a $ sign in front of anything, it suddenly takes on an irresistible allure.
2
Maureen Dowd at her finest. How pathetic both men are, and sadly for America how much our culture has disintegrated. As a father myself of two daughters, though, I feel a twinge of sympathy for Cohen because I can imagine how awful the feeling must be to have let them down in such a spectacular and sordid way. There’s the real tragedy right there.
3
Dear Mo,
“When Trump somehow stumbled into the presidency”- really? You were so anti Hillary it’s hard to believe that quote.
Cohen is like Charles Colson after he found religion, he’s looking for redemption and has found his conscience.
Congress is chomping at the bit having spent two years watching Trump now to Putin and every other dictator. This is not going to end well for him or his family. He can look for hope on Fox and the likes of Hannity, but that won’t protect him from SDNY and Muller.
The Trump reality show is getting close to being cancelled.
16
Dowd asks, "How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball...?"
True enough. And Dowd would do well to recall her inexplicably warm comments toward Trump in the lead-up to the Republican primaries, where she pined in one late summer (Aug 8, 2015) column:
"I've known Trump a long time.... I enjoy Trump’s hyperbolic, un-P.C. flights because there are too few operatic characters in the world. I think of him as a Toon. He’s just drawn that way. And his Frank Sinatra lingo about women aside, he always treated me courteously and professionally.... It will cause winces and grimaces at times and Trump can go badly astray, as he did with the president’s birth certificate. His jibes at women may hurt the Republican Party with some women. His policy ideas are ripped from the gut instead of the head. Still, he can be a catalyst, challenging his rivals where they need to be challenged and smoking them out, ripping off the facades they’ve constructed with their larcenous image makers."
Let's recall, clearly, what Trump has manifested for many years: corrosive, misogynistic, bigoted narcissism. These traits were in no way nuanced, but rather full throated, ugly, and undeniable. That Dowd was a defender of Trump in the campaign's early phase was, and should be remembered as, an epic shortcoming, and she might do well to sit out the Cohen bashing on his own epic failure to escape the allure of Donald Trump.
31
Aside from the racist, xenophobic, anti-American, anti-planet policies and rhetoric of this president and his underlings, it is particularly painful to wake up in the middle of a badly produced B-movie each day. While, as usual, Ms. Dowd provides a terrific analysis, I no longer care about the psychology/psychosis of the cardboard antagonist or the pathetic characters surrounding him. Someone unlock the theater doors and let us out.
8
Trump should have studied Stalin a little...wait on second thought i’m glad he didn’t. Whether Mueller time happens or not or whether these “smoking guns” bring the DONald down now or later the truth is he will eventually be remembered as the most corrupt and unintelligant leader we ever selected. And this will be another very dark chapter in the history of this country.
5
Cohen's recitation of questionable, illegal, and unethical acts was sprinkled with the telling statement, "and still I supported him." At some point, he claims to have broken through. This NYT columnist by-passes the difficult question, how and when: How did this individual recognize and overcome his state of denial?
The easy answer is that people don't, and we are left with simple, one-way, accounts such as this: “Actually, Trump is simple, grasping for money, attention and fame. The enigma about Trump is why he cut off his lap dog so brutally that Cohen fell into the embrace of Robert Mueller and New York federal prosecutors.”
A dramatic breakup story may suffice for this particular columnist, but not for those who have a more nuanced, relational, and interesting view of human events.
2
The First Rule Of Trump : He ruins everything, and everyone, he touches. Maybe not today, or even next month, but eventually. Going into
" business " with Him is like spending your life savings on lottery tickets. Sure, you could Win, but figure the odds. People, and relationships, are transactional. They're merely props, fodder for his delusional propaganda.
SEE : the Family of Otto Warmbier. Their grief has been horribly magnified by his bungling and unfathomable admiration for a murderous Thug. My heart truly aches for them. Let this be a warning : HE is incredibly Toxic, a poisonous cloud, a radioactive swamp, a human-like Creature.
Thanks, GOP. 2020.
13
A long history of lies is what got us into this mess. In my lifetime it starts with the JFK Assassination. The government clearly lied to us. Then Viet Nam... another lie. Watergate was going to fix things, and it did for a bit, but then... Iran-Contra. More lies. The Clintons came along and they were Democrats who lied. Bush lied about WMD's. Obama was passive but honest, I guess people didn't like that? Hillary lied and so reality TV star, condo salesman, tabloid king (with the help from Russia) came in and called EVERYBODY out. Why not? It wasn't about the country, it was about starting a TV network. But sadly for us, it worked. Maybe 2020 will give us the vision to correct things... even if for a short time.
4
Brilliant column by someone who knows "The Donald" well. Thank you.
Maureen has pretty much summarized the Trump persona. And there is truly nothing more that can be said than Cohen's reaffirmation that this awful man in the White House is a "con man, racist, cheat, and liar." But half of this nation knows that already. It is the other 40 or so percent and their GOP congressional representatives that present a danger to our rule of law and justice itself. These are the real sycophants right now on this day, during this time...the bigots, questionably affluent, and fanatical Christian-Right, all spread throughout our 50 states. And let us not forget that our Republican Senators and Representatives who kow-tow to Trump are in the process of selling not only their country but also their souls to hold onto their own self-serving power. Just witnessing the disgraceful behavior of those Reptilian Congressmen during Cohen's House testimony was revealing in and of itself for any one who has a functioning brain. Yes, the "sociopath" remains dangerous and a threat to pretty much everyone on this planet. However, it is so much more than one or a few sycophants who abet this "Don" in the Oval Office.
781
@Kathy Lollock
It is the other 40 or so percent and the GOP House and Senate know that he is a "con man, racist, cheat, and liar." They care about their lower tax rates; sticking it to the progressives, liberals and politically correct; rolling back unneeded environmental protections that reduce jobs and profits; push the LGBTQ and people of color back into their place.
They want to make America great again. They are joyous that a con man, racist, cheat, and liar is leading them.
Welcome to 1933 Wiemar Germany.
116
@Kathy Lollock
"this awful man in the White House is a "con man, racist, cheat, and liar."
No, it is not "half the nation" that knows this. It is virtually the entire nation. But 40 percent don't care.
78
Whatever it took to get Cohen to turn on Trump is good for the country. The Republicans are on the wrong side of history...they will have a reckoning for being the true and ugly sycophant's they are -- what an embarrassment Jordon, Medows and the rest of them are -- The grand old party is certainly old, but it has never been less "grand".
532
What you write maybe correct, however Trump stands a decent chance of being re-elected. He understands how to cater to his base with a simple message and has Fox News to spin his message. Additionally, he already has a huge campaign war chest. We should be working now at the grass root level in the swing states to counter voter suppression and engage as many new voters as possible. The other side will be well funded and will do pretty much anything to win.
68
@Paul I agree that as of now, Trump has a good chance of being re-elected. But my prediction is that with all the fall-out of the investigations, he will lose the support of the Republicans and he might even resign. There is so much more corruption to be made public - it is truly mind-boggling. And I do believe that his whole, corrupt family and organization will fall with him.
47
@Paul -- very sad and very true! Not to mention VERY scary!
23
A jilted lawyer testified before a Congress eager to hear of the President’s wrongdoings. Can you really take it seriously. Life has shown us that “alligator tears” rarely represent true character change- a process which takes years, decades, and then only incrementally. Michael Cohen is the same man he was one two even ten years ago. To accept otherwise is to bite the sandwich of foolishness. He has come on hard times- bittter and grasping for redemption he knows exactly what to say, which secrets to share, who his audience is. If this were a Republican dominated body- and Cohen was called to back up and support the President, do you really believe, notwithstanding being thrown under the bus and facing jail time, that his “testimony” would be anything other than playing to the crowd? Sycophants don’t changes. And this Congressional side show, designed by a pit of vipers, all as guilty or more so than the President- let’s not be naive folks, they are career poliicians- was a Penant of sycophantry, as they prepare to strike.
42
@Tan Bogavich
It doesn't matter whether his testimony is playing to the crowd or not. It matters whether it is true.
111
Utter pedantry and nonsense. Cohen quite literally had to be telling the truth in this appearance, and whether or not the leopard has changed his spots is totally irrelevant. The consequences of being discovered in any lie in this testimony would likely be a big increase in his sentence. Anything else is just babble.
133
@Tan Bogavich
Why are you and your ilk so afraid of the truth? Is it really in the best interest of our country,as you do to use the equivalence argument? Trump, as with the other elected politicians, took an oath of office. It's past time for all of them to start following the law, regardless of party.
103
Enough is enough. Non-stop analysis of this man who poses as our president is going no where. There is no need to repeat ad nauseum what we already know about his deplorable character. The twain shall never meet between his supporters and resistors. Let's analyze something more constructive to end his path of destruction.
Example: It's high time that the Democrats found themselves a few viable candidates with solid messages to counter Trump instead of confusing the public with an ever-growing line-up of implausible candidates giving the impression of a party without leadership as well as providing Trump with lots of fuel for his fire.
For what it is worth, even though the Republicans have sold their souls, they do have leadership and will continue to support their "supreme leader" despite his message of hate and bigotry. If anyone should be throwing darts at the president, it should be the Democrats. So what if they are not politically correct in openly speaking about his character? Donald has already maligned the party and taken out his boxing gloves to weaken them in the eyes of the public. Time to get on with the fight.
9
Recently a reporter asked Trump if he were to advise his 25 year old self, what would it be? Trump answered, "don't run for President." If only.
12
Intelligent about tax policy and caring that they pay less perhaps? Intelligent about capitalism and caring about expanding their personal businesses and fortunes perhaps? Anyone who really cares about others, water and air quality, foreign policy, the reputation of our country, etc., and can intelligently see where his policies will take us could never support Trump.
Supporting Trump is all about instant gratification and short-term gain. Its called the philosophy of get-it-while-you-canism.
5
Republicans present at the hearing said the kind of things that I have seen before in the black-and-white grainy films of Saddam Hussein's council.
Those people were scared, putting on a show, because they were afraid of losing their lives.
Republicans will lose an election, at best - if they were to act humanlike, and examine evidence. But no; their desire for the future Trump paints - never mind the sordid details - is all powerful. History will remember them as the worst kind of cowards and enablers. And history will never forgive us for colluding in all this, when a simple matter of voting with our brains turned on could have averted this easily.
5
Just several years after Watergate, I began reading newspaper and magazine articles about Donald J. Trump. Over the decades, to include television infomercials and interviews, a picture of Donald Trump as a person formed. Mr. Cohen calling President Trump a conman, a racist, and a cheat was how I had come to perceive Trump long before he publicly embraced and became chief demagogue of the racist Birther conspiracy.
Just as I took John Dean’s Watergate testimony at face value and in the realm of credible, I found Mr. Cohen’s testimony. Mr. Dean’s testimony was excoriated by Nixon loyalists until the Nixon Tapes corroborated everything Mr. Dean had to say.
There is only a possibility Mr. Cohen’s testimony will impact his current sentence. There are no cooperation deals with federal or State prosecutors. Mr. Cohen committed crimes and pleaded guilty to them, some had nothing to do with President Trump and some crimes did. One cannot ignore one set of crimes over the other set, and some Republican members of the Oversight Committee tried too hard to concentrate on the former, as if the later set did not exist.
Knowing a federal judge would not accept a guilty plea on crimes involving a documented unindicted co-conspirator “Individual-1” without corroborating evidence, one can hope Trump loyalists and avid supporters will soon recognize they have been conned and they will be thrown under the bus soon enough.
2
When members of the Blind Obedience Party (BOP) finally have had enough of wading through Trump’s slime, they will sound like those TV evangelists crying alligator tears after getting caught in their religious con game.
Trump’s staff of mercenary handlers, all former hired guns for his competitors who berated Trump earlier, they too will see that Blind Ambition leaves an indelible stain on their records.
They will all be thrown under the bus by ones and twos and everyone knows how much Trump loves to pretend driving big vehicles. I hope there are enough buses.
After all the details of Trump’s despicable behavior surfaces, Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be telling the Press that they never comment on the president’s obvious indictable activities.
2
Isn't Cohen's only value to investigators and fear to Trump enablers the written or recorded information he has on Trump ... in boxes somewhere?
Ms. Dowd, I will never forgive you for using your platform to pile on Hillary in the run up to 2016. Just as Sen. McCain came to regret his choice of Sarah Palin and the Pandora's box that decision blew open, I believe you may also come to recognize yourself as more culpable in this debacle than you'd like to admit, and all the attempted humor in the world won't change that. But that's the past and the future might yet be righted. Please continue to blare loud and clear against this nightmare.
22
One of the first rules in any training course for Mob Boss: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Donald Trump confused his role as Mob Boss with his role as reality TV star, where you toss people off the island or out of the house. You don't keep your enemies close when your signature expression is "you're fired."
Donald Trump emulates the wrong Crime Boss, John Gotti, who liked too much to see himself on TV, and things didn't end well for Mr. Gotti. A crime boss should not live like a reality TV star. The roles don't mix well.
6
The most relevant warning sign for Washington politicians is what Trump did (and as recently as yesterday, is still doing) to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. I have no sympathy for him, but here was a safely ensconced U. S. Senator who supported Trump very early and about as abjectly as the law allows. He even put his personal freedom in jeapordy by lying to Congress to protect Trump. The thanks he gets? Treatment Trump reserves only for
others such as President Obama, Hillary Clinton and James Comey.
On the other hand, Trump did confer on Cohen the dubious distinction of equating his legal peril to “an attack on our Country”. (I am indubitably safe in saying such a ridiculous proposition has never crossed the lips or mind of a sitting President in our history.) So, Cohen’s fall from grace to utter disgrace in Trump’s mind, at least, is quite the feat, too.
I will never understand the type of person who becomes mesmerized by a charismatic bully. For a person who is not reflective or well educated, or very young, maybe there is an explanation for hero worship. But when smart, highly educated, experienced adults fall for these empty malicious charlatans I can't wrap my head around those relationships.
Take John Dean, whose piece was published in yesterday's paper or even staff members who are reportedly abused by Amy Klobuchar but stick with her anyway. What makes people like them blindly do really stupid things they would never do in other circumstances? It's probably not about money. And it can't be about fame, because their icon would throw them under the bus if there's a chance they would outshine him.
If I had a boss who abused me or required me to do something unpleasant or unethical I would quit in a New York minute and get a job elsewhere. Indeed, I did so once in my working life.
Is it a character flaw that could re-emerge after their fall? Or has Cohen, for one, gained a sense of self and moral courage and can we be reassured he will never sell his soul again if given the opportunity?
4
Give Cohen this much credit; most of the media proved just as susceptible to Trump’s manipulation. And why not? Republicans have been doing it to the press for decades, alternately flattering and bullying the press into reporting the narrative they want.
Unlike Cohen, the press has yet to figure it out. You only need to look at how quickly the press jumps on any negative story involving Democrats, while Republicans barely get a nod.
The feckless nature of the Republicans in Congress, their frantic rush to pack the courts, the criminality and incompetence that’s endemic across the Trump administration - why has this been treated as business as usual for the GOP? Because it is - and the press has bought into it as “not news”.
What do we get?
Stories about the candidate who is a mean boss; the candidate attacked for trying set the record straight about her heritage; the new member of Congress criticized for living too well while calling for a fairer economy. And so on and so on.
(And if there is more than a little misogyny here, well it works for Trump and apparently others.)
The press might do well to look at Cohen and remember the Bible critique about the mote in your neighbor’s eye versus the beam in your own.
4
The most chilling moment of the hearing was Cohen's warning that a transition of power in 2020 would not necessarily be a peaceful one.
I can easily foresee a scorned Trump screaming blue murder and declaring the election invalid. As one by one local officials certify their state's results and Trump cowers in the corner of certain defeat, he'll dog-whistle his "Second Amendment people" to action, just like he did back in 2016 when he insinuated that gun owners could take matters into their own hands to stop Hilary Clinton.
With that presidential green light--and whipped up by media-savvy neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and pro-Armageddon factions--self-proclaimed militias could instantly coalesce all across the American heartland. Do any of us really believe that a still-sitting President Trump would dispatch troops to confront die-hard supporters willing to take up arms for him? In the absence of presidential action, would any governors send in the National Guard or state police. If so, which would and which would not? Then what?
Remember: Trump sounded the Second Amendment dog-whistle in 2016, but after a day of tongue-clucking it vanished into the black hole of the following news-cycle.
The next time he does, however, the stakes will be far higher and the consequences may prove far more dire than any of us dare to imagine.
6
In a recent C-SPAN book interview, the historian, Jon Meacham, tries to put Trumpism into perspective by noting that President Trump reflects a long tradition of support in this country for crazed and damaging political leaders.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?456776-3/the-soul-america
Meacham's message is: generally, these charismatic, hot-headed, emotional leaders become wearing after awhile, and he predicts we will eventually tire of Trump. It can't happen soon enough, but it sure better happen before Tuesday, November 3, 2020.
Anyway, we enjoyed the C-SPAN interview with Meacham, who leaves you with the idea "this too shall pass."
Too sanguine? I sure hope not.
5
The essential misunderstanding is the belief -- in spite of all the facts -- that it's impossible for a president, or anyone else, to be anywhere near as sociopathically, narcissistically, self-interestedly insane as Donald Trump really is.
It's like being a neighbor of Jeff Dahmer's: "Oh, SURELY you're not eating people."
The belief seems to be that he Trump, as he constantly asserts, "tough, smart, strong, powerful" but with a lower limit on just how selfishly cruel he will be, because the normal human experience is, we all have such a limit.
But this man does not.
Why can't his followers "get that"?
4
I am always amazed when I read essays, such as this one, about Donald Trump and I wonder, “This is the President of the United States?” The pundits predict “ Donald Trump could destroy America” I have news for you, it has already happened.
5
This opinion piece is much more than about Trump, Cohen and the Republicans in Congress. It is about the peculiars and particulars of the US that turn a sizable number of Americans into Trump's supporters. What are these peculiars and particulars? One can points to the American political systems, its history, its materialistic society, its capitalist economy, or its culture of individualism. All of these combined make for a toxic environment and culture that is here to stay long after Trump because Trump is just a symptom.
3
Watching and listening to Cohen testify brought up again how far a sub-sub-mediocre man like Trump can go in this society. Well, Cohen, too. We've certainly seen it before: W and his dodo gang.
It certainly doesn't take smarts, hard work, fair play or perseverance. All it takes is greed and, in Trumpneyland, ruthlessness and zero conscience. It also takes a very high threshold for boredom and a gullibility that defies belief.
Trump's followers, the ones still loyal to him are surely wired differently from the rest of humanity: they don't believe even their own eyes, ears and, most importantly, their noses.
2
If I remember back in the beginning of the campaign Miss Dowd was writing flattering columns about Trump & trashing Mrs Clinton and President Obama. What makes her any different than Cohen? And why the Edwards analogy? That seems irrelevant but then when she is trashing a Republican she always finds it necessary to make a moral equivalency. It is surprising she did not drag in Mrs Clinton or President Obama. That may have been a bridge too far because they really are decent human beings which is more then you can say about Trump & his defenders at this time.
16
Yes, Maureen, Michael Cohen may have been a Trump sycophant, but he clearly isn't anymore and don't care what caused him to see the light; I will take him for his word.
I would the larger focus should have been on the whole panel of Trump sycophants sitting on the Republican side of that House Oversight Committee they were drooling so much I thought they had to put towels under the chins of Mark Meadows and Jim "Gym" Jordan in particular.
2
Michael Cohen might have been a Trump sycophant, but he's not the most dangerous Trump sycophant, I just saw Jim "Gym" Jordan on Meet the Press and he sounds like the followers of Jim Jones that followed him to Jonestown.
I also saw Kevin McCarthy on This Week, and it's scary how these clowns in the Republican party wear these Trump blinders on and just ignore or disregard all of the lying by Trump, all of the Trump personnel lying about the Russians or meeting with the Russians, something is terribly wrong with these Toadies perception on reality.
5
"The Sycophant and the Sociopath."
At first glance I thought Ms. Dowd's column would be about Trump lying on behalf of his praiseworthy friend and sociopathic dictator for torturing an American citizen to death. Had the column been a few months earlier, I would have guessed it was about Trump lying on behalf of his condo buying friend and sociopathic dictator for torturing an American resident journalist to death.
Sociopaths running countries may be new to the U.S. but are not all that uncommon -- a current gathering would be more crowded than the G7 summits.
Sycophants of course are quite common. The Cohen hearing was chock full of prime GOP examples.
But Trump does have a rare talent. He is BOTH sociopath, more enraged by an Oscar acceptance speech or an SNL skit than Americans being tortured and murdered by dictators, AND a world class sycophant in his own right. His obsequiousness to murderous leaders of hostile foreign powers is extraordinary. Cohenesque in his willingness to played for a fool just to rub shoulders with leaders he perceives to be "very strong".
Sycophant AND Sociopath. That's our President. 612 days to the 2020 election.
3
Trump made Cohen rich that's why he slavishly did everything the Donald wanted. He loved money more than his own soul. It has nothing to do with being starry-eyed or smitten by the Donald's personality.
As soon as Trump got to Washington and forgot that Cohen had the goods on him, he also forgot to look after Cohen. If Donald had any brains, he would have made him ambassador to Slovenia or some faraway place. Trump never looks after people and makes them his enemies. Look how he trashed Jeff Sessions.
1
There are two Trumps- the Great Manipulator and the Dumb Politician. He's skilled at convincing people "the sky is really green" but never considered the political or social significance of the job of POTUS. We saw this in Jonestown and the Branch Dividians, we saw this in the McCarthy "red scare". It works every time amongst the gullible, the ignorant.The GOP shamelessly exploits it time after time. The push-back is never easy- the fake media (IOW, the Intelligencia), the GOP calling Obama a snob for doing his homework and getting an A, someone who carried the load even while they jeered at him for trying. Cohen sounded pretty together in the hearing room to me- he never stumbled, never contradicted himself, spoke clearly, was well prepared. He had thought Trump could pretty much accomplish anything, either by twisting people around his little finger, or waving some cash in their faces. DJT was never wanting for money- his father always had plenty. But DJT couldn't tolerate obstacles, either legal or personal, and only dealt with people who treated him like a monarch. Everyone else was just Bad. He was known to file an unprecedented number of lawsuits too, many more than other real estate developers. I feel sorry for the immigrants he recently fired from his golf resort up north after 10-15 years of service, during his "wall" tirades.They aren't going to jail, but they are out of a job and he threatened them with deportation. Cohen is just another disposable casualty,
2
“What was most compelling about the congressional hearing was the portrait of the sadistic relationship between the sycophant and the sociopath.”
What is even more compelling is the portrait we see every day of the sadistic relationship between the GOP sycophants in Congress and the sociopath now in the Oval Office. Those sycophants are even prepared to relinquish their own constitutional power in service to an “emergency” they all know is as fake as the glory-hungry president they blindly serve.
And unlike Cohen they apparently feel no shame.
2
If you, like this writer and many others, have or had a Donald Trump type cult touch your life,
the best thing to do is treat it like an encounter with poison ivy or the plague.
It will not end well, as Jonestown survivors will attest. If someone seems too good to be true,
he/she probably is. If their apparent success came from lying, cheating and stealing, stirring up bigotry and hatred,
and making trying to persuade you to compromise your principles, get out as fast as you can,
leaving everything behind if need be.
2
Thank you madam for this accurate analysis.
Oh, those puppy-dog eyes and sorrowful face. He simply looks like a guy hungry for love who finally discovers that an abusive relationship doesn't have anything to do with love.
Hopefully, the rest of the cult will make this realization soon; the noise is deafening.
Maureen Dowd, you made my day today: you are a very gifted journalist and describe trump and his syncopans brilliantly.
My very best wishes to you and hopes for your continued insights in the New York Times.
Marcia
Ms. Dowd, you've told us nothing we already didn't know. Your vitriolic review was excessive - I didn't vote for Mr. Trump - his character and personal history were well documented. Your negativity only strengthens the resolve of the President and his voters. The media has done our Country no favors by focusing on Trump's personal life and felons like Michael Cohen. It's a travesty he was elected in the first place - your reporting will only encourage his base to expand and make it increasingly difficult to defeat him in 2020. You're a better reporter than this article reflects - get back on track and talk about serious issues facing our Country that the Administration is not addressing.
2
Oh Ms. Dowd! The mysterious attraction felt by men comparatively powerless--to men wielding great power.
Thus Napoleon said of one, Joseph Fouche--"he was like a young woman, waiting to be seduced." Mr. Fouch--like so many others--felt the magnetic pull of Napoleon.
(Whom he survived. The canny and farsighted survived the First Emperor. Others didn't.)
Are you still with me? Sorry--but the question is intriguing.
As witness the inexplicable bond between Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I. The first "German Emperor" (and that, by the way, was his title). Repeatedly reduced to tears--to TEARS, mind you!--by his brutal, overbearing Chancellor.
"It is not easy being Emperor, " he mourned, "UNDER such a Chancellor." Go figure!
But the two were bound together for life. By a sort of symbiosis. Neither could do without the other.
Sorry. But it's true. There are indeed men willing and anxious to be dominated--to be wanted--to be relied upon. To be that ever faithful right-hand man, standing by--
"--an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince, no doubt an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use. . . . ."
Thus the pitiful J. Alfred Prufrock. Who (I guess) never found his imaginary Hamlet.
I do truly believe: Mr. Donald J. Trump acted upon Mr. Cohen like a sort of drug. I give him high marks for "breaking the habit." I expect it was hard.
Would that those GOP Congressmen could do the same!
9
For anyone who has studied the life and miserable amorality of Roy Cohn, then you see how Trump extracted all the venality, the malignant malevolence, and the utter lack of introspection, and became Cohn Lite, a generic version that is just as awful and a lot cheaper than the brand name. And by cheap, I mean vulgar.
11
“He never had law enforcement turning people on him."
Yeah. What's up with that? Where was New York law enforcement the last 70 years?
24
Well done Maureen on a balanced and insightful column keeping far away from bestowing sainthood on Michael Cohen.
2
@Franklin Athaide
She doesn't have to bestow sainthood on Michael Cohen, I would say the comments he directed at the Republican's on the committee attacking him were quite prescient considering how they have all drank the Trump Kool-Aid and sound more like Jim Jones acolytes, and some cases worse sycophants than Michael Cohen may have ever been, since any curtain surrounding Trump's lying and corruption is out there in plain sight for all to see.
Tell us what we don't know, MD.
Trump is abusive, and attracts masochists into his world. So?
I also fail to see why you mention Edwards.
6
None of the people in Trump's orbit went on a blind date with him. They already knew who he was and hoped they could be in his warped world. Their date with the devil was not arranged through an innocent questionnaire on match.com.
2
"How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball?" The answer is, exactly the same way that nearly half the Americans who voted in 2016 were. And that's a real problem. It would be one thing if all of those who voted for Trump were stupid, but they are not. Nor, apparently, is Cohen. If anything caught me by complete surprise during the public hearing, it was how much smarter, more disciplined, and more articulate Cohen seemed than I thought he would be...based on what I knew of the mess he had gotten himself into. Hopefully, the American system will get rid of Trump before a full blown disaster befalls us. But then, we're going to have to figure out how so many of us got taken in by a transparent monster like Trump. So far I have not heard any explanation that comes close to seeming meaningful.
12
It appears that Donald J. Trump got into office because of television editing.
4
DJT thinks he can groom Kushner as his Apprentice: to run in 2024.
Delusional grandiosity or a sinister vulgar degradation of America ?
5
@Sara
There’s one hitch. Kushner would have to be caught speaking out loud, then...Poof!
this probably the first time Cohen has told the truth in many many many years
2
...speaking of dogs, wasn't it Harry Truman who said "If you want a friend in Washington get a dog." We know Trump hates animals except for those beautiful German Shepards who he'd like to situate along the southern border, that is until the wall is built. Of course Trump is way too busy to own a dog. I guess FDR had a lot of time on his hands.
...speaking of disposable I can think on one person who isn't and that's Ivanka, the daughter he'd like to date.
...speaking of Roy Cohen thank the lord he's dead.
I raise my glass of Kool Aid to toast the other Cohen. Glad he's not dead.
2
M. Why do you not also admit to your own infatuation with t-man. You did all you could to put down the most qualified person to ever run for The Office. Only now you begin to see what most of us saw in'16.
22
@thomas salazar ~
Re: "Only now you begin to see what most of us saw in'16."
Sadly, I think Ms. Dowd knew what trump was all along but she chose not to write negative op-eds about him. She was too busy bashing Hillary!
19
I am stunned.
A Dowd column about the presidency without a single reference to the Clintons.
Thanks Dowd.
12
When I looked at the headline, I thought you were writing about Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell!
7
Cohen's public testimony served a high purpose: it gave American's a close-up performance by one Republican lapdog after another who shamelessly proclaimed love and admiration for their role model in the White House.
A favorite moment? The crybaby congressman from North Carolina who denied he was a racist. A reprise of the "I like beer!" performance from another Trump acolyte.
5
Maureen, you need to write a book. The book needs to chronicle all the interactions that you had with Trump over the decades and details of those visits. You were on a first name basis with him so you should know a great deal.
This article reads like a rehabilitation piece. You don't quite fess up to your part in creating this monster called Trumpie and a little soul searching is called for. You and the the New York media are part of the problem that created Trump in the first place. A little hard placed journalism was called for decades ago.
16
Just think what Arthur Miller or Robert Penn Warren could do with a character like Michael Cohen.
2
As the old Hollies song goes, he’s King Midas in reverse. Everything he touches turns to dust.
-
Clearly every Republican leader knows this because none of them came to Trump’s defense. Not one of them said “The Donald Trump that I know is the opposite of a racist, a liar, a cheat or a conman”. Yet, inexplicably they continue to allow themselves to be touched by Trumpery. This is the simplest definition of destructive insanity, to know that the outcome is bad for you in advance yet to do it anyway .... over and over and over again.
2
He dragged his little, dysfunctional crime syndicate into our White House, now in plain view of all of us where it slowly plays out act after act, this incredibly emotionally and intellectually hollow man. And look at the huge number of people who have this "idealize your abuser" relationship with him, unbelievable is a mild word.
7
We don't have to pass judgment on Michael Cohen; just listen to his words and weigh them against the three years of trump family fraud and vulgarity that have made page one news. Mo is right calling trump a sociopath. Cohen is right warning that when the sociopath loses the election, his clan could very well go to the mattresses.
2
Donny Trump = Fools Gold.
American Bankers knew that 40 years ago but those who desperately wanted to believe still insist.
Flip a coin tailored msg
2
As a British and Canadian citizen sitting in the stands watching this disgusting spectacle called the United States government, I cannot comprehend how Americans can beat their chests and proclaim it’s the greatest. Sorry folks it’s a corrupt system when a President is elected by a minority with the help of rich super PACS owned by polluters, drug peddlers, and the super rich wanting to protect their money, and once in office protected by a slew of sychophant Republicans in the senate willing to prostitute themselves for “a con man, racist, cheat and liar” in order to please these same monied backers, with no regard for morals or the dangers posed to America and the world by a greedy oaf whose international machinations are driven by his goal of amassing as much money and goodwill from the Saudis and others while he is running the Trump family gravy train. This is a sick government. Look at Canada and the UK folks and see how often despots have been able to do what Trump is doing. Like NEVER. My advice is to dump the constitution and install a parliamentary democracy like those that exist in almost every civilized western country in the world where this kind of immoral dysfunction rarely if ever occurs because the structure doesn’t permit a Prime Minister ever going rogue like this and somehow the members of parliament are honourable people who, unlike in America, put country first, rather than vice versa.
9
@Cranford
You may be right, but our history is different from yours, and in the late 1700’s during a revolution, a few men put together documents declaring independence from your King. A Republic was formed and a constitution was written. That document has been amended more than once to reflect changes in our thinking and perspective. Our system is not perfect, but we Americans trust it. It’s a slow process, but I’m betting on the day that will come when we all can say, “Not bad, the system worked, Glad to get through that period”.
1
@Cranford
Tell it to Theresa May. "Members of parliament are honorable people who put country first."
Cue laughter.
We're going through a very bad time but our constitutional institutions will save us as they always have. You dump your constitution. Watch ours work.
Great issues of national security turned into a sordid pathetic soap opera. Is that our Federal government, yeesh.
So will the republicans figure this out? Or will they continue to worship this conman because Trump is giving them what they want: abortion restrictions, culture wars re: anti immigrant and anti LGBTQ, conservative judges. They have sold their souls to the devil. When will it come back to haunt them?
4
Remember the movie "The Secretary?" Well, Cohen was certainly the secretary in the real life version. And now, just like in the movie, the masochistic Cohen has become empowered. We'll see how this version ends.
“How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball, much less offer to take a bullet for him or make 500 threats on his behalf?
Not just Cohen, but about 39% of the country. We are in steep steep decline and the right is almost fully to blame.
3
Trump wants to be the alpha male but thinks being alpha means only dominance. Our relatives, the apes and bonobos, demonstrate the basics of being alpha: staying on top includes not just puffing oneself up, threatening and biting but also actually caring about and for others. In so many ways, Trump doesn't care. Primatologist Frans de Waal explains how this works in the Youtube video "The surprising science of alpha males." Vital lessons there for politicians. And for the rest of us naked apes crowding this planet.
1
Here we go again. More opinions of the behaviors of Trump and his minions, more sheer speculations of what will happen next, more complete lack of suggestions on what we can do about it.
We don't need descriptions and guesses. We can see what's going on, and we can certainly hazard guesses as well as the pundits can. What we need is some sort of approach towards fixing this disaster, since it's clear that no one on either side has a single clue about what to do.
1
The one man whose life has to be in the most danger right now is Allen Weisselberg. Any day now, Congress can subpoena him to testify and that will be the end of not just Trump but also his brand and the family fortune. I am almost reminded of the role played by Tim Robbins in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" and the manner in which he manages to one-up the corrupt prison warden.
6
The Democrats could defeat Trump in 2020 if they could
come up with a candidate who can fight fire with fire. The world today demands it. We do have our own troubles, but they are 'trivial' in comparison to Russia, China and North Korea. The threat of nuclear war is always in the minds of every citizen .. Trump seems 'strong' and able to take on those threats .. he won't be 'bullied' by them. Remember when you were in the playground, you stood behind the protector even though you knew he/she was not a nice person .. you weren't hurt. As bad as Trump is personally,
he is the man we want dealing with these threats. The doomsday clock just got a little closer to midnight.
@Nelly Byrne No, Trump is NOT the man we want dealing with these threats. We want a man or women who will take the time to learn about the issues and present themselves as a dignitary, not a groveling know-nothing.
1
@Panthiest If you read history, you will see
it repeats itself. The stronger take over the weaker. But this time the stakes are different: There will be no winners. The old adage: "Keep your friends close, your enemies closer" is exactly what Trump is doing!! Dignity will not win in these "best of times; worst of times." Blast him all you want .. he is in charge now, and he gets up every day -- not for his personal wealth, but
keeping the planet safe from nuclear war.
i cant see Trump as the person who is needed to stand up to to Russia. China, and North Korea let alone he person who will not be bullied by them.
Trump is not the playground protector but the the playground bully who attacks those who seem weaker than he is. Once Putin or really any other strongman steps onto the playground he suddenly starts praising them rather than standing up to them.
Like any bully, he is more bluster than anything else. He was able to sell himself as the master of the deal with a book and reality TV show - but clearly he is not. He can convince himself he is strong if he can convince his supporters that he is, with all his bluster, but once he has to stand up for his country, he is anything but.
His unwillingness to call out Putin, MBS, or Kim is like the playground bully who is afraid of the new bullies on the playground - that they will expose his weaknesses and take away any power he felt. He acts compromised and enables those he should be standing up to.
The doomsday clock has ticked closer to midnight, but it is largely due to Trump’s bluster, his willingness to walk away from alliances that do protect us and his inability to deal with those we should be standing up to.
I can understand being in thrall with someone who appears powerful, and appears to have the world at his command, but I'm having trouble understanding what Cohen meant when he described Trump as wanting "to do so much good" or helping to change the world. Building condos that go for millions? I guess you can call that changing the world.
5
I will do all I can to prevent it, but it makes me very sad to say I still cannot bet a dime against a Trump victory in 2020. All he needs is 80,000 votes in the right places. Based on the Cohen hearing, those votes are still out there.
4
I’m counting on legal issues to take him out — of either contention or office. It’s unlikely that he didn’t work with the Russians, that he didn’t try to obstruct justice and that’s he’s guilty of all kinds of fraud — election, bank, insurance etc. He’s not Don the Con for nothing.
Remember what Cohen said : if Trump loses the election he will not leave the White House . This could be the beginning of a huge crisis.
6
@Dr K Bill Maher has been saying this for two years now. Very chilling.
4
Trump's sneering imitation of Jeff Session's southern accent reveals his basic contempt for his enablers. Trump's audience should be aware of his contempt for them as well.
35
Cohen's attitude is perfectly understandable to anyone who has spent time working with inmates: it's called a "value-stretch" and it's possibly the most important part of rehabilitation. The inmate learns to separate what he has done from who he is, in order to evaluate the former and change the latter. In his mind Mr. Cohen has already started to serve his sentence.
To Ms. Dowd as to the Doom-and-Damnation Evangelicals who happen to believe that there is no salvation except for themselves, the point is lost. I can only wish on them all a few years of their own in the "facility." In most cases it would be fully justified.
11
Davis had his client Cohen say that "Trump ordered Cohen to lie to Congress". Cohen’s claims are unproven. Davis maybe suborning perjury. In fact, Cohen made the claims under prosecutorial duress for a reduced sentence.
@Sam Freeman Right. Nothing he said is true. Trump is a law-abiding good guy, and the Easter bunny is coming 'round the bend.
1
The biggest story to come out of the Cohen testimony was no Russian collusion. It's time to start hearings about what happened at the FBI. The most powerful law enforcement agency became weaponized against the GOP. Whether your liberal or conservative, this is a travesty that needs to be investigated with the detail that was given to Trump collusion with Russia. Very scary stuff.
4
@Mark
How did you forget the part about the most powerful law enforcement agency, with the "grandstanding" James Comey at its head, that made Trump our president?
8
Michael Cohen's testimony came to no such conclusion regarding the Trump campaign's collusion with Russia.
Except no such story came out, except in lying fantasy.
When asked, Cohen actually said that he had no DIRECT EVIDENCE of collusion—but that he believed that there had been. Then, he gave two examples of whay he believed that there had been.
Since this needs to be spelled out, “I have no direct evidence fo support my suspicions,” is not the same thing as, “it didn’t happen.”
And as always: collusion isn’t a crime. Lucky for Trump, too, because stuff like getting on TV and asking Russian to hack your opponent’s e-mails, and then that starts happening the same day, sure looks like collusion.
But the actual crime is called, “criminal conspiracy.”
1
I read that Jim Jordan is planning to ask the new AG to investigate Cohen for "lying" about not wanting a job in the White House, as if trying to salvage some pride was illegal, ironic coming from a man who appears to have none.
To me, the most insightful moment of Cohen's testimony was when he warned the Republicans berating him with techniques he would certainly recognize as classic obfuscation, that if they continued to follow the con man, they would end up in some territory adjacent to his.
One only has to look at the trail of victims he has left in his wake, from investors to banks to contractors to tenants to taxpayers throughout his history to know that Cohen is stating the obvious. No one wins in trumplandia except Trump, no matter how slavishly devoted or how many ethical norms one tosses to enable him.
37
Excellent analysis. Hopefully Republican Members of the House of Republicans and US Senate will some morning soon look into the mirror, see Cohen staring back at them, realize what they have become with Trump, and become what they promised voters that they would be -- defenders of the Constitution.
18
I found it interesting that even now, when he is going to lose years of his life, Cohen can't wrap his head around Trump ever hitting his wife. He seems to think Trump has some compassion.
But, is it possible to have compassion if you are capable of shrugging your shoulders at the fact that your rhetoric could very well lead to the death of innocent reporters? How about publicly commenting that your building is now the tallest after hundreds of innocent people died under the rubble of the Twin Towers? There are so many examples of Trump's unapologetic disregard for the well being of others: how he's ramped up hatred for immigrants, put the lives of the Obamas at risk by spreading lies about them, etc.etc
We have seen people, in mass, fall under the spell of evil men before to terrible ends. There must be some research available on ways to break that link. But, if what happened to Cohen doesn't fully break that link, I don't know what will.
30%-40% of Americans support Trump. It is simply unbelievable. If I didn't personally know intelligent, caring, people who support Trump, I would not believe this was happening in our country.
1615
I have family members who still defend 45. It’s heartbreaking.
272
@Mary A
And they have plenty of company, Mary A. Enough, possibly, if the election were held today, to give 45 an Electoral College win.
The conventional wisdom seems to be that, instead of going through the impeachment process, it's best to let 45 lose in 2020. That's pretty risky, because even if he loses, he may not go quietly into that dark night.
125
@Maria I just cannot see how anyone who is truly intelligent or caring can possibly support trump. It's impossible, if one looks at the common definitions of "intelligent" and "caring".
216
It is difficult to comprehend how we got the people who are running our country. We are in big trouble from the white house to each agency to congress.
15
@libdemtex - Perhaps we need to revisit the "anyone can be president" nonsense. There should be requirements like any other job.
Can anyone name even one admirable quality of this man?
19
@J Burkett
Well one admirable quality would be his skillful use of his Twitter account.
Consistency in his infidelities.
There are a whole lot of aspiring Renfields around Trump. Almost too many to count. Men and women too afraid of "the base" to remember the oath they took when they took off office. This is the sad state of the Republican party. We saw proof beyond a shadow of doubt when Collins threw in for Kavanaugh.
17
correction:
Correction:
@ Karen Garcia Thank you as always for your brilliant comment. During the 2016 campaign, the Times promoted to the skies the person now in the White House with a half dozen front-page photos and headlines on a daily basis. This massive overselling by the media at large influenced the election. More coverage now on courageous legislators like Adam Schiff would help restore proper balance.
33
What a sad, sordid tale of pusillanimous political putrification. The public face of America, what a dashing national figure we cut!
14
Maureen Dowd has a reputation for writing accurate,insightful and entertaining columns without a political agenda. In fact during the campaign there were times when she seemed tougher on Clinton than on Trump. After two years of Trump her assessment of his character and behavior is clear. The man/boy is a disaster and not fit for office. He disgraces the Presidency every day. How can any thoughtful person support this shallow and cruel individual?
19
@Milton Lewis
Dowd didn't just write columns during the campaign that "seemed tougher on Clinton than on Trump"; she did her best (consciously or unconsciously) to support Trump and get Clinton defeated, portraying him as fascinating, iconoclastic, complex and her as a corrupt hack. This column about Cohen's fascination with Trump is, at least partly, about her own willingness to go down that rabbit hole.
10
Actually, as a step up from spiders, Renfield was given "Rats, rats, rats!" to drain of their blood by his mentor, Dracula. There do seem to be lots of parallels with the Trump- Cohen relationship.
Trump is a con man, grifter, self dealing fraud who uses the presidency to enrich himself and his friends. But it is republicans like McConnell, Ryan, Jordan, Meadows, Collins and Murkowski who have allowed him to do it. All elected republicans are responsible for the Trump administrations destruction of our civil institutions.
My mission for the next two years is get them all voted out
33
Just watch the 2004 movie entitled "Downfall" and you will learn just what the White House will become in the future.
2
"Cohen was merely Renfield to Trump’s Dracula, gratefully eating insects and doing the fiend’s bidding."
Accurate image but hopefully Cohen's testimony will lead to Trump's downfall rather than just his own. Dracula finished off Renfield by snapping his neck.
4
The Wall Street Journal hit piece on Cohen was a disgrace, planted as it was by Trump himself to discredit a former associate he knows can do him harm. For Ms Dowd to quote The Journal's (Trump's) words is no less of a disgrace.
9
With Cohen, Trump ignored an axiom of life and of common sense: never ever anger someone who has a lot of dirt on you.
12
@Bob - just a thought here. I agree with you. Could this 'axiom of life' be what we are seeing with so many GOP members of Congress? My personal thoughts wander to the possibility that perhaps there are many unflattering 'dossiers' (read 'blackmail' in this case) out there, compiled by Trump or his handlers, just waiting to go pubic if Trump isn't lavishly supported by majority of GOP. Why else would these elected political figures, almost every one of them, be so willing to humiliate themselves? We need answers on the WHY. It just doesn't make sense.
2
Ms. Dowd say she doesn’t know why Trump turned against Cohen. She should read the news. After Cohen was charged, he decided to give testimony harmful to Trump, and so Trump turned against him. This was front page news in every newspaper across the country, yet Ms. Dowd missed it. You can’t believe Trump or Cohen or Ms. Dowd. The truth is somewhere but nobody is helping us find it.
4
Really? You think the “truth” is so hard to find that you need someone to help you “find” it. As a former prosecutor and defense lawyer, let me assure you that you will never know with 100% certainty what the truth is. However, with a grasp of the facts and the application of critical analysis you can get pretty darn close to it. Of course, that requires a close study of the available evidence and critical thinking skills. In the case of Trump, it’s really not very hard. He is a racist, con man, liar and cheat, just as described by Michael Cohen. Cohen is despicable, but no more so than many other witnesses prosecutors routinely rely upon to build a case against their equally despicable former friends and accomplices. Cohen has a strong incentive to tell the truth and not to lie. If he lies, he will go to prison for an even longer sentence; telling the truth might mitigate his prison sentence. Have I helped you now?
The lesson not being learned by the Trumpenablers (one word) is the fantasy that they are not like Cohen or Sessions or Kelly or Omarosa..... . Daddy would never turn on them. But they have to ALWAYS be good little foot soldiers. N'er a discouraging word. They have guzzled the Trump Aide. And have convinced themselves that no harm will ever befall them as long as they religiously follow their leader. And when his time eventually comes, they will all stand on the shore as his yacht pulls away from the pier bound for Moscow. All teary eyed. Bemoaning "He promised he would take me with him". Thinking the boat with only 10 cabins would have ever had room for them. They stand in a throng of followers. Each thinking they would be the one chosen for a cabin. Never looking around to see the others got the same promise. And as the yacht disappears on the horizon, they head home to await the call that will never come. "He's a busy man. I guess he just doesn't have the time to send for me. Yet". And every year they send him birthday cards and gifts and Christmas greetings. Sending and never getting any in return is all the thanks they will ever need.
6
I sometimes wonder how loyal Teflon Don II really is to his children, current or former wives. Should one of them 'flip' fearing spending time with a new roommate for a period of time beyond pardonville, would he/she still be in his 'loving' embrace? Would be an interesting science project to witness don't you think.
4
Maureen Dowd still doesn't understand Trump. Every attempt to oversimpify and dismiss him only feeds into his scheme. Blue state liberals (and I count myself among them) love to be dismissive and mock Trump. He seems dimwitted and obvious. Boorish and crude. But we have to start asking ourselves a question. If he is so base, grasping, and brutish, why does he seem to have so much success? A more in-depth analysis is needed, and we need to check our superiorty complexes and haughty disdain at the door. Else we might be asking ourselves - again - how he possibly did it on the morning after the election.
14
@Megan M..."If he is so base, grasping, and brutish, why does he seem to have so much success?".....Because those that supported him are deathly afraid to admit to have been so foolish. So they cling desperately to their delusion hoping somehow that if they refuse to admit their mistake things will somehow be alright. And down down down the rabbit hole they go.
16
Because 40% of American voters are themselves dimwitted and obvious, boorish and crude? Our electoral college system allows them to choose our president, rather than the majority of voters.
4
they learned this from that old time religion. when it just doesn't seem right, doesn't deliver on its promises, that's where blind FAITH comes into play and it's time to double down. those pearly gates await, this I know, even though no one has ever seen them and reported back, the myth is real beause I just KNOW it, I FEEL it. hallelujah! even an ignoramus like Trump knows this scam has duped the marks for millenia and shows no sign of losing it effectiveness.
2
Michael Cohen's turncoat testimony involves a sort of Catch-22. To get the goods on Donald Trump, it helps to hear from people who have worked for him at close quarters for a long time. But those are going to be people of dubious honesty. You hope to get them before they've been convicted of enough felonies to raise eyebrows, but in the real world that's not always possible. So you're constantly pushing against a credibility problem.
It's vitally important that Cohen can supply some documentary evidence and can make revelations that are capable of corroboration by others. Even with his past, he's in a position to serve the cause of justice by pawing the ground where the bodies are buried.
332
@Longestaffe As to whether Cohen will supply some documentary evidence, I suppose the SDNY and Mueller already have most of what Cohen possessed as a result of the FBI raid on his offices. What the public saw of Cohen's testimony is just the tip of a very large iceberg, big enough to sink a lot of additional people.
92
@Longestaffe Yes but keep in mind that when, for example, Cohen lied about Trump's hoped-for deal in Moscow, Trump had told the exact same lie. Granted he didn't lie in Congressional testimony. Just to the American people.
But a lie's a lie. In one case there's legal jeopardy, in the other not. So what? If Cohen can't be trusted or believed neither can Trump.
14
@Longestaffe
It has been said that investigating Trump is like investigating the mob because all the witnesses are also crooks.
17
It is hard to take at face value that Michael Cohen was so intoxicated or enchanted by Trump that he went against his own better judgment. We can all be gullible to some degree, but
most of us would stop far short of facilitating illegality and of intimidating those who stood in the way of a client. If years of overt racism and fraud didn't bother Cohen as they unfolded, it defies credulity to think they suddenly do.
Mr. Cohen was more plausibly motivated by the power and profit he found with Donald Trump than by any personal loyalty. And it is only credible that it is now convenient to come clean about his sordid history with Donald, just as it was once expedient to do Trump's dirty work.
But still, every word Cohen spoke about Donald rang true and is entirely consistent with what we see. This whole ordeal isn't really about Cohen at all. This is about the low character in our highest office. The real question isn't whether Cohen had a crisis of conscience. It is whether we citizens and our powerful officials will collectively put our feet down and do our own parts to stop Trump and his sleaziness from prevailing. Cohen was testifying, but our entire nation is really on trial here.
982
While I overall agree with the sentiments expressed by NM, I would argue that everyone of us is susceptible to just the right combination of bullying, wealth, perceived prestige, sex or what ever is offered -- especially if one comes from a wounding family background. For those of us who have been fortunate not to have been severely tested we can cultivate a self righteous view that we and other people of good will would never succumb to the synchophantic depths that Cohen describes as his experience. But all it takes is the right settings of vulnerability and we would also be looking back at our behavior in disbelief of what fools we had been. Pride comes before a fall after which compassion for someone like Cohen flows.
189
@John H
People are tested in various ways. Sometimes we pass, sometimes we fail. There are moral heroes and heroines among us who succeed in resisting the blandishments that you enumerate. Saying that everyone is susceptible is cynical in the extreme.
46
@John H Exactly what cults do. People follow a leader and give up their common sense and free will. It can happen to anyone. Those lucky enough to escape feel humiliation at having been fooled and believing in someone not worthy of their belief. Others will never admit their mistake and stay captive, even drinking the koolade in whatever form it is presented.
107
"Actually Trump is simple" ?
Had to stop reading there. No one has come close to predicting the last two years. Any opinion based on "Actually Trump is simple" sells a perception that is unable to support basic reality.
Otherwise, it's super fun.
2
Trump is not only not a long term thinker; he also doesn't have the emotional intelligence of a rock. What sets him apart from more successful Mafia bosses is that they know enough to give loyalty in order to demand loyalty. Trump's only loyalty is to himself. If I were even one of his immediate family, I'd be worried about what would happen to me if I somehow didn't give him the fealty he forever demands.
9
I don't think Cohen was mesmerized by Trump or even had do drink any cool-aid. He was a two bit lawyer who saw his way to making a lot of money by being willing to do shady, unethical, and illegal stuff for Trump. And he did make millions of dollars before it all came unglued when Trump got elected.
I can't remember exactly how he said it but I was struck by Cohen's comments that the Republicans on the committee were acting like Trump's flunkies just like he had been. That rang true to me. :)
752
@Engineer: Yours is an intriguing post. Do remember that trump has attracted a cadre of minions. Cohen wouldn't disagree with you, and, trump is *president of the U.S.*. The position is somewhat of a draw.
It's as if you were asked to engineer a flawed system to gain recognition at the very top levels of the corporation. You will deny that you would do it, but then, maybe you never worked for charismatic executives and entrepreneurs. They are in that position for a reason, and it's not because of their ability to use MATLAB or design circuits or software.
Trump is a Svengali. Maureen's fine column really makes us aware of that.
48
@Engineer. That rang true because you’re a Democrat.
1
@Jackson. Exactly. While the NYT readership is enthralled by Cohen's performance, people in real America recognize it as having been extracted by threats to throw Cohen's wife in prison for decades for having co-signed a $20 mil loan on the overvalued cab medallions. As usual, nothing to do with Trump. And Trump being willing to walk out on Kim Jong Un is a strength, not a weakness - one that strengthens his hand in trade negotiations with China.
3
I do wonder how it is that the party of the Christian Right can be so dismissive of the idea of redemption.
While it is a fact Cohen lied to this same body in the past, he framed this appearance before this committee convincingly, both in his opening statement and when he warned Jim Jordan and others that, in defending Trump, they were committing the same error he has committed. That statement seemed authentic to me.
Cohen's religious background is irrelevant. I thought Christians believe that people who have sinned (whether as sycophants, slanderers, or scofflaws) can be redeemed.
438
@Jay Baglia
The "Christian Right" as we know it has no real basis in Christianity, and is basically a tax-avoidance scheme that repeatedly and consistently violates its tax-exempt status by engaging in right-wing politics.
Leaders of the "Christian Right" are not followers of Jesus, but more accurately described as followers of Judas. Their 30 pieces of silver is retaining their tax-exempt status. The fair share of taxes they don't pay is paid by average Americans who have no political clout.
311
@Jay Baglia I am a Southerner who grew up here in the Bible Belt surrounded by family members, friends, and acquaintances who are the "Christian Right." For that matter, I suppose until the late 1980's, you could have even lumped me with them. Members of the "Christian Right" believe in a god who doles out fire and brimstone to anyone who does not recite what they call the "Sinner's Prayer." They believe that anyone who does not do this will burn forever and ever and that they deserve to do so. People who have no problem with other people being tortured and thrown away if these others do not agree with them based on religion do not care much about redemption--unless that "redemption" promotes their world view. The views of the "Christian Right" are the least Christian views I have ever seen in my nearly half-century of life.
265
@What is Truth
All of us and our children, will burn forever and ever, if we don't aggressively address climate change by the next election.
If it's not too late.
92
Trump did a masterful act today.
He walked on the stage of CPAC and passionately hugged the flag.
He got a rousing roar from every sycophant in the room.
FIX News ran endless footage of it all day long.
I will bet a $100 if Trump knows how many stars and stripes in it?
Yes he is a phony, but who among Dems running now can beat that?
5
Anybody who knows how to properly display and respect the Flag, which of course does not include any attendee at CPAC.
14
We will find out in 2020. And conveniently, at the same time we will get an exact count of the number of unforgivably ignorant and bigoted voters in America. Retaining a vibrant democracy that can withstand the horrendous pressures from all sides in the world today requires an educated and well-informed populace; clearly a large segment of the voting population is neither.
There is not enough public acknowledgement (and education) on what a sociopath is - and that Donald Trump's "sociopathy" is dangerous to our nation. You don't have to be a psychologist to see this Profile of the Sociopath in Trump.
Glibness and Superficial Charm
Manipulative and Conning - They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering
Grandiose Sense of Self
Pathological Lying
Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt - Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims.
Shallow Emotions
Incapacity for Love
Need for Stimulation
Callousness/Lack of Empathy
Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive Nature - Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing
Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile Delinquency
Irresponsibility/Unreliability - Does not accept blame themselves, but blames others, even for acts they obviously committed.
Promiscuous Sexual Behavior/Infidelity
Lack of Realistic Life Plan/Parasitic Lifestyle - exploits others
Criminal or Entrepreneurial Versatility - changes life story readily.
15
The GOP has lost it. Trump has swallowed them whole. There was always a weakness in the party and Trump has used it against them by manipulating and "advertising" that weakness. What was it? Racism, white superiority, fear, hatred....All of that was hidden in the GOP. Trump has used it for his "powers" to attract his base. Michael Cohen was never going to be the true partner. Dirty deeds must remain hidden and the dirty deed managers must always remain in the shadows. What does Trump really fear? I would think that SDNY might actually destroy the Trump "Olympus" . Trump would throw everyone under the bus for that. Everyone....including the GOP.
11
Isn't it interesting that we have not heard from even one woman who has had a certified consensual sexual relationship, past or present, with the goofy Electoral College/Trump University president. I guess we could count the many invited Evangelical rally "women for Trump" who admit to fantasizing about being groped by this loony lover, but isn't this stacking the deck.
Speaking of stacking the deck, how could someone who knows more than anybody, about more than everything, possibly bankrupt not one, not two, not three, but four gambling casinos. By the way, who got all that lost money? Maybe Mr. Cohen knows.
P.S. I had to google your reference to "Renfield" and "purdah". God help me if that puts me in the rural rube base.
7
@Samm
I am with you right up to the point where the "rural rube" comment appears. Denigrating a portion of our population based on where they reside won't help unite us. In fact, it only encourages some who side with Trump's despicable views to double down on hate as a defense against the elites who look down on them geographically. Slam the trumpkins on their views, not on your view of their address.
Read on.
Don’t blame Trump. Don’t blame Cohen. This Shakespearean tragedy which is being played out and twittered out before our very eyes is the product of a Republican party and Republican electorate. Donald Trump never would have or could have emerged as the winner in the 2016 Democratic primary. No way. What has finally emerged after years of cultivating the underbelly of our society, racists misogynists, the “ less educated” as Trump once referred to them is today’s Republican electorate and party. “ Trump’s party”. As the pundits try to differentiate the Republican Party of yore from today’s Republican Party ,they cant because there is no distinctioni it’s the same party today as it was years ago. Wasn’t Trump once a Democrat? He was smart enough to realize his chances of running in the Democratic primary and winning was impossible. Let’s lay the blame for this political nightmare where it belongs. “. The fault dear America lies not in the stars but in ourselves.”
15
Thank you for an analysis of the relationship between Trump and Cohen that I was unaware of. I just hope this world of corruption, crime, greed and driven by a monstrous, psychotic, narcissist soon comes crashing down. I just hope the country does not go with him.
9
All those hours testifying before congress just to underscore what the world already knew about Trump from his own tweets and speeches, that he's a serial lying, dishonest, boorish, misogynist bully, incredibly common in speech and demeanor, none of which
has eroded his cult-like base to any discernible degree. I am very fearful that if Democrats nominate a hard-left candidate in 2020, Trump will win reelection. And then he and his Republican enablers will go full on fascist, which is the direction they've been headed in for years.
8
Interesting that Maureen mentioned Trump's wives, women who were (are) married to a hateful, nasty, selfish man who viewed them as nothing more than disposable playthings.
He treated Michael Cohen the same way, but Cohen finally saw the light and bit back.
I'm waiting for all the pathetic, crawling Republican curs in Congress to do the same.
Still waiting ………..
14
Enough is enough! When will Congress do something?
14
@Paul Grubbd
They already are doing something: they've shown their allegiance to unbridled power and greed; demonstrated total disregard for the Constitution or the good of "the American people"; are committed to dismantling what remains of a frayed social net; undoing environmental protections; demonize immigrants and the poor; support privatizing education... .
Take a look at the social statistics of the Senate Majority Leader's state, Kentucky: it is 47th overall in educational attainment, and in the top 10 states for opioid overdoses. Those who would hold the Senate accountable are too overwhelmed to give a flying fig about their abdication of national responsibility. They don't have the energy to hold anyone accountable.
1
The Proverbs talk that you are judged by the company you keep. One can argue about the validity of Trump’s policies, but, it is clear that the company he keeps, Cohen, Manafort, etc. is horrible. He attracts rotten characters because birds of a feather flock together.
8
Most unfortunate that the sordid performers in this bizarre carnival found cause to set up their Big Top in Washington D.C.
4
Junkyard dogs have teeth - who knew?
5
The best psychological analysis of the Trump-Cohen relationship I have read so far. Superbly written, as usual with Maureen Dowd.
This shows that Democrats should not now idolize Cohen because he turned on Trump and revealed...what we already knew (racist, conman, cheat). Cohen may be less ruthless and sadistic than Trump but for many years he went along with the racist sociopath so was an accomplice.
Trump will never atone for his sins and crimes but let's hope he pays a price (some time in jail would seem appropriate), as for Cohen his masochistic sycophancy is not a mitigating circumstance.
2
Trump "stumbled into the presidency…"
The media's hatred of Trump is appalling.
Ms. Dowd has become part of the NY Times "Hate Trump" squad.
Have you nothing good to say about this president?
Ever wonder why he won?
He had a message and goal for America while his opponent promoted herself.
He was organized and won his voters. He did not "stumble into the presidency" except through the biased eyes of the NY Times and its writers.
@Thom McCann Let's remember that Clinton won the popular vote by several million votes. The votes that elected Trump would not fill Michigan Stadium. The electoral college, reflecting the social and economic diversity of the United States, was what elected Trump.
13
The bit about Clinton was pretty funny, but the claim that Trump was “organized,” was stomp-down hilarious.
Trump scraped out his win though appeals to bigotry and stupidity mixed with occasional nods to real grievances, againat the backdrop of a solid candidate nobody really liked, a languid and indifferent Left, and a Press that was far too interested in clickbait.
Well, we’re not indifferent any more, as the midterm elections showed. Enjoy.
3
Has he done anything good? Anything worthy of praise? Tax cuts for the wealthy and ruining the environment will be his policy legacy (written and carried out by corrupt lobbyists). I suppose we should praise his love for dictators and disdain for the media? How about the over 8,000 lies he’s told? His treatment of women and minorities? So much to praise!
3
It will be most interesting to see this all continue to unfold. The entire bunch of them are about to get their comeuppance"
5
Trump will leave eventually one way or another. We will still have the tens of millions who voted for and continue to support him as our neighbors and fellow citizens. I find that more frightening.
23
@Powers
Pogo continues to be right: the enemy is us.
1
Having been born, raised and educated in NYC. Having lived in NYC for decades, Donald Trump and Michael Cohen make it very difficult to for me to believe I shared so much time and space with them.
Trump is the ultimate embarrassment to real New Yorkers (excepting Staten Island apparently). We have known that since the early 1980's and it only became lower and worse since.
He portrays himself as solid gold, but at best it is gold colored paint, or brass. There is little wonder that he has hidden his tax returns and educational scores for decades.
Cohen barely rates comment, except that he too represents a low life existence best portrayed in a Law and Order episode. Donny Manes had his parking meters, Cohen has his taxicab medallions and Donny Trump. Perfect.
Our political spectrum in the United States is dark and dreary.
22
There’s something about Trump that snows men more than women. Listen to the woman he hired to build a skyscraper. She acknowledges his good parts but also his bad in a very clear eyed unattached way. But to men-who work for him, in his party in congress, the coal miners and trick drivers and even his rivals that he insulted, most of them really buy into the cult of his reality show persona. They buy the whole Potemkin image- that he’s rich, powerful, smart etc. maybe because they want to believe they can be all that too. Most women see that he is none of those things, just a very nasty, very stupid little boy.
897
@Laurel McGuire
Chris Christie illustrated how Trump ingratiates himself with the guys. Chatting before the San Francisco-based Common Wealth Club recently, Christie said Trump wines, dines & flatters men into thralldom with him. Christie comes off as an astute politician who thinks quickly on his feet, & despite all the negativity he experienced, including being kicked off the Trump transition team, he still had complimentary things to say about Trump. No bridge burner he.
26
Trump primarily appeals to people who see themselves as “victims”. He gives them permission to blame everyone else for their shortcomings.
Trump especially targets the lowest base instinct of “testosterone laden” uneducated men. They feel energized and “alive” when they hear Trump’s inflammatory language and are really electrified he gets crude.
The giant and rapidly rising income gap between the rich and poor only makes “victims” feel worse.
Unfortunately Trump supporters do not understand that Trump tax cuts for the rich and new tariffs are only making them poorer.
75
@Laurel McGuire
And then there's Sarah H Sanders. How does she fit in?
23
This preaching to the choir is getting old and does nothing to help Democrats. I am more and more convinced that Democrats will not win the presidency--not in 2020 and maybe not after that either. Not unless they can straighten themselves out and begin sending one coherent message to voters that articulates why they are the better choice than the status quo. The dream of impeachment is delusional, and it's clear that the Republican senate will continue to protect Trump no matter what. I've read countless explanations of why, but none are convincing. There seems to be no rational explanation for the adoration of Trump, but it's real and Democrats need a way to cut through it and get some votes. The Green New Deal isn't it, and neither is Bernie Sanders. He and it will ensure a Trump win. The left wing of the Democratic Party fighting with the moderate wing will also guarantee a Trump win. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is smart and capable, but has let her new-found fame go to her head a little. She needs to settle down, or she'll be the catalyst for the Democrats failure. What I'm suggesting is that Democrats need to get their act together, and soon, or it's four more Trump years. These redundant columns recounting over and over the travesties of the Trump administration do nothing to promote the Democratic alternative. If Democrats don't coalesce into one strong and determined party soon, it will be too late.
37
If Trump prevails it means that for the good of the rest of the world that we be totally neutered. That can be accomplished by destroying our economy and eliminating the dollar as the currency of choice.
We are an evil entity, a war like power responsible for countless millions of deaths disabilities and refugees thanks to regime change ambitions with a past that includes Indian genocide slavery segregation Wall Street banksters and caging Hispanic children not to mention lead poisoning children of Flint Michigan and opposing a response to climate change. We are truly a cancer on the world stage.
Tough to face the truth isn't it. Like learning that your father is a serial killer though he is a prominent philanthropist.
3
How in the world can Democrats ignore the growing evidence of criminal activity by this president....campaign finance violations, obstruction of justice, emoluments violations? And now Congress has reason to believe Trump committed tax fraud, insurance fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.
Congress must expose the real Donald Trump to the American people. And our Constitution requires the House to start impeachment proceedings for misdemeanors (Clinton) as well high crimes.
Congress cannot ignore Trump’s flagrant abuse of power, obstruction of justice and violations of the rule of law just because the Senate Republicans are too scared to vote yes to convict him.
The whole world deserves to know the exhausting list of immoral, unethical and illegal acts by this unstable conman who holds control of our nuclear codes.
Congress must act before Trump is so emboldened by the Republicans’ blind support, he is willing to declare a war to
cover up documented evidence of his criminal behaviors.
1
You make several good points. However I don’t believe it’s the job of Dowd or the NYT to rally the democratic primary. Quite the opposite.
Cohen's warning to the Republicans in the House fell on deaf ears. He essentially told them, "You're foolishly defending Trump now as I once foolishly did." The Republicans seemed to miss the irony that everything they smeared Cohen with at his testimony--being a liar, cheater, fraud, etc--Trump is also proven to be.
They repeatedly asked him, "Why should we believe you?" It's a good question. Democrats are asking the same of the president.
413
@JR80304
It's interesting that what Cohen was saying specifically about Trump in the testimony wasn't attacked by Republicans, only his credibility. It wasn't the message they disagreed with, just the messenger. Trump's misdeeds are so overwhelming and numerous, his character so corrosive, that even House Republicans won't go there. Attacking Cohen for his own misdeeds was all they could do.
47
@JR80304 Or, as I heard someone astutely comment: They aren't upset that Cohen lied for trump, they are upset that he stopped lying for trump.
24
Michael Cohen's portrait of Trump and what it's like to work for him should come as no surprise to anyone, unless you missed the time Trump's Cabinet members all sat around a table and said one by one what an honor is was to serve him. (All, that is, except Gen. Mattis. To his credit his praise was for the military, not Trump).
Michael Cohen may be a rat, but he's one leaving a sinking ship.
21
This is seemingly a long and comprehensive indictment on the Trump Presidency. Or at least a long accusation that Mr. Cohen allegedly did "bad things" on behalf of President Trump.
Anyone who knows American business and American politics know that both sectors are rough, tough, dirty, sometimes bloody and that this is par for the course in our country. One has to be strong, hard, tough and ready to take a bullet in both American business and American politics.
President Trump is strong and a hard man. One has to be a hard man in order to be an effective President. We have seen what happens to ineffective weakling Presidents; they accomplish nothing and are tossed aside into the dustbin of history.
President Trump is ever present in our lives. It is possible that not a day has gone by since he announced his intention to run for President, and it is strongly likely that a day has not gone by since his election victory and certainly since his inauguration that we have not heard or seen or read his name in our lives and media.
President Trump is in this for the long haul and he can and will do whatever is necessary to prevail and continue his Presidency for the present term and for another four years after his present term. Americans like people who are gritty and who do what is necessary to get the job done on behalf of America.
American government has always been something of a criminal enterprise. Any successful American President must be "Godfather"-like.
2
Give me a break.
According to the Republican Party, Hillary Clinton is much more ruthless and Godfather-like than Donald Trump. So why isn’t she president?
1
Cynicism is not wisdom. It is thought and action that equates to giving in to the morally corrupt.
Give me someone who is tough in the upholding the law. No matter how weak that idealism appear to be
1
@Reggie
What you say is frightening to any American, man.
I am wondering who will turn against the other first, Trump against Don, Jr or Don, Jr against his dad. The sad story of a narcissist is the inability to have emotion, inside they lack empathy and are hollow. All that wealth and power and yet no love. Truly tragic.
11
Nathaniel Hawthorne told a tale about death by avalanche to a family and a stranger in his short story, The Ambitious Guest. When I read it years ago, the frontspiece of the story in the edition I read stuck with me low these 55 years later:
"The mill of God grinds slow, but it grinds exceeding fine."
I still believe Mr. Trump and his minions will get their just rewards as the twin Mueller/SDNY avalanches rumble down the mountain above them.
Michael Cohen just cast a snowball from the superior arete.
25
The whole Cohen public testimony was shocking, disturbing and, in regards to Cohen himself, sad. He comes across as a chump, a wanna-be who loved being in a (supposedly) powerful man's orbit and ended up paying a terrible price.
Thinking about the GOP 's response to Cohen's testimony and evidence, that is to discredit Cohen rather than defend Trump, I worry that by the time Mueller's report comes out, nothing will seem shocking. The GOP will cast it as "old news" that we already knew, so what? There is so much corruption and bad behavior being thrown at us, we are becoming calloused towards it.
Can we really be shocked into action anymore?
11
Odd relationships between powerful people and their minions is not peculiar to Trump. How soon we forget Huma and Hillary or any of a number of other hangers-on in Clinton world. Or more recently, the staffers around Senator Klobuchar that stay with her despite abusive behavior from their boss.
4
Yes, Cohen was a sycophant, but let's be clear that there're sycophants by the score in Congress.
By now it should be clear to everyone that Trump only values people for what they can do for him in the next 24 hours. (For a heartbreaking example, consider the family of Otto Warmbier, now treated as a bit of used tissue.) Loyalty, for Trump, goes only in one direction. No one who abets him can expect loyalty from him, and more importantly, this country cannot expect loyalty from him. Somehow, that message hasn't gotten through to the many Republicans in Congress, who this week put on a pathetic show of sycophancy to rival anything that Cohen - who was never elected to any office - may have said or done. Let's have some clearheaded analysis of their willingness to uphold their Constitutional obligations.
14
@SAnderson
Republicans on the House Committee, this week, were less being sycophants to Trump than they were using their on-camera time to play to the hustings. The constituents -- not Donald Trump -- are the ones on whom they depend every two years to take an oath that the electorate could not care less about. Tip O'Neill was absolutely on the money: all politics are local.
1
@CommonSenseRules
Yes, they were. But those two things are not mutually exclusive.
Renfield, a madman, ate insects, believing he could absorb their life force and live longer. He fell under the thrall of Dracula's empty promise of eternal life to Renfield by providing all the insects he wanted.
A woman, Dracula's object of desire, who Renfield wanted to protect, drove him him to expose Dracula. Dracula broke his neck.
Cohen is no madman, but over 2 years of watching a fan base, and elected Republicans, fall under Trump's thrall and do his bidding, ruthlessly driving the U.S. to an ethically and unhumanitarian low point, I don't understand it, but clearly see Trump's hold over these people.
The electeds have sacrificed everything they swore to uphold, and Trump promises them nothing, except perhaps his good favor.
Trump-as-Dracula perfectly inhabits the character, which requires no love of humanity -- just a ruthless desire for their blood. If they die, so what?
Dracula is eventually destroyed by others, who see him for what he is.
Cohen, like Renfield, has a chance to stop his cruel master. Renfield succeeded, but lost his life. While Cohen testified, harm to him or his family was a concern -- someone from Trumpworld, or a fan, would avenge their leader.
Cohen isn't mad. To obey Trump took a blend of obeying authoritarian figures, being captivated by the celebrity Trump and money. He forgot the idea of ethics, just as elected and appointed Republicans have done.
Still, Trump must be stopped, by those who see him for what he is.
7
Cohen confirmed under oath what we all knew about Trump.
Still 60 million adult Americans voted for a cheat, liar and con man.
For the similar reasons that people like Cohen were drawn to him: feel important and to pick up some crumps.
Trump went on the extreme in his campaign, not because he believed a word he said, but because he wanted to sell his brand. He wanted to attract enough people to make money and he got so many that he was made president. Basically a deal gone bad.
Most chilling was the moment when Cohen did hold the mirror to Republicans and said look, you have become me. And you will end up like me.
Republicans don’t heed the warning.
Whatever the wrenched psychology is behind their denial, it will harm them and the country.
It’s so weird and scary to see this happen.
Humans are odd creatures.
5
Republicans support the President and attack his enemies because they know that Trump will be reelected. Those who have stayed with him these last few years and still go to his rallies are hard core supporters who will certainly show up to vote.
Did Ms. Dowd read the Daily Mail article about the book deal Cohen wants and what he said about Trump to get that deal? It is the complete opposite of his testimony to Congress--even though it was written just a few months ago. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6757251/Michael-Cohen-pitched-book-claiming-Trump-not-liar.html.
What's also interesting, but completely ignored, is that the law office of Donald Trump's lawyer was raided--on suspicion of campaign finance violations-- but the law office of Hillary Clinton's lawyers--who's secret payments for the Steele dossier could also be a violation--were not.
Its official, the Trump mess has caused us all go completely bonkers.
1
@Sylvia
Dowd referred to the book deal in her opinion piece. Cohen was shopping the book deal a few weeks before the FBI raid on Cohen’s office,according to the article you linked, not a few months ago. It seems getting caught led him to re-evaluate reality and his complicity in criminal acts.
1
Speaking of bonkers, those DNC payments for the Steele dossier (which they picked up from you guys) were declared to the FEC. That’s how you know about them.
It is all less abut Cohen and Trump than it is about the soul of America. Electing Trump is proof that this country has lost it's way. Think Rome. Late Rome.
11
Cohen's comment that the same fate awaits Trump's enablers in Congress was incredibly insightful. Seeing the abstract commonality between Cohen's behaviors, and those displayed by the Republicans during questioning, poignant. The sycophant-sociopath dynamic is in fact key to the nucleus, the defining characterization, that seems to congeal, and thread together all relationships of the Trump cult; within his coterie, his constituents, and increasingly manifest within the Republican Party itself.
3
Mesmerized. Hypnotized. Intoxicated. In awe. That is how cult followers have described themselves while in a cult. Scores of people fall for a master manipulator, they remain under his spell (most of the time, male), until the spell is somehow broken and they fall flat on their face, splat.
Trump's followers will definitely go through these stages, inevitably, cuz he is not immortal, like most of these cult "gurus" who seem to somehow read the collective minds and lead their followers to believe they are carrying on their deepest wishes. Until someone tuns on the light switch and sunlight streams in, pulling the followers out of the deep abyss. Does Mueller have the light switch? Or the federal judges of SDNY? Let us please hope.
8
Imagine the marketing challenge the Republicans have embarked on -- normalizing the behavior of a disturbed man. (Defending a president who uses vile language being the latest). Even if they wake up and suddenly wash their hands of Trump, the damage is done, and it will take the country a generation or more to recover. Sad!
4
Fine column. And the testimony of Michael Cohen reminded me of something Evan S. Connell wrote, in his great book on Custer, “Son Of The Morning Star.” I paraphrase: he said that when someone is lying, it sounds tinny, like false coinage, but that the truth rings with a particular vibrancy. Cohen, despite all of his past forgeries, and in repudiation of the master counterfeiter he served, was offering the hard currency of truth.
4
“It seems unbelievable that I was so mesmerized by Donald Trump that I was willing to do things for him that I knew were absolutely wrong,” said Cohen in his “Goodfellas” accent, adding that being around the “icon” was “intoxicating.”
The answer is direct and simple. Cohen enjoyed the notoriety and power. Enthralled with Trump? Not likely. Trump was simply opportunity for Cohen.
4
Brilliant dissection, Mo. Thank you for putting this bizarre tabloid relationship into perspective.
1
Dowd has nothing insightful to say about Donald Trump. She knew him. All the big time rollers in NYC did and they knew his reputation and his style and behavior. And yet with all that inside knowledge they still attacked his opponent and aided his rise to the presidency. Cohen said Trump did not believe he was going to be president and this was all just a big campaign for the brand. Perhaps Dowd also thought it was impossible for Trump to be elected and so could easily go after HRC because there would be no risk, no consequence. It was all for publicity. And so here we are.
17
@North Carolina
Hard to admit, but, probably true.
Actually, Maureen Dowd did pretty much what she was spozed to do—opine about Hillary Clinton’s shortcomings (in ways I certainly didn’t care for), and truly tee off on Donald J. Trump as an appalling candidate and worse human being.
And I’m well past tired of this scapegoating and alibi-making: the Press was quite flawed, but what Trump was, and how bad this would be, got out there to anybody who paid the slightest attention.
WE did this, not Maureen Dowd.
>Trump is simple, grasping for money, attention and fame.
Leftists taught Trump that society is more important than mans independent mind. And that money is a gift from govt because "You didnt build that."
"Trump doesn’t give loyalty or deserve it. That’s why Republicans on the Hill who so obsequiously stand by him will eventually learn it wasn’t worth it, just as Cohen warned them."
Those Republicans -- which is basically all, apart from one or two confused individuals -- will not learn. No way. The rot, the ideology, the willful delusion runs deep. They had, a long time ago, totally bought into it. It took a tremendous amount for Cohen to learn the little bit he did.
It is because of this trenchant mind-disease afflicting Republicans that our country is in real danger. You can take this to the bank: they are not going to learn. These people do not do reality. They need falsehoods. They can not handle the truth.
8
Cohen's ending statement of, "...….., I fear that if he loses the election in 2020 that there will never be a peaceful transition of power,.....", should be getting more attention than I have seen so far. Laws dealing with insurrection and treason - and the punishment thereof - need to be reviewed and become a part of a contingency planning strategy, just in case.
11
“If Trump was more sophisticated and had the ability to think long term, he would have anticipated that Cohen might have become a problem if he didn’t hold him close,”
Talk about understatement. Possibly the most amazing thing to come out in this, by inference, is Trump's absolute blindness to the motivations of others, even when they parallel his own almost precisely. It speaks to his utter lack of empathy and spotlights him as the strictly transactional sociopath he is.
7
Michael Cohen and John Edwards are two peas in the same pod.
They graduated from law school, passed he bar exam and began practicing corrupt law. Along the way they took an oath, as all doctors and lawyers do, to act honestly and uphold the trust placed in them.
They both richly deserve the ignominy they now enjoy.
5
Aside from everything else — the racism, the xenophobia, the criminal disregard of Climate Change, the repudiation of American ideals and democracy in favor of naked greed — what is particularly painful is to wake up each morning in the midst of a terribly produced B-movie. Life is too short for much more of this nonsense.
This is a terrific analysis, but I no longer care about Trump’s psychology (psychosis) or the psychology of the pathetic characters surrounding him.
8
What is 'intoxicating' is money. We are all to blame. We've created this sinfully unequal place of reward the few and punish the many. I read of a 'housing crisis' in most every city here and abroad, Why? Because we care so little about each other. We want, we want for our own lustful desires. We want more.
Hard to create community in such a place. Hard to give common Americans a 'dream' of a decent standard of living and quality of life. Hard to try and stop poisoning the earth, for that is a true communal effort. Hard to love here.
Trump is our worst instincts writ large. So be it. Look in the mirror. Thank God for the 2018 elections; maybe we're turning a corner. Maybe we're beginning to think of others (and not just by charitable donations). I mean, really, who are We the People?
7
Don’t doubt the sincerity of Cohen’s admission of slavish idolatry of Trump. There is no other explanation of that of Trump’s base or that of his GOP Senators and Congresspersons. For some, Trump is mesmerizing while for others he is repelling. Like Charles Manson’s or Jim Jones’s followers, Trump’s supporters will do unthinkable things for him. To date the differences are only matters of degree.
4
No honor among thieves- and the chief thief is DT who has stolen more attention than he's worth. I do wish the mainstream media would get that, as it only feeds the beast.
11
"...Roy Cohn. The latter Trump lawyer was the one who helped shape Trump’s character...."
Oh, I suspect Trump's character was fully formed long before he encountered Cohn. His father would have made it difficult for any child of his to develop into a decent human being (just as Donald has made it difficult for Don Jr. and Eric, and even Ivanka). One of the worst things about a reprobate like Trump is the way the vice gets reproduced in the children. Feel sorry for them; they close to never had a chance. And yes, in spite of justifiably hoping for Trump to be given his full due for his lifetime of horrible deeds, it means feeling a bit sorry for him, too.
1
How much longer can our country endure this Republican and Trump nightmare?
9
Cohen was a D grade attorney and like Roy Cohen before him, willing to take money for being Trump's fixer regardless of the ethics and professionalism of his demeanor and actions. Trump employed him like many rich con artists and shady business persons to do his dirty work. There was no regard for truth, honesty or morality in their relationship. If Cohen heard Trump lie and dissemble about his dealings with Russia, then Cohen's job was to amplify the lie even if it meant lying to Congress. Until the FBI destroyed the attorney-client privilege with a raid on Cohen's home and office, Cohen had no incentive or reason to tell outsiders the truth. However Jim Jordan and the GOP would have you believe that an attorney who protects the secrets and corruption of their client is being dishonest and can never violate the privilege and tell the truth. I guess Jordan forgot about the crime exception to attorney client privilege.
6
The difference between Roy and Michael is more than talent and an “e”. Roy didn’t need Trump. Trump didn’t make Roy. Poor weak Michael was any easy mark for The Donald. And The Donald, realizing that immediately, put Michael on tasks any legitimate self-respecting attorney would reject.
3
Thank you for teaching me two new words in one piece: "inamorata" and "purdah". Also, great observations.
1
The relationship between Cohen and Trump is very much like what happens with the modern day mafia.
The underlings (Cohen) declare undying loyalty to the mob boss (Trump) but when the feds start to nail the underlings, they sing like canaries to protect their back sides from going to jail or spending too much time in jail.
3
Towards the end of this essay, Ms. Dowd writes, "Everyone is disposable in Trumpworld.”
Despite the litany of sleazy characters and general awfulness of their actions she describes, that line hit a nerve already over-sensitized to the odious. It’s because we all live in Trumpworld.
If The Donald had lost and returned to his faux villain’s volcano in Trump Tower, we could have sidelined him to the carnival freak show that he is. But because of attention deficit Twitter, post-industrial-white-boomer angst, and the quirks of the Electoral College, he now lives in the White House.
Emboldened as the “leader of the free world” in his mind and in fact, he makes decisions that affect everyone on the planet—for the present and (for the climate) into the future.
If we are “disposable” what will our world become?
7
@David Potenziani
The U.S. survived WWI and WWII, The Great Depression and the Civil War. We can survive four years or even, God forbid, 8 years of Trump as President.
We need to make sure a Democrat is elected as Prez in 2020 and a Democratic majority in the Senate. Then the repair process can begin.
6
So many Democratic candidates for President. I hope the Democratic Party sees they really need to win the Senate and keep the House.
And we need those soccer moms in Pittsburg, Tampa, Cincinnati and Madison/
Did anyone else find Michael Cohen less than convincing when he declared that he was obviously very loyal to Mr. Trump, for whom he would take a bullet?
I thought that those words were delivered just to please Trump and with the enthusiasm of a hostage video.
Then, when learning that Cohen had secretly recorded Trump and held onto documents that a true coconspirator would have destroyed, it seemed even less believable that Cohen had ever been under any spell. He had protected himself all along.
Michael Cohen may have been - or even still be - any number of bad things, but naive isn't one. He knew what he was working with in Donald Trump, and that he, too, would have been thrown under the bus the second it looked convenient for Trump.
I can't quite bring myself to applaud Cohen, but do hope that he has the last laugh over Trump, who took his lawyer for a fool.
4
What happens when the sociopath becomes the sycophant to a sociopath of a completely different order of magnitude? He falls head over heels in love.
Love has no fury like a sycophant scorned, as Michael Cohen has ably shown. But he's just a bit player playing on a small stage, not like the bit player you elected as your president.
One can only hope that Trump's other myriad delusions are so well and truly entrenched, he will never understand how deeply he has been played by his lover on the world stage.
If he ever does, we are all in trouble. All of us who are not with him are against him and will deserve whatever punishment comes our way. Fire and fury at his boyfriend for ending the affair? Check. Nuclear annihilation collateral damage for the rest of us? Check.
If he's going down, so are we. Mark my words.
How did you get there? How did we?
3
The problem with slighting "the fixer" is that "the fixer" will spill the beans, as Michael Cohen is now doing.
The guy who thinks he's "smarter than anybody" hasn't yet realized that it was a dumb move to not keep Cohen close.
Allen Weisselberg, who knows Trump’s Financial Secrets, is up next.
His lawyer and finance guy could could do a number on Trump. Or so let's hope.
6
I knew from 45's announcement and observing his hateful behavior and verbiage that he was temperamentally unfit to be president. This awareness continues to be reinforced daily. What blindness his supporters have is beyond my comprehension. In my 70 years I have never seen such institutional destruction and advancement of greed over all that is precious in our world.
14
Michael Cohen is not the only sycophant in Washington, D.C. Almost all the Republican Congress have kissed Donald Trump's ring. At his hearing by the House Oversight Committee, none of the Republicans sought to further understand his relationship and the facts involving Donald Trump but just heaped scorn and derision on a guy who has lost his reputation, his attorney's license and really his future. They had sadistic fun kicking a guy who was already down. Sad...
5
Trump sycophants, with no apparent reservations, gulp down the Koolaid by the gallon until they are staring into the steely eyes of a federal prosecutor. When they finally realize that despite Trump's spectacular record of evading serious punishment for his many crimes to date, those nearest to him are falling like dominoes, it is usually too late.
5
Just like Gotti was taken down by his confidant, so will Trump go down, thanks to Cohen. And not a minute too soon!
3
I think (and hope) that Trump will rue the day that he was elected President. When the Feds and the SDNY are finished with him, he will be exposed as the cheating, lying, souless person he is. Consequences? That is the question.
4
@LM
Prison for a few years sounds appropriate.
1
Mr.Trump ruled his “kingdom” on the 26th floor of Trump Towers as an absolute autocrat.His minions did his bidding or were dismissed or shamed.If they were totally loyal he would throw them some crumbs in terms of deals or access to his world of excess.Trump thought he could seamlessly move from Trump Tower to the Oval Office and operate as he had.To his shock , he entered a world of laws and of intense scrutiny.The Constitution rules the office of the president and the Justice Department carries out their duty to see that laws are obeyed.Trump cannot tolerate this-he is still mentally on the 26th floor fighting furiously to remain in charge of his shady regime.
5
Michael Cohen would never win on The Apprentice. Trump the Reality TV Bully Boss would snuff out his weaknesses early in the Season yet happily keep him on the show so he could flaunt those flaws to belittle him in the dramatic finale. "You're Fired!"
In real life. "You're also going to jail. And I'm not."
We'll see.
2
The anthem for all this that keeps cycling in my head is Elvis Costello's 1978 song, "Hand in Hand".
"If I'm gonna go down, you're gonna come with me."
All of us, I'm afraid.
3
One prime question is "what will 'Fox News' have to see before it turns on DJT?". You would think there must be people in that organization that believe in democracy and the significance of truth. Does anyone there have any character?
5
Kudos to Maureen Dowd for her chutzpah in laying bare the "cult of trump".
Psychological profiles are essential to understand not only what trump has done, but more importantly what he WILL do overtly or covertly. He is a dangerous man. Her characterization of this sociopath is dead on!
Prominent expert psychiatrists and psychologists, including professors at Harvard, had written extensively about the orange over-tanned clown prior to the Nov 2016 election. They warned American voters to be wary, and to understand who they had put on the 2016 ballot. They said clearly that this man was unstable and dangerous for the country.
Of course Michael Cohen also knew this. Yet his knowledge of trump came from his decades working for and watching him -- as trump debased, attacked, and hurt innocent others. Cohen knows the inner workings of trump's mind, but also his money laundering "companies". Cohen knows how trump would create fake (shill) companies, which sometimes existed temporarily, to transact money illegally or unethically, then fold that company so no records remained. Cohen knows how trump bloviated about his net worth, when legal documents (such as his IRS tax return filings) showed his real numbers -- trump is nowhere near being a billionaire, let alone a ten-billionaire.
Cohen always knew trump is a dangerous person.
Now he's realized how dangerous trump was for him.
Hopefully the GOP quickly realize that trump is a genuine loser, as big as they come.
4
I keep thinking how much like the victims of domestic abuse the people around trump appear/sound like. Maybe "cult-like" is a better term. But over and over again, people around trump seem to wake up and wonder why/how they just spend the last couple of years of their lives.
PS. Love the line "Cohen was merely Renfield to Trump’s Dracula"
2
The Republicans trying to defend Trump call Michael Cohen a convicted liar for previously lying to Congress. The terrible irony is that the lie for which was convicted was to give cover to Donald Trump for Trump's repeated lies to the public about the Moscow Tower deal. The Republicans are attacking a man for lying to protect the president who - as is well documented - lied repeatedly to protect his campaign.
There are so many lies spewing hourly from Trump's mouth anyone who tries to defend him is bound to be caught up in legal trouble. Many people will be going to jail for giving cover for Trump's lies. And for what? A few moments of basking in his orange glow? It is not worth it. He will throw them under the bus in a heartbeat if he can no longer use them.
5
What is most compelling about this entire desultory presidency is how much time and focus Trump spends on Twitter defending himself in detail. The question is: Don’t his Twitter followers smell a rat dancing on the keyboard? Is it such great entertainment for them that they just don’t care? Are they all waiting with bated breath for Ruth Bader to breathe her last?
Great column, Maureen. Good insider recap. Do this sort or journalism more often.
1
Cohen is merely a grifter, who is trying to reduce the consequences of his actions. Whether he is sincere or not is unimportant in the long run.
The real sycophant, the real evil behind the throne, the real
threat to all of us is Mitch McConnell and his minions.
McConnell is not a private citizen or private employee like Cohen. He was elected to serve the best interests of all of his constituents, not just those who voted for him.
He was chosen to protect this country's welfare. It would be bad enough if he was merely doing neither; he is actively dismantling the basis of our laws.
The consequences of his moral bankruptcy are far reaching, directly hurting millions now and setting this country up for the very possible fail of our democracy.
1095
@Dr. M: Excellent observation. Thanks for reminding us of McConnell’s heinous support of Trump. But how come nobody btings up the fact that Trump appointed McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, as secretary of transportation? Wouldn’t that be a conflict of interest, not only because of McConnell but also because, I believe, her father owns a shipping company?
115
@violetsmart
Yes! I am very gratified to read someone talking about McConnell and his wife who I don't think many people realize also has a position in the government. I want to see McConnell go down as badly as I want Trump to go down. McConnell is the cog in Trump's wheel.
95
@Dr. M
You hit the nail on the head. And McConnell and his minions will continue to do Trump's bidding, with some holding their noses, to fill the courts with conservative judges. In my opinion, they see the country shifting and are trying to instill their own vision of how things should be, hence the way they all went to the mat for Kavanaugh.
I am starting to view McConnell as worse than Trump. He's been at this game for a long time and he knows exactly what he is doing.
125
Trump is the result if the Chauncey Gardner who became president in the Peter Sellers movie had been a malignant narcissist instead of a simpleton gardener.
20
@PaulB
For anyone who still reads (certainly not Trump's base) that movie is "Being There". Also, watch DeNiro and Jerry Lewis's movie "The King of Comedy".
1
Maureen Dowd rightly excoriates Michael Cohen, a convicted liar, and his testimonial loathing for and ugly characterisation of Donald Trump, a transparent conman, before a committee of the highest legislative body of the United States.
But no small amount of condemnation, and humiliation, is reserved for Congress itself when it puts on a partisan carnival sideshow avoiding its sole Constitutional responsibility, the law and specifically a law that it passed appointing a Special Prosecuter to investigate whether this President had colluded with a foreign country to gain power. To this question Cohen had nothing to offer.
This was not a display of government of the most powerful democracy in the world. This was a segment of Entertainment Tonight that belittled and blighted that democracy, and we are all the losers for it.
24
@Alfred di Genis
Not sure if we're reading the same article, as I do not think Maureen Dowd is sympathetic to Trump at all like you are. She's not "excoriating" Michael Cohen (like the Republican Congressmen who questioned him were), she's painting him to be a pitiful figure.
Also note that there was another closed to the public hearing with Congress Michael Cohen the next day on more substantive issues, including the one you mention, and apparently it was fruitful enough schedule another closed-door hearing with Michael Cohen later. Not sure how you reconcile that with your read that is only about "Entertainment Tonight".
An Entertainment Tonight President with slimy compromising financial obligations to Russian crooks & a secret hotel deal has a clear motive to betray our nation for personal gain. Cohen may have been cut out of the election corruption & the Trump Tower meeting, but his testimony sets the stage for credible travesties ahead. Cohen was Trump’s thug for a decade; of course getting busted ain’t pretty-but he shows us the sleazy underbelly of his boss’s world.
A warning to all of trump associates and the Republicans fighting for this lying con man, Trump demands loyalty but will never offer any . He would turn on anyone in nano seconds it they disobey the corrupt man.
In ‘The Threat by Andrew McCabe`s is number one in NYT`s best seller, toppling Becoming by Michelle Obama after Her 14 week run as number one.
May Andrew McCabe`s goes as the best seller for a very long time as well, after working all his life his pension was cut off by trump 26 hrs before his retirement.
Why ?
Because he could.
27
Trump is not a sociopath. He's a narcissist. Sociopaths are cool, cunning, and charming. They lack empathy and fear. They are often highly intelligent and very goal oriented. Sociopaths thrive on high levels stimulation because their internal lives are bleak and boring. You can recognize severe sociopaths by their lack of facial affect. Narcissists on the other hand are drama queens. They are very thin skinned, have attention problems (ADHD), have some empathy, but their inability to handle criticism overrides their empathy at every turn. There are overlaps. Both types of personalities lie like there is no tomorrow. Narcissists lie because their short attention span and thin skins prevents an accurate assessment of the truth. Sociopaths lie because words are just ways to achieve goals. They have no concept of the difference between right and wrong. Trump is a narcissist. Both personalities are extremely dangerous and difficult, but a sociopath is immeasurably more dangerous than a narcissist.
19
@Lisa McFadden
Trump appears to be a high-functioning sociopath.
Here's a list of attributes that describe the diagnosis:
High IQ: High functioning sociopaths often have a higher IQ than other sociopaths or people without personality disorders. This helps them plan, manipulate, and exploit others.
Lack of empathy: Difficulty in empathizing with others or understanding the emotional consequences of their actions.
Narcissism: They often have strong self-love and grandiose self-image. This occurs because of low esteem and delusional beliefs.
Charming: Although most sociopaths lack empathy, they are capable of mimicking and manipulating emotions to appear charming and normal.
Secretive: A sociopath doesn't feel the need to share intimate details with others unless it is to manipulate.
Sexually deviant: Since they lack guilt, remorse, and emotional attachments, sociopaths tend to have affairs and engage in the questionable sexual activity.
Sensitive to criticism: Despite their lack of empathy, sociopaths desire the approval of others. They feel entitled to admiration and are quick to anger when criticized.
Impulsive behavior: Sociopaths often live in the moment and will do what they feel is needed to reach their immediate goals.
Compulsive lying: Disregarding the truth to make themselves look better or get what they want.
Needing constant stimulation: Sociopaths often get bored easily and need to be actively engaged.
Addictive Behavior: Sex
Criminal Behavior: Criminal activity
@Lisa McFadden
Thank you for doing and stating the work that should have been done by a longtime NY Times columnist who has but 1 column to craft each week. Except when she writes fluff for the Style section - where her efforts best fit.
You say, 'D’Antonio agreed that “the president made the mistake of disrespecting Cohen because he believed he had purchased Michael and that he would stay bought. When the underdog turns and bites hard, the overdog is always surprised.”'
I say, the president made the mistake of disrespecting the American people, of lying and of being a crook!
14
Well, Jordan and Meadows have volunteered to take Cohen’s place as
sycophants and Fixers.
Interesting how Trump pointed out that Cohen said he didn’t know anything about Russian collusion, when the one thing Cohen’s testimony made clear was that Cohen was Trump’ s personal attorney, not his campaign attorney. Cohen fixed Trump’s personal dirt. Sure there was overlap between the personal and the campaign - most notably in the Stormy Daniels hush money- but Cohen wasn’t a constant campaign insider. Cohen not knowing about Russian collusion in no way proves there was none.
But Trump thinks his base is stupid.
He heard w
18
I'd love to listen to the two-hour speech Trump gave today so that I could analyze exactly how much of a psychopath he really is, but I can't listen to his braying for two minutes, let alone two hours.
33
@Ellen Freilich
Up to two minutes?
Now that's what I would call "endurance".
5
Despite everything, around 40 percent of the electorate still blindly supports Trump (that in turn may be sufficient to explain all the senators and congressmen who do not dare to even criticize Trump since the 40 percent can and will vote against them in primaries). It would be interesting to know what the average IQ of this 40 percent is. Some bright people do support him because of a cynical implicit bargain that he will cut the taxes of the rich and dismantle inconvenient consumer and environmental protections (the Koch brothers are a prime example of this) but I can't help wondering if the rest are simply stupid
32
@ian stuart
Re: "It would be interesting to know what the average IQ of this 40 percent is."
There is a sociology research program here -- a big one. It would have to be disguised, of course.
3
So we have a president who is a sadist. Ruthless, amoral, ignorant, who has ignited his base to demented loyalty (viz. his 2 hour mad rant at the CPAC rally this afternoon). All the spineless Republican sychophants who have enabled Donald Trump will go down with their leader. Michael Cohen who was so intoxicated with his client that he said he'd take a bullet for him, has already taken a bullet from the law, been disbarred and is off to the slammer for a couple of years. The underdog turned on his boss and spilled his guts to Congress this past week. Trump's 45th presidency is on the ropes. We await the knockout punch.
17
Comparing Edwards to Trump is as low as last week's hit piece on Joe Biden.
12
Biggest problem we face with Trump & Kushner running foreign policy in the Middle East as Jared is looking to cash in on his security clearance and status as co -president. Jared got a billion $ loan bailout for 666 5th ave from a company that owns Westinghouse who will be putting up nuke reactors in Saudi Arabia that will provide nuke weapon fuel for MSB the murderous dictator of Saudi partner of Jared. This will force Iran to develop nuke weapons and Israel to attack Iran and ww3 ensues but the money the trump kushners will have made is said to be a 150 billion surely worth all lost lives.
21
So we have a president who is a sadist. Ruthless, amoral, ignorant, who has ignited his base to demented loyalty (viz. his 2+ hour mad rant at the CPAC rally yeterday). All the spineless Republican sychophants who have enabled Donald Trump will go down with their leader. Michael Cohen who was so intoxicated with his client that he said he'd take a bullet for him, has already taken a bullet from the law, been disbarred and is off to the slammer for a couple of years. The underdog turned on his boss and spilled his guts to Congress this past week. Trump's 45th presidency is on the ropes. We await the knockout punch.
3
Good title, but the article meanders.
4
Just when you think it's all been said a million times, even this week, Ms Dowd hit a home run: "Cohen was merely Renfield to Trump’s Dracula, gratefully eating insects and doing the fiend’s bidding." You made my weekend.
5
As Maureen so bitingly asserts, Trump is a sociopath.
Trump, like all sociopaths, is missing the part of his brain that experiences empathy and conscience. It's not his fault, look at his fMRI for yourself and you'll see the big black gap in his brain where empathy and conscience normally reside.
Expecting Trump to be empathetic and moral is like expecting a blind person to see or a deaf person to hear.
Because Trump is a sociopath (without empathy or morality), he preys on whomever he needs to in order to get the four things he wants: Sex, power, attention and money (a mnemonic to help you remember is SPAM).
Trump didn't need his fixer anymore and without conscience, cut him loose, inadvertently, freeing Michael Cohen from his role as Renfield and restoring Cohen's own empathy and conscience.
How will this tale end? Perhaps Bram Stoker's story holds the telltale clues.
6
The title of this article might equally apply to the Vietnam debacle.
“Change places, and handy- dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?”
I miss Jimmy Breslin this is the last chapter to “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.”
5
Nicely written.
Trump didn't need his old "Fixer" anymore. He traded his rusty old Cohen model in on a sleek, new, more powerful Russian model.
8
Sycophancy is its own punishment.
5
Generally, I’m not a Maureen Dowd fan but this editorial is as delightful as bashing trump, after 2+ weary years, can possibly be. Reading this is both viscerally satisfying and exhausting, sort of like the trump presidency. And it’s also a reminder that we are here not only because of Russia and Comey, but also because of Dowd’s own visceral disdain for Bill & Hillary, resulting in similar slash pieces on the Clinton’s. In trump’s case Dowd’s alliterative (so many p’s) trump bashing is spot-on. But a more expansive view begs the question, does Dowd hate everyone??
7
stumpy is a version of Tammany Hall’s George Washington Plunkett.... "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em".... But with added layers of hypocrisy, venality and stupidity.
Meanwhile, his base and other supporters nod knowingly.
‘YES' they say, 'the system is weak and corrupt, and YES it makes suckers of many…. But Trump doesn’t get played…. he's one of us.’
No.... no he isn't
stumpy is the antithesis of the hope of Democracy and of the virtue of acting for a larger purpose than himself or his family.
As Cohen says, he’s a con…. A dangerous con…. And should never be trusted.
To do so is to engage in the same cynicism his supporters pretend to abhor. It's to engage in the destruction of one of the very best empires in the history of humanity.
Can we do better ? You bet !! And we'd better.... or it's 'curtains'...
4
Did Cohen not know why his wives divorced him? The Marla tale is nearly as disgusting as Ivana’s tale, and both reveal a loathsome fragile man now more afraid of the electorate learning his SAT scores than how he led his offspring into prison. Cohen savored being a threat to Trump’s enemies, himself a father who threatened other people’s children, and in no way should enjoy our sympathy. He remains the rat in the toilet bowl, as Bill Maher succinctly said. And yet redemption is always good, even in the face of the farcical act of Republicans pretending that unless a woman of color is raped or a man lynched there’s really no racism alive and well, and so how can Trump be racist or sexist or a thief? After all, Cohen is a liar compared to whom Trump is an honorable man, Brutus to Trump’s Caesar, so his political defenders suggested, one even tearfully even though the token silent black woman at his side looked more like someone on the auction block than a defender of the faith. I bid two hoots to hear her speak. Each day is a more pitiful sight than the last. Having spent nearly a decade writing on the last weeks of the Civil War, I tremble at the 44% who approve this regime. He admires Mussolini, and if a God exists our last sight of him will be the same, though that wouldn’t be the same God as the Evangelicals worship.
5
Much fun as Dowd had to have with this story, what is unique is Cohen. I think she is right that Trump's recklessness caused him. to overlook the Cohen time bomb, but in the end, it wasn't a bomb. All he said of True; has been known for decades. Cohen is a lowlife, graduate of what is universally called the worst law school in America, who lucked into a job with a glitzy rich guy. It was the highest Cohen could dream of getting but he had his Icarus moment.
Bright as Down is, she has her own incapacity to think strategically Vile as Trump is personally, he has had some policy insights that are laudable (if unrecognizable to the Times or its readers). The real mystery of Trump is not his appalling chapter, its that he has done some very smart things. But Down could never deal with that. She is in her own way buried in the gossip trenches.
4
It is bizarre beyond belief for you of all people to be writing this piece.
You attempt to assert that Cohen was neither "a fool" nor "mesmerized" by Trump who is not, as Cohen asserted, an "enigma," because "Trump is simple, grasping for money, attention and fame. The enigma about Trump is why he cut off his lap dog so brutally that Cohen fell into the embrace of Robert Mueller and New York federal prosecutors."
Your long history of constantly and glibly psychoanalyzing public figures rears its head here again.
Assuming for just a moment that what you write of Cohen and Trump is in fact true, what does it say of you Dowd?
What were your reasons for being Trump's shameless sycophant in the buildup to the 2016 election?
According to what you've written here, if Trump is so simple to understand, and is forever grasping for money, attention and fame, you could only have been so enthralled by him if you worship the same idols as he does.
13
M,
I am shocked! Shocked! Shocked, about those things you said about Andrew Young! After all, he was executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference!
It doesn't surprise me that Cohen became starry eyed when he met Trump. Firstly, he was an attorney and often their clients are Trumps off the old block. Never know when you can get rich defending a hedge fund manager, or a CEO who bankrupted thousands of folks for a few million bucks, here or there.
Then you have the big city culture. That means big bucks, big steaks and big towers. You have to keep up with the fashionable, ostrich jacket types. If not, it's the subway for you!!!
Won't be too, bad for Mike. He'll be able to play Bocce and Horseshoes at Otisville.
3
Trump is not as "simple" as most of us would like to believe. If all he really is is a "con man, racist, cheat and liar," why do forty percent of the American people support him and almost ninety percent of the members of the Republican Party?
Trump's ability to mesmerize millions just as he mesmerized Michael Cohen isn't simple. It seems to boil out of the same poisonous cauldron of demagoguery that enabled Hitler to drive the German people into a program of support for pure evil. Many of those people, like many of today's Trump supporters, were decent and, in ordinary times, virtuous and law-abiding.
The most chilling segment of Mr. Cohen's testimony was when he warned that Trump might not step down voluntarily if he loses the next election. Consider if he doesn't how many millions, still under his spell, would take to the streets in his defense.
6
Maureen Dowd quotes Cohen, “It seems unbelievable that I was so mesmerized by Donald Trump that I was willing to do things for him that I knew were absolutely wrong..."
Given the multiple columns before the election in which Ms Dowd fawned over Donald Trump, the same words could apply to her.
We're still waiting for Ms Dowd's mea culpa for failing to warn us about Trump.
24
I have been puzzled for a while about Ms. Dowd's flip.
Until one sentence in this article.
"As someone who was the target of this behavior, I can tell you it was so cartoonish as to be ridiculous.”
Better late then never Maureen.
6
@NLG I disagree. Never would be too soon for her to be forgiven for her part in putting 45 in place. She should just go away - and this tabloid piece is as good a bit of evidence than any.
1
Cohen, part of Trumps inner circle for more than a decade, said he had no knowledge of collusion with Russia. He also said trump never explicitly told him to lie. If you haven't noticed, any fair minded person might conclude that the Times and the media, are simply trying to malign Trump as they unceasingly did to George Bush and the Covington High School kids. I dont see Cohen's testimony as all that damaging to Trump, but i do see the constant smear campaign and libelous attacks on Donald Trump's character very damaging to the medias long gone reputation for unbiased journalistic integrity. You have become nothing more than Tabloid media.
2
It would help if you'd distinguished the John Edwards Andrew (Aldridge) Young from Andrew (Jackson) Young Jr., Civil Rights leader from Atlanta. Some readers may not recall, nor have read deeply into the Edwards/Hunter affair. Mistaken identity could be toxic. And when you use the term "slavishly devoted," well...
6
“It has been apparent for some time that the president is a con man, racist, cheat and liar.”
This is laugh out loud funny and rich coming from Maureen Dowd. Yes, it was obvious to many of us and we said so. But people like Ms Dowd were as smitten with Trump as Cohen was - for far too long. And you really have no excuses - you were around him enough to know this. And just like Cohen you should be ashamed that you used the platform you had to equivocate on Trump and give him the “tussled hair” treatment made famous by Mr Fallon.
If nothing else, Trump has helped reveal how craven the media is, particularly the pundits, who, as the historian who spoke so bravely to the Davos crowd said, only occupy the positions they do because they think the way they are paid to think.
9
I chuckled at the phrase “Trump is not a long term thinker”.
There are single celled organisms that show better judgement than Trump.
It’s time for some Lysol......
7
"Unlike many Republican TV commentators who can wash away past sins about Sarah Palin and the Iraq war — and get a big payday and liberal love — by trashing Trump, Cohen is not destined for reputation rehab."
This written, without apparent irony, by the woman who spent decades obsessively trashing Hillary Clinton and reported favorably on Trump after that visit.
14
Curious Ms Dowd is unable to pen a column without including a slam against a Democrat even if they have long since ceased relevancy-John who? At least Edwards had the decency to admit that there are 2 America's. For Trump there is only his.
9
Does the author really mean “purdah”? Purgatory would be more like it.
2
Another column that screams “mea culpa.”
Too little, too late.
“How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball?” You could, Ms. Dowd, and you proved it often by your rants against his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.
“It has been apparent for some time that the president is a con man, racist, cheat and a liar.” This is true, but when did you realize it - just after Trump was elected, when no column would make any difference, and the American people would have to endure four years of Trump?
Write something nice about Hillary, for a change, and make it possible for people like myself to take you seriously.
12
And throughout the next two years we will hear from a wide cast of underworld ex-sycophants on their way to prison, telling us about their old boss.
1
Greed kept Cohen working for him. Greed keeps Republicans supporting him.
His lies amd cheating will bring him down. But when?
The dominoes are falling. Please let the final one fall soon!
2
Come on, face reality. Trump replaced Obamacare with a much cheaper plan that covers everyone, built a wall on the southern border that Mexico paid for, convinced North Korea to dismantle the nukes, cut taxes for everyone and created an economic miracle, cured cancer and built a military base on the moon. People are dancing in the streets and you are complaining about a few high crimes and misdemeanors. The Democrats plan to take away cheeseburgers and guns won't fly. Obviously it is God's will that Trump is appointed President for Life! Long live the king! MAGA!!!!
3
Put any face you like on this bunch. It’s pure unadulterated greed.
2
Cohen and Trump - dumb and dumber. Trump should have brought his fixer to DC and made him the White House water-boy.
Guess Donald, the self proclaimed genius, never heard the old saying “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
While Trump did "dirty deeds, done with sheep." -Kinky Friedman
2
@Glen
Sorry, Al Yankovic. My bad.
The Oval Office has become eerily similar to the top floor of that Chicago hotel where Capone ruled with an iron fist with all of these skittering little minions and sycophants running about to try and satisfy the Boss's perverse appetites.
2
The moral of the story: it will never ever end well with Donald. Anyone who thinks otherwise is, as Michael Cohen characterized himself, a fool.
2
Wow. Incredible writing. Too bad you turned such vituperative writing on Hillary Clinton first. Maybe we wouldn't have had to suffer Trump and his ilk.
Part of this slimy story is on you, Maureen Dowd.
11
Sorry, Maureen's decades of Clinton bashing and her early embrace of Trump won't absolve her. Just accept your responsibility and go away.
50
Thank you, Maureen Dowd, for your insightful thoughts on the sujet du jour.
1
Let's go back to "psychopath." It better captures Trump than does sociopath.
21
“It seems unbelievable that I was so mesmerized by Donald Trump that I was willing to do things for him that I knew were absolutely wrong,” said Cohen in his “Goodfellas” accent, adding that being around the “icon” was “intoxicating.”
What’s your excuse, Ms. Dowd? All those Trump love-letter columns through 2016 must have been prompted by some spell he cast on you.
I’ll never understand why you threw Hillary Clinton under the bus so this “hulk of malevolence” as Timothy Egan put it, could run the country into the ground.
94
@Bar tenant
I haven't seen anyone, anywhere claim that Hillary Clinton was pure as the driven snow. But she was qualified to be President, unlike Mr. Trump.
7
This may be the first Dowd piece since 2014 that didn't take a shot at Hillary Clinton for good measure.
51
One helluva picture of Mr. Cohen. Yes, a broken heart. Really too bad he got involved with the devil, it is like a drug. And it ends in addiction and even death.
But Mr. Cohen, you are coming up from hitting bottom. Just keep going through it, one foot in front of the other, until it is over. And then you can figure out a better life.
We do thank you for testifying before Congress.
33
"Unlike many Republican TV commentators who can wash away past sins about Sarah Palin and the Iraq war — and get a big payday and liberal love — by trashing Trump,", aka Schmidt, Boot, Jolly, Scarborough, Rubin, and last but not least Nicole Wallace. I going to take issue with Young and say Lindsey Graham is the syckiest sycophant of all. For sure the most disgusting. As for Cohen, every time Trump combs his hair another louse falls out.
17
@dbl06 Schmidt is now inexplicably consulting for Howard Schultz who seems like a Trump appointee minus the scandal. He supposedly wants to defeat Trump but is putting up a 3rd party billionaire who is making false equivalencies about the Dems v GOP. I guess money is more important to Steve than country. It’s too bad because he had such a clear voice before.
5
@Michele Rivette Steve will string a series of adjectives together for the highest bidder. Unfortunately, he's pretty good at it.
I remember before the election when Maureen Dowd was publishing more of her endless columns telling us everything that was horrible about HRC.
She regaled us with details of her interactions with Trump, which seemed to fascinate her.
She didn't call Trump a "sleazy goofball" then.
Thanks for nothing, Mo.
77
"How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball,...".
You might want to ask Cruz, Rubio, Graham, your brother Kevin, as well as all Trump supporters that question.
31
I believe this is something akin to closing the barn door after the horse gets out, and Ms. Dowd was among those who left that door wide open. i will never forget with what dismay I read her snarky columns about Hillary when the alternative was... a psychopath who loves to ruin things just for fun, who has all but destroyed the infrastructure of the executive branch, decapitated most of the regulatory agencies that keep us safe, raided the national treasury on behalf of himself and his criminal co-conspirators, undermined crucial international alliances, accelerated climate change, cozied up to our enemies, enshrined hatred, sabotaged civil debate, and turned the GOP and it's base into a swarm of rabid sycophants. Entirely on target about Mr. Cohen's thralldom to the evil troll we now call president. But too little much, much too late.
135
Why did Trump think he could get away with humiliating Cohen in such a brutal way? Why couldn't he have been as smart as Michael Corleone and create a special 'something' for Michael Cohen? Because he could never imagine he would ever be held accountable for anything he's ever done in his life. He never has been so why would he be now? Russia? Calling him on his campaign engaging with Russia over a hundred times? Nah! Not a problem, ain't gonna happen.
And so 'the kids' probably convinced him that they no longer needed the services of one Michael Cohen. They are so insanely stupid. They are criminals. Thank god they are not smart criminals.
Maureen, your comparison of Cohen to the fly-eating Renfield is superb. Michael might have eaten flies if Trump had decided to humiliate him in that way. Trump is cruel and loves to humiliate. And Michael would have complied. Until....until....the love affair was over and Trump squashed him like a nasty, dirty, irritating fly.
Michael warned the Republicans that they are now doing what he did and that they will someday regret it. I hope that's true. And then he said, in his closing, that Trump doesn't want to leave. Ever. That is something many people have been whispering about. So many crimes! Can he ever afford to leave?
I watched him today at CPAC. Two hours of bloviating blatthery lies. Our president. Being cheered on by 40% who will never go away.
That's what I find the most frightening and sad.
22
@sophia, well said! cheered by 40% who will never go away! That’s the sad truth, ain’t it. Our country has always been split that way, changing minds is a hard thing to do. Like Michael Cohen said mr trump can even get away with murder, his followers will still defend him. That’s what Kool Aid does, it is what cult followers do.
A sleazebag lawyer goes to work for a sleazebag developer, and sleazebag-type problems develop. So who’s surprised?
9
I couldn’t finish it. More suitable to The Enquirer. These guys drag even the best writers down. Just because Cohen’s in the news doesn’t mean you have to tells us again the stinking details. He’s a jellyfish we get it.
5
"How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball?"
Yes, Maureen how could one?
“It seems unbelievable that I was so mesmerized by Donald Trump."
Not really, when you think about how much you hated Hillary.
34
Calling a spade a spade, in this case a sociopath, was in fashion on these pages early on. Lately, only few of such comments appear to get published. Ms. Dowd was lucky her column that diectly labels Trump a sociopath survived the censors. Her use of the term"sycophant" is certainly apt. But Cohen displayed another tendency which is dangerous. In the psych world, it's called co-dependency. This trait, possibly in a watered-down version, may account for Trump's popularity. And that of other personality cults. Welcome to the new old world order. The world disorder.
5
Donald Trump is as far removed from Count Dracula as it is possible to be. You have to read the story.
Count Dracula was everything Donald Trump is not. Dracula was sophisticated. Donald Trump is a buffoon. Dracula was always able to see around the corner, as it were. Donald Trump pays people to do his thinking for him. Dracula was always several steps ahead of his pursuers. Donald Trump never had pursuers as much as he had a history. Dracula was menacing and predatory. Donald Trump is a bully and a scavenger. He's always eaten someone else's left-overs. Dracula was an original. Donald Trump is a fake.
I'll allow you the Michael Cohen-as-R. M. Renfield connection. Cohen did, indeed, eat the insects that his master provided, searching for something like a life force in what he consumed that might bring him closer to the fiend that drove him. But Renfield was not master of his own mind. One might interpret Cohen's sycophancy to Trump as an addiction to filth for its own sake.
Count Dracula breaks Renfield's neck, crushing and bruising him in a horrible manner. But Cohen (so far) escapes this gruesome fate. Donald Trump can't kill anyone now (Fifth Avenue, perhaps?) but he might be able to conjure up a being who can feed Cohen flies when he's in prison.
7
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
Thanks for pointing out the obvious lack of parallel. Dowd is lazy here.
Let's not forget two decades of vicious misogny directed at Hillary Clinton from 2 NYT columnists: William Safire and Maureen Dowd. Not responsible for Trump but significant contribution.
40
This has all become a depressing made for TV series about the downfall of a New York crime syndicate with Michael Cohen as Sammy the Bull, Donald Trump as John Gotti, and Robert Mueller playing himself. We can’t stop watching. Trump’s narcissism is in full bloom.
5
Does Ms. Dowd feel the same remorse as Mr. Cohen? Having enabled Trump to get into office by constantly going after Hillary Clinton. Does she too feel that she has been conned?
26
@Robert
Yes: Does she too feel she was conned? If not, what in the world was she up to?
1
The truly disgusting sycophants in that committee hearing were the Republican senators. They had no problem with Cohen when he lied to Congress on behalf of Trump, but attacked him as a liar when he started telling the truth about Trump -- all trying to protect the greatest liar of them all.
18
Ms. Dowd disparages Cohen as if he were one of a kind. But the misplaced love and Trump’s mistreatment of Cohen is a pattern mirrored in three marriages, one porn star and one Playboy playmate. Trump has abused the many women in his life much like he abused Cohen. You could say that all these women had been so bamboozled that they let him touch their private parts. You know, when you think about it, Trump’s trash talk was exactly right.
3
After listening to snippets of Trump’s 2 hour, sweaty, malicious, bigoted, mendacious and totally unhinged rant before CPAC yesterday I reaffirmed a long held opinion that he is clinically unwell....America has a mentally ill President. That observation is frightening enough, but to see the likes of McConnell, Nunes, Jordan, Meadows and Graham defend, aid and abet his insanity only compounds the terror. They all must be held accountable in November 2020.
23
"He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas".
4
Cohen as Renfield?
No, that’s Roger Stone’s role.
4
It seems to me there was a certain famous, talented columnist who was "...held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball" during the 2016 campaign for president of the United States of America.
And that "break-up" only occurred during the past year, at least as far as critical columns go.
15
Michael Cohen, in telling us things we already knew about Donald Trump, disclosed things about himself we already knew. Yes, Trump is a vile, hateful bigot, a philandering pathological liar, a cheat, a bully and an ignoramus. And, yes, Michael Cohen is a debased, amoral sycophant.
Old news.
Cohen will do his time, continue to search for the fast buck and the main chance, and he will become an historical footnote.
The larger issue is that so many of our fellow citizens knew full-well what they were getting with Trump, voted for him anyway, and may do so again.
An individual like Cohen enthralled by a sociopath like Trump represents an ugly side of human nature.
Forty-percent of the American electorate enthralled by Trump represents a grave threat, something of world-historical magnitude.
11
So add this accurate and scathing commentary about trump to the daily illumination of this grifter psycho/sadist and dangerous imbecile!
Drawn like a moth to the fire - i read - i feel like screaming - and i pray for his death! -For justice!
Knowing that his 45 million avid supporters are even worse examples of this human stain.
AND -Who will be watching their state tv extoll the virtues of this monstrous man and his corrupt and immoral and incompetent cabal and feel completely vindictated in this god driven triumph of good over evil:
Makes me so happy i live in a progressive state where i can endure until the winds of time blow away this plague of stinking -regressive -rotting old white christian males.
4
"Unlike many Republican TV commentators who can wash away past sins about Sarah Palin and the Iraq war — and get a big payday and liberal love — by trashing Trump"
Ah, I see David Brooks convenient conversion in order to keep his bookings, TV stunts, and amateur psychologist columns has not gone unnoticed.
The man who supported Republicans through all manner of slime, dirt, unnecessary war, repeal of laws and regulation providing stability, lies, and general corruption....
Excellent...I thought I might be the only one suffering severe, sustained nausea at Brook's apparent "see" change now that the Republicans are truly visible through Trump.
7
Trump is indeed heartless, not because of any policy, but because that is very essence of psychopathy.
The real Trump threat is not his lies, policies or actions, it’s his physical brain; he is a psychopath - born with an inability to feel empathy or compassion for anyone but himself. Beware the person who doesn’t care if he’s caught lying; he will sow chaos - in power he will kill millions.
9
Trump employs a primitive system to feel powerful. He is derisive to those weaker and gushy flattering to those he sees as powerful. He seemed to believe he could charm Kim into dismantling North Korea's nuclear arsenal despite two preceding presidencies getting bushwhacked after hopeful negotiations.
Trump himself thrives on sycophant praise + loyalty and assumes this will con others into submission.
Roy Cohn never relied on a charm offensive. He terrorized his MD to cover up his AIDS diagnosis. Cohn never sought public prominence.
Trump's compulsion to relentlessly promote himself reflects a true Achilles heel; he cannot think deeply or long term since he requires constant booster shots of reassurance, triumph, delusions of strength.
He won't study briefings or listen to experts deliver complex info since that makes him feel inadequate. Instead he insists he is smarter than everyone while hiding his SAT & GPA scores. His tax returns are also hidden lest the curtain get pulled back on his charade as a successful billionaire.
He saw in Cohen a similarly vulnerable soul and used him ruthlessly, never thinking Cohen was no Cohn, that he'd have the courage to tell the truth.
That Trump imagined he'd con Kim, with loveydovey talk, into a showy deal in Hanoi is appallingly naive, dumb and a threat to US global stature & security. That he imagined he crushed Cohen into submission may be the tawdry dumb mistake that threatens his own stature & security.
10
May the "David" be victorious against the sociopath "Goliath".
Seems to me Dowd was quite the trump enabler during the 2016 campaign and she didn’t even get an invite like kid rock. Sad.
17
Another puff piece trying to portray Cohen as a reformed sinner. It is okay if Ms Dowd thinks he can now be invited to her parties as a ‘respectable’ man but she has no evidence to assert that he is now any more truthful than he was when he served Trump.
It seems it is now a mandatory requirement for Tabloid Times opinion writers to name call Trump as a ‘racist, conman, cheat and a liar’ because it seems name calling is now par for the course for high falutin’ ‘Liberals’. It is standard template that their friends at CNN and the Democratic Party use to label all their opponents as well. If they used a similar language against any private citizen, they would be sued out of business but trash is now par for the course in partisan ‘liberal’ politics.
I write this as a brown skinned individual who has seen plenty of racist behaviour in America and I didn’t even have to go down south for that. Plenty of that can be seen in so called ‘liberal’ cities like N.Y. and Boston under the noses and in the offices of likes of NYT. Have some shame. At least respect the office and verdict o elections even if you can’t stomach your opponents.
1
@coolheadhk Inlooe Trump’s immature, demeaning labels that are designed to brand and embarrass, regardless whether accurate depictions of his opponents’ personalities, Trump has a long history of racist behaviors that more than justify those labels on his behalf:
✔️Birther lies about Barack Obama
✔️Central Park 5 ads insisting the AA men falsely charged we’re guilty after DNA evidence cleared them
✔️DOJ investigation into Trump discriminatory rental practices
✔️Response to Charlottesville white suprematist March “fine people too”
✔️Racist lies about Mexicans and Central American migrants, casting them
as “dangerous”
✔️Zero Tolerance policy that cruelly separates children from their parents, causing trauma, sexual abuse and orphans in thousands of cases
✔️WHITE SUPREMACISTS think he’s one of them
If his supporters feel indignant about the racist labels then they might reflect on why any or all of the above behaviors don’t bother them enough to stop supporting him.
1
The anecdotes Ms. Dowd presents further damning evidence of Trump’s satanic soul. His greatest con was mesmerizing just enough Americans to elect him president of the United States, the leader of the free and democratic world, and the wannabe mob boss with an indefensibly cruel bully pulpit, and the authority and power to carry out his pathologic whirlwind on America and the Earth—political, environmental, spiritual, inhumane, and divisive.
God help us expectorate Donald Trump, his family, his cronies, and enablers; all of their greedy, corrupt, racist, misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-science, vile and, Hellish anti-American, anti-community, and hate mongering believes, believers, from positions of influence and power non-violently and as quickly as possible.
6
Alliteration with a shiv.
It is getting old.
Can I call you Maureen?
Everyone knows Donald Trump and Michael Cohen are ingrates. Mr. Cohen did not help himself by the way he testified in Congress, although I feel sorry for his children, to have to share their father’s humiliation.
You have to realize that, as a NYT columnist, you enjoy an international forum and wield considerable influence over the thoughts and feelings of many people.
Do you understand that your constant invective inculcates a similar orientation in your readers? You are part of the culture of “contempt,” as your colleague Arthur Brooks puts it.
Why not generate a piece on the way Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter live their lives?
President Carter has decided to serve out his second term in his own laudable humanitarian way.
We can learn from President Carter.
The example of Donald Trump and Michael Cohen only elicits our contempt.
The larger question becomes, what useful purpose does this exposé of the “sycophant” and the “sociopath” serve?
5
It was Flavor-Aid at Jonestown, not Kool-Aid.
3
A sleazy goofball ?
Trump is dangerously destroying our country , our world . I don’t think sleazy goofball quite captures his toxicity.
9
I’m a 62 year old native New Yorker, all 3 major NYC newspapers were always in our home when I was growing up. Trump is 10 years older than myself hence I have been read about Mr. Trump for the last 40 years, it was impossible not to, like him or not he was always in the news.
How anyone could’ve thought we would get anything other than the sum total of all those stories is extremely worrisome to me. When history is not viewed in a clear focus and we allow smoke and mirrors to blind us we are indeed in trouble. The true character of this individual has been laid out with all to see over the years. Honestly, as long as I or anyone I cared about was not doing business with Trump I found it amusing how he was the Teflon Business Don. From Fifth Ave to the AC Boardwalk to Palm Beach his bullying and bravado never seemed to fail, again like him or not you had to give him credit
This is not selling a condo or a crap game, this is serious business and we all should be very alarmed.
3
@butch
I'm a former New Yorker well aware of Trump's pathology.
Unfortunately, not everyone lives in New York.
1
@klm so true, sadly even less people read anything of any meaning anywhere in this country.
40% of the country, including the conservative GOP, appears to be as much under the mesmerizing spell of Boss Trump as was Michael Cohen.
Perhaps The Rapture has already happened. Except that instead of peoples’ bodies being raptured, it is just their minds that have gone bye-bye.
8
* correction I meant to write:
Cohen can't wrap his head around the fact that Trump could possibly have hit his wife.
It will take a long time to wash off the stench of this sleazy administration ...
28
@Woman
Not to mention fumigating the White House.
WOW. Maureen Dowd and the accompanying comments summoning up every dis they can think of in this stream of consciousness exercise.
Get real. We have an over 200-year-old electoral college so the whole country selects a president, not just the voters in New York and California. The Democrats could not have put up a worse candidate than Hillary Clinton. They gave the election to Donald Trump. The only Russian connection was the Clinton campaign bought and paid for fake phony Steele Dossier which was used by the highest officials in the FBI, DOJ, and intelligence agencies, all of whom hated the possibility that Trump might win the election, as an
"insurance policy," their words, to get a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign.
It is absurd to shed tears for Michael Cohen and see him as a puppy dog mesmerized by the evil Rasputin Donald Trump and then mercilessly kicked aside. The Democrats had Cohen, ready to do anything for a lesser sentence, just where they wanted him and used him as a carefully coordinated pawn for last week's theatrics. To the ramparts because Trump paid hush money to a porn star.
Now until the 2020 elections will see the Democrats, the New York Times, and Maureen Dowd salivating at what the various House committees can dig up on Donald Trump plus anyone and anything in his orbit. Fine. With their winning the House comes that power. We will therefore see the likes of more low lives (I'm being kind) like Michael Cohen
8
@Donald Nawi
Trump has surrounded himself with low-lifes like Cohen because men and women of integrity have largely refused to support him over the long term. Mattis, Kelly and others, for example, joined his administration in order to help create and act upon policies they thought would benefit this country, while recognizing Trump's obvious flaws. They left within two years of his inauguration, either on their own or after being fired. Trump can't stand being in the same room with those who threaten him.
17
@Donald Nawi Very well put which means you probably wont get very many recommends.
1
@Donald Nawi
So an appreciation for con artists
Our president is a crook and the stuff of crime novels.
16
In that photo he does look like a man who's just eaten a bug.
1
“...Trump showed up late to Cohen’s son’s bar mitzvah and then made a belittling speech about how he had come only because Cohen had begged him and everyone around him...
This simple...
You come after me – it’s my job...
You come after my family – you made it personal...
Even the dumbest low-level mobster gets this...
PS
They come after you – it’s their job...
They come after your family – you made it personal...
The Southern District will rise again...
8
Dog bites man. Meh...
1
Dowd bites Trump....
1
Don the Con followers are like Rodo Sayagues and Álvarez the "Evil Dead". We need a Bruce Campbell to slay the beast.
3
Cohen might have been a loyal lap dog to Things Donald but he is no fool. The Southern District of New York (affectionately called the Sovereign District of New York by the FBI and other prosecutors) has the RICO Act locked and loaded.
Once the SDNY began investigating Cohen and his shady business practices the house of cards began to tumble, and once prison time was on the horizon, Cohen had his come-to-Jesus moment and turned on Trump.
How Shakespearean. And speaking of the RICO Act, I have a high confidence that the SDNY is lining up the ducks of Trump Enterprise. Robert Mueller's report will be damning on many levels, but the real bite that will hurt Donald Trump will come from his home city.
34
Ms. Dowd,
WE told you so. But apparently the Clinton hatred and snark was too easy and delicious to pass up.
Seriously.
44
Well Ms. Dowd, you can comfort yourself with the fact that Trump does not write emails.
Your vicious, mean spirited attacks against Hillary are one reason we have Trump. Why could you not use your pen when.it mattered?
I think that you too Ms. Dowd were dazzled by Trump and the flattering attention he paid to you. Are you ashamed now?
41
@Judy
Maureen, like Trump, does not feel shame.
1
So the question I have for Rudy and "Are you Gonna Finish That " Christi is "Why did he never have law enforcement turning people on him over the past 30 years?" Why, after the Dep't of Treasury reported in '98 that the Trump Taj Mahal in AC was a serial money laundering violator f/b/o the Russian Mob, did these two US Attorneys stay pals with him? Perhaps he has a point about the DOJ.
9
Cohen is more an Eyegore to Dr. Frankenstein, as in "Fetch me more brains".
1
If Donald Trump was maniacally brilliant, this country would be in very serious danger. If the people that he has hired to work for him were malicious geniuses, we would be experiencing a code red of unparalleled proportions.
Thank God this president is an imbecile and thank God he is a pathological liar who can only think of himself .
I think it's beautiful that Donald Trump and all of his cohorts are now accusing Michael Cohen of being a liar… Where do you think Cohen learned how to lie?
Of course Donald Trump is banking on the ignorance and desperation of his American base to keep him afloat . Monkey see monkey do , and we can even see this in Republican Congressman and Senators today whose behavior has started to resemble the man that they have tied their fortunes to.
But even if he is an idiot in chief , Donald Trump is still a clear and present danger to the well-being of our country, and while ridicule is an effective weapon against Donald Trump,all the humor in the world will not deflect us from the basic fact of how dangerous his ineptitude could someday be.
14
@RD
He is brilliant....prison reform, lowest unemployment rate for blacks in US history, thriving economy, no more N. Korean missiles flying over Japan...I could go on if you need reminding.
2
I loved AOC in the hearings. When is Maureen Dowd going to write the AOC 2020 article? I would love to see that match up.
4
For the record AOC is too young and can’t run for president in2020 as the constitution requires she be 35
@Lenny She won’t because Maureen knows that AOC 2020 would re-elect Trump.
AOC will not be 35 in time to run for president in 2020 or 2024.
This piece reads like a written version of the Republican’s attacks thrown at Cohen last week. We all get that Cohen is a liar. Still,he offered corroborating evidence and named more names. Let’s see where things go.
The John Edwards drift away and the hit on former republicans now on MSNBC leaves me puzzled.
At this time, our country deserves and needs journalism with a point. We need solid investigative journalism that leads to the correct answer. We need truth that leads to healing our nation. This reads like a pathetic gossip column.
14
The two year wrap-up: "a racist, a con-man and a cheat."
2
Trump is the realization Of the H.L. Mencken trope "On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." Somehow it feels "moron" is too innocuous, not really as evil as the reality. Trump is everything Mr. Mencken warned us about and much, much more. Despicable and brazen, he is ripe for ridicule.
But we, the people, are expending a vast amount of energy getting rid of this monster and his hangers on. There will be an accounting, but likely no justice. He and his crime family will be vilified but they won't wear a yellow suit, like the lowest marijuana smoker or petty thief. There is too much money being made (thank you Karen Garcia) and too many bribes paid by the rich and powerful. Think Epstein and his hundreds of child victims sex trafficked throughout the country and the Caribbean supported by the best Justice money can buy; Dershowitz, Lefcourt and the rest. They would defend Hitler for the right price.
The media-political complex is happy to report the story as long a the Ozempic's of the world can pay the freight.
Our greatest fear should be the "Trumpies" chugging their Kool-Aid and loading their AR's when Donald is fully exposed and called to account. He will not go gently into the good night; listening to his screed at CPAC foreshadows what we can expect.
14
Get Trump Round whatever. Russia! is obviously an abysmal failure, so now, Adam Schiff (less) who proclaimed to have all the goods for a felony, is being forced to make up another narrative (Trump’s business relationships) to schift the attention from where there was nothing to where they hope there is something else. And who is the first witness? Micheal Cohen, verified Congressional liar, convicted felon, lawyer violating client privilege, and oh snap, author who had apparently pitched a fawning book portrait of Trump WHILE he was meeting with his free lawyer Lanny Davis, Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff. Now Maureen Dowd, with her own personal legacy of relationships with Trump is trying to burnish her liberal cred with liberals and The Times, since she is no longer an invite for the Sunday shows. Hard to take you seriously.
1
what a pathetic pass our nation has come to
2
Ms.Dowd, Trump isn’t a goofball so much as a hoodlum.
8
If you’ve ever seen Taxi Driver where Harvey Keitel plays a pimp and Jody Foster a 14 year old prostitute.
That’s how Kim treats Trump.
“You’re so pretty...you’re such a cute little thing. I love you baby.”
Don Con continues to humiliate America every single day.
5
“How could anyone be held in thrall by such a sleazy goofball?” Maybe you should take a good look in the mirror, Maureen... You took every opportunity to dump on Hillary Clinton and give Trump a pass when it mattered. And Trump isn’t just a sleaze, but a criminal and a bigot and a likely traitor. Yes, John Edwards was a sleaze too, as was Bill Clinton, but they weren’t criminals, bigots, sexual assaulters and traitors who kissed up to dictators, trampled the Constitution, and made a mockery of the highest office in the country. Trump now represents the USA, including you as one of its citizens, and you contributed to this situation.
21
@Anna well said Anna
Another rambling missive from Ms. Dowd. Only MD could manage to weave in references to John Edwards and Jeff Bezos into a column on Mickey “ The Rat” Cohen.
7
You know Ms Dowd, I have never been able to figure you out. One minute you are slamming Hillary, the next your slamming djt and his sycophant. In my book you have not even earned the right to weigh in on the catastrophe that is our government because you among those who steadfastly got us here.
13
Old joke.
A masochist and a sadist are walking down the street.
Masochist: "Beat me. Whip me! Hurt me!! Please!?!?!"
Sadist: "No."
Looks like Cohen finally got what he asked for, and realized, "That isn't what I thought it would be."
3
another fluffy hatchet job.
4
Trump is evil Maureen. Do you know why?
5
@Iced Tea-party
Because Maureen helped elect him?
When donald came on stage at the CPAC gathering just this weekend, after his terrible week's venture with the N.Korean summit and the Cohen hearings, first thing that miserable creature did was to hug the American flag. And a maddening cheer arose from the blind and mentally feeble attending the conference. What they did not notice, like a dog approaching a tree, raises it's back leg to leave it's mark; so too donald has been doing the same, leaving his stench filled droppings wherever he goes.
Time to teach this dog a lesson and return him to a fenced in kennel, there he can howl to his hearts content. Damn the consequences.
15
We can see how these cases will shape up after the Cohen hearing this week.
Mueller's work is unfinished, and we only see the outlines so far in the indictments to date against Russians and Americans.
Those who are yet to be interviewed are often to the ones still to be indicted, such as Bannon, Jared, Ivanka, etc. Mueller will probably not indict Trump, but leave him in the Nixon terminology the 'un-indicted co-conspirator'. It is notable that the Mueller team ALWAYS gets their man.
The high rate of turnover in Trump's legal team may be an indication that disbarments and indictments may fall on them in the probe as well.
All other cases seem to go to SDNY and to the state of NY, where meticulous efforts are being made for financial criminal prosecutions.
I don't see an exit for Trump that doesn't result in his complete erasure from the financial world, and probably for the Kushner empire as well.
6
This short passage captures Trump's character as well as anything I've read about him:
"Trump showed up late to Cohen’s son’s bar mitzvah and then made a belittling speech about how he had come only because Cohen had begged him and everyone around him."
4
We have a friend in Colorado who told us this story during the 2016 campaign. His business is golf course landscaping, and he’s been quite successful at it, working on courses all over the US. Some time ago, he bid on the landscaping for one of Trump’s golf courses. During the negotiations, he even met with Trump—twice—in person. He’d made a package bid for the entire landscaping project, and Trump said to him, face-to-face, “Lower your bid by $50k and I’ll give you the contract.” His reply, “But then it won’t be a top-quality job. What I bid is what it costs to do it right.” Soon after that meeting, Trump did the same thing to one of the other bidders, who acquiesced and lowered his bid. Trump’s response? Send out texts to all the other bidders pointing out what a shlemiel (my word, not his) he was for buckling, and noting, “Never take the first offer someone gives you.” In other words, ridiculing our friend for sticking to his business ethics.
Sound familiar? We all know the same thing’s played out hundreds if not thousands of times—more times than Cohen’s threatened someone at Trump’s behest. At least our friend didn’t take the job (at a price that he’d either have to compromise his quality standards or lose money) and then, adding insult to injury, not get paid like many of Trump’s contractors over the years.
Sleaze ball seems like too nice a descriptor for this man’s behavior, but what I’m really thinking can’t be printed here.
15
@David Walker The word that "can't be printed here",
is "POTUS", without the T an U.
1
Great editorial and insights from Ms. Dowd. Another example of Trump’s treatment of people that might actually open a few eyes in the Heartland was his post-summit lavish praise of Kim Jung-Un and his defense of the dictator that Kim didn’t know about the torture and horrific abuse of Otto Warbier. Trump has used the Warmbier family as nothing more than a prop to give himself a victory lap that he had brought back their son, albeit at near-death, and then he shamelessly lured them as props to the State of the Union address. I hope Trump’s naive MAGA supporters might see that they also are nothing more than props to meet the needs of this sociopathic, if not psychopathic, man in the White House.
7
This is the heart of the matter now. What will be a future column for Ms. Dowd will come, sooner or later, depending on how toxic it becomes for the Republicans in Congress who champion Trump now, and find that they have followed Mr. Cohen into the same abyss, as he warned them. Time will tell, but seeing growing cracks and crumbling supports in the facade of the mythos of Trump would caution most people to question their devotion. Instead these congressional Republicans want to double down on their bet with Trump. That will bite twice as hard, in the end.
17
The power of the human mind to convince itself that something visibly, demonstrably false is true should have been weeded out in our Hunter-Gatherer years. Alas, it was not and thus begat Michael Cohen, the Republican party and a host of other gullibles who are available for purchase. Trump did defend Cohen once--when his office and hotel were raided by the feds. And then Trump turned on him. Once wonders whether the same will happen to Manafort whose loyalty may not extend beyond is inability to purchase Tressemme in prison and Stone whose ego needs to be fed by a constant audience of admirers. Such is the downside of relying on the honor of people who clearly don't have any.
11
I agree that Mr. Trump is simple. One needs only to look up the main traits of the definition of Histrionic Personality Disorder in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (http://bit.ly/dsmhpdnpd), and every single behavior of our president is explained, down to being "overly trusting, especially of strong authority figures" (read dictators).
9
@Giovanni Ciriani Many of us who have worked with certain mental health/illness patients knew what might be coming with Trump. We just didn't know that his disorder was as deep seated and profoundly serious as Ms Dowd describes. She is spot on.
1
@edmele, just to clarify, I do not work in the mental health sector, and I do not have a degree in the field, I just happen to own a copy of DSM IV. By the way if you read the DSM pages I included in the link, for a diagnosis of HPD one need to posses five or more of the eight criteria they list. Mr. Trump hits 8/8, and one could have easily confirmed that all eight applied, during the presidential campaign. No need for Maureen Dowd to confirm that.
3
@Giovanni Ciriani No. The next definition in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual "Narcissistic Personality Disorder" fits him better and add Sociopath to the classification
Michael Cohen turned to his republican congressional detractors looked them in the eye and said. " I was where you are now defending Trump at all costs and look where I am "
39
Make no mistake, Trump feeds off of this attention, whether it's from Cohen, Mueller, Kim, Stormy, Omarosa, Putin, the Pope; it doesn't matter because the noise keeps him at the center of the universe. It's as the saying goes, "Love me or hate me, but don't ignore me."
Narcissism is not far removed from sadism.
34
It’s scary we all say that Trump could murder someone of 5th ave and get away with it. This is sickly true and should tell us a lot about how his supporters get their information and the quality of that information. You could blame Fox. But it’s really not that. You could blame all the media. It’s not that either.
For purposes of brevity it comes down to this: Trump supporters love the principal of a disturber and iconoclast, not necessarily the man who grabs women inappropriately.
He is getting rid of years of “problems” in DC first by thwarting a Clinton Monarchy. It’s an unwinnable debate because of the circularity of arguments and acrobatic equivocating.
I spend hours on Breitbart trying to decipher this. It’s not an enigma, it’s basic human suffering looking for the cheapest salve at the last standing store in a desolate downtown sacked by the WalMart on the outskirts of town. When you don’t travel more than 40 miles from the place you were born, the reasons for the loss of a civic center have to be tangible and not a lecture about globalism. Trump offers a simple good guy vs Goliath bad guy. Its easier to digest than a Disney movie.
26
Somewhere between 30% and 40% of the American electorate are as ensnared by whatever charismatic magic Trump has as was Cohen. Polls consistently show that upwards of 80% of all Republicans are similarly ensnared.
The question is: Will they ever wake up? Cohen's wakening was spurred by the work of diligent federal prosecutors. What will it take to wake up the millions of Americans who believe every lie Trump utters? What will it take for elected GOP officials to wake up and realize that Trump has debased and destroyed the Party of Lincoln?
32
@Ken - I’ve voted Republican in the past. I was never fond of President Clinton but I was proud of President Obama even though I did not vote for him. I could not vote for Trump and thought he would be an absolute train-wreck. I didn’t think he’d receive the Party nomination much less win the election. I voted for Gary Johnson because I feel that voting is my responsibility and I thought both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump would be counterproductive or destructive President.
The Trump Presidency is exactly as I expected, and I’m in no way clairvoyant.
But i am constantly surprised that I have educated friends who are well informed about the world around them who support Trump. Those friends would never vote for Hilary Clinton as President (neither would I) but they apparently view Trump in a way I clearly do not.
In the meanwhile I have developed a serious loathing of the Republican Party leadership and rank-and-file. Trump will need to be in jail along with those that enabled him as President and those that simply carried his water rather than represented their constituents in a ethical manner.
2
@Ken, I'm not sure they all believe him, so much as enjoy what he's doing and what he says. I think there are policies Trump supporters like (restricted immigration, global saber-rattling, stick-it-to-'em social policies), but I think they mostly just cheer him on when he's being a "bad boy" towards the so-called elites (better educated, higher incomes). It's like the idiots in a middle school yelling, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" when two kids are tussling. There's no real thought behind it; just looking for entertainment.
1
@Col Flagg
Gary Johnson? You're a Trump enabler. All you had to do was vote for Hillary on Election Day, all you had to do on that day was choose the better candidate, and you didn't.
How simple is that?
Please, no nonsense about Hillary's lousy campaign or whatever, that didn't matter on Election Day when the choice came down to two people.
You and your ilk own this disaster.
I did not feel sorry for Cohen and I am not convinced he is sorry for what he did. Anymore than Trump is remorseful.
What I did think of Cohens testimony was show us just how far off course from protecting our country the Republicans in Congress are and how bent on keeping Trump in office to serve their own purposes.
These Republicans have aided, abetted and protected Trump pretty much the same way as Cohen did when he served in the Trump Organization and in the campaign.
These Republicans should be drummed out of office before they do any more harm to us.
When Mueller’s report is subpoenaed by the House i won’t be surprised that it leads to the arrest of both Trump and Pence.
Or maybe it will be the Southern District of New York that takes Trump down. Maybe that would be the better solution
We can only hope that there are no more Acosta prosecutors involved. Because than all bets are off. He is the man who let Jeff Epstein off the hook for molesting underage girls and sharing them with his friends. Acosta is also out Secretary of Labor, thanks to our Republicans in the Senate and Trump’s nominee.
Do you see a pattern here?
22
There are a lot of sheep in the world.
Michael Cohen is just one of millions (if not billions). He strikes me as someone who has, indeed, learned a lesson - even if it took being kicked to the curb, arrested, etc.
The more attached we are to an evil ("live backwards" -spiritually, morally) perspective, the more grueling the lesson.
3
If Trump could think long-term, he never would have run for president. His is the most stunning case of executive overreach this country had ever seen. He could've quietly run his silly organization until the end of his days, but no: He just had to go out onto the highest wire in America and subject himself to the scrutiny of 300+ million people.
He did have a brand and, while most would value it as much less than $400 billion, it did have its markets. Now they're taking the Trump name off buildings around the world, and Ivanka can't even sell her stuff at TJ Maxx.
Business schools will be doing case studies on the rise and fall of the Trump family for centuries.
America is resilient. We will come back from this, but it won't be easy. There are worse days ahead--in large part because Trump is not a long-term thinker.
25
"First there was Ivana. Then there was Marla. Now comes trouble in paradise with Kim."
No. No. To a narcissist, the universe is a mirror for preening and admiring oneself. Donald did not fall in love with Ivana, Marla or Kim, he is and always was in love with himself. When Donald grows troubled by the emotional void that is at the core of his being, he just goes looking for a brand new mirror.
24
Thank you, Maureen Dowd, for your insight into the relationship between Michael Cohen and his former boss and the examples you provide to support your psychiatric analysis. It explains quite a lot including the relationship he has with his family. Your article compliments Emily Fox's well written book. I know more than I ever wanted to know about Trump world and now I need to take a shower.
7
Those with knowledge of sociopaths (e.g., bullies) and there victims, be they 14 year old girls, Patty Hearst or Michael Cohen, can easily understand Mr. Cohen's behavior.
Mr Trump's behavior is so erratic resulting in all of us, not just his staff, wondering what comes next. Perhaps a reread of Three Faces of Eve will provide some perspective.
4
My god...i watched this entire spectacle ,, in as much as it was mesmerizing it was also horrific to listen to this goombah talk and validate everything we see and hear about Trump ....and worse... the testimony validated ALL of the worst aspects of what we see in his behavior every single day and worse...It is said that people get the government that they deserve, but I don't know what a horrific thing we did to deserve a Donald Trump...and today listening to his cult of followers at CPAC and Fox...its rather amazing.... how he ended up and convincing a culture of people he was going to change their world ? when in fact he's changed hardly anything - and in some cases made it worse for them .I suppose the next two years will bring a different perspective we can only hope that policies start getting legislated that begin to addres the needs of ALL Americans not just a few.
5
@DanM What we did to deserve this is, we did not pay attention. We all need to be involved in this democracy. Ben Franklin said, in effect, when asked if we have a republic or a monarchy, 'we have a republic, if you can keep it'. So it is on us to vote, which many of us did not do in the 2016, and to hold those who violate their oath accountable.
1
In spite of the degradation of decency and respect that I hold for Trumps immediate predecessor, in the office of the President of the United state of America, I can find hope in the near future that even at my age of 80 it is likely I will live to see this previously known swamp, now with the cunning skill of DJT has degraded the place to putrefied sewer. The simple fact that Donald J Trump always disrespects his loyalist and makes them akin to Michael Cohen.
So cheer up folks. The end is soon, Donald never flushes and his lackeys at some point can't stand the smell.
7
I wonder if staunch Republican voters are now asking their Representatives and Senators if they, too, are "in love" with Kim.
It is difficult to give credence to Mr. Cohen on two fronts.
Firstly, he has acknowledged that he is a liar.
Secondly, we are sadly lacking the context for Mr. Cohen's testimony in terms of the threats posed to him and/or his spouse by Robert Mueller in terms of consequences.
On the latter point, if someone (even so august a person as Mr. Mueller) threatened a person's family, would they be willing to lie? Quite probably.
Ms. Dowd should be demanding to know the context of Mr. Cohen's testimony on this front.
1
@Maurice Gatien
I doubt Robert Mueller III has built his rock-solid reputation on "threatening" criminals and, by extension, their families - into telling untruths.
Mueller does not suffer the same character disorder as his current subject; which means he does not do whatever it takes - true or untrue, moral or amoral, admirable or disgraceful - to stay in the conversation. He is chasing down the most dangerous person in the world right now, and every day that passes means he is only continually checking and re-checking the net he so gently yet so persistently drawing around our monster-in-chief, one Donald J. Trump.
@Maurice Gatien I would normally agree that you cannot believe a known liar, especially one facing pressures. HOWEVER, given that Trump and, it seems all of his administration, lies repeatedly and is known to use whatever useful threat to pressure individuals to stay the party line, I see all of this as a wash, a tie.
I whole heartedly support knowing more about the context of Cohen's testimony ONCE we know the background (finances, etc.) of the Trump organization.
Trump knew what he was hiring in Cohen.
The one fallacies at at hearing was amusing to watch.
1. Cohen had no ethical awakening. He got caught and sang like a canary.
2. His testimony went thru so many hands. Lannie Davis was essentially his ventriloquist.
2
That Cohen apparently has a wakened, if weak, vestigial conscience, and Donald Trump has not even a whisper of one, is no reason for me to feel sorry for Cohen.
On the contrary, it is plausible that Trump, like the scorpion on the back of the frog, cannot help himself because he has no conscience to speak. Cohen admits to ignoring his for a decade, until the consequences of that caught up to him.
So why should anyone extend the slightest sympathy to Cohen, who had access to the light but willingly, willfully and even enthusiastically blotted it out?
3
@Unpresidented We should have empathy for others because it makes us better people and gives us greater understanding of human beings.
Sociopath do have the ability to convince and mesmerize people . Just remember Bernie Madoff convincing people to invest in his Ponzi scheme . Remember Ted Bundy convincing Florida college students to get into his care for a ride home to protect them against a serial killer on the loose . Remember the crowd roars of approval to Trump recent CPAC speech . Finally remember that Trump is President .
20
@Bernardo Izaguirre MD
A big YES to that. Don't ever underestimate them. Bundy even had defenders after his conviction who refused to believe the evidence.
5
Renfield And Dracula. That trump is a Vampire is an eye opener. trump yearns for the life blood of our country. Where once it was the blood, sweat and tears that ran thru the veins of our country, it has been replaced with green fluid running thru gilded veins. This is what trump thirsts for. This is what you get when capitalism rules the country instead of the country ruling capitalism.
9
Maureen,
You have a tough job waxing philosophical about such mob-like behavior. Lest we remember, even Roy Cohn's life ended in despair, isolated in his deterioration from aids and shunned by the Donald. It was left to Tony Kushner to offer some semblance of Shakespearean tragic redemption for his life through Angels In America.
As for today, the harsh spotlight of American politics will only show Mr Cohen to be a fool as he himself notes. We have history and law enforcement to show us that this is typical behavior for Trump, not even remotely isolated and potentially worthy of excuse.
Elijah Cummings summed it up perfectly in his closing, when he noted that as the father of two daughters, he clearly knows how low Cohen must now see himself. And when we're dancing with the Angels, beyond today, what will we be remembered to have done to save our democracy.
Now on to Trump's tax statements and other financial frauds. The bread crumbs are getting larger.
9
What normal leader of a country, much less the most powerful country, writes stuff like, “we fell in love,”. This is more than a little bit cringeworthy. It is terrifying.
10
So, according to Melania Trump’s spokeswoman, Melania "has said many times that her husband is an adult, he’s the president of the United States and he knows what he’s doing". If it's true that "he knows what he’s doing", then this is truly frightening. He may actually realize his dream of becoming the first Dictator of the United States (DOTUS). However, it must be said that history shows us instances where being president does not necessarily mean that one knows what one is doing. Witness LBJ, Grant, Truman, and Reagan.
What Trump does appear to know well how to do is manipulate and connive. Perhaps this helps to explain the sycophantic behavior on the part of Cohen and others who've found themselves completely conned into Trump's alternative reality.
But Trump has had a lot of help in his deceptions from others who themselves are not so easily deceived by Trump himself. Rather, these people have other motives in helping Trump do his thing (GOP politicians who somehow believe the end justifies the means, despots of the world, those for whom a Trump presidency will help deliver the cash). Money makes the Trump world go 'round.
In my mind and in mind of many--if not most--Trump is fundamentally a boob who bumbles his way from transaction to transaction. Or, as Bugs Bunny would put it: "What a maroon". As it has with other bumbling "maroons" (e.g. Joseph MaCarthy) , Trump's appeal is likely to evaporate with time and exposure. We can only hope.
6
Its clear that Cohen was a very bad dude but I like to think that he's sincere in his remorse -- but don't really know. What is clear is that Cohen has provide an immense public service. Judging from the venom of the Jim Jordan crowd, Cohen must be a titanic threat to trump. And too, in so doing, he has revealed all but one of the GOP committee members to be a group of hysterical sycophants. We suspected it. But thanks to Mr Cohen, we now know it.
13
Michael Cohen went to a law school that is literally ranked worst in the country on most lists. So why did Trump hire him? I would imagine that a lawyer with a fancy law degree would have probably told Trump "no" a lot more. ("No, you can't do that, Mr. Trump, it's illegal. No, you can't do that, it would expose you to a Congressional investigation.") Mr. Cohen, on the other hand, found a way to do everything that Trump told him to do -- which is almost certainly why Cohen was hired.
It's not just that Cohen happened to be a sycophant. It's that you didn't keep your job in Trump's organization if you were anything else.
As a result, it's nearly impossible to believe that Trump didn't do many, many things that were illegal -- because he clearly refused to work with lawyers who would have steered him away from following his impulses. If Trump colluded with Russia, as he likely did, it was not as part of a grand plan but opportunistically, with a lazy disregard for the law, backed by lawyers who would be fired if they told him "no."
7
Don’t like Trump and didnt vote for him. However, the faction formerly known as the Democratic Party has become unrecognizable...marinating in arrogant sanctimony, obsessed with identity politics, engaged in mendacious, politically-motivated obstructionism, and almost totalitarian in their insistence upon ideological conformity.
I don’t like what’s become of the Democratic Party, hence they will NOT be getting my vote come 2020. No doubt millions of other moderates and independents will follow suit.
1
Having your own personal lawyer of 10 years trash you in front of an internationally televised Congressional hearing, is probably not an ideal situation for Trump.
In fact of course it could not be worse.
It fits in with the fact that Trump's SAT scores were so low that he had to threaten a law suit to conceal them.
Clearly there will be many more Congressional hearings trashing Trump, terrible news from the Southern District of NY Attorneys, and maybe even from Mueller.
Hopefully the 2020 election will be all about Trump's dishonesty
and not about the alleged socialism of the Democratic candidate.
Leading Democrats self identifying as socialists is exactly what Trump would want.
2
Fabulous piece, Ms.Dowd! Deserves inclusion in the Annals of Psychopathology, the History of the Downfall of the USA, The Fall of the Conman and the Dark Winter of the post Apocalyptic Stupor, The Resetting of the Human Conscience in the Face of Irreversible Corruption, etc etc...
2
Michael Cohen is taking the fall for “Individual 1”. While he sits in a prison cell, “Individual 1” is not only free and continuing his criminal enterprise unchecked but gets off Scott Free with all the trappings and comforts of being President Of The United States. That would be motivation enough to “flip”. Everyone who still supports Donald Trump without hesitation is no different than Michael Cohen the Fixer. As for the rest of us, we’ve been encarcerated by this presidency without cause.
5
Just about everyone Trump has placed in White House or cabinet positions has been laughably inadequate in some essential way, so I don't get why Cohen didn't qualify. If you can consider a Fox News reporter for the United Nations then making your lawyer/fixer guy chief of staff isn't a stretch. But like a shark, DT senses blood in the water. And Cohen was too needy -- the kind of devotion that became an irritant. More satisfying to this controlling and mean spirited personality was the fun of denying this acolyte any kind of reward. Trump may demand loyalty but that doesn't equate to being obligated. Obligation implies something owed, not a meaningful concept to a man who doesn't pay his bills.
11
In the interest of basic fairness, Mrs. Pelosi and the Democrats should now open an investigation into everything that Trump has done honestly over the course of his 50 year business career.
Unlike the Mueller inquiry, this investigation could be concluded rapidly, maybe in a day or two.
19
This nails the essence of the Trump-Cohen long term relationship- a one sided love affair.
Cohen not only was crazy about the monetary gains, he was crazy about the man. His importance 's got wrapped up with Trump affairs.
But, the more he shoveled the manure for Trump, expecting not just to be paid but to be loved -- the more disdain Trump had for him.
Cohen thought he was family; he wasn't. And he should have known that even being family is not protection.
Trump upon victory insulted him, and left him marooned, under relentless investigation by big guns.
Compare it to a woman whose husband abused their children, and beat her, whose life has been dependent on him. She may be faced with losing her children if she chooses to stick with him. It takes facing disaster for some people to grasp the downside of "loyalty."
The other thing: there are many who say they found Trump charming or at least disarming, one on one. They seem to think they have seen the real Trump. (Lindsay Graham, ? and not Comey). The real one is the thief who trusts no one and whose major talent is for finding weak spots in opponents.
The one who still thinks he will always get away with everything.
15
@cheryl
You describe the base diagnosis of a sociopath here. Trump seems to be Anti-Social Personality Disorder personified, and he’s at the extremes of that classification.
Mr. Cohen seems to have pretty much gone through all the phases of grief and loss: denial and isolation; anger; bargaining; depression; and ultimately acceptance. It explains his demeanor testifying last week. You simply can’t say the same for the Republican Congresspersons sitting across from him. To me it looked like they are still stuck on that “anger” phase.
We can pretty much presume that Mr. Cohen’s public testimony is just the tip of the iceberg. Mueller and others have long since extracted all they needed from him. We just got a taste.
Cohen was credible and composed pretty much throughout. He was believable and that is not going to bold well for his former boss.
But the biggest losers of the day were Republicans. In the end Cohen reminded them calmly and as a matter of fact that while he has been done protecting Trump for some time, they have since taken on that job. And that in the end they might suffer as mightily as he is.
I suppose that the “anger” phase will lead to the “bargaining” phase in which Republicans turn on Trump. That will no doubt lead to the “depression” phase which will likely hit a peak after the 2020 elections. And hopefully one day in the not too distant future, Republicans get to the “acceptance” phase too.
47
Trump republicans seem to be still in the denial phase, they will not get to the anger phase until they realize that Trump has set the party back at least 50 years. The only people they are angry with at this point are those that shed light on the REAL Donald Trump.
8
@It Is Time!: It's a rare Republican who has the guts and personal integrity to buck the party line. Look how long Republicans clung to Nixon after his Watergate cover-up and lies were revealed. Or to the lies about Iraq's WMD's during the second Gulf War. Did any of them own up to the Bush Administration and Greenspan's role in the Great Recession? Or to the babbling dishonesty of Sarah Palin? On Kubler Ross and Kessler's famous stages of grief, the Republicans are still stuck at the first one - shock and denial. Come to think of it, I'm not sure most of them are even capable of feeling shock over their misdeeds. Or grief, for that matter.
8
Surely folks understand the difference between the concept of 'Loyalty' and 'Convenience of Job Security'. Cohen made a lot of money doing what Trump needed done to make more money.
Such relationships are common in every corner of societies.
Do we pretend it only occurs in one party over another?
In your job if you are asked to do something you feel is unethical you are not bound by anything but your decision to stay or leave.
8
The GOP stalwarts were crushed. Jeb Bush couldn't get to first base. The GOP rabble wanted a celebrity phony business genius Trump. His bigotry and belligerent rhetoric were like a lousy Las Vegas night club act. He fit nicely with the GOP special interest crew. Deregulation, climate change denial and huge tax cuts with huge stock buy backs were masked by a thin finnier of aggressive populism. The Dems came up with 800 super delegates to shield Clinton from her email debacle and the party's grass roots. Her fly over campaign was a debacle. They would have been better off going with their favorite celebrity Oprah Winfrey. Anyway, Michael Cohen is symptomatic of Trump's incoherence. The Mueller investigation has been given so much with Trump's disjointed continual bluster. The fact that Trump has unleashed his sinister son in law Jared Kushner shows that Trump doesn't do governance. Cohen was sunk by the fact that Trump won't quit with his ruler by confusion schtick.
12
@c harris you don't have all your facts correct. Clinton would have won the primary even if there were no super delegates. She beat Bernie by 359 delegates. Everything else you say is opinion.
3
I don't buy it. Cohen didn't turn on Trump because Trump disrespected him. As noted, Trump's been doing that for years. Cohen turned on Trump because the police raided his home and found enough evidence to lock him away for decades. Defending Trump wasn't going to get him off the hook. Defending Trump would only add more time to the sentence.
Think about it this way: Cohen can spend three years in jail working on his book. Or Cohen can spend five years in prison hoping Trump pardons him in 2024 and then face possible state crimes anyway. If Trump forgets him a second time, Cohen spends much longer than five years in prison serving his full sentence. Which option would you choose?
Respect has little to do with it. Cohen turned because he got caught. That's not the most honorable reason to provide evidence on a former boss but it's certainly an honest one.
93
@Andy- Your take is more practical. I would like to add ..... Cohen's out to get him. Why not? A lot of us are. Cohen did a lot of dirty work for this guy and when Cohen was inconvenient and no longer needed, this guy dumped on him. If I was Cohen, I wouldn't like this president dining on fancy meals at McDonalds while I was in prison.
Exposure to a long prison sentence does wonders for the soul. If Cohen had not been implicated would we be here today. There are no heroes in Trump World, only those who make deals with the government and those who wait for pardons.
92
@Babel As Dr. Johnson once observed, "When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
1
It is up to us to demand justice and total transparency on this investigation. No one is above the law, or so we were taught. Everyone who has been a subject of this investigation looks like a sleeze. And at the top we have the Don. This time in history we are at a crossroads. We either fight for our democracy, and make it better, or we succumb to a govt that continues to represent money and power. That is our choice. Donald Trump has handed us this moment to shine, or to fade into darkness.
64
So Trump is no long term thinker, what about Ivanka? Evidently she isn't a very good strategist either. Everything that has been written about Jarred and Ivanka since the election would lead one to think that they would have advocated leaving him behind as well. But without the ability to 'think fourth dimensionally' as that great American philosopher Emmett would say, it was hard to see during the Transition the peril that would follow.
17
Sorry, I just don't understand how you can treat so many people so badly, for so many years, and never have it cause you problems. I guess New York is just different?
33
@DALE1102
New York, and even more specifically the metropolitan area, didn't vote for Trump. Maybe there is some connection.
136
@DALE1102
Actually for the clearest parallels go to wherever money is concentrated. with big players, bit potential rewards and extreme competition. Hollywood. When people want what you've got, and think they can get a piece of it by being lapdogs, yes men or hit men, there are always takers.
Chicago? There's no evidence of this in Chicago?
6
I was born and raised in NY and lived there for over 20 years of my adult life. It may seem an anomaly, but New Yorkers can be the kindest people on earth—as anyone who lived there post 9/11 can attest.
Trump is not New York. True, he was born there and lived there, but he was always thought of as a clown, albeit a mean one. How many U.S. presidents are so uniquely unpopular in their own hometown? Trump is one. He is detested in New York. He didn’t win there, and it continues to be an embarrassment that he’s from there.
19
When you elect an amateur reality show actor, you expect an amateur performance.
The President's approval rating remains high because voters are getting exactly what they expected.
69
@SKK: But that approval rating comes from a minority of the voting population. The majority is just this side of having had enough of the whole circus act. I know I have.
John~
American Net'Zen
1
Although Cohen may be Renfield to Trump's Dracula, Trump certainly appears to be a Renfield to Vladimir Putin's Dracula.
184
I am not sure why no-one other than Lawrence O'Donnell made this point:
"And so, the federal prosecutors in New York who the Republicans repeatedly quoted today as if they were quoting the bible are the very same prosecutors who in the very same memo say that the president of the United States committed crimes with Michael Cohen and that those crimes were committed at the direction of Donald Trump.
Donald Trump was the boss of the criminal enterprise described by the federal prosecutors who the Republicans quoted today, but were very careful to never quote the part where those same prosecutors accused the president of the United States of
having committed crimes."
256
@William Walker
The Republican congressman have come out against lying.
What a relief!