How Donald Trump and Roy Cohns Ruthless Symbiosis Changed America
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-roy-cohn-relationship
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The tabloids couldnt get enough of the Trumps theatrics. And as Donald Trumps Hyatt rose, so too did the hidden hand of his attorney Roy Cohn, always there to help with the shady tax abatements, the zoning variances, the sweetheart deals, and the threats to those who might stand in the projects way.
Cohn was best known as a ruthless prosecutor. During the Red Scare of the 1950s, he and Wisconsin senator Joe McCarthy, the fabulist and virulent nationalist crusader, had hauled dozens of alleged Communist sympathizers before a Senate panel. Earlier, the House Un-American Activities Committee had skewered artists and entertainers on similar charges, resulting in a trail of fear, prison sentences, and ruined careers for hundreds, many of whom had found common cause in fighting Fascism. But in the decades since, Cohn had become the premier practitioner of hardball deal-making in New York, having mastered the arcane rules of the citys Favor Bank (the local cabal of interconnected influence peddlers) and its magical ability to provide inside fixes for its machers and rogues.
You knew when you were in Cohns presence you were in the presence of pure evil, said lawyer Victor A. Kovner, who had known him for years. Cohns power derived largely from his ability to scare potential adversaries with hollow threats and spurious lawsuits. And the fee he demanded for his services? Ironclad loyalty.
Trumpwho would remain loyal to Cohn for many yearswould be one of the last and most enduring beneficiaries of Cohns power. But as Trump would confide in 1980, he already seemed to be trying to distance himself from Cohns inevitable taint: All I can tell you is hes been vicious to others in his protection of me, Trump told me, as if to wave away a stench. Hes a genius. Hes a lousy lawyer, but hes a genius.
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