Editorials & Other Articles

red dog 1

(27,845 posts) Wed Jul 6, 2016, 03:38 PM Jul 2016

Trump's Greatest Mentor was Red-Baiting Aide to Joseph McCarthy & Attorney for NYC Mob Families

Democracy Now
July 5, 2016

AMY GOODMAN:
Last week, Democracy Now's Juan Gonzales and I visited Wayne Barrett, considered the preeminent journalist on Donald Trump.
He has been tracking Trump for decades.
His 1991 biography of Donald Trump was just republished as an e-book with the title
"Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, the Downfall, the Reinvention"
On Thursday, we aired Part 1 of the interview.
Today, we bring you Part 2 for the hour.
We visited Wayne Barrett at his home.
He talked about Trump's long-time lawyer and mentor, Roy Cohn, who once served as a top aide to the red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy.

WAYNE BARRETT:
I knew Roy Cohn. I knew him quite well.
And you just cannot understand how Donald could have been this close.
I write in the book how they talked 15 times a day.
There's no question that next to Fred Trump, Roy Cohn was the single most important influence in Donald's life.
And Roy is incandescent evil.
I mean, I would sit with him, and I - you know, it was enough to make you rush back to church, the Satanic feeling that he would give you.
He would eat with his fingers..And we would be at 21..He would eat with his fingers.
He would -- he carried a little glass in his jacket that he would take out and drink in this little glass.
He would pop a white pill when he didn't think you were looking.
And his house was filled with frogs.
He was the weirdest guy.
He was into the strangest stuff.
He was a chicken hawk after little boys, and yet he was the most virulently anti-gay guy you could imagine.
And so, that was Donald's mentor and constant sidekick, who represented all five of the organized crime families in the city of New York.

Read transcript:
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/7/5/trumps_greatest_mentor_was_red_baiting

8 replies

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Trump's Greatest Mentor was Red-Baiting Aide to Joseph McCarthy & Attorney for NYC Mob Families (Original Post) red dog 1 Jul 2016 OP

Thom Hartman was talking about this couple weeks back. Lance Bass esquire Jul 2016 #1

"Angels in America" is my favorite TV mini-series of all time Glorfindel Jul 2016 #2

Birds of a feather, indeed. The more tRump is exposed, the more we will see of this. nt eppur_se_muova Jul 2016 #3

I never knew until i heard it on marybourg Jul 2016 #4

I knew that RFK once worked for McCarthy, red dog 1 Jul 2016 #6

Oh. I thought you marybourg Jul 2016 #7

There is more about RFK working for McCarthy red dog 1 Jul 2016 #8

This message was self-deleted by its author radicalliberal Jul 2016 #5

Lance Bass esquire

(671 posts)

1. Thom Hartman was talking about this couple weeks back.

Reply to red dog 1 (Original post)

Wed Jul 6, 2016, 03:50 PM

Jul 2016

I have always found Cohn to be a fascinating character. A self loathing homosexual who gained prominence persecuting fellow gays in the McCarthy era who later died of AIDS.

Cohn, trying to pull strings to get his then lover, who was in the service, special treatment helped bring McCarthy down behind the scenes.

James Woods did an incredible job portaying him in Citizen Cohn

My favorite tho is Al Pacino playing him in Angels in America about AIDS as well.

Glorfindel

(9,733 posts)

2. "Angels in America" is my favorite TV mini-series of all time

Reply to Lance Bass esquire (Reply #1)

Wed Jul 6, 2016, 04:05 PM

Jul 2016

Al Pacino is wonderful in it, as is the entire rest of the cast.

eppur_se_muova

(36,287 posts)

3. Birds of a feather, indeed. The more tRump is exposed, the more we will see of this. nt

Reply to red dog 1 (Original post)

Wed Jul 6, 2016, 04:32 PM

Jul 2016

marybourg

(12,634 posts)

4. I never knew until i heard it on

Reply to red dog 1 (Original post)

Wed Jul 6, 2016, 05:29 PM

Jul 2016

Morning Edition this morning that Robert Kennedy also once worked for McCarthy. Checked it out on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy

red dog 1

(27,845 posts)

6. I knew that RFK once worked for McCarthy,

Reply to marybourg (Reply #4)

Thu Jul 7, 2016, 01:57 PM

Jul 2016

but it wasn't until a couple of days ago that I heard (as Paul Harvey used to say)
"The rest of the story"

On July 5, NPR's "Fresh Air" did an interview with RFK biographer Larry Tye, who has a new book out about RFK called "Bobby Kennedy:The Making of a Liberal Icon"
http://www.npr.org/2016/07/05/484780316/from-runt-of-the-litter-to-liberal-icon-the-story-of-robert-kennedy

(From the "Fresh Air" interview with TYE)
On the night that Martin Luther King Jr. was killed...Bobby gets off a plane in Indianapolis & is told that MLK has been shot...The Mayor of Indianapolis, Richard Lugar, says to Bobby:
"You will not go into the inner city to the rally...You will not go there because your safety will be jeopardized "
Bobby says:"You're not going to tell me where to go and where not to go."
RFK then goes into the inner city and tells the people who are at this rally that MLK had been killed.

marybourg

(12,634 posts)

7. Oh. I thought you

Reply to red dog 1 (Reply #6)

Thu Jul 7, 2016, 02:50 PM

Jul 2016

had more on the story about RFK working for McCarthy. ??

red dog 1

(27,845 posts)

8. There is more about RFK working for McCarthy

Reply to marybourg (Reply #7)

Thu Jul 7, 2016, 03:08 PM

Jul 2016

Last edited Thu Jul 7, 2016, 04:04 PM - Edit history (1)

You'll need to click on the link to see it.

(I thought that story about RFK going into the inner city of Indianapolis to speak to the crowd right after Martin Luther King was killed was pretty amazing, that's why I posted it)

Response to red dog 1 (Original post)

radicalliberal This message was self-deleted by its author.

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