Michael Cohen Destroyed Not Just Trump but Also His House GOP Defenders
We the American people are governed today by very bad men, and a few bad women, and after two years, this humiliation feels like a chronic illness for which theres no relief, a mysterious infection nobody can diagnose or treat. We all know well that the president is a liar, a serial sexual harasser, a business cheat, the plutocrats plutocrat; a man who flouts American political norms and even laws; who flaunts his ties to dictators like North Koreas Kim Jong-un and Russias Vladimir Putin; a man who talks and acts disconcertingly like a mob boss. The corruption of the president and the men (and a few women) around him is obvious and demoralizing. The scandals break so frequently, were becoming inured to them. Our chronic illness makes it hard to adequately respond, as individuals and as a nation.
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When Cohens written testimony dropped Tuesday night, it was shocking to read the presidents former lawyer state coldly: He is a racist. He is a con man. He is a cheat. We all know that, but Cohen went on to provide, as they say, the receipts: checks and wire transfers paid to cover up affairs, copies of Trumps financial statements, threats he made to block the release of Trumps college transcripts and draft records, his memories of Trumps casual but committed racism,
as well as already public Trump tweets in which he called Cohen a rat and appeared to threaten his family, like the mob boss he so frequently appears to be.
And just like Mafia minions, Trumps House GOP defenders moved quickly to thuggishly defend him. Florida Representative Matt Gaetz tweeted Tuesday night: Hey @MichaelCohen212Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if shell remain faithful when youre in prison. Shes about to learn a lot. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately reprimanded Gaetz for what was clearly a threat to a congressional witness, and Gaetz walked it back.
But then he showed up at the hearing, even though hes not a committee member, glowering at Cohen like a street-level enforcer loitering at the back of the courtroom trying to intimidate someone testifying against a mob boss. (The Florida bar association just opened an investigation into Gaetzs threat, probably just the beginning of his troubles.)
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"I did the same thing that youre doing now for 10 years. I protected Mr. Trump for 10 years, he said. That puts you into the same position that Im in. The more people who do what I did, follow Mr. Trump blindly, will suffer the same consequences I did. He added: Everybodys job at the Trump Org was to protect Mr. Trump. Every day, most of us knew we were coming in and we were going to lie for him on something. And thats exactly whats happening right now in this country. Its exactly whats happening here in government.
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https://www.thenation.com/article/michael-cohen-hearing-moscow-wikileaks/
I believe this to be a good analysis and a difficult challenge in paring down to only four paragraphs.