About this episode

The episode discusses the life and influence of Roy Cohn, particularly his relationship with Donald Trump and his role in American political history.

In the THIRD PART of the special Court of History series on Donald Trump’s malevolent mentor Roy Cohn, Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz speak with Kai Bird, author of “American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey,” about how the disgraced counsel to Joe McCarthy returns to New York City to become its king, the center of celebrity, tabloid journalism and the Mafia, the friend of William F. Buckley and Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, takes on Roger Stone as a protege, works for all the Five Families of the Mob, escapes the law, preys upon young men as a closeted homosexual, lies, steals and cheats his way to the top, and meets Donald Trump, who was his apprentice. Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA/join Become a member of the Legal AF Substack: https://michaelpopok.substack.com/20off Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here…

People in this episode

Hosts: Sidney Blumenthal, Sean Wilentz

Guest: Kai Bird

Topics covered

• Roy Cohn
• Donald Trump
• Celebrity culture
• Mafia
• Political history
• Mentorship

Keywords

• Roy Cohn
• Donald Trump
• Mafia
• celebrity
• politics
• mentorship
• history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Legal AF

Books & works: American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey

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