There was a very good movie - largely suppressed in the US - about Trump's relation with Roy Cohn, called, appropriately, "the Apprentice" - showing the depth of the influence you speak about here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apprentice_(2024_film)
One would think that putting the label "communist" on health care, job security, maternal leave, kindness to immigrants etc might risk giving communists a good name, whether they deserve it or not.
The American Medical Association led decades of opposition to Medicare, and the National Association of Manufacturers led all industries and employers' year in, year out political work against unions, living wages and work conditions. The Republican Party after Theodore Roosevelt, and to this very day, was and still is aligned against every improvement sought to benefit the non-privileged majority of Americans and immigrants. There were many Nancy right wing Republicans living a lie in the closet, from, J. Edgar Hoover to Cohn to their pal Cardinal Spellman in NYC, who drove the Red Scare of the 1950s just as we see mostly Republican Party leaders caught in sex scandals today.
Thank you, Mary. As one who grew up in a home in rural Montana with a John Bircher father, I can see how well the Roy Cohn approach works to spread the kind of nonspecific fear which leads to authoritarian answers.
Yes!!!The Apprentice made it all clear if you didn’t already know Fred Trump first taught Don how to be really crooked and skirt the law. Then Roy Cohn gave him a graduate course
I also strongly fault the guy who produced the tv show The Apprentice that glorified that little weasel into a “good business man “ and a forceful decision maker. But he could only decide “”You’re Fired!”
People were so gullible and so Trump started on the way to REALLY fooling some of the people all the time
The rest is destruction of so much that we had accomplished in decent life for Americans
Such masterpieces bring me back to a brief upbringing I couldn’t appreciate , I was just too young when they ‘left’. It was decades later realizing my flags were gifts of wholesomeness , silent guides and guardrails for a protective social worker…giving thanks , still.
The noise , Mary mentions, is a flag.America is seething red, not knowing reasons but anxious,fear, lying, distrust, they’re all planted , and definite cues.
Some called it early ‘the playbook’, later came ,as each blame pointed, ‘confessions’.
It’s clever that subterfuge . Its algorithms , corporate power, silver tongues,and the underpinning of selfish egos. It raises flags subconsciously ..a real key when danger lurks.
With gifted writers good info/ education can be had . There’s ying and yang everywhere though, recognize your flags, answers nor solutions are not always instant, sometimes lessons are expensive, but know even free has a price tag somewhere and fair means everyone who can needs to ante in.
This is a must read! Your careful parsing of what “communism” is and isn’t - and clarity on the fact that the theory in practice has meant state ownership of what are private enterprises in the U.S. and elsewhere - needs to be integral to any news coverage of Trumpworld’s use of the word.
Haha - just kidding, because we know it won’t be, and millions of Americans will see “communists” in Trump opponents who argue for a fairer anything.
In around 1960 MAD magazine had a parody of the Battle Hymn of the Republic that began: “Mine eyes have seen the horror of the coming of the Reds, they are standing in our hallways, they are hiding ‘neath our beds…”. And so the fear mongering returns over six decades later.
Even by your standards this was an unusually brilliant essay-- a focused, controlled passionate history class--with unavoidable comparisons to the present manufactured and programmed frenzy... Every time I hear one of these reckless amoral right-wing politicians use one of these words, it causes me cringe; not just because I'm just about old enough to recall the original manipulative red-baiting and its effects, but because it represents the what I have always thought was the lowest level of human intercourse...
Calling people--even entire political movements and parties--"Communists" when you probably know they're not (to the extent you even know what the word actually means); doing this for purely sleazy political purposes is deserving of its own circle in hell...
It's--as you point out so well--taking advantage, by using such a fraught word, a word with such a reeking garbage-dump-smell of gutter political history, a word that has ruined thousands of careers and lives; a word that is nothing but a emotional LABEL, without the slightest hint of meaning or honesty attached to it-- Using such a word, for purely personal gain, should be crime in itself... You know, when you hear a politician use this word in public, that this politician (if they had even a trace of a moral center to begin with)--You know that this person, Trump, Nancy Mace, Tim Burchett, Mike Johnson-- You know that have run out bullets--they have nothing intelligent or meaningful left to say...
They are flailing, in free fall, and like cornered rats, bite on anything in front of them.
If they had sense of shame left, I'd say they should be ashamed of themselves--but shame is a word that applies to people with a sense of right and wrong, not people who have turned into machine that functions entirely on fear and ambition...
Once again, a wonderful, beautifully written piece....
Jeremy Strong gave an excellent performance as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice. It was very eye-opening and said alot about how T became who he is. In the end, T even turned on Cohn. He is loyal to no one.
Thank you for this essay. I have explained many times on various posts what Marx had observed in 19th century England and meant and what actually happened in places like Russia, which in my mind, has never had a real revolution, just replacing one oppressive regime for another. And yes, the hypocrite, Roy Cohn and the massive destruction of lives he helped McCarthy to achieve. The word communism was hardly out of death star's (47) mouth before I encountered it in posts.
This is a brilliant series of observations and syntheses by Mary Geddry. While I have long considered the impact of Roy Cohn on DJT, Geddry has crystalized the connections clearly and profoundly. I feel like the rooster who stayed up all night waiting for the sun to come up - it finally dawned on him. DJT is Cohn's apprentice. There is one other powerful axiom that Cohn asserted: there is no such thing as bad publicity. Keep yourself in the news, no matter what. This explains the value not only of Faux News but also the torrent of publicity-generating statements, executive orders, proposals and assertions (e.g, the US is entitled to Greenland, Iran's military capacity and leadership was destroyed, etc.).. DJT is never bothered by the absence of truth. This also explains DJT's and his associates' attack on science - the scientific method and the research across the wide spectrum of academia and industry is an an enemy to Trumpism and should be diminished at every opportunity.
Thank you for a very clear explanation of where this could be heading.
Growing up in the UK, I was too young to be aware of McCarthyism at the time it was happening, but I do remember being taught about it at school, and being horrified at how simple it seemed to be to frighten people enough to persuade them to believe unsupported and unjustified slanderous accusations, which were able to destroy lives.
At least, this time, there are enough principled and able commentators, such as you, to make a wide audience aware of the manipulation. Lessons from history cannot be wasted.
Yesterday in another thread I was joking that Trump spends part of his late nights with Natalie Hart using the Ouija board to contact the ghost of Roy Cohn for advice. Roy also worked with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (who I remember as a child) to upend lives. He, too, was ostensibly a closet gay. The self-loathing one must feel to pursue destructive forces against innocent lives is beyond comprehension. Hunter Biden calls today's crop the Closetocracy.
There was a very good movie - largely suppressed in the US - about Trump's relation with Roy Cohn, called, appropriately, "the Apprentice" - showing the depth of the influence you speak about here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apprentice_(2024_film)
One would think that putting the label "communist" on health care, job security, maternal leave, kindness to immigrants etc might risk giving communists a good name, whether they deserve it or not.
The American Medical Association led decades of opposition to Medicare, and the National Association of Manufacturers led all industries and employers' year in, year out political work against unions, living wages and work conditions. The Republican Party after Theodore Roosevelt, and to this very day, was and still is aligned against every improvement sought to benefit the non-privileged majority of Americans and immigrants. There were many Nancy right wing Republicans living a lie in the closet, from, J. Edgar Hoover to Cohn to their pal Cardinal Spellman in NYC, who drove the Red Scare of the 1950s just as we see mostly Republican Party leaders caught in sex scandals today.
Love your work. Wish you’d tighten it up a bit though. Rather long and repetitive.
Long doesn't bother me, but it makes it harder to share with others.
I feel the same. Such inciteful analysis, I want to disseminate but know most who should read will not take it on.
Thank you, Mary. As one who grew up in a home in rural Montana with a John Bircher father, I can see how well the Roy Cohn approach works to spread the kind of nonspecific fear which leads to authoritarian answers.
Years of Trump being tutored by Cohn, followed by years of being the best buddy of Epstein…what could possibly go wrong in Trumps’s thinking?
Yes!!!The Apprentice made it all clear if you didn’t already know Fred Trump first taught Don how to be really crooked and skirt the law. Then Roy Cohn gave him a graduate course
I also strongly fault the guy who produced the tv show The Apprentice that glorified that little weasel into a “good business man “ and a forceful decision maker. But he could only decide “”You’re Fired!”
People were so gullible and so Trump started on the way to REALLY fooling some of the people all the time
The rest is destruction of so much that we had accomplished in decent life for Americans
One thing I feel is certain, roy cohn is burning in hell, and his protégé will soon join him.
Such masterpieces bring me back to a brief upbringing I couldn’t appreciate , I was just too young when they ‘left’. It was decades later realizing my flags were gifts of wholesomeness , silent guides and guardrails for a protective social worker…giving thanks , still.
The noise , Mary mentions, is a flag.America is seething red, not knowing reasons but anxious,fear, lying, distrust, they’re all planted , and definite cues.
Some called it early ‘the playbook’, later came ,as each blame pointed, ‘confessions’.
It’s clever that subterfuge . Its algorithms , corporate power, silver tongues,and the underpinning of selfish egos. It raises flags subconsciously ..a real key when danger lurks.
With gifted writers good info/ education can be had . There’s ying and yang everywhere though, recognize your flags, answers nor solutions are not always instant, sometimes lessons are expensive, but know even free has a price tag somewhere and fair means everyone who can needs to ante in.
Thanks, Mary. You are a gem.
Please vote.
This is a must read! Your careful parsing of what “communism” is and isn’t - and clarity on the fact that the theory in practice has meant state ownership of what are private enterprises in the U.S. and elsewhere - needs to be integral to any news coverage of Trumpworld’s use of the word.
Haha - just kidding, because we know it won’t be, and millions of Americans will see “communists” in Trump opponents who argue for a fairer anything.
In around 1960 MAD magazine had a parody of the Battle Hymn of the Republic that began: “Mine eyes have seen the horror of the coming of the Reds, they are standing in our hallways, they are hiding ‘neath our beds…”. And so the fear mongering returns over six decades later.
Like you, I had a vague understanding of Cohn's work for McCarthy and of his connection to Trump.
For a time, I had wondered if Trump wanted Michael Cohen to become his "new" Roy Cohn. Who knows, maybe he did.
Now? I always said Stephen Miller is Josef Goebbels reincarnated. I might've gotten that wrong.
Maybe he is a reincarnated Roy Cohn, whispering in Trump's ear.
Even by your standards this was an unusually brilliant essay-- a focused, controlled passionate history class--with unavoidable comparisons to the present manufactured and programmed frenzy... Every time I hear one of these reckless amoral right-wing politicians use one of these words, it causes me cringe; not just because I'm just about old enough to recall the original manipulative red-baiting and its effects, but because it represents the what I have always thought was the lowest level of human intercourse...
Calling people--even entire political movements and parties--"Communists" when you probably know they're not (to the extent you even know what the word actually means); doing this for purely sleazy political purposes is deserving of its own circle in hell...
It's--as you point out so well--taking advantage, by using such a fraught word, a word with such a reeking garbage-dump-smell of gutter political history, a word that has ruined thousands of careers and lives; a word that is nothing but a emotional LABEL, without the slightest hint of meaning or honesty attached to it-- Using such a word, for purely personal gain, should be crime in itself... You know, when you hear a politician use this word in public, that this politician (if they had even a trace of a moral center to begin with)--You know that this person, Trump, Nancy Mace, Tim Burchett, Mike Johnson-- You know that have run out bullets--they have nothing intelligent or meaningful left to say...
They are flailing, in free fall, and like cornered rats, bite on anything in front of them.
If they had sense of shame left, I'd say they should be ashamed of themselves--but shame is a word that applies to people with a sense of right and wrong, not people who have turned into machine that functions entirely on fear and ambition...
Once again, a wonderful, beautifully written piece....
Jeremy Strong gave an excellent performance as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice. It was very eye-opening and said alot about how T became who he is. In the end, T even turned on Cohn. He is loyal to no one.
Thank you for this essay. I have explained many times on various posts what Marx had observed in 19th century England and meant and what actually happened in places like Russia, which in my mind, has never had a real revolution, just replacing one oppressive regime for another. And yes, the hypocrite, Roy Cohn and the massive destruction of lives he helped McCarthy to achieve. The word communism was hardly out of death star's (47) mouth before I encountered it in posts.
Roy Cohn was a disgusting excuse for a human, and had zero redeeming qualities.
I can't help but wonder if Von Shitsinpants is exactly like that as a result of a lesson learned, or if he was born that way.
😂
This is a brilliant series of observations and syntheses by Mary Geddry. While I have long considered the impact of Roy Cohn on DJT, Geddry has crystalized the connections clearly and profoundly. I feel like the rooster who stayed up all night waiting for the sun to come up - it finally dawned on him. DJT is Cohn's apprentice. There is one other powerful axiom that Cohn asserted: there is no such thing as bad publicity. Keep yourself in the news, no matter what. This explains the value not only of Faux News but also the torrent of publicity-generating statements, executive orders, proposals and assertions (e.g, the US is entitled to Greenland, Iran's military capacity and leadership was destroyed, etc.).. DJT is never bothered by the absence of truth. This also explains DJT's and his associates' attack on science - the scientific method and the research across the wide spectrum of academia and industry is an an enemy to Trumpism and should be diminished at every opportunity.
Thank you for a very clear explanation of where this could be heading.
Growing up in the UK, I was too young to be aware of McCarthyism at the time it was happening, but I do remember being taught about it at school, and being horrified at how simple it seemed to be to frighten people enough to persuade them to believe unsupported and unjustified slanderous accusations, which were able to destroy lives.
At least, this time, there are enough principled and able commentators, such as you, to make a wide audience aware of the manipulation. Lessons from history cannot be wasted.
Yesterday in another thread I was joking that Trump spends part of his late nights with Natalie Hart using the Ouija board to contact the ghost of Roy Cohn for advice. Roy also worked with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (who I remember as a child) to upend lives. He, too, was ostensibly a closet gay. The self-loathing one must feel to pursue destructive forces against innocent lives is beyond comprehension. Hunter Biden calls today's crop the Closetocracy.