New Biography Traces Trump's Second-Term Excesses to Roy Cohn's Influence

A review of Kai Bird's book 'American Scoundrel' argues that Roy Cohn's mentorship shaped President Trump's more aggressive second-term conduct. The book details Cohn's career from McCarthy-era tactics to his role as Trump's early adviser in 1970s New York. It posits that Cohn's amoral approach to power explains the current administration's disregard for traditional norms.

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The biography traces Cohn's rise from his role as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist investigations in the 1950s, through his later association with political operative Roger Stone, to his formative influence on Trump during the 1970s New York real estate boom. Bird and Goldmark portray both men as products of wealthy, indulgent upbringings who shared a sense of entitlement and a fundamental absence of ethical restraint.

The authors identify a specific set of tactics Cohn employed that Trump later adopted: persistent public falsehoods, aggressive denial of unfavorable information, refusal to