Trump's Mentor, Mob Lawyer Roy Cohn

Joe McCarthy's right-hand man spread lies and fomented fears

The sensational rise, bare-knuckled brawling, and smear tactics of Donald Trump have frequently been compared to Wisconsin Republican Senator and firebrand Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. A direct connection between the two is now being spotlighted. McCarthy aide Roy Cohn (1927-1986) mentored Trump in the 1970s and 1980s. Their relationship is the subject of a film, “The Apprentice,” which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The Trump campaign says it is suing to try to keep the movie away from voters. But a September US release is slated.

The docudrama does not appear to break new ground on mafia attorney and powerbroker Cohn, who Trump once described as his mentor and best friend, before abandoning him when he contracted AIDS in the 1980s. Cohn died in 1986. He showed Trump how not to pay his bills; to “admit nothing, deny everything, launch counter-allegations”; and to threaten and intimidate people, including agents of the IRS. He died broke, owing millions to the IRS, disbarred for unethical conduct in cheating and defrauding clients.

McCarthy, of course, never became president and faded from the national scene after just four years, censured by his Senate colleagues in December 1954. He "became a pale ghost of his former self,” one biographer noted, addicted to morphine, and died of alcoholism in May 1957. But he remains tremendously influential nearly 70 years after his death, author Larry Tye contended in his 2020 book, Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy.

Much more on Joe McCarthy below.