At Washington’s D.C.’s Ford’s Theater, the site of the Lincoln assassination, the atrium has a floor-to-ceiling stack of books about the late president. Historians calculate that the there are about 15,000 books written about Abraham Lincoln, and some speculate that number is second only to the number of books written about Jesus Christ.
With the plethora of books that have flooded the market about Donald J. Trump, it seems that Trump may someday top the record set by Lincoln, if not by number of volumes written then by the number of books sold. Niece Mary Trump’s recent tell-all sold one million copies the day of release and has surpassed 1.3 million as of late August. John Bolton’s tell-all quickly went to the top of the bestseller list as readers eagerly await the release this week of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bob Woodward’s new book Rage, which will surely soar to the top of the best seller list.
The problem is, criticizing Trump in a book is like criticizing the Amish on television.
This week’s contribution to the literary barrage is Disloyal — A Memoir subtitled The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump.It was written by former chief sycophant and fixer and now convicted felon and disbarred lawyer Michael Cohen, who famously said that he would have taken a bullet for Trump. He penned most of his book from his cell in federal prison.
Having spent much of my summer reading about Donald Trump, I feel that I am in a good position to give an opinion of Cohen’s book. On a rating scale 1 to 10, Cohen’s book is about as close to 10 as you can get. It is readable, concise, and told in simple words and anecdotes. There were times that I literally did not want to put it down.
In a nutshell, the story is of a successful and impressionable young con man who meets a famous and seemingly more successful con man and gets addicted to the power and fame of Donald Trump. Going against the judgment of his family, he spent almost ten years doing Trump’s bidding screwing a lot of people and in the end gets royally screwed — with no Vaseline — by Trump.
When I first read about Cohen, I was under the impression that he was a down-and-out young lawyer who hoped that working with Trump would get him to the big leagues. The fact is Cohen, who had only average grades in college and graduated from a less-than-prestigious law school, was a millionaire while still in his 30s. If he had stayed his course, he could probably have retired in his mid-40s and lived very well while still hobnobbing with the rich and famous.
That is, until the fateful day when he got a call from Donald Trump Jr., whom he had worked with in converting three apartments in a New York City Trump apartment building into one apartment for his family home — no cheap proposition. Don Jr. asked if Cohen would meet with the senior Trump to do some legal work. Like people who moved to Guyana to follow Jim Jones in the mid 1970s and drank the deadly Kool-Aid, Cohen fell for Trump hook, line and sinker. As he admits repeatedly in the book, he was addicted to the Trump mystique.
As a young man, Cohen spent a lot of time with his uncle who owned a bar/party center in New Jersey that was frequented by lowlifes, hoodlums and thugs. Cohen saw these men as his heroes. This youthful experience set the pattern for his life.
His first job for Trump was shutting down a business in which Cohen knew that workers who had legitimately earned wages would not be paid. It was like a gang initiation. He knew it was wrong, but he reveled in the glory of saying “You’re fired” and pleasing Trump.
After handling another matter for Trump, again for no fee, Trump offered Cohen a job, at a salary less than what he was making in his law practice. When he told Trump that he had to think about the offer because he was in law practice with his brother, Trump told him he had one chance. Take it or leave it. Cohen accepted, leaving his brother high and dry.
Cohen comes across as a man totally lacking in conscious or any modicum of morality. Lying, bullying, cheating, inflating or deflating values of Trump assets were his everyday practice. He never thought twice about anything he did wrong or who he took advantage of.
He was so blinded by the aura of Trump that on numerous occasions he used personal relationships and his own money to be the ultimate Trump fixer. On several occasions, when the problem was resolved, Trump took the attitude that he had done nothing wrong in the first place, so why should he pay. So Cohen was stuck having used up a favor or picking up the tab, as he did with the Stormy Daniels payoff.
On one occasion, Trump saw Cohen’s 15-year-old playing tennis. In his usual crude manner, he commented that he “wanted a piece of that ass.” When Cohen hold Trump that was his daughter, Trump continued the conversation, although he made no overt overtures. Cohen remained silent, even after his daughter told him how she always felt creeped out around Trump. That was the point in the book where any amount of sympathy that I had for Cohen disappeared.
Interesting tidbits include Trump’s treatment of Don Jr., whom he openly mocks and embarrasses in front of people. Trump is bald with shoulder-length hair that he combs over to cover the scars on his forehead from a failed follicle transplant. The rumored tapes of Trump with prostitutes in Moscow likely exist. Trump is obsessed with his hatred for Barack Obama, even hiring a Obama look-alike to personally berate. He ran for president, never thinking he would win, but hoping that the run would prop up his failing business.
Cohen spoke to Trump numerous times a day for almost ten years. Trump was usually the first person he spoke to in the morning and the last person he spoke to before he went to bed at night. He had access to his Twitter account and could post comments. That is how close they were. But as we all know, when the proverbial fecal matter hit the rotating blades, Trump told the world that he barely knew Cohen. But what did Cohen expect? As he says several times in the book, Trump has no friends or loyalty.
Unlike other Trump books that I have reviewed, Cohen’s book is worth the price. It will fill your reading time with meaningful insights into the thinking of the man who should not be president. The problem is most of you who will read the book already know that.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
4 Responses to “BOOK REVIEW: “Disloyal” A Memoir by Michael Cohen, Reviewed by C. Ellen Connally”
Mel Maurer
Another great review from a well qualified reviewer. I’m surprised that it turned out to be a better book than just another tell all.
Shirley saffold
Great review. You really evaluated the personality of Cohen and made sense of his relationship with Trump. However. It was also rather sad to me. Trump has destroyed so many people’s lives
Sonja Stahlhut
I have read the Michael Cohen book and agree with the reviewer’s evaluation. She’s accurate in everything she says. It reads easily and clearly, and I thought it was time and money well spent.
J L
I always enjoy reading Judge Connally’s insightful commentaries and this one is no exception. I especially liked her comment “The problem is, criticizing Trump in a book is like criticizing the Amish on television.” Sad but true.