Disloyal is like a modern retelling of The Godfather from the viewpoint of an introspective mafia family member examining and analyzing his own complicity. The analogy only goes so far. Donald Trump is no Don Corleone. Don Corleone was tough and (in his way) competent. Donald Trump is a conman and a showhorse. (I picture Don Corleone doing a tapdance while juggling five crises.)
Here is David Pecker teaching Michael Cohen the ropes:
I was then stunned to be hit with a wave of Twitter anger, including:
So I posted this:
Confession: My legal career has been (mostly) as an appellate defense attorney. My clients were all indigent and found guilty at their trials. (This makes sense: People only need defense appellate lawyers if they were found guilty. Nobody appeals a “not guilty” verdict). My point is that I represented a lot of people who you might not like.
I may as well tell you all why I chose defense instead of prosecution. Before I went to law school I taught English at the college level. I found that students were very judgmental when they read literature. I quoted John Updike, who quoted D.H. Lawrence:
I tried hard to get my students to use literature to expand their ability to sympathize and not be so quick to judge. I observed that judging is easy, but it’s the ability to sympathize makes us humane. A prosecutor judges. A defense attorney tries to humanize the client. Notice that I don’t use the word ‘forgive.’ I use the word ‘sympathize.’ I’m not telling anyone to forgive anyone. But I think judging should start from a point of sympathy. And it’s important never to be name caller or stone thrower.
I agree. We can sympathize with someone who took the wrong path, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we trust them.
I agree with this, too. I push back when former GOP people say that Democrats should “fight like Republicans.” No thanks. I can share my tent with people whose methods I dislike, but I won’t imitate them. I also remain suspicious of former Republican leaders who dislike Trump but I suspect want to return to the Republican Party of 2015, or those who don’t admit or acknowledge that the problem is deeper than Trump.
I agree with this, too. Cohen is being attacked and threatened from everyone in Trump world, so if we also attack him, he’s getting it from both sides. I didn’t read Bolton’s book. He refused to testify when it would have mattered. (Actually, to tell truth, I downloaded a sample of Bolton’s book, but after a few pages, I was so annoyed that I wanted to throw my e-reader against the wall.)
Cohen was eager to testify, and in fact, he did. And I find him believable. Trump now calls him a liar to discredit him, which is ironic: He lied and committed crimes for Trump. Cohen’s book does not make him look good, trust me. He makes no excuses for himself.
As a booklover and author, I believe writing an honest book is an intellectual feat.
Now, back to reading . . .
