The 10th Justice

Watching the documentary "Where's My Roy Cohn?" is like watching a martial arts film. Cohn is the Grand Master. Behind his serene mask of a tanned face and pale blue eyes lurks, as the narrator says, a caged animal who, when released, attacks. Trump studied under Cohn. He learned Cohn's moves well but beneath Trump's orange mask lurks nothing. Cohn was a bully who bullied and won; Trump is a bully who gives in and calls it winning, then plays golf. Matt Trynauer's film is a beautiful piece of movie making. He has edited together scenes of Roy Cohn in his very public life as an attorney, a socialite and a political fixer. Cohn was the only child of a wealthy Jewish couple in the Bronx. He went to Columbia Law School and graduated at 20. He was admitted to the New York bar when he turned 21, and went to work as a prosecutor for the US attorney in Manhattan. At age 23 he prosecuted the Rosenbergs for selling information about the atomic bomb to the Russians. Y

I’ve been pretty much silent about he impeachment process. The refusal of Republicans to admit Trump committed crimes against America is so appalling that it makes me wonder if democracy can survive. This blog is named for Judge Learned Hand. He said that democracy rested on the principle that new facts could change one’s opinion on an issue. He always attempted to make the best decision given the facts available to him So, in respect to his memory, I have not written much about this painful process of impeachment. The Republican Party is not the party of Judge Learned Hand. However, I discovered a book by the sports writer Rick Reilly entitled Commander in Cheat: How Golf explains Trump. My new strategy to win the 2020 election is to recommend this book to anyone who supports Trump and plays golf. Most people who play golf respect the game. Reilly says that 90% of golfers report their scores honestly and self police on the course. Trump is not one of these. In golf as in politics