February 28, 2019
Yesterday we were transfixed by the spectacle of Michael Cohen’s blistering Congressional testimony. Cohen gave us preview of what to expect in the opening statement released Tuesday night, in which he dubbed his former idol “a racist,” a “con man” and a “cheat,” (Source: “Michael Cohen Testifies That President Trump is a ‘Con Man,’ a ‘Cheat’ and a ‘Racist.’ Read His Opening Statement,” by Katie Reilly, Time.com, 2/27/19). Trump’s blustering former fixer, who lied and threatened people on Trump’s behalf for a decade appeared yesterday, chastened and contrite.
It may have been a performance, but Cohen brought receipts. The exhibits that accompanied his testimony included copies of a check that Trump wrote during his presidency to reimburse Cohen for the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. He brought copies of Trump’s financial statements from 2011, 2012, and 2013, to demonstrate how Trump inflated the value of his assets in an effort to secure a loan from Deutsche Bank to buy the Buffalo Bills. Cohen submitted documents showing that Trump recruited a straw bidder to drive up the price of his portrait at a charity auction, and then reimbursed that bidder out of the funds of his charitable foundation, to show that Trump may have committed tax fraud (Source: “Here are the documents Michael Cohen brought to Congress,” by Katie Mettler, The Washington Post, 2/27/19).
House Republicans reacted like the partisan hacks they are and spent their time hurling vitriol at Cohen for the crime of betraying their beloved Grand Wizard. Their questions and comments were profoundly embarrassing, with Rep. Gosar resorting to the juvenile taunt of “liar, liar, pants on fire.” Although Democrats were calm and professional, most of them failed to elicit substantive information. The notable exception was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who used her time to probe Trump’s practice of alternately overstating the value of his assets to secure financing or bragging rights, or undervaluing his assets in order to evade tax liability, thereby laying the groundwork for obtaining Trump’s tax returns, (Source: ““Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned Michael Cohen and laid the groundwork for obtaining Trump’s tax returns,” by Tucker Higgins, CNBC.com, 2/27/19).
The most dramatic dust-up of the day was over Republican Rep. Mark Meadows effort to refute Cohen’s charge that Trump was a racist. He trotted out Lynne Patton, wedding planner turned HUD administrator, like the Hottentot Venus, so that Congress could gawk at Trump’s one black friend. Rashida Tlaib rightly slammed Meadows’ for the racist stunt. Meadows reacted by using Rep. Elijah Cummings as a human shield to deflect from the charge (Source: “Tlaib Accuses Meadows of Using A Black Woman as a Prop,” by Annie Karni, The New York Times, 2/27/19). Meadows’ self-defense fell flat, given his status as a proud birther just a few years ago.
Mark Meadows’ ham-handed attempt to absolve Trump of his racism by resorting to the age-old trope of “the Black friend,” deliberately misunderstands what racism is. It is not merely, or primarily, name calling and cross burning. Trump could call very Black man a gentleman and a scholar, and it would not erase the fact that the first press mention of him was for discriminating against Black tenants in his outer borough buildings. It won’t erase the fact that Trump took out a full page ad in the newspaper calling for the execution of five innocent Black teenagers. And it certainly will not absolve Trump of responsibility for running a campaign and an administration fueled by naked racism that targets Black and Latinx people for particular abuse.
Michael Cohen represents nothing so much as a metaphor for the battered soul of this nation. He sat in front of Congress yesterday, an object lesson in what happens when your desire for wealth and power overpowers any moral compass you may have. It is what happens when some misbegotten dream of glory leads you to turn a blind eye to corrosive hatred and worse still, to be an enabler of that hatred. Like a sad sack Cassandra, Cohen tried to warn the Republicans of the fate that awaits them, to little avail. House Oversight Committee Chair, Elijah Cummings, ended yesterday with an impassioned plea for Cohen’s testimony to serve as the first steps of redemption that would result in a “better United States of America,” and allow us to give our children, “a…democracy better than the one we came upon. We’d better make sure that he’s right.
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