157 Comments
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Larry's avatar

Cohen not holding back. I’m here for it.

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Stephen Eaglin's avatar

Everything he touches do NOT turn to gold it turns to shit!

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OriginalKaDs's avatar

Gold LEAF…

Shiny on the surface, shitty clay underneath.

They fall for it as much as he loves it.

OR if you prefer:

FOOLS GOLD:

Shiny with no value

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Karen A's avatar

Not Fort Knox gold?

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debra's avatar

Fools gold.

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Esward Toggart's avatar

Michael, you really hit a sweet spot with this post. It’s a perfect summation of where we are. Thank you

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Sheryl Jensen's avatar

Michael Cohen, you have an incredible way with words because those very words are alive and on fire for what is right. I enjoyed reading this piece. I am a fighter, I always have been. I was born in 57 and back then women's rights were marginal. Black people were treated as below the human line. I was the one who spoke up against those very things while being called horrible names. I didn't care. It is more important that other people get treated as they should; with dignity, with respect, with honor for what they are going through, and with compassion. I love this country and your words ignited a harder stand for me to take. I have called him a wannabe mafioso many times. He doesn't have the intelligence to carry it out to completion though. He cowers and becomes angry when he is not crowned the king. My theory is that if we keep the heat on, protest even more, bigger, louder, and more boisterous, speak out, and the wall will begin to crack even more until it crumbles. He cannot stand defeat. He cannot stand it when people do not like him. We have to make that loud and clear so that this nightmare comes to an end! Thank you Michael for standing strongly in the fight so that we can overcome and win!!

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Michael Cohen's avatar

Bravery comes with a heavy cost. Wait until you read my Substack post going out this morning at 8::00am est. I’m certain you will be able to relate!

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Sheryl Jensen's avatar

Thank you and you're absolutely correct. Fighting for what is right always has a tremendous cost but the rewards are even greater, when after great exhaustion, you can sit down with a peace in your heart that you gave it your all and everyone can now bask in the victory. I can't wait to read your new post!!

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NANCY WASSON's avatar

Well said

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Robert L. Sanders's avatar

Wow! Thanks! It takes a great deal of courage to admit you were wrong and try to make amends!

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Jaws's avatar

Cohen's been taking that risk for years...

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Michael Cohen's avatar

And the repercussions. No one escapes Trump’s wrath!

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Robert L. Sanders's avatar

Hang tough! You're needed more then ever!

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William C Anthony's avatar

Or in a ditch in Indiana. He is a wanna be gangster. Gangsters keep their mouth shut and do not want the heat. He is a poor imitation of anything on this Earth. Human being, man, father, or husband. Mafia doesn't put blame on anyone, they take two in the back of the head and are proud to do so. Drumpf is a coward.

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Ellen's avatar

Also, he can never keep his mouth shut.....he always lets slip something like when he thanked musk for his computer skills with voting machines in the last election..........or when he boasted to the Russians his first week in office in his first term that he given highly classified documents and he gave THEM classified information from Isreal. Real mafiosos NEVER talk.

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Pamela Parkinson's avatar

I was never a Sopranos or Godfather fan. Couldn't see the attraction. I guess that's why I see Trump for what he is. I'll never understand the MAGA faithful.

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John David Auner's avatar

The MAGA faithful have a cluster of histories and beliefs and delusions. The most common are bigotry and racism. The insurrectionist is toppling the economy while betraying allies and uniting the world against the US. Try to travel if you are not flying on a private jet or on a yacht. MAGA will start seeing people they know well living out on the street. Sad.

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MNCathi's avatar

Please don't leave out the misogyny. Their hatred of women (even by the women) is their top hatred.

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Rosemary Orlandi's avatar

I know the minions we..,,..,\\\\\re stupid no doubt ; I don't remember the mob boss being being as devastatingly STUPID as Donnie two dolls

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Michael Cohen's avatar

You really can’t see the value in the cinematography of The Godfather? Wow!!!

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Pamela Parkinson's avatar

It's not the undoubtedly awesome cinematography that I didn't value. It was the subject matter. I guess not all Americans are enamored with gangsters.

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Elizabeth Cassidy's avatar

Funny not funny, I refer to him as the second Teflon Don. The difference is. John Gotti actually did some good for his neighborhood. DT wouldn’t know good if it smacked him in the face.

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Lady Emsworth's avatar

Strangely enough, so did Al Capone - he persuaded the local school boards to start giving free milk to kindergarten and elementary school children.

Trump would have drunk it all himself. . .

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Ruth's avatar

No he would put it on a gold container and sell for a crazy price to his cult followers.

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RichF's avatar

Well said, and right on. The emperor has no clothes and the people buying in are the ones who'll be left with the image of him naked as they suffer the most. Might be the greatest con in the history of the world. Really.

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Rich Feldman's avatar

I should add, they'll be left with "the DISTURBING image of him naked" -- which will be, in effect, a lifelong form of PTSD.

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Rich Feldman's avatar

Ok - one last thing - Michael talks about protesting. But does it work? My thoughts ...

https://todaysmuse.substack.com/p/muse-9-protest-therapy

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debra's avatar

"Trump isn’t the con; he’s the guy who cons other people." As Michael can attest, when push comes to shove, nobody in Trump's world is exempt from a toss under the bus. What scares me is the number of people in this country who know what and who Trump is and are just like him minus the billions he'll amass while in office. No matter what he gets, it isn't enough. And he will not stop unless the judiciary stops him. I can only cross my fingers.

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Chameleon's avatar

Interesting read, Michael. But here’s something worth considering:

Maybe the real danger isn’t that people see Trump as a mob boss—it’s that they see everyone else as bought-off, spineless, or pretending to play fair while doing backroom deals of their own. That kind of disillusionment doesn’t come from movies—it comes from lived experience: jobs lost while corporations profit, towns gutted while D.C. thrives, values mocked while power games roll on.

So when someone like Trump bulldozes through norms, people cheer—not because they think he’s perfect, but because they’re tired of watching “respectable” players break the system quietly and call it democracy.

You warn that idolizing the “antihero” has consequences. Fair enough. But so does dismissing half the country as gullible or brainwashed.

Maybe the real Godfather mistake is thinking the story is only about the Don—and not the people who built a world where someone like him could rise.

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JMull's avatar

Interesting. I wonder this myself sometimes and think that just quickly getting rid of trump won’t fix things but we need a gutting of corrupting forces in politics and big business.

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Lady Emsworth's avatar

Getting obscene amounts of money out of American elections might be a good start.

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MNCathi's avatar

Spot on. Citizens United is what got us where we are along with the bought and paid for Republicans on SCOTUS.

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Kris Lovaas's avatar

Yep. Citizens United passing was a horrific move!

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Utopia's avatar

And, all you said can be true...people are sick and tired of the back room deals and being shyt upon. But, being sick and tired is one thing and being "played" is another. They have chosen to be both. There are many of us right here that are "sick and tired" but also are against "TRump-ism".

Some of us may think "the system" needs fixing but we will not be played by someone who is offering "pipe dreams". I guess so called "gangsters" (in the way Micheal is depicting) play on people's frustrations, wants and emotions and convince them their way is the right way. Imo, this is a form of brainwashing. We have seen it done many times before. I still wonder why people willingly drunk the cyanide and gave it to their own children. They knew it was poison when thet put the cups to their lips and allowed it to flow down their throats but even then they still believed the dream their "savior" was peddling. SMH...sad...

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Karen A's avatar

I think that's the point of this piece. Michael says, "Let’s get real: Donald Trump isn’t a politician, a patriot, or even a leader. He’s a gangster cosplaying as a savior. A knockoff mob boss in a red tie with a spray tan that could blind you from space. And yet, millions worship him like he’s Vito Corleone risen from Mar-a-Lago. Why? Because America—or at least a frightening chunk of it—has a soft spot for gangsters. Especially the ones who talk tough, punch down, and promise revenge."

The question is WHY does such a big chunk of the population have that mindset? What makes so many so susceptible to being in a cult?

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Michael Stayton's avatar

one factor articulated by LBJ:

“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”

― Lyndon B. Johnson

In LBJ's time it was the negro. Now for trump it is the immigrants, legal or not. Using people as a means to end. And I mean all of us. White, black, yellow, brown. Everyone who doesn't have an orange face.

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jonquist1's avatar

tRump voters brought the shit on themselves. Large numbers of very stupid people. Too bad they are pulling the rest of us down with them. They actually believe that tariffs won't affect them, just the Democrats and Independents. And that's unbelievably stupid. But I repeat myself.

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T Swanson's avatar

Cheeto Corleone

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drbilldean@gmail.com's avatar

The Cost of Living(COL) Has Crippled Americans

Govt stats on COL and how it's calculated doesn't reflect the "real" inflationary aspects of COL as independently verified by private companies such as Shadowstats and Chapwood Index

These companies tell the true story which the Feds don't want you to know but are clearly reflected in our "real" experience The reason that the Fed hides behind their inflation model is they don't want the American public to know that the purchasing power of the fiat currency they hold in their wallets is 95% of what it was in 1971 when the US went off the gold standard

By going off the gold standard the Fed has been able to produce mountains of bad debt over the decades by quantitative easing(QE) leading to the largest debt bubble in world history Now the foreign investors see the fiat dollar as a liability and in the ensuring years we will see its collapse The stage is set Get out of credit and get into gold The price of gold going up means that the purchasing power of the dollar is going down

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

China, the "C" in BRIC has been buying gold. Prices are the highest in history.

At about the same time Nixon went off the gold standard, OPEC began undermining oue economy. Now Saudi owns or controls many of our domestic companies and institutions like our largest oil refinery. Treasury should sue them to recoup our losses.

Instead, Trump is their business partner.

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Su's avatar

The country is all for sale, DT is only the auctioneer who also controls the prices and imposes a very ignorant, subjective value to each item, I'm sorry that we're all part of the collection.

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

He's the friggin' president. He did a lousy job as #45 and took a Mulligan. He's extortionist in chief.

His co-hort and co-dependnt Musk is the richest man in the world. He and Trump are making billions that by rights belong to the Treasury. He'd make the best object lesson for the rest.

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drbilldean@gmail.com's avatar

China by estimates has 30+K tonnes of gold and will force the globe in the next 10y to trade agreements based on a gold standard Meanwhile the Fed under Keynesian economic advisors dither This will not end well

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Dee of the Terrace's avatar

It's the Heritage Foundation that's pushing all of this and don the con is the front man. He simply needed a backer and they needed a bold, dishonest front man. They saw that this is their guy and he got behind everything because he loves to be listened to as a strong, 'I know what I'm doing' guy. He's everything that Michael C. says he is and now even more. If I were the Heritage Foundation I'd be worried that don the con will blow it because he's got a big mouth and there isn't a big brain behind it. They have told him that they have fixed it so that he can be there as long as he's able and they have the power to put anyone they want in power on going. I'd be surprised if the republicans lose power now or in the future. It's a deal made with the devil and we'll just have to get along the best we can out here in the real world.

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Diane Marie Fallon's avatar

Donnie "two dolls"

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