If there's one good thing about having the same name as Donald Trump's former fixer, it's that I can confidently say that I will never be the worst “Michael Cohen.”
Other than that, working as a political columnist and sharing a name with a convicted felon (who previously worked for Donald Trump, according to a recent article in the Washington Post) , who has spent time in federal prison and is said to be disliked by the public at large, is not something that many people think about. than optimal.
The battle continues as Mr. Cohen testified in a New York City court this week about his involvement in hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, a former porn actress and alleged mistress of Mr. Trump.
Michael Cohen is not a hero
Admittedly, I'm not blaming the other Michael Cohen for all of this.
Rather, they point the finger at their parents. After all, they gave me this name.
Unfortunately, it's easy to get confused with another Michael Cohen. For example, when I was growing up in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia, there was another Michael Cohen in the next town over. During my junior year, I received a letter from Penn State congratulating me on my early acceptance, which was a shock since I had not applied there. It wasn't until later that I realized it was originally directed at the “other Michael Cohen.”
Just a few weeks ago, a woman complimented me on a column I wrote…she confused me with another Michael Cohen, who teaches at the New School in New York.
But both of these are small potatoes compared to what has happened over the past nine years and the near-constant stream of people who confuse me with Trump's former lawyer.
I had an old friend who sent me a message congratulating me on my new job working for candidate Trump in 2015, and I was surprised that he didn't know that I had been working for him for years. It represented. In 2016, I was asked to appear on CNN to talk about the campaign, but 10 minutes later I got a call and asked if I was that Michael Cohen (suffice to say I wasn't invited). ).
When I interviewed Trump supporters at Trump rallies and introduced myself as “Michael Cohen,” I was met with some suspicious looks.
Then there's Sunnies, a New York car service. It semi-regularly sends me a text message that a driver is waiting outside my apartment building…when in reality it's idling outside the other Michael Cohen's residence.
But most of all, the pro-Trump and anti-Trump people who send me either hateful messages for turning my back on the former president or messages celebrating me for turning my back on the former president. There is no shortage of voters.
A few years ago, I received a note from an admirer asking for legal advice (he never went to law school, but he sent me a better lawyer than Cohen, another disbarred member of New York State). will) ). Some say God is watching over me because of my decision to oppose Trump for salvation.
The situation got so bad that he was forced to change his Twitter handle to “Michael A. Cohen (not Trump's former fixer).”
Another person, Michael Cohen, is also credited with my work.
White Trump supporters in rural areas are a threat to democracy
A few weeks ago, Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.) attacked “Michael Cohen” in a Daily Beast article about his new book, White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. The book argues that many liberal stereotypes about Trump supporters are: Because it is true that they are more likely to hold racist beliefs, embrace conspiracy theories, and willingly support political violence. According to The Donald, “Michael Cohen” is guilty of “gaslighting” and has “obviously never been to a Trump rally or actually talked to Trump voters.” The Washington Examiner then wrote an article about Donald's claims.
Of course, I wrote that article for The Daily Beast, not another Michael Cohen. (For the record, I've attended many Trump rallies and talked to many Trump supporters. I'm still waiting for Congressman Donald to issue a correction.)
It's bad to be constantly confused with the other Michael Cohen, but I sometimes asked myself, “Could I ever be confused with someone better?” I wish his parents had called me Mother Teresa.
After all, this is the man who worked for Trump for years, did his dirty work, covered up numerous crimes, got himself into legal trouble, and turned against Trump for the first time.
In Mr. Cohen's recent book, a whining, self-serving self-deprecation about his ex-boss that I reviewed last year, he asks himself this question: ? “Had he not been thrown under the bus, I can't honestly say he would have gotten out of Trump worship,'' he admitted.
Michael Cohen says First Lady Melania came up with an excuse for President Trump's 'locker room talk'
In reality, Cohen substituted one complaint about working for Trump with another complaint about attacking Trump. But the end goal was always the same. It's about making as much money as possible.
The saddest thing about receiving messages of praise for “the other Michael Cohen” is that those celebrating him are just markers of a very calculated rehabilitation. He is using their hatred of Trump to make money for himself.
Indeed, his testimony this week is a good reminder of the ethical shortcuts he regularly took as an employee of Donald Trump.
To me, Cohen's testimony is one more social media minefield to grapple with, and no matter how much we fail the “bad Michael Coens” standard, it will always, and thankfully, be out of reach. This is a helpful reminder of that.
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