Sycophancy in stereo as former Trump hater Michael Cohen loses his nerve

Fawning, deferential, oleaginous – this was the Untruth and Reconciliation Commission as Trump called in to 77 WABC

“Our next guest is a ‘ racist ’, a ‘ conman ’ and a ‘ cheat ’ – someone who behaves more like a ‘mobster’ than a president. Please welcome Donald J Trump!”

That is how Michael Cohen could have introduced Trump on his New York radio show on Thursday. After all, Cohen used such terms to describe the US president in his testimony to Congress in 2019. But now Trump’s former personal lawyer and self-described fixer had different words: “boss” and “sir”. Just like old times.

Yes, the same Michael Cohen who claimed that Trump courted white supremacists and bigots and who arranged a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels on his behalf. Trump, in turn, branded Cohen a “rat”. The mutual hatred was palpable.

Yet here we were with the Untruth and Reconciliation Commission on 77 WABC radio. Cohen delivered one of the most deferential, fawning, oleaginous and sycophantic interviews in modern broadcasting history. He rolled out the metaphorical red carpet for Trump. He made appreciative noises in all the right places. He allowed the president’s lies to go unchallenged.

Cohen is hardly the first Trump hater to lose their nerve. Steve Bannon, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, Lindsey Graham, Kevin McCarthy, Elon Musk, Marco Rubio and JD Vance have all denounced him only to come crawling back. The motive is usually power or wealth. Cohen’s might be different. The man who served prison time for his role in what he said was covering up Trump’s “dirty deeds” has submitted an application for a pardon.

He also loves the attention. In a long pre-interview hype, demonstrating no spine, moral consistency or humility, he told listeners: “ There may be no two people on this planet that have had the justice department weaponised against them more than Trump and I. There has not been two people maybe that have been put against one another maybe, I don’t know, since Andrew Jackson and [Aaron] Burr?

“I mean, the only difference is there was no hot lead in this one; there’s only incarceration.”

Once Trump finally got going, he seemed to agree, but took it further, telling Cohen: “They weaponised you, they weaponised a lot of people, and I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said. And that’s a big thing that you did. It’s a very big thing.”

Point of order: Cohen hasn’t necessarily recanted everything he said about Trump. He has spoken of the forgiveness that does not require amnesia. He swerved past Trump’s comment, reminisced about the time “you gave me one of those traditional Trump slaps on the shoulder” and griped about the TV networks’ obsession with the president’s approval rating.

Trump, for his part, embarked on familiar and dubious claims about the war going well in Iran. Cohen wondered why people aren’t more grateful and, disconcertingly, kept calling him “sir”. Trump referred to a recent rally he held on Long Island. “I saw it!” gushed Cohen. Trump grumbled about the border and how no one gives him enough credit for fixing it.

“Boss,” said Cohen, wallowing in nostalgia. “You remember when I was by your side, I literally used to analyse the polls and you remember how much attention that I used to pay to that methodology? I would come in, I would say to you, oh, they’re claiming that you’re 31%, that you are under water, but I showed you that, that the sit – ”

“The polls are crooked!” interjected Trump.

“The reporters, as you know, are crooked – many of them,” Trump continued, before hitting his old punchbag, the New York Times, and insisting the economy is roaring.

When the interview was done, breaking absolutely no news whatsoever, Cohen quoted Reunited, a song by Peaches & Herb from 1978: “Reunited and it feels so good!” Perhaps he truly believed that the Lennon and McCartney of US politics had put the band back together.

But over on CNN, Stacy Schneider, a criminal defence lawyer and former contestant on The Apprentice, had a different take. “This is like the reunion of Julius Caesar and Brutus,” she said.