Gore Vidal & Roy Cohn: Classic Interview

[@carycheifetz8809]

Roy Cohn was my ethics professor in law school and later i had an ugly case against him and he was discharged by his client fairly quickly. Watching this now gives me insight into DJT.

[@splinterbyrd]

@@carycheifetz8809 DJT?

[@SandfordSmythe]

Ethics Professor? Are you joking?

[@MLM68]

Wow, you completely forgot the part when he died in the hospital of aids denying he was a homosexual. The man was a power bottom dude who is into muscular men.

[@patsanders481]

@@SandfordSmythe 😊

[@chrisnash430]

More like FJB

[@cheri238]

Bravo, Gore Vidal ! A man of extraordinary intelligence. He was a great novelist, essayist, world historian, and he did not lie. You are truly missed. If there is a devil, Sammy Cohn knew him well. Thank you, Bill Boggs, this is a jewel video. Gore Vidal always shined with enormous capacity of words with knives.

[@pearlsammo1638]

He’s receiving daily flaming pineapple enemas in hell … and likely enjoying it.

[@donofon1014]

I can despise McCarthy and Cohn .. without having to ignore Vidal calling McArthur pompous with no sense of irony. Vidal show willingness to smear "closeted gays" from his out and proud posture.

[@gordonwilson1631]

Calling Ronald Reagan an “acting President” is as clever and accurate as political comment gets.

[@TommyChardonneret]

@@donofon1014 As to Gore Vidal "smearing" closeted gay men, he only did it when those self-dealing self-loathing gay men (of whom Attorney Cohn was a textbook example) acted in concert with vicious and powerful homophobes to further promote civl rights deprivation, and often life deprivation, of gay men through governmentally enforced political POGROMS against not only Cohn's fellow gay men, but also against Cohn's fellow Jews in America! That is far, very far, from "smearing" and is simply letting the facts speak for themselves! And as for General Pellucidly Pompous MacArthur, who openly promoted using nuclear weapons against North Korea IN OPEN DEFIANCE OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF at the time (his "boss" under the US Constitution), Gore Vidal's personal pomposity profusely pales in comparison!

[@jayd.salter6219]

@@gordonwilson1631He also called Reagan, “A triumph of the embalmer’s art.”

[@crowncliff]

This generation of people seemed so effortlessly articulate, listening even to folks with whom I disagree is like an intellectual/linguistic balm to the mind/ears.

[@stevencoardvenice]

Buckley is smooth too

[@tenofivelips]

​@stevencoardvenice I was born in '68. I spent my youth listening to the adults at my grandparent"s Sunday dinner table talk about the Buckley/Vidal debates.

[@petermcmillan3446]

I belong to that generation. Watching discussions like these gives me the same sort of charge that youngsters get from watching a cage fight. The swimmingly gorgeous Gore Vidal and that dreadful Cohn fella may be calm and controlled, but they're cutting chunks off each other.

[@roughhabit9085]

That’s what socialism does, not only does it produce poor quality products but it whittles away at the ethos.

[@SandraHunter-c6u]

I downloaded it to my phone.

[@Adam-Epler]

One of the greatest interviews of all time. Media this transparent, with this sort of ensemble is a thing of the past. Gore and Cohn were the perfect match, as both were highly respected among their sides. They did not know that the other would be present that day. Cohn orchestrated the steam engine of the GOP, and Gore was a blood member of the Democrats and Washington, of which he spoke very transparently about. Gore is attempting to "give the game away," and Cohn dodges most of the time. Both were great speakers and debaters, but of course no one was more elucidating and wittier than Vidal. Vidal was not allowed on any primetime broadcasts, because the networks were scared of what he might spill. Nothing like this would happen today. Excellent interview, Bill!

[@annemosbergen3951]

Not sure if Gore Vidal would be allowed on 2024's Airwaves. Main Stream Media are tip-toeing today, in hopes the First Amendment & profits protect them. MSM won't bring on bright focused minds like Gore Vidal - because he incisively speaks truth to power. Something MSM avoids. MSM have muzzled speech from psychiatrists and psychologists, etc. who have observed Donald's deteriorating behavior, speech and glee at denigrating others. The mental health experts have the duty to warn that Donald is unfit to be President, especially the Office gives him the power to press the nuclear button. Donald wanted to nuke North Korea for disrespecting him. He set the orders to begin - but was distracted the next day by another issue. He thought of nuking a hurricane approaching Florida - both said on TV. So the mental health experts are on UTube, podcasts, etc. - to fulfill their Duty to Warn.

[@dinkster1729]

Who would watch it? Besides, you would have to be so politically correct today.

[@annemosbergen3951]

@dinkster1729 People of that time & those who are alive today & grew up at that time would. 2024 is in new age of speaking. Words are short, expletives numerous, and new words coined by this generation. During their debate, John & Vidal would use pointed innuendos. The audience understood and laughed.

[@granthurlburt4062]

I doubt anyone respected Cohn. Feared him maybe. What "side"? Evil?

[@Adam-Epler]

Great point. One thing Vidal said, quoting Eleanor Roosevelt: "the people aren't dumb, you just have to explain things to them." Now we run into an issue of how much time this generation is willing to allocate to a single talk-show, interview, etc. Not to mention novels. Even Charlie Rose/Larry King's style seems antiquated now. What a shame...

[@dashasl2582]

Thanks for posting. Always liked Gore Vidal Never heard of Roy Cohn till recently. Glad to have it confirmed who and what he was.

[@lsingstock1646]

You're not political, I take it. Trump took Cohn's teachings, which made him a very evil being.

[@nancyooley8157]

He was Trump's mentor. He was hated among all the decent societies in New York. He was a gay, bitter man who was evil to the core. ( Sound familiar?) He's motto was 1) attact, attact, attack, 2) never admit you are wrong, and lie about it 3) NEVER admit you lost. Trump's playbook

[@cg5648]

@@nancyooley8157isn’t that Hillary’s playbook and the Democrat party? 😂😂😂😂

[@nancyooley8157]

@@cg5648 only to the scumbag MAGA.

[@nancyooley8157]

@cg5648 Get outta here MAGA. You have nothing intelligent to say.

[@MrJoeybabe25]

Two fascinating historical characters! Thank you Bill. Hope for more like this!

[@pool2587]

I wish

[@Chris-is6xb]

Fascinating? RC was a genuine piece of excrement.

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

Roy Cohn and McCarthy were proven 100% by the Venona Transcripts and the Mitrokhin Archive release in the 1990s, so this was an especially interesting interview!

[@JoeL-zb1yd]

Watch Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley go at it at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Gore Vidal was terrific!

[@robertthweatt1900]

I saw that back in the day. IIRC, Buckley to Vidal, "If you call me a Nazi again, you goddamned queer, I'll punch you right in the kisser, so help me!" The moderator was undone by that one, completely panicked. About the only comic relief we got that year.

[@AlbertPaysonTerhune]

Too bad it led to a big lawsuit and loss, not only for Vidal but for Esquire.

[@grntchstrmdws]

James Baldwin vs. William Buckley debate of 1965 is the one every high school student should see before graduation. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4XInGyeaMZorbMsi=WmtONUajgYHjD3Jv

[@JaneESeymour]

It's scintillating .

[@JoeL-zb1yd]

@@robertthweatt1900 Gore Vidal said "We have every right to take whatever position we want to take because we're guaranteed freedom of speech under the Constitution. We've just had to listen to a grotesque example of it." That was classic!

[@BlackRiverBay]

Thank you for making this video available. I miss watching intelligent and civil debates on television. Seems like forever ago.

[@MrInterestingthings]

Those in control dont want us informed and Republicans recognized this was a way to get more socialist tendencies in our system giving them less to steal. The lack of necesary t.v. and education helped rUMP.

[@cindymaceda2999]

Vidal : McCarthyism, the eponymous - or the original founder of the term… Cohn : I’m glad you explained that word. I was going to call Bill Buckley. 😊 Vidal : You would’ve gotten through to him very quickly. 😂 Touché.

[@paulnolan4971]

Vidal. Always exquisite😂

[@pmfg875]

he got Cohn to sing like a canary, epic solving the equation for x

[@scoundrel99]

Roy Cohn’s 3 rules as you watch this: 1) Attack attack attack 2) Admit nothing, deny everything 3) Always claim victory.

[@blackawana]

Trump's teacher.

[@nicolasdelaforge7420]

@@blackawana did you watch "The Apprentice" movie? Also "The trump Tapes" by Woodward and his latest "War".

[@chrisnash430]

@@blackawana More like Clintons, but keep trying kid!

[@chrisnash430]

@@nicolasdelaforge7420 That spook woodward has always been an establishment war pig shill. Try again!

[@sunriseschubert4391]

But Cohn was right about communism.

[@drumraine6910]

19:47 Cohn says he didn't know that Vidal was going to be on, but 7 minutes earlier he pulled a collection of Vidal quotes out of his pocket which ''somebody gave to me this morning'' - evidence of a set-up which the presenter was at pains to deny?

[@xs10tl1]

The entire interview was a setup. It was like an early version of Jerry Springer.

[@WindTurbineSyndrome]

Roy Cohn did not walk into that stage not knowing Gore Vidal would be there he would have had his spies tell him who he would be on stage with him.

[@dougtaylor2803]

Not how I interpret the situation. From what Vidal said, it sounds like he was aware that Cohn would be there, but not just him. In other words, it would not be a debate between Vidal and Cohn, therefore not necessary to prepare for a debate. Cohn, being a lawyer and combative by nature and trade, would have prepared notes in Vidal in case challenged by him. As a good boy scout, Cohn obeyed the mantra, to always be prepared. :)

[@stevencoardvenice]

​@@dougtaylor2803 Cohn probably had files on him since the 50s

[@jeffburns4219]

@@dougtaylor2803 At least something of a set-up then. Anyway, let’s suppose that Cohn, like Vidal, hadn’t sussed it out. That still wouldn’t necessary make his obviously prepared written notes “just in case”. It could well be that Cohn, due to his, as you say, pugilistic nature, was determined to turn the program into a battle (an ad hominem one at that) with Vidal no matter what the host had in mind.

[@l0ok5ko0l]

I love Bill Bogg's interviewing style. Should be more like him today.

[@denniswinters3096]

Roy Cohn had the deadest eyes I've ever seen.

[@wlhansen2068]

I was thinking the same watching this. They reflect that empty,evil soul he had. He must have gone straight to hell when he died

[@cindymaceda2999]

@@wlhansen2068😂 LOL. This brings to mind what Gore Vidal said in a Live interview, when the interviewer, expecting a reaction, mentioned that William F. Buckley had just passed away. Vidal said, matter-of-factly, “Well he’s not going to like Hell.”😊

[@marcelladillard3556]

That's because he was possessed.

[@Valelacerte]

Maybe, but Roy Cohn was right. McCarthy was posthumously vindicated, by defecting KGB officers and recovered Soviet archives, in his claims that key positions in US government, institutions and industries had and were being infiltrated by communist agents. Even the FBI were trying to warn the President that his secretary was a communist agent. Gore Vidal's lazy, pompous, and absolute dismissal of this is what tells you that he, and not Cohn, is the liar and propagandist. Communists always have to destroy their enemies totally. It is not enough to debunk their arguments; they must destroy them reputationally, financially, and spiritually. The smear campaign against McCarthy and Cohn was total and merciless; neither could be seen as having even one redeeming quality. I'm afraid that much of recorded 20th century history is highly revised and serves an agenda other than the sincere pursuit of truth.

[@BenSussmanpro]

But worse than him is Trump. Cohn was bad but he was an intellectual and social genius - he had people wrapped around his thumb for years in NY. Trump is just evil-stupid who abandoned Cohn (who took him under his wing) when he disclosed his AIDS. They’re both evil, but if I had to choose, I’d prefer Cohn.

[@john-brady]

This is fantastic! Thanks for posting 1977 - yeah…

[@briangraham1024]

Where's my Roy Cohn!!!" - the orange clown 😂

[@cg5648]

Where’s my Cloward and Piven? 😂

[@Tuscarora-Twigg]

Now I see why DonOLD Trump keeps Stephen Miller around, he's the reincarnation of Roy Cohn.

[@allancrow134]

Stephen Miller is more like Goebbels than Cohn. He writes complete fiction and stridently repeats it knowing that many will believe it. Not everyone, but more than enough to achieve the desired effect. Miller is a ghoul.

[@danskhansen]

Same weird thing with their eyes. Makes you wonder what they're on ...

[@dane21dc]

Both also use hair in a can

[@ruthdevisser2526]

Both alien looking

[@davidowens5898]

!!!! That's a bulls eye! He's a dead ringer for Cohn and every bit as evil as Cohn. Good call!

[@54tristin]

What a great interview! Look how two bitter enemies were able to debate each other in a civil manner.

[@62Cristoforo]

Imagine a similar debate today with Sarah Palin and Bill Maher. The fur would fly.

[@bernardliu8526]

@@esltogo6898 Palin was, and is, a cretin !

[@brianwalsh1401]

@@62Cristoforo Why in, gods name, would you use Palin. She is not in any manner an intellectual. I think Maher's pretty smart how about put him up against Roger Stone who is a lot like Roy Cohn.

[@brandoncrusen9160]

Look at how Cohn's lies and dishonesty survive. Why are some men able to make their way with utter dishonesty and corruption? Why was Cohn not in prison?

[@roughhabit9085]

@ Brian Walsh . No I think when you graduate top of your class and are still too young for your Bar examination, that you might have a bit more intellectual clout than a PR man.

[@TheViolettowne]

That was great. Now I am looking for a debate between Cristopher Hitchins and Gore Vidal!

[@evangray2594]

They may have had differing viewpoints, but Hitchens would never have tried to debate Vidal.

[@garyonderisin8338]

r.i.p. gore vidal. truly one of america's great modern writers. he may be gone, but he is not forgotten.

[@KunieStenzel]

???

[@meh8982]

Sadly, I think he is largely forgotten. Really a shame.

[@bradleyboyer9979]

He literally defended Communism in this clip.

[@YosemiteSam-e1p]

he was an articulate evil man.

[@rlbrown1009]

I admired Gore Vidal's courage in speaking openly about what he knew & who he was.

[@DBEdwards]

Indeed. Gore was a patient man and fair one.

[@DBEdwards]

Damn right and so do I to this day

[@arriuscalpurniuspiso]

Gore was a man. Roy was a fake weasel

[@oilyshoes9969]

His favorite topic was himself

[@stevencoardvenice]

Yes I respect him for wearing his queerness on his sleeve. Didn't GAF. Unlike these fascist closet cases creeps skulking around the halls of power. Like toy and Edgar

[@michaelmorrissey1052]

Great interview, Thanks 😷

[@sharonh2991]

Roy Cohen “….when you’ve done a hatchet job THE LIKES OF WHICH….” I can’t believe we’re seeing Roy Cohen’s DNA spilling out of trumps mouth some 50 years later.

[@Mike-nt9sx]

well they were friends..or whatever

[@alwaysv]

Cohn's DNA is probably coming out of Trump's mouth for a reason...🤤

[@apchsiri1156]

Often one can glean Trump using Cohn's strategy of "attack, attack, attack; deny, deny, deny".

[@apchsiri1156]

​@@Mike-nt9sxCohn introduced Trump to the Resorts International narcotics trafficking and money laundering crowd: Meyer Lansky, Baron Edmond de Rothschild and Hank Crosby.

[@cg5648]

Thank God Hillary has ethics 😂😂😂

[@martian-sunset]

When Roy Cohn died the world immediately smelled better. The man was rotten to the core.

[@lookfor125]

The irony ..If the worm hasn’t turned or what..Actually ,Roy Cohn made some very reasonable and sensible arguments,especially in regards to Communism ..The left uses ,or let’s say adopted McCarthyism .Words like racism ,they have definitely taken on the equivalency ,to be labeled a Communist..I’m sorry,but McCarthyism hasn’t died..It just isn’t covered anymore ,especially by the unbiased members inside our intelligentsia…you know,the press i😂

[@uckbee]

Trump's mentor. True story!

[@joetatoesniff9525]

He was an excellent lawyer that only won his cases! 🙌 👏☠️

[@NnNn-yr7mu]

Nice comment Martin ......

[@bertroost1675]

What's is the main reason for your hatred?

[@lccsd2392]

Right, Cohn just happened to have a list of Gore Vidal quotes in his pocket even though he says he didn't know they would be debating each other. Same old tricks.

[@sandraleigh4023]

Deny - Deflect - Project! That is the trump/maga mantra, and evidently, one of the "lessons" he picked up from Cohn.

[@Sidneyyoungblood75]

​@@sandraleigh4023😂😂😂😂😂😂 The lefts mantra actually. Daily proof of this but no doubt, you choose to spend all your time looking "over there" rather than the people on your side of the fence. Spend more time looking at your own kind, it'll give you a lot of objectivity

[@Sidneyyoungblood75]

You sure it wasn't the pompous arrogant arsehole who said he didn't know that he would be debating Cohn???

[@travisswiger1565]

Where the hell are these intellectual, intelligent, and informational sources of debate now? So disappointing that the public has no access to this on television.

[@robertwiles8106]

They are too busy twerking.😂

[@roystonmason9125]

Miserable nothing even close in todays sheltered red / blue society

[@MLM68]

You do know Cohen was a closeted homosexual who died of aids

[@bertroost1675]

Why? They wouldn't watch it anyway. Most people are morons.

[@granthurlburt4062]

TV has destroyed American minds. Dick Cavett was a brilliant intellectual compared to what we have now. Letterman, Colbert and Seth Meyers etc. are quick but superficial-they have to be in the present intellectual environment.

[@62Cristoforo]

Credits to the shows producer who managed to sneak both highly eloquent guests, yet mortal enemies, into the same studio, unbeknownst to each other, resulting in a modern day verbal joust.

[@WatchtowerHunter]

One of the most contemptible men of the 20th century. And sure, there was such widespread admiration of Joe McCarthy. I was alive and that is an absolute lie. Not surprising coming from Trump’s mentor.

[@roughhabit9085]

Are you sensible?

[@gerrybailey447]

They say he thought Trump everything he knows, and boy he knows everything 😆 well as much about everything as a blind man with cloth ears can know 😂

[@jeffburns4219]

I was born the year after McCarthy was censured by the United States Senate 67-22, and I was only one year old when he died, but at the time I began regularly to watch Walter Cronkite and read Time Magazine and Newsweek 1967 McCarthy was still much discussed. I don’t recall encountering a single favorable opinion of the man. I have lived in the Midwest all of my life, never on either coast. Yes, Cohn is lying. The Senate Censure in and of itself should be enough to confirm that.

[@9Point8]

Listen to Rachel Maddows podcast about the McCarthy era and the parallels to Trump and maga are startling. McCarthy did have a huge following in his home state of Wisconsin and around the country. Much like Trump, he lied and repeated the lies until many believed him. Cohn was his choreographer.

[@XX-qi5eu]

1946 to 1948, McCarthy had millions of supporters. Post censure, they wanted him to run for President and had he lived, he would've run.

[@DBEdwards]

This video is so amazing and rare in 2022. America is BRAIN DEAD now

[@ter521fad]

Of course America is brain dead. That’s the America the owners of this country want. A nation of conformist consumers who are more than happy to just pay their rising taxes and shut the hell up and not question anything their government does. The government they’re paying for. A brain dead America is what the country’s owners want and they got it. They got it a long time ago.

[@Albo96286]

Boy do i wish Gore Vidal were around these last 7 yrs.

[@seansmith3058]

​@@Albo96286Me too but out of respect for him I'm also glad he missed it.

[@faerykat]

I was 12 when this happened. It's nice to watch Gore Vidal as an adult. I actually have several photographs with him in them from old Peace and Freedom Party gatherings in and around Venice, Ca. My aunt took them.

[@majkus]

"And that little boy that nobody liked… grew up to be… Roy Cohn. And now you know the rest of the story." - The Simpsons, parodying Paul Harvey.

[@krimskrams]

I remember that and I always wondered who they were referring to. now that I recognized the name in this clip, I must say, that if he was a man to be made fun of, he still came across as more likable and intelligent than the shitshow we have now. the art of the dialogue is lost.

[@plunderpunk2]

Roy Cohn was one of the greatest monsters America ever produced.

[@AlbertPaysonTerhune]

Have not seen that. Must find that.

[@tomripsin730]

Just one of countless examples of how The Simpsons had better jokes during scene transitions than a lot of sit coms have throughout entire episodes.

[@MrMatteNWk]

Lisa: "These are my friends, grown-up nerds like Gore Vidal, and even he's kissed more boys than I ever will." Marge: "Girls, Lisa, boys kiss girls."

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

Gore Vidal: ‘-since Roy Cohn is one of the greatest living defenders in and out of court, not only of Joseph McCarthy, but of Roy Cohn-‘ 🤣

[@juanitamora4857]

That's the only truth gore vidal said. As it should be!!! You defend yourself 1st and then your clients, gore did the same thing!!! He defended himself 1st

[@JoeMama-dy6op]

Gore Videl was a prissy little queen.

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

Roy Cohn and McCarthy were proven 100% by the Venona Transcripts and the Mitrokhin Archive release in the 1990s, so Vidal's responses now look dated and backwards.

[@ianbanks2844]

@Joe Mama as was Roy Cohn who died of aids that he acquired with his homosexual activities . And yet publicly he slated gay people . What a liar he was .

[@roystonmason9125]

McCarthy was also CLOSETED and LOVED LADIES PANTIES ! HEY mary

[@TheRealTrueFabio]

Great interview of two exsplosive characters! Thanks

[@hart60]

This is great stuff. Mr Boggs did some great historic interviews.

[@oleeb]

Gore Vidal was one of the great American intellectuals of the late 20th Century. Cohn spends most of this interview misdirecting the conversation. He began by claiming McCarthy was dedicated to stopping the Communist menace around the globe when McCarthy was known for was claiming the Communists were "infiltrating" the State Department and the US Army neither of which was true. Vidal, who was openly gay, was really digging at Cohn, who was also gay but closeted, by pointing out very subtly that he was gay and intimated that McCarthy may have been gay. Those comments made Cohn visibly uncomfortable.

[@cindymaceda2999]

Then Cohn died of AIDS, didn’t he?

[@MS-wb5mf]

I always wondered about Nixon and Robozo.

[@christophergraves6725]

There were Soviet agents in the State Department and the military as well as the White House under FDR. Alger Hiss was, in fact, a Soviet agent. Then there were people in government, academia, and the news and entertainment industry who were sympathetic with the Soviets. Harry Dexter White and Harry Hopkins were both sympathetic with the Soviets as was FDR himself who was no Marxist, but saw Stalin's economic program was the New Deal on steroids.

[@stevencoardvenice]

I'm a leftist and a communist sympathizer and I can assure u it was true. Communists held many high offices in the state department and executive branch. Remember, the soviets were our allies in ww2. So thjs was acceptable during FDR era. Communism was trendy in the 30s and 40s among urban workers, intellectuals, artists and celebrities. The ussr was fighting fascism for us

[@feedermonkey7233]

Great comment. Best to You🕊

[@vllukens7265]

"There’s rules. The first rule is attack, attack, attack. Rule two: Admit nothing, deny everything. Rule three: No matter what happens, you claim victory and never admit defeat" Roy Cohn

[@brandi5730]

Awesome

[@gabbyhyman1246]

Sounds like united health.

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

Cohn : I know that that (homosexuality) is your favorite topic of conversation. Vidal: -it’s aroused by the obvious.

[@paulscottfilms]

haha Cohn is brilliant

[@barbdanalfaro8039]

@Ross Smith QA

[@beccadabeast5013]

@@paulscottfilms Cohn just about drank himself to death after contracting AIDS. brilliant..indeed. 🙄

[@dg1006]

@smith simon Both, sadly Cohn was self hating which at the time was common.

[@SuperGuanine]

@@beccadabeast5013 when did Cohn contract AIDS?

[@chuck1prillaman]

Cohn looks necrotic in every photo.

[@MarvinMonroe]

Well in later photos he has AIDS

[@deborahsevigny4763]

Because he was sick and died not too long after this.

[@Private23986]

He had AIDS.

[@LOVEisBLUE-k9j]

​@@deborahsevigny4763This interview was 1977. Cohn died in 1986.

[@jonboz7585]

He was dying of AIDS, and that’s why Trump dumped him very quickly.

[@AnnapolisGirly]

Just saw the movie (The Apprentice). Jeremy Strong did such an amazing job portraying him.

[@newgenerationtechnology2930]

Roy always looked like a villain like his face was made in a special effects department

[@jordanmascarenhas7974]

Don’t be a racist anti-Semite

[@newgenerationtechnology2930]

@@jordanmascarenhas7974 lol dude shut up

[@newgenerationtechnology2930]

@@jordanmascarenhas7974 i said nothing about him being a jew carry on

[@WindTurbineSyndrome]

His face was ruined not that he would ever be accused of being handsome but his mother insisted on plastic surgery on his nose as a newborn and he lived with scar his whole life.

[@roughhabit6496]

The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances….

[@joecesa1013]

I love how Roy Cohn never looks over at Gore Vidal.

[@julianparks8485]

But he does.

[@jen21629]

Trump was the same with Kamala. Maybe side eye that’s about it 🤣

[@randolphpinkle4482]

@@jen21629 Yes, leering.

[@oldtimer7635]

What's so lovable in that? Chickenshit, I would say.

[@pavanatanaya]

@@oldtimer7635 There is a reason why Cohn cant smile. I'm quite sure he was curb stomped as a child

[@JudithRandall-vz1zk]

We need some Bill Boggs now. He asked the hard questions. A real journalist, unlike the toadies that simply report what the rich want them to say.

[@sueelliott8085]

I admire him for “staying out of jail all these years”. What a fantastic put down. It just about sums up my feelings about his boy Trump.

[@jordanmascarenhas7974]

Wait til your boy Hunter goes to jail

[@sueelliott8085]

@@jordanmascarenhas7974 What has Hunter Biden got to do with anything. He is a private citizen and has absolutely nothing to do with me. Trump has 40+ legal cases pending and growing. He has been banned from ever owning a charity, and likely to be banned from doing business in New York. He is being investigated under the Espionage Act ,and for Sedition. He keeps losing case after case in a Conservative Supreme Court, yet out of a population of 326m he is the person you chose to give the power of the immense power of the Presidency.

[@terri6854]

@jordanmascarenhas7974 Ha! Your corny comment aged like milk. Russian spy now arrested for feeding false info to fbi and gop.

[@chrishinton3868]

​@@jordanmascarenhas7974nah the sexual predator and fraudster and traitor will be in jail very soon and since he's a bully who picks on little girls he'll get his due reward in prison and Dude get out of the cult you don't think you are in

[@edwardsbarbara25]

​@@jordanmascarenhas7974Our 'boy'? Quite a non issue to us. You guys are the ones that blew it out of proportion

[@peteralexander7943]

Remember, Roy Cohn taught Trump everything he needed to know on how to handle the media and his legal affairs. As for Gore Vidal, I wish I had listened more closely to him years ago. His historical knowledge concerning the political and social movements in our country are unparalleled.

[@meandmymonkey5137]

He dident teach trump crapp. He just took his money and kept him out of trouble .

[@BGNOLA]

"Roy Cohn taught Trump everything he needed to know"? Oh how I wish.

[@xs10tl1]

Vidal had historical knowledge but piss-poor judgement. Such as lying about the Cuban people being better off. Hindsight has proven nearly all of his statements to be wrong. He was also part of the wave to end the Electoral College....the mating call of Totalitarians.

[@jimcima]

@@xs10tl1 The Cuban people aren't better off because of an unrelenting 60 year campaign of crippling economic sanctions, murder plots against their leadership and numerous attempted coups by the United States.

[@rickb3650]

@@xs10tl1 Do you think that Fidel and Che threw the Gangsters and Fascists of the island by themselves? Despite over 60 years of unrelenting pressure from the world's most powerful nation, as Hello It's Me mentions, that tiny island with a population smaller than several American cities has no homeless people. Has a near 100% literacy rate. And produces more Doctors than the U.S., every year. In fact, what problems Cuba does have are the direct result of our nation's policies to deprive and destabilize their people and the government they chose.

[@rodneycroft5889]

Two very interesting people who are disagreeing with facts on both sides. Leaving the viewer’s the respect to make up their own minds. Very enjoyable to me.

[@pool2587]

Great debate💜♥️ thank you all

[@rypoelk997]

Roy Cohn couldn't look at Vidal while he was arguing because he was threatened by him

[@iadorenewyork1]

Cohn never quite looked directly at people, I noticed.

[@MrUndersolo]

Or turned on.

[@roughhabit6496]

And yet Cohn was ten times better connected. Go figure.

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

Actually, history made Vidal Gore out to be the fool. Roy Cohn and McCarthy were proven 100% by the Venona Transcripts and the Mitrokhin Archive release in the 1990s, so Vidal's responses now look dated and backwards, not superior.

[@arriuscalpurniuspiso]

Roy met his superior in Gore Vidal

[@joonaslehtonen7965]

During one of his speeches in Army-McCarthy hearings Roy gave a tribute speech to Joe. After that he was approached by an old lady who said sumthin like: "Oh, mr Cohn, i thought you gave such a heartfelt tribute to that senator!" Roy didnt even look the old lady but turned to his companion (whose name i cant remember but this story is from him) and said: "Allmost believed myself too."

[@newgenerationtechnology2930]

Two high powered queens 👸

[@irocitZ]

Haha, you ain't kidding..

[@Gottenhimfella]

One of them a closet queen, a poisonous, thug-enabling toad... and a mentor to the worst President the US has ever had ... and hopefully, ever will.

[@kevyjo]

I hear a noise of two cats expressing themselves before going at it

[@lunhil12]

Vidal must be the red queen seeing how expertly Cohn got beheaded.

[@paulaoh5306]

Vidal was out, for the most part, and Cohn was closeted, and not only closeted but homophobic himself. There is nothing authentic about that man except for the evil that seeps through his skin.

[@chriskillingsworth6435]

Loved this discussion. Intellectual, as it was. Dry and pointy. Thanks!

[@AJ-gv2hj]

Thanks for putting up these portals back into time. It brings a lot of context to the discussions we're still having today.

[@mustlovedogs8179]

They also classified people fighting for civil rights as communists.

[@Intellisecular]

Many of them were. Read Paul Kengor's book Dupes.

[@allymayful]

Paul Robson

[@bertharuiz1225]

And that PEOPLE buy into that is frightening. All this bc Republicans secretly want control but now are known as spineless, cowards, and hypocrites .

[@JLova82]

*They are the people* to whom you refer. You just don't know how the story goes.

[@MrShanester117]

They classified everyone who didn’t walk their line communists

[@TimothyJonSarris]

Cohn defends McCarthy AND Caligula!

[@Z0Dll]

Caligula was actually a genius. Mccarthy was right more than half the time wich is more than the average poilitician. Cohn vindicated.

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

Roy Cohn WAS Caligula...he underestimated himself.

[@martinhanley9524]

McCarthy was right - look at Covid (leaked from a Communist laboratory ) and the censorship that is occurring and ‘woke / cancel culture ‘ . And for me to exercise this opinion could be prosecuted by fifth columners as Omar Talib - Yes - McCarthy had his faults but he was right about Communism and the Risenbergs ! I’ll let you get back to NPR and the NYTimes now ! 🙄

[@paulscottfilms]

No zombie, Caligula not defended, go and watch some TV

[@beccadabeast5013]

@@martinhanley9524 Really? Covid was "leaked" from a commie lab? 🙄 You're leaving that ignorant comment on social media in the 21st century? Good grief. America prays you grow a free, critical thinking brain. Sooner rather than later. 🤣😂

[@MediaDestroyer]

"and that little boy whom nobody liked turned out to be Roy Cohn"

[@ileanasantamaria2364]

Including and especially his mother, it appears.

[@erc9468]

I like him alot - he makes a great argument about the reality of the danger of Communism and how it was important to acknowledge it.

[@frankgarrett242]

WOW!

[@jamespardue3055]

or Stephen Miller

[@arndbrack2339]

@@jamespardue3055 thank you

[@veecee3669]

Thank you for posting this most interesting interview; I've liked and subscribed, and I look forward to watching many more videos on your channel.

[@euchrideucrow1970]

Roy Cohn, the most staggering case of internalised homophobia ever to have drawn breath.

[@Gledge9]

And he was probably in the closet the whole time too

[@euchrideucrow1970]

@@Gledge9 He definitely was. Even when he was dying of AIDS he was claiming it was cancer. He has a panel on the AIDS quilt that says ‘Bully, Coward, Victim’. He was tragic in every way.

[@tomripsin730]

J. Edgar Hoover was at least a close second.

[@billf7062]

Cohn was a closeted homosexual and this probably caused self-loathing and outward vitriol.

[@bertharuiz1225]

@@euchrideucrow1970/ read that.died from aids but denying. Trump distanced himself during that period.

[@bernardliu8526]

I am awed by the IQ of both men !

[@ihatespam2]

Even that monster Cohn? Blech

[@Rainy_Day12234]

Both are very knowledgeable, opinionated and well spoken.

[@jeanettesteed3326]

Great how they are very polite to one another

[@meh8982]

It would have been unacceptable at that time for them not to be polite to each other, on camera, in public.

[@vaunniethayer1484]

Roy Cohn looks like a character from the movie, Night of the Living Dead. Ghoulish.

[@splinterbyrd]

He clearly enjoys being disliked

[@altaischurale7324]

Lets see what you look like !

[@jmd26]

The implied gay accusations that go back and forth are hysterical and delicious. "It's aroused by the obvious" Chef's kiss.

[@tommym321]

I laughed out loud at that. Whatever you think of Vidal, you can’t deny he had wit.

[@arriuscalpurniuspiso]

Cohn died of AIDS

[@jeffcrocker1078]

I comprehend everything you said I could never have composed that so brilliantly so fucking hillarious

[@jeffcrocker1078]

Gore Vidal’s mannerisms are at an SCTV level like Rick moranis or Eugene levy is playing him

[@alainriviere7950]

Bill Boggs interviewing 2 gay guys with different viewpoints. Terrific.

[@genemagruder9696]

Notice how Cohn never looks at Vidal in the eye for more than a second or two at a time...

[@frokostjuicen]

this is gold!!

[@cindymaceda2999]

Vidal’s parting words: “Roy Cohn has stayed out of jail all these years & I’d like to hire him as my lawyer.” Cohn is Drumpf’s role model.

[@johnzimpelman9018]

Trump's role models are Putin, Erdogan, Xi, Orban, and other authoritarian leaders. Cohn was Trump's mentor which is why Trump uses disinformation, the aggrieved victimized narrative, bullying, jury tampering, and threats of violence.

[@jaylockwood5030]

TDS.

[@if6was929]

@@jaylockwood5030 Every single person will speak about Jeffery Epstein or Harvey Weinstein in the most disgusting terms because every single person knows that those two men are beneath contempt, they are total scumbags. No one will say that you have a derangement syndrome for condemning them because everyone _knows_* they are criminals. Yet, the people who support and defend the convicted sex offender, POTUS non grata Donald Trump, willfully ignore his many, many crimes yet, they have the audacity to say his detractors have a derangement syndrome! The people with TDS are those who ignore Trump's crimes, not those who condemn him! MAGA is a cult populated by people who are unable to discern truth from lies!

[@mckernan603]

Your old queen Cohn had JFKDS and LBJDS.

[@batswbennett]

@@jaylockwood5030 Loser

[@jack-ln9nu]

I didn’t know that Will Ferrell was a journalist in the 70s

[@WestIndianAK]

Sure you did. Didn't you see "Anchorman"? ;)

[@rebeccamueller7564]

EXACTLY what I was thinking. :)

[@mordecaiesther3591]

Roy Cohn was the best . So proud of him .

[@sherirobinson5112]

🤣

[@davidean970]

I had to do a double-take too.

[@merrygangemi]

FU Roy Cohen. The poster boy for destroying one's life.

[@Bibbo8844hdbks]

I think you mean to say rest in peace.

[@axelfussi9861]

Great debate. Why is the sound off from 11:49 to 12:05?

[@donofon1014]

A libelous statement was being made. I am guessing a long ago threat of legal action is the answer.

[@Billboggs]

tape glitch

[@monacojerry]

Slagging and trolling at a high intellectual level. This interview took place in 1977. Of course, it was the decade of great boxing matches. It fits right in

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Thank you for the date!

[@simoncroston4581]

Vidal is excellent here.

[@qguru5533]

Within this video lay the crux of every sorrow and burden we now carry upon our backs.

[@gabbyhyman1246]

Absolutely!!!

[@JohnIrvin-g8o]

When Gore brings up the matter of homosexuality and has an exchange with Cohn, I could hear laughter in the background. These guys got it back then.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jeffjones3040]

As you probably realize, the reason it SHOULD be brought up, is because COHN and McCARTHY are HYPOCRITES!!!! Slander and Libel everyone about their alleged political beliefs. They should have realized that it is hypocritical to persecute your fellow citizens, over something that is socially unaccepted.

[@jeffjones3040]

As you probably realize, the reason it SHOULD be brought up, is because COHN and McCARTHY are HYPOCRITES!!!! Slander and Libel everyone about their alleged political beliefs. They should have realized that it is hypocritical to persecute your fellow citizens, over something that is socially unaccepted.

[@MrShanester117]

Gore was a bisexual and admitted it. Cohn was a homosexual and denied it to the grave

[@renesalomon1396]

gore vidal is a national treasure

[@milart12]

How in the heck did they get both Roy Cohn and Gore Vidal on the same stage?

[@susanfrombflo8368]

Civility in politics existed then.

[@prant8998]

Yes, I like the way they made their point and actually let the other finish. Today, we get half way through and the other guy yells out a non sequitur and the whole thing is just unproductive shouting match.

[@beccadabeast5013]

You should watch Buckley and Vidal. Great intellectual stuff until later meetings when Bill got his feelings hurt and converted to bashing Vidal.

[@milart12]

@@beccadabeast5013 Did u e see Best of Enemies, documentary about their tete-a tete at the '68 convention. Fantastic stuff

[@brianwalsh1401]

I don't think Vidal ever shied away from any debate with the right wing. I think that he hadn't been told about this is what annoyed him because he wanted to be prepare. Obviously he was intelligent enough to pull it off and did a very good job.

[@yowzephyr]

I was glad to find out what year this was aired. 1977. Cohn says the year at 7:01.

[@michaelbarnhart2593]

During the days of the Senate Rackets Committee, RFK hated Roy Cohn because he saw right through him. When RFK died from an assassin's bullet, Cohn threw a party in NYC.

[@amylemmer7264]

😮

[@jimhackett2416]

I'm a Gore Vidal fan, but this interview in my opinion shows some of his weaknesses... he had a tendency to get petty and personal which again in my opinion mitigated the impact of the points he tries to make and often causes him to wander

[@donofon1014]

I for one appreciate your thoughtful comment. These two men seem to have been connived into a joint appearance .. not an ethical practice. Cohn brought his notes to attack the "Tail Gunner Joe" broadcast and Vidal hadn't even seen it. ( I read the book and saw the drama ) So who is not manipulated in this arrangement? As a viewer of this old video .. I feel it.

[@Professorrob2k24]

Roy Cohn and Gore Vidal……WOW!!!!!

[@That_Random_Bloke]

2:18 “You were the guy behind him, pushing” Giggity...

[@alankavanaugh6701]

This interview and conversation is fantastic. Two Intelligent people on different sides of the argument. Actually having a civil and respect full conversation! Love it and very deep respect for both individuals. Why cant we learn from an example of civil discussion like this ?

[@brandoncrusen9160]

How is Roy Cohn intelligent? A grotesquely dishonest liar.

[@roughhabit9085]

Omg what an original comment.

[@WindTurbineSyndrome]

Wow witty riposte by an intellectual guest author Gore Vidal who uses language. Unlike what people do today. In English public school men were taught debating and how to parse an argument in public as part of their education so many went into politics, government, and industry.

[@johnny-r]

We don't need to learn anything. We have cell phones.

[@CesarClouds]

@@johnny-rLol

[@edszewczyk]

I'm actually impressed that these two guys, so different in every way, were brought together and had a relatively respectful debate. I doubt that something like that could be accomplished today.

[@Marius_vanderLubbe]

The world needs Gore Vidal now more than ever.

[@hedleybutler9706]

"The nicest thing that I have ever heard about Senator McCarthy, told to me by Senator Flanders, was he was a full time homosexual" Gore Vidal was such a savage

[@tommym321]

I love when he says “Well I’ll get to you in a minute”. 🤣

[@deealone5191]

This clip was in the documentary 'Where's My Roy Cohn?' I had never heard of Midday before but came to KZbin to see if I could find the entire episode. Through Roy Cohn's whole life people would come right out and ask if he was a homosexual/ if he was dying of AIDS, and he always denied it of course.

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

@@deealone5191 i saw that, and rented it, but got more, really, about Roy Cohn from DemNow in 2016, w/Trump and Wayne Barrett. in 2011, my parents refused me their computer, but i bought the first IPad, ,and still, just got had HBO as a gift, and so obviously screwed up as Bill Maher was abt Islam, this woman named Amy Goodman was a guest, and boom...via ‘on demand’, i double checked and heard : DemocracyNow. so i’ll always be grateful, for him because of #DemocracyNow, with which i STILL start the day.

[@BGNOLA]

Yeah, the left would imply McCarthy was gay based on the "evidence" that he was in his 40s before he got married.

[@brianwalsh1401]

@Ross Smith He was willing to do whatever it took to stay in power and be relevant and being a narcissist or a sociopath had no qualms about doing whatever he thought that would take regardless of whose life he destroyed. Just like our former president.

[@miketars3208]

ROY COHN ..... THE MAN WE CAN BLAME FOR DONALD TRUMP

[@Greg07623]

Their styles are identical.

[@jessewolf7649]

Thank, not Blame.

[@arvydas0069]

Shake his hand?

[@Crezelltree4261]

We can also thank Barack Obama for Biden & Harris.

[@Greg07623]

@@arvydas0069 He would rather you shake something slightly lower than his hand. DT also learned how to be a sexual predator from Roy Cohn.

[@ellekewilms6891]

Very astute observations by Gore Vidal. Governments need the fear of the people to push their agendas, never more so than today.

[@wayneterminello4495]

Replace "communists" with "immigrants "and we have trump the modern day McCarthy.

[@MrsIvonka]

They still try to scare with communists. It is like there is no democratic socialism or whatever the system is called in Scandinavia, there is a laisez-fair capitalism or communism. What are the Bernie Saunders progressives? For MAGA everything not trumpian is communism. Roy Cohn legacy

[@benburndred2226]

Their criminals that entered the country illegal. If you were sentient you'd realise McCarthy was spot on, seen the state of America lately?

[@donaldmatthew4980]

Trump, is the President, your a sad Lefty. MAN UP

[@alexdelarge9778]

It's hard to believe that this is what American daytime TV used to be like.

[@billkeaveney1526]

Gore Vidal was an eloquent speaker

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

True

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

More like a pompous, arrogant jerk

[@billkeaveney1526]

@@JohnB-dr8sk no.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

@@JohnB-dr8sk true, he was also indeed a pompous and arrogant jerk.

[@JohnnylMr]

Excellent moderation and questions, Bill.

[@Jimmy-Legs]

I wouldn’t believe anything Cohn would say.

[@splinterbyrd]

With this sort of discussion I often wonder if hysterically anti-communist participants like Roy Marcus Cohn have ever actually visited a communist country.

[@tcanfield]

So glad to see Bill Boggs again and to learn he’s still alive ! I forgot his name since I last saw him in the 70’s, but recall what a smart interviewer he was. I thought about him recently and was pretty sure he’s long gone since I haven’t seen his face for so long.

[@kevinosborne2927]

Gore Vidal was an underappreciated national treasure.

[@joedeangelis4528]

In the book Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir, Christopher Buckley wrote about a letter he received from Vidal soon after his dad passed away. Vidal had written that he was overjoyed that his father had died.

[@jordanmascarenhas7974]

National treasure to USSR

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

Actually, history made Vidal Gore out to be a fool. Roy Cohn and McCarthy were proven 100% by the Venona Transcripts and the Mitrokhin Archive release in the 1990s, so Vidal's responses now look dated and backwards, not superior.

[@thedarknessunderneathpodca6366]

@@jordanmascarenhas7974 he didn't want our kids getting slaughtered fighting it in foreign countries if that is what you mean. He wasn't a communism himself.

[@Francis-m2d]

@@joedeangelis4528 Why believe anything Buckley says?

[@MatthewHerronplus]

Amazing how stuff like this was broadcast on mass media! A great civil debate with two people who actually know something about what they are debating!!! The internet made us all stupid

[@katadam2186]

The Naked Communist, the goals outed in this book made people propagandized its to bad most don’t realize, Ck out Edward Bernay’s he explains how

[@jaycee2257]

@@katadam2186 No.

[@bunkhabit]

Cohn claims he had no previous knowledge of Vidal appearing with him on the show - and this was after he pulls out a piece of paper from which reads Vidal quotes…

[@chrisbuttermore776]

Gotta laugh out load get it?

[@angela8858]

Bill Boggs (some surname!) was a worthy interviewer.

[@TheMarmite09]

"Roy Cohn has managed to stay out of jail all of these years and I admire him for that" 😂 that's the best comeback if you tell me!

[@RenataCantore]

What an amazing interview !

[@Joebethere7]

it would be helpful to post the date of the original broadcast

[@pamelia59]

I googled it 1977was the year

[@pqmconstruction2003]

If that happened there wouldn't be all this action in the comments.

[@pamelia59]

@@pqmconstruction2003 if you think the interview was recent you have a lot of problems that even Google can't give help for, JS

[@fifty9forty3]

Cohn said in the interview/debate, the year was 1977.

[@DBEdwards]

Absolutely. I am guessing circa 1970

[@carolcohen9913]

Cohn reminds me of Stephan Miller.

[@MrDan11422]

A performance of a liar. Blame, distort, and double down. Notice how Roy starts off calling others of lying. Then distort the word communist to fit anyone who he does not like. Then never backs down. Trump used the same tactics, only foolish people bought what he sold.

[@hughmac13]

Well spotted. I wouldn't be surprised if Cohn had served as, and remains, one of Miller's primary role models.

[@mannysanguena7900]

Now you understand how Stephen Miller's character was appreciated by Donald Trump.

[@uwsgrrrl9981]

He’s worse!

[@glossypots]

Stephen Miller reminds me of Goebbels

[@SMtWalkerS]

Fascinating interview. What year was this? I wish you would put the date in the description. This was so interesting - thank you for this.

[@Billboggs]

I think it was 1977

[@spb7883]

@@Billboggs Seems correct given that the tv movie is mentioned as having premiered “in February”, and it did premiere in 1977. Cohn’s book was published the same year, and Boggs emphasizes it is a recent publication. What I’m wondering is, what *month* ? Because Zero Mostel - mentioned in the course of the debate - also died that year (in September).

[@bartonlee3594]

Cohn: The man who taught Donald Trump the art of GRIFTING.

[@david3551]

Rent free.

[@gregh5061]

@david3551 I mean, the guy's running for president of course he's gonna be on people's mind.

[@TheoMutumbo]

​@@gregh5061we will stop talking about him when the media doesn't shove him down everyone's throats everyday

[@gregh5061]

@@TheoMutumbo I agree. Trump is the most important political figure of the 21st century, obviously people are gonna talk about him.

[@Frederick-t8t]

BULL

[@kevinjohnson-lf3kj]

This is the greatest interview..one on one...EVER !!!!

[@angelofinaldi5918]

Mc carthy drank to oblivion after those hearings knowing that damage it was doing...but he had to ..damage was done and Roy one of the most disturbing Americans ever and to this day trough Trump..

[@CrazyLeiFeng]

American Left contributed to the millions of North Korean and Indochine people being murdered by the Communists.

[@bear0balls]

Spot on! Cohn taught Trump many of his most criminal practices!

[@angelofinaldi5918]

You want to tangle communism...?? Fine , but get fair ,honest competent..staff....not a frustrated drunk...and his develish side Kik..whispering poisoning equations that break all rules of decency..

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

@@bear0balls such as what huh?

[@TheoMutumbo]

Trump talks like Cohn, sounds just like him with a limited vocabulary and range of syntax