Gore Vidal & Roy Cohn: Classic Interview

Bill Boggs interviews the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn and acerbic author Gore Vidal. A classic TV interview featuring two controversial figures.
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[@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.

[@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.

[@Chris_34]

"Roy Cohn is a personal friend of mine and a helluva nice guy" - Thanos

[@richmrstonestone]

Nothing wrong with Roy. He at least embraced success and American/ European values, while most in his community hated the successful, trying to lead violence and theft/redistribution schemes ( leftist , Frankfort school, Democracy Now ..)

[@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. :)

[@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.

[@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….

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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?

[@AngstRiddenAnnoyance]

"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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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”. 🤣

[@methaqualone5191]

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]

@@methaqualone5191 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.

[@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!

[@joecesa1013]

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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@bartonlee3594]

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

[@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.

[@paulaguenon9298]

It is sad that it was more civilized conversations in those days than today.

[@brianwalsh1401]

Mostly because of the republicans always getting loud and talking over and keep sticking ti their fox news talking points and trying to win instead of an intelligent conversation. Same thing with leftist who won't allow the right wing to speak and shouting them down like we see at some colleges.

[@user-ARK1547]

Intelligence levels and society has changed with the Dumbing down of America ( book by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt ) also With the subversions that have taken place along the way from 1949 to date.

[@marcelladillard3556]

Evil under the veneer of civility (kind of). These wordsmiths are weilding machetes at each other.

[@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.

[@TheRealTrueFabio]

Great interview of two exsplosive characters! Thanks

[@michaelmorrissey1052]

Great interview, Thanks 😷

[@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

[@OmaraVelazquez]

I ❤' ed Gore Vidal he was awesome

[@DBEdwards]

Gore was remarkable, as he always was.

[@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. 🤣😂

[@ton_of_youtube1831]

Roy Cohn: "I think Mr. VIdal has lapsed into an uncharacteristic modesty ..."😂

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Hehehe

[@bernardliu8526]

I am awed by the IQ of both men !

[@chuck1prillaman]

Cohn looks necrotic in every photo.

[@frokostjuicen]

this is gold!!

[@jeanettesteed3326]

Great how they are very polite to one another

[@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.

[@pool2587]

Great debate💜♥️ thank you all

[@blaxtru]

Roy has all the allure of Count Dracula.

[@paulscottfilms]

whats the matter with you. maybe a simpleton.

[@gomezaddams4347]

@@paulscottfilms If you don’t know how evil Cohn was, you have no business calling anyone else a simpleton. If you do know and it doesn’t bother you then you’re a scumbag. Either way, you lose.

[@tapptom]

Dracula infected with the last stage of HIV. Same one that said he was sexually attracted to Trump. Remember he had that boyfriend that got drafted and looked exactly like Trump

[@Not-Ap]

And 10x the power.

[@roughhabit9085]

Could you envisage yourself as one of his concubines?

[@ronagoodwell2709]

"Roy Cohn has managed to stay out of jail all these years, and I admire him for that, and I'd like to have him as my lawyer." Gore Vidal sums up Trump's fixer from the early days. "Better call Roy."

[@DBEdwards]

Beautiful. You are SO VERY RIGHT. The apple falls always close to the tree

[@DBEdwards]

Brillant commentary beyond words. Good quote you made.

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

Uh, no. Cohn and McCarthy were proven 100% by the Venona Transcripts and the Mitrokhin Archive release. So he was totally vindicated by history.

[@ronagoodwell2709]

@@JohnB-dr8sk Ah, Roy Cohn Jr. weighs in.

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

@@ronagoodwell2709 Anyone opposed to Communism is a "Roy Jr" to you comrade. Just so everyone here knows, all of these Marxist commenters here that hate Roy Cohn are planning to genocide half the country if they ever get full power. We know this from FBI informant Larry Grathwold's testimony to Congress in the 1970s about the Weather Underground. Bill Ayers and his cohorts were working directly with the CCP and the Soviet Union and talked openly about genociding 30 million Americans who opposed the world revolution. Larry Grathwold was praised by President Jimmy Carter and Democrats in Congress after his testimony. Roy Cohn is hated because he helped expose the world revolution here in America. It has nothing to do with anything else that he did. I am old and terminally ill with not much time to live, so thankfully, I won't be alive after these monsters attempt this great evil. But I leave this as a warning to others who will be alive who are trying to understand what is happening. You are all in grave danger if these maniacs aren't stopped....

[@pechorin100]

The interviewer had the wisdom to say little and let these lettered men play it out.

[@mannysanguena7900]

Remember Roy Cohn was Donald Trump's mentor...

[@johnbonivento9037]

YESSSSS They're both tarred with the same brush

[@vincentfisher1603]

Both men were slippery eels. Both spoke a certain amount of truth.

[@That_Random_Bloke]

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

[@simoncroston4581]

Vidal is excellent here.

[@Professorrob2k24]

Roy Cohn and Gore Vidal……WOW!!!!!

[@plainbreaker1392]

"He had a fantastic war record" of shooting coconuts.

[@Longtack55]

It's true. His colleagues gave him an award for "Most vegetation shot." He fired 4500 rounds one day including some into his own aircraft so he could claim a record. He flew only two combat missions (in one day) and injured his foot falling over when partying but called it a combat wound. No Purple Heart though;-)He died bravely of liver damage from a special Japanese bayonet called "booze."

[@Resenbrink]

Lol

[@eamonwright7488]

@@Longtack55 Beautiful synopsis of Tall Gunner Joe! I thought he got a Purple Heart for slipping on a wet deck on ship? Lol

[@ravingircey]

Roy Cohn did surprisingly well against a superior opponent but I score a TKO for Vidal. Landed the best lines. Brilliant.

[@roughhabit6496]

Yeah I know who I’d rather have advocating my defence.

[@JohnB-dr8sk]

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

[@lizannewhitlow1085]

“Let’s be affirmative…” 😂

[@tyleranyways]

I'm stealing that lol

[@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?

[@alanfodenceo5445]

Regardless of the points of view .. both bright, articulate

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Both highly intelligent. Vidal's "Palimpsest" was one of the best books I ever read.

[@xaniiu]

Gore was about to out his ass lmao.. You wanna tawk about reading… let’s tawk about reading!

[@KbB-kz9qp]

I do not mean to be crude, but by giving him the nickname “Tailgunner Joe”, was the media implying more that MaCarthy ran the machine gun is the back end of a bomber? In other words (even more base I’m afraid, and for which I apologize), were they implying tha McCarthy was gay?

[@hughmac13]

"Tail Gunner Joe" was the name of a television movie about the life of Joe McCarthy, but I suspect Vidal, efficient with the language as ever, was killing two birds with one stone by making an allusion to the possibility of the latter.

[@62Cristoforo]

The double entendre was obviously lost on the masses, since they took the phrase from Vidal and entitled the book with it, for mass distribution, in mixed company

[@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.

[@mong4491]

The setle passive aggression, accompanied with elegance

[@kemetwice2390]

Subtle*

[@novakingood3788]

I've never heard of Cohn (bit too young and from a different country), but he sounds like a real charmer. I particularly liked the story about how he "entered the hospital room of the dying and comatose Lewis Rosenstiel, the multi-millionaire founder of Schenley Industries, forced a pen to his hand and lifted it to the will, in an attempt to make himself and Cathy Frank, Rosenstiel's granddaughter, beneficiaries". Like I said, a real charmer.

[@internetwonderbuilder4741]

He was Trump's mentor. For real.

[@michaelterry1000]

And the great defender of Studio 54.

[@misspm8157]

He was the head MOB lawyer in New York. He was totally ruthless. Then died of aids.

[@brianwalsh1401]

He's a narcissist or sociopath. They lack any scruples and stuff like this wouldn't bother them a bit unless of course he didn't take the opportunity to do it and then he would kick himself. Just watched Victim, something something on netflix about his life. The guy wouldn't pay people and used people like all narcs and sociopaths as pawns in their game of life. I'm sure trump already was doing all of this stuff by the time he met Cohn.

[@brandoncrusen9160]

He was the close number 2 under McCarthy. A very important part of American history to know and understand. The Edward R. Murrow School of Journalism is at WSU. People like Cohn are absolute snakes yet somehow allowed to survive and prosper. A fascist. Taught Donald Trump a lot, was also closely involved with Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Richard Nixon.

[@onehumanhistory]

Wow Gore knew Roy was in the closet...

[@tyleranyways]

12:57 poor Roy lol

[@690169016901]

Wow ya in a big way.

[@timothymeehan181]

“Takes one to know one”? Gore had the maturity & bravery to acknowledge his own sexuality. Cohn was…well, where to begin? Simply a disgustingly poor excuse for a human being in a thousand ways..

[@seanosull2884]

I think everyone knew

[@darbyheavey406]

Takes one to know one.

[@TheViolettowne]

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

[@geoff3103]

LOL at these two LGBT boys with VASTLY different political views. LOL even more at the homosexual cracks around the 13 minute mark, considering the two participants involved.

[@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

[@birdman1112]

2 queens fighting over how to angle the love seat.

[@xs10tl1]

Exactly.

[@Marc001]

Roy Cohen does make a valid point in this debate, After the fall of the Soviet Union, scholars were allowed to peruse the archives of that era, and one of the more interesting findings was that the Communist Party of the USSR directly funded the US Communist Party. So yeah, there was some Soviet "meddling" in internal US affairs during the Cold War, though obviously not to the extent of Russian meddling in the 2016 and 2020 US elections.

[@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

[@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.

[@Mikathedog100]

No eye contact at all between them. Fascinating

[@dougt7665]

Roy Cohn was a monster.

[@DBEdwards]

Cohn was

[@roughhabit6496]

Sigh , so many people with shallow and unconsciously tragic lives.

[@johnbonivento9037]

When he was disbarred, then passed of AIDS, the "monster" was finally gone!!!

[@arriuscalpurniuspiso]

He was so physically repulsive

[@Martin-tn5lm]

A monster?! A rather small monster, don't you think?

[@tomkelly4336]

Roy Cohn, slippery as ever called this movie a documentary, movies have a poetic license which gives wiggle room in depicting historical figures. Gore Vidal was one of the best historical novelists and essayists that I have ever read.

[@Bethaniji]

...and Gore Vidal also used as much wiggle room as he could afford. I agree that he is all you said above, I much appreciate his historical novels.

[@juanitamora4857]

Gore vidsl was fu of crapola

[@christopherbremer2192]

@@juanitamora4857 are you CIA

[@borisbadenov651]

You need to read more. Taylor Caldwell remains superior.

[@chrisolsen7679]

@@borisbadenov651 Nice!! Thank you for clueing people on about Taylor Caldwell!!! "Joseph Armaugh"

[@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.

[@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…

[@dakrontu]

Magnificent example of art of gentlemany conversation despite fundamental disagreements. A lost art. Compare their articulate abilities to the likes of Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Josh Hawley, the detritis of QAnon.

[@G_Demolished]

@@asongforsimeon4310 If you think the world had more respect for the mango Mussolini you need to get out more.

[@fifty9forty3]

These times and the approach to voicing disagreement is different from then, and it isn't coming from one direction.

[@josephdegennaro6819]

Our whole society is practically brain dead. What lack of education did to many, the phone and attention spans did the rest. Try explaining something to someone that takes more than a minute, forget it.

[@dakrontu]

@@josephdegennaro6819 Indeed a species with such a paltry attention span would not survive in the wild. Perhaps we are witnessing the degeneration of our species back to the apes the creationists insist we didn't come from. You first, Marjorie.

[@raymond5285]

And biden and camela

[@cdcoop0]

12:40 gets going here - Cohn can't make eye contact with Vidal - tries to deflect with quotes about Carter and definitions for McCarthyism. Then "you would have got through to quickly." hehe

[@billd3356]

I noticed that too. Cohn hardly looks at the host, except to emphasize certain words. I find that really odd.

[@billd3356]

Cohn also does not address Vidal directly to his face, refers to him as "Mr. Vidal" as if Vidal is not even in the room.

[@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.

[@axelfussi9861]

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

[@dentonfender6492]

Gore Vidal was so intelligent, and at the same time he was so cool, and he had sa·​voir faire, I sure wish Gore Vidal, and Christopher Hitchens were still alive today to comment on America. I loved listening to both of them for knowledge, inspiration, and wise anecdotes.

[@angeloavanti2538]

this was great television for the afternoon. what happened?

[@joshuaturnage5243]

The tv movie Tail Gunner Joe was released Feb 6,1977

[@johnaugsburger6192]

Thanks

[@dramastudiobordeaux8058]

good interviewer. Need more discussions like this now. Angels In America - Play and Film by Tony Kushner. And film: Citizen Cohn (played by James Woods) Both are about Cohn. Watch it. An evil man.

[@nelnav7752]

Watched them both. Absolutely correct a horrible individual.

[@andrewfrankovic6821]

@@nelnav7752 I didn't watch this, but iT sounds like iTs simply about lawyers. How would Cohn have fit into the slavery picture iF he were a Southerner then.

[@MrBryan247]

Two flamers which puts show's their pov. Also McCarthy was a flamer too.

[@savoirfaire3469]

can you imagine smearing a politician by suggesting they were influenced by Russians?

[@cindymaceda2999]

😂😂😂 Good one ! 👍

[@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).

[@williamlarochelle6833]

Not that I'm a fan of the man, but Cohn won, IMO. Vidal was too busy being cool, calm, and haughty.

[@arriuscalpurniuspiso]

Cohn was such a fraud

[@lizzparis9060]

Gore Vidal’s aces. Love ya Bill!

[@nyiniamako]

Gore went there accusing him and Mccarthy of being closeted. Love it

[@cindymaceda2999]

Gore Vidal was one of the intellectual Giants of the 20th Century. God broke the mold when He made him. Would that Gore were here today to analyse what’s going on in America. 😮

[@DocZom]

Any live discussion in which Gore Vidal is a participant is worth watching. I was interested to hear Roy Cohn, someone I have not seen much of. I had to look up Bill Boggs despite my 71 years; never heard of you, Bill. Sorry. Good show. Was it a local broadcast in NYC?

[@EVRYMANaKING]

Yes. Bill interviewed everyone in the 70s NYC.

[@lewisjones2825]

Don't take it at face value, Cohn was on a particular mission

[@Qwerty-ey5fi]

Look how pissed he is (12:53). Cohen probably thinks back to being 'tailgunned' by alcoholic Joe.

[@jordanmascarenhas7974]

You’re either a liberal or a homophobe. Pick one

[@chrisparnell2806]

After all these years Roy’s defense of McCarthy sounds like a trump cult member.

[@juanvaldez3515]

Your wrong its about Harris And Willy brown

[@EmilyHartley25989]

@Juan Valdez That doesn’t make sense. The analogy doesn’t work.

[@iadorenewyork1]

Cohn was a mentor to Don Trump.

[@thefaith2332]

Venona papers

[@jordanmascarenhas7974]

To a libtard, it would

[@leedee4968]

Very intriguing and entertaining

[@robertgsmith5761]

Some of this is fascinating and hilarious

[@Billboggs]

Thank you--it was a really interesting experience to host this. if you can, please follow me @realbillboggs on Instagram

[@ds8457]

Why can't Americans have normal conversations like this anymore? Just talking to each other, arguing, discussing.

[@movingpicutres99]

These people were educated before TV dumbed us down and diminished attention span.

[@xs10tl1]

Because we are products of the Revolutionary War, and have kept having to fight the same enemy in different jerseys....all the while building the greatest economy and innovative culture on the planet.

[@roughhabit9085]

I’ve thought about this and I blame advertisers and marketers. They are generally dull extroverts and are convinced that what people want to watch is those of that same ilk . The bar is set entertain the LCD.

[@roughhabit6496]

Because big government doesn’t want it.

[@AlvaBarr]

Because of Jerry Springer and the birth of the infamous entitled loudmouth Karen!!

[@SMytfa]

11:48 sound cuts out for a few seconds... what was said? (til about 12:04)

[@WillKarst]

Im 8 minutes in, and can't find a disagreement with Cohn at all.

[@terrioestreich4007]

This is great! Vidal was a wonder

[@feelin_fine]

Vidal was “bad” in the good sense, and Cohn “bad” in the evil sense, and both fascinating (Cohn maybe even more so to me).

[@mitchduncan2942]

Gore Vidal talks like he’s in a movie 😂😂😂

[@spb7883]

11:49: Audio drops out. Is this simply a malfunctioning section in the master, or was this censored (either at the time or since)?

[@Billboggs]

tape glitch I think, I did the interview live and tape was just made for me.

[@timwalker2778]

McCarthy was a prophet.

[@timsmith2279]

Financed by a Joe Kennedy