Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump‘s former personal lawyer and longtime ‘fixer’, has testified before Congress that Trump thinks his son Donald Trump Jr. is a complete dolt. Understandably, this has elicited quite a reaction from everyone who already had a suspicion the president is none too keen on his firstborn son.
Cohen, who will soon serve a three-year prison sentence for campaign finance violations and other serious offences, has alleged to the House Oversight Committee that Trump once met with his son to discuss a shady meeting with Russian operatives during the presidential campaign.
“What struck me as I looked back and thought about that exchange between Don Jr. and his father was, first, that Mr. Trump had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world,” Cohen said, in relation to Don Jr.’s alleged organisation of the highly suspect meeting.
This claim has been seized upon by schadenfreude-hungry observers, who see Cohen’s allegation as proof that Don Jr. is not exactly a sharp operator, and that he was only permitted to get close to his famously distant father so he could do dodgy shit on Sr.’s behalf.
The sad personal story here is that Don Jr. might have committed crimes as a way to get close to his distant dad.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 27, 2019
The President telling Michael Cohen “Don Jr had the worst judgment of anyone in the world” is very important because it proves that Trump is capable of telling the truth.
— Marie Connor (@thistallawkgirl) February 27, 2019
I feel like a lot of women can probably relate to Don Jr now that we know he did stupid things in pursuit of a cold, distant man’s love
— Samantha Ruddy (@samlymatters) February 27, 2019
I’ve always thought Don Jr was the dumb one and Eric the less dumb one. Eric has an actual job. He’s in charge of the golf courses.
— digby (@digby56) February 27, 2019
don 👏🏻 jr 👏🏻 televised 👏🏻 hearing
— . (@swordsjew) February 27, 2019
don jr. before and after cohen’s testimony pic.twitter.com/Le2qnEIsX6
— siraj hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) February 27, 2019
Don Jr. also live-tweeted during Cohen’s testimony to deny his claims. Tellingly, he even retweeted a message suggesting Cohen has “no reason to lie or obfuscate at all,” potentially proving Cohen’s point in the process.
Why would Don Jr. would retweet this? pic.twitter.com/xx3fuBNe3t
— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) February 27, 2019
It’s hardly the only revelation to come out of the entire ordeal, but to a certain set of cynical observers, it might be the funniest. Also the most tragic. Expect more details along these lines to shake out in the next few days.
