with respect to the psychology underlying the weird attachment he had to Trump (and similarly, the book Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff wrote about Melania). He does seem to be offering an explanation and a mea culpa; I'm not sure he understands it himself but at least he admits he did bad stuff. I suppose sitting in the pokey for awhile can make a guy reflect on how he got there - I don't feel sorry for him, though, because he chose to do what he did and he could have walked away. His wife and daughter repeatedly nagged at him to quit working for Trump because they found Trump gross and nasty (he ogled the 15-year-old daughter and asked her to kiss him. Cohen was disgusted but he said and did nothing. So how does a person fall into that kind of spell, where their boss can hit on their young daughter and they don't even say anything?)
Cohen isn't a good writer. His style is overwrought and full of clunky metaphors and words that don't quite work. He could have used an editor, but maybe one wasn't available where he was at the time. However, he's a pretty good story-teller, and I'm finding the book very interesting even though it's not telling me anything I didn't already understand about Trump, which is that he's a sociopath who really doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself and actually enjoys crushing anyone he considers to be a competitor or an adversary. And Cohen, evidently a psychological chameleon, took on those characteristics while he was working for Trump. He was so flattered and excited at being part of what he perceived as the small group of rich, important, powerful people in Trump's orbit that he was willing to do anything to become part of it and stay there. While he was already doing quite well financially, he wanted to be the guy that does the big deals, runs with the big dogs. It's as he said: When he was a kid he was impressed by the mobsters who hung out at his uncle's club. He wanted to be like them, the guy nobody fucked with.
It's a sad story, though like I said, I don't feel sorry for Cohen because he always could have made other choices. But it's an interesting study in how a weak person can be seduced and controlled by a sociopath. Trump surrounds himself with people like Cohen, people who want a slice of that power, and once they're allowed into that circle are so afraid of being thrown out of it that they'll do anything, no matter how reprehensible, to stay part of it.
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