Michael Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee has evoked comments that range from laugh-out-loud ludicrous to seething indignation.
At least he got the last part right, about the committee’s seriousness in pursuing its goals. The problem is, Cummings unveiled the hearing’s real purpose by readily accepting the words of a habitual liar who, not incidentally, contributed to their “Impeach Trump” portfolio.
Dreadfully Effective
Show trials are the particular province of totalitarian societies, and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin was the trailblazer in all aspects, from arrest and confinement of the accused to theatrical admissions of culpability for crimes the regime’s targets didn’t commit. The tumultuous times in the 1920s, during which Stalin solidified his power, provided instructive methods of how to create a fictitious crisis, single out those assigned to be responsible, and put them before a staged trial, amid catcalls and death threats shouted by regime stooges planted in the chamber.Thus, in 1929, Stalin’s regime rounded up a group of engineers and accused them of “wrecking,” which was the standard charge to cover up ordinary accidents in the workplace. The trials were also an excellent propaganda tool to broadcast the general secretary’s omniscience: “It’s not easy to fool Comrade Stalin!” was the catchphrase.
The first one involved a child denouncing his father and calling for his execution; his wishes were promptly acted on. After that, “the trials went exactly as Stalin planned them,” down to the last raucous crowd scene, “like some gigantic production by the Soviet cinéaste Sergei Eisenstein,” according to historian Paul Johnson. Nothing was left to chance.
“Give me long enough and I will have them confessing that they are the King of England,” one of the interrogators boasted about the drive to collect evidence from political prisoners to be used against Zinoviev and Kamenev. The two men were innocent of all charges, of course, but were blackmailed to make elaborate confessions to fabricated crimes with the assurance their families wouldn’t be harmed, a promise Stalin didn’t keep; Kamenev’s wife and sons were killed.
Did these show trials accomplish their purpose? The answer is that these legalistic monstrosities were dreadfully effective and especially convincing to foreign audiences.
Consider the responses of some U.S. journalists present at the scene. According to The New Republic, for instance, “We see no reason ... to take the trial in other than its face value. Foreign correspondents present at the trial pointed out that the stories [of the defendants] ... corroborated each other to an extent that would be quite impossible if they were not substantially true. The defendants gave no evidence of having been coached, parroting confessions painfully memorized in advance, or of being under any sort of duress.”
Perhaps the most memorable and notorious account was submitted by Walter Duranty, writing for The New York Times: “A widespread plot against the Kremlin was discovered, whose ramifications included not merely former oppositionists but agents of the Nazi Gestapo.” He went on to declare “it was unthinkable” that Stalin could have sentenced his friends to death “unless the proofs of guilt were overwhelming.” He later would come to regret this facile assumption.
Which brings us back to the United States—and the present time—to comment on the significance of the Cohen hearings, and perhaps to parry thoughts that plunging into the unspeakable evils of Stalin’s regime takes us a trial too far, so to speak. After all, the United States is not the USSR, and Cohen offered his testimony willingly, although likely for self-serving purposes.
Still, both experiences suggest that show trials, under any circumstances, have the following characteristics:
Firstly, truth is irrelevant. Objections to testimonies on the basis of their staged character or complete lack of verisimilitude are completely beside the point, as both Republicans and Democrats likely agree. The purpose of a show trial is political in that it confirms the beliefs of the people inclined to concur with the testimony anyway. In other words, Democrats wanted to appeal to their base, accumulate additional weapons to wage war against a president they despise, and do it all in a fashion that seems congruent with accepted legal and procedural norms.
Secondly, political agendas supersede the national interest. While the Cohen carnival was triggering tempers and raising blood pressures on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump was in Vietnam trying to negotiate with the North Korean dictator to deal with a problem that has vexed U.S. presidents for the past several decades. Any president would, of course, welcome political support for his efforts, but none was forthcoming; Democrats on the committee and in Congress didn’t care.
In fact, they haven’t cared much about anything else since the 2016 election. Calls for Trump’s impeachment rang out before he even took office. They were indifferent to Hillary Clinton’s self-serving and near treasonous activities when she served as secretary of state; they had nothing to say when a president of the United States went out of his way to demean his own country; and they clung to absurd fabrications that propelled a special prosecutor to pursue an investigation worthy of Seinfeld about nothing for two long, belief-suspending years. Democrats have behaved like true Trotskyites; nothing matters to them but the party agenda.
Which means that the country likely will endure more show trials in the future, especially if Trump wins re-election and Democrats win both houses of Congress. Given Democrats’ execrable sympathies for socialism, their grandiose plans to expand and centralize the U.S. government, their embrace of infanticide, and their desires to imprison “climate deniers,” such activities may not stand out as much.
But somewhere, in a compartment of hell reserved for Marxist dictators, one can imagine a smile creeping across the lips of Stalin.