"American Scoundrel": From Roy Cohn to Stephen Miller, "McCarthyism Lives On," Says Author Kai Bird

Nov 11, 2026 | We speak with historian Kai Bird about American Scoundrel, a new biography of the notorious political fixer Roy Cohn, who rose to fame as chief counsel to Joe McCarthy during the senator's anti-communist campaign, served as a lawyer for the New York mob, and was an influential voice in Republican circles until his death from AIDS-related complications in 1986. His most impactful relationship, however, would prove to be with a young Donald Trump, whom he mentored in business and politics during the 1970s and '80s.

Facing political setbacks during his first term as president, Trump reportedly asked, "Where's my Roy Cohn?" Bird, who co-authored American Scoundrel with his wife Susan Goldmark, says Trump may have found his Cohn in Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration's mass deportation policies who Trump just elevated to chief of staff.

"It's not really a surprise that, cornered and wounded by the recent election results, he reaches out and pulls up Stephen Miller, who's very similar in his willingness to go on the offensive and never back down, and to say outrageous things to try to change the narrative," says Bird.


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