Director Matt Tyrnauer
Producer Corey Reeser
Don't Mess with Roy Cohn explores the connections between Roy Cohn—the right-hand-man to Senator Joseph McCarthy, and, later, the quintessential New York City powerbroker and mafia attorney—and Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States. This film contextualizes Cohn's influence on American politics, since the 1950s. As a recent Vanity Fair story by Marie Brenner posits: “Donald Trump and Roy Cohn’s ruthless symbiosis changed America.” Cohn's playbook and master manipulation of the media defines the political culture of the 21st century. He was instrumental in developing the genre of spectacle, now fueling right wing demagogic and racial dog-whistle politics. McCarthy and Trump define the darkest chapters of modern America. This film puts the spotlight on the American Iago who engineered both men's rise.