Michael Cohen and Presidential Sex Scandals? Don’t Make Us Yawn.

The problem with some news stories is that their climax is pretty much anti-climactic. Take the case of Michael Cohen, who was Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and also his ‘fixer’ when it came to funneling tens of thousands of dollars of hush money to temptresses who threatened to spill the beans on their torrid affairs with the presidential Don Juan. Due to some pesky tax laws and other pettifogging regulations Cohen could not just walk up to Stormy Daniels or Karen McDougal and hand them a wad of bills, cheerfully saying “Here ya go — now you can laugh all the way to the bank, and good riddance!”

No, Mr. Cohen had to perform some byzantine shenanigans to get the funds into the proper blackmailing hands without the notice of the IRS and other busy bodies. So he broke a few laws here and there doing it. The bottom line is he got the results he was after: enriched hookers and a president without an adulterous blemish.

Alas, the law has now performed its brutal role of nemesis and collared Cohen — today he plead guilty to eight charges of financial legerdemain that will cost him his standing as a lawyer and may threaten him with the shadow of the penitentiary. And while the media are rapidly exhausting their supply of exclamation points in posting this sordid tale, the general public is already done with it and has turned back to baseball scores.

Too many crooks spoil the news.