Blog 3852 – 06.09.2026

Roy Cohn’s Three Rules of Winning

Long before his first successful business venture, the NBC staged reality show The Apprentice, Donald John Trump was himself the apprentice of famed mob lawyer Roy Cohn who taught him the three rules of winning:

1. Attack, Attack, Attack
2. Admit Nothing, Deny Everything
3. Claim Victory, Never Admit Defeat

Roy taught him well. The 2024 movie, The Apprentice, tells the story well. The rules Trump lives by, Roy Cohn’s Three Rules of Winning, were on display on TV’s longest running news show, Meet The Press, on Sunday:

1. Attack, Attack, Attack
2. Admit Nothing, Deny Everything
3. Claim Victory, Never Admit Defeat

As more and more the true story of DJT’s rise to power is told we realize that his ghost written book The Art of the Deal and indeed his whole brand is based upon the Three Rules of Winning that Roy Cohn taught him when he was the apprentice.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White