{"id":149054,"date":"2026-04-17T11:22:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/17\/former-biglaw-partner-warns-there-are-no-guardrails-left-around-trump-and-someone-is-taking-advantage\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T11:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:22:03","slug":"former-biglaw-partner-warns-there-are-no-guardrails-left-around-trump-and-someone-is-taking-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/17\/former-biglaw-partner-warns-there-are-no-guardrails-left-around-trump-and-someone-is-taking-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Biglaw Partner Warns There Are No \u2018Guardrails\u2019 Left Around Trump \u2014 And Someone Is Taking Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ty Cobb<\/a> \u2014 the former Hogan & Lovells partner who left the hallowed halls of Biglaw to serve as special counsel in the first Trump White House<\/a>, and has since made it his apparent life\u2019s mission to say out loud what everyone else is merely thinking \u2014 was back on MSNow\u2019s The Beat with Ari Melber<\/em>, and wow, did he have some things to get off his chest.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve covered extensively<\/a> around<\/a> here<\/a>, Cobb (along with his magnificent signature mustache) has developed a folksy but devastating habit of cutting through the right-wing noise and telling cable news audiences exactly what the situation is. This latest appearance was no different.<\/p>\n

Asked about the current state of affairs inside the Trump orbit, Cobb offered a genuinely chilling observation rooted in his firsthand experience. \u201cWhen I was there, his narcissism would be on display because he would passionately want to do something that seemed out of bounds but people like Gen. Kelly and Gen. Mattis, Nikki Haley, were there to talk him out of it,\u201d he explained. The problem, of course, is that those people \u2014 the so-called \u201cadults in the room,\u201d a phrase Cobb himself famously used back in his White House days<\/a> \u2014 are long gone. \u201cThey don\u2019t have those guardrails there today,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n

And it gets more alarming from there. Cobb raised the specter of bad actors filling that vacuum, arguing there \u201cshould be some concern that people are using this, using his incapacity, to manipulate decisions.\u201d As a concrete example, he pointed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting Netanyahu did exactly that \u201cin connection with the decision to go into Iran.\u201d That\u2019s a pretty significant allegation! The idea that a foreign leader is effectively steering American foreign policy by exploiting a cognitively diminished president is not a small thing to say on cable television. And yet, here we are.<\/p>\n

On Trump\u2019s general mental state and behavior, Cobb did not exactly offer reassuring takes. Trump\u2019s \u201cvocabulary has shrunk, he\u2019s resorted to profanity and threats, totally impulsive,\u201d Cobb said. He pointed to Trump\u2019s attacks on the late filmmaker Rob Reiner and former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as well as his ongoing feud with Pope Leo XIV as behavior that \u201cjust shows you how crazy this man is.\u201d Hard to argue with that breakdown, honestly.<\/p>\n

Cobb also drew a contrast that should probably be getting more airtime. He distinguished between former President Joe Biden\u2019s decline, which he characterized as a \u201cbenevolent grandpa losing his memory,\u201d and Trump\u2019s altogether different situation, which he described as \u201cmalignant narcissism.\u201d That\u2019s not a semantic distinction. One is a man struggling with the ordinary cruelties of aging. The other is something considerably more dangerous.<\/p>\n

None of this is entirely new ground for Cobb. He\u2019s been sounding these alarms with increasing urgency, calling Trump<\/a> a threat to constitutional norms, warning of justifiable paranoia<\/a> among Trump\u2019s critics, and labeling the president<\/a> flatly \u201cgone.\u201d The drumbeat has been consistent. What\u2019s changed is the stakes, and apparently, Cobb\u2019s willingness to name names \u2014 including heads of state \u2014 when it comes to who might be capitalizing on the chaos.<\/p>\n

The people with actual power to do something about any of this remain, as ever, conspicuously silent. But at least Cobb keeps showing up.<\/p>\n

You can watch the full interview below.<\/p>\n

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The post Former Biglaw Partner Warns There Are No \u2018Guardrails\u2019 Left Around Trump \u2014 And Someone Is Taking Advantage<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ty Cobb<\/a> \u2014 the former Hogan & Lovells partner who left the hallowed halls of Biglaw to serve as special counsel in the first Trump White House<\/a>, and has since made it his apparent life\u2019s mission to say out loud what everyone else is merely thinking \u2014 was back on MSNow\u2019s The Beat with Ari Melber<\/em>, and wow, did he have some things to get off his chest.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve covered extensively<\/a> around<\/a> here<\/a>, Cobb (along with his magnificent signature mustache) has developed a folksy but devastating habit of cutting through the right-wing noise and telling cable news audiences exactly what the situation is. This latest appearance was no different.<\/p>\n

Asked about the current state of affairs inside the Trump orbit, Cobb offered a genuinely chilling observation rooted in his firsthand experience. \u201cWhen I was there, his narcissism would be on display because he would passionately want to do something that seemed out of bounds but people like Gen. Kelly and Gen. Mattis, Nikki Haley, were there to talk him out of it,\u201d he explained. The problem, of course, is that those people \u2014 the so-called \u201cadults in the room,\u201d a phrase Cobb himself famously used back in his White House days<\/a> \u2014 are long gone. \u201cThey don\u2019t have those guardrails there today,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n

And it gets more alarming from there. Cobb raised the specter of bad actors filling that vacuum, arguing there \u201cshould be some concern that people are using this, using his incapacity, to manipulate decisions.\u201d As a concrete example, he pointed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting Netanyahu did exactly that \u201cin connection with the decision to go into Iran.\u201d That\u2019s a pretty significant allegation! The idea that a foreign leader is effectively steering American foreign policy by exploiting a cognitively diminished president is not a small thing to say on cable television. And yet, here we are.<\/p>\n

On Trump\u2019s general mental state and behavior, Cobb did not exactly offer reassuring takes. Trump\u2019s \u201cvocabulary has shrunk, he\u2019s resorted to profanity and threats, totally impulsive,\u201d Cobb said. He pointed to Trump\u2019s attacks on the late filmmaker Rob Reiner and former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as well as his ongoing feud with Pope Leo XIV as behavior that \u201cjust shows you how crazy this man is.\u201d Hard to argue with that breakdown, honestly.<\/p>\n

Cobb also drew a contrast that should probably be getting more airtime. He distinguished between former President Joe Biden\u2019s decline, which he characterized as a \u201cbenevolent grandpa losing his memory,\u201d and Trump\u2019s altogether different situation, which he described as \u201cmalignant narcissism.\u201d That\u2019s not a semantic distinction. One is a man struggling with the ordinary cruelties of aging. The other is something considerably more dangerous.<\/p>\n

None of this is entirely new ground for Cobb. He\u2019s been sounding these alarms with increasing urgency, calling Trump<\/a> a threat to constitutional norms, warning of justifiable paranoia<\/a> among Trump\u2019s critics, and labeling the president<\/a> flatly \u201cgone.\u201d The drumbeat has been consistent. What\u2019s changed is the stakes, and apparently, Cobb\u2019s willingness to name names \u2014 including heads of state \u2014 when it comes to who might be capitalizing on the chaos.<\/p>\n

The people with actual power to do something about any of this remain, as ever, conspicuously silent. But at least Cobb keeps showing up.<\/p>\n

You can watch the full interview below.<\/p>\n