Trump's hush money payment is part of a rich tradition dating back to Genesis: journalist

Not everyone is losing their perspective over the bizarre spectacle of a former President getting indicted over having paid hush money to a porn star.

Journalist Zach Helfand finds it both humorous and historic. Helfand, a member of the New Yorker editorial staff, observed this week that former President Donald Trump is just following in the footsteps of others.

The piece is headlined, “When Donald Paid Stormy: A History of Hush Money­– Buying silence is as old as Genesis. Among the hustlers: Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, Bette Davis, and a U.S. President with a special friend called Jerry the Penis.”

Helfand suggests that the lurid appeal of the subject may account for why the first Trump indictment to land might be the one related to paying $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election.

“Pick any news outlet—Times, Fox, Breitbart. It’s always the “hush-money case.” Here’s a concept you can sell. Epsteins, Weinsteins, Charlie Sheens. It’s easily comprehensible, onomatopoeic. Hush. The term is sultry, lubricious; typically what’s being hushed is evidence of sex. Unlike the confidential legal settlement or the corporate N.D.A., hush money carries a whiff of the entrepreneurial.”