Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and Nairobi, Kenya, and the author of the book "The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness." Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) Trump lawyer / fixer / organizer of Playboy model (alleged) mistress payoffs Michael Cohen graces the cover of the National Enquirer this week, pictured looking hangdog and droopy under the headline "PAYOFFS & THREATS EXPOSED: TRUMP FIXER'S SECRETS & LIES!"

Jill Filipovic

It's a particularly uncomfortable display, given that the Enquirer is owned by a close Trump pal, David Pecker, who rarely publishes anything negative about Trump and his cohort, and engages in egregious "catch and kill" practices -- that is shielding the President by paying for exclusive rights to troublesome stories the paper never runs. (After a New Yorker article on "catch and kill," the company said in a statement that the suggestion "that AMI engages in any practice that would allow it to hold influence over the President of the United States is laughable.")

The Enquirer cover sends a signal that Cohen, whose office and home were recently raided by federal investigators, is out of the President's good graces.

It also couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy. Cohen is just one of the many hangers-on who make shady careers out of fastening, remora-like, to marginally wealthier crooks and dissemblers.

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