For reasons that remain largely unclear, Donald Trump continues to let Rudy Giuliani give interviews on live television.
That, despite Rudy’s habit of accidentally incriminating Trump each and every time his ghastly visage materializes opposite an always adversarial host.
This dynamic transformed Giuliani into a standing joke last summer and culminated in the surreal moment when Rudy told Chuck Todd that “truth isn’t truth“, to which Todd responded/pleaded: “Please don’t do this, it’s going to turn into a bad meme.”
Well, it did – turn into a bad meme, that is. And so did Rudy himself. Montages of his wild facial expressions have become commonplace on social media and his wide-eyed antics are now a mainstay on late night comedy shows.
He (Rudy) gave it a rest for a while, but he showed up on CNN on Wednesday and inadvertently admitted there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
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Fast forward to Sunday and Giuliani attempted to dispel the notion that Trump tried to steer Michael Cohen in the direction of lying to Congress about Trump Tower Moscow.
This is (yet another) case where it’s not clear why Rudy is even giving interviews. After all, the special counsel’s office already disputed the veracity of the BuzzFeed story, so all Trump and his lawyers needed to do was shut up. But no, instead we got this:
Obviously that’s a disaster. Do note that Tapper isn’t really in the “gotcha” business, or at least not to the extent that Chris Cuomo is. Point being, it’s not even clear that Tapper meant for Rudy to screw up that badly – Giuliani just rambled himself into a corner as he’s wont to do.
Exactly nobody believes that if Donald Trump did talk to Cohen about his testimony that the conversation would have revolved around Trump advising him (Cohen) to be honest. That’s silly. Whether or not the BuzzFeed story is exaggerated (or, as Mueller’s office put it, “not accurate”), not even the most ardent Trump supporter would believe that Trump said something like: “Listen, Mikey, just go in there and tell them the truth, these are good people and we have nothing to hide”.
In any event, Rudy wasn’t done for the day. He also went on MSNBC to chat with Chuck Todd and that was even more confusing than the Tapper fiasco. Here’s Giuliani trying to explain the timeline on the Trump Tower Moscow discussions and also (trying) to weigh in on what Don Jr. and Ivanka might have known.
Got that first part? Here’s the transcript:
CHUCK TODD: “Well you just said there, you said the president is not sure when talked ended. You, I’m guessing you had to answer this question in written form by Mr. Mueller. So right, it’s your understanding it ended when? In January, as Michael Cohen incorrectly testified to?”
RUDY GIULIANI: “No. It’s our understanding that it, that they went on throughout 2016, not a lot of them, but there were conversations, can’t be sure of the exact date, but the president can remember having conversations with him about it. The president also remembers …”
CHUCK TODD: “Throughout 2016?”
RUDY GIULIANI: “Yeah. Probably up to, could be up to as far as October, November. Our answers cover until the election. So anytime during that period they could have talked about it, but the president’s recollection of it is the thing had petered out quite a bit. They sent a letter of intent in. They didn’t even know where to send it, they knew so little about it. They finally got it straightened out and then they abandoned the project. And that’s about as much as he can remember of it because remember, 2015, 2016, he’s running against 16 people for president of the United States. And I know that, I was with him like for five months. All his concentration was 100% on running for president.”
So, from where we’re sitting, that makes two times in the same day (once with Tapper and then again with Todd) that Rudy Giuliani admitted that Donald Trump was still talking with Michael Cohen about Trump Tower Moscow right up until the election.
You almost don’t know what to say – obviously, none of that is consistent with the previous messaging from the administration on this project. This is just another example of the goal posts moving as the facts emerge, and this is exacerbated by Giuliani who continues to volunteer information that at best makes Trump seem dishonest and at worst, is incriminating.
We’ve said it before and we’re reasonably sure we’ll find ourselves saying it another hundred times before this is all over: Trump needs to find a new lawyer, because this one is even worse than Michael Cohen.
That not his first or second time that Rudy “Rootie Kazootie” Giuliani, intentionally sought to defuse the impact of the truth on the Moscow timing by letting it dribble out with his trademark “Flub-A-Dub” routine. In December, while a guest on ABC’s “This Week,” Giuliani, while making reference Trump’s written responses to special counsel Robert Mueller, stated this:
“”According to the answer that he gave, it would have covered all the way up to November of — covered all the way up to November 2016,” Giuliani said. “Said he had conversations with him — but the President didn’t hide this.”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/16/politics/rudy-giuliani-trump-tower/index.html
Laugh out loud. He takes Trump’s Base as being “deaf, dumb, blind and who gives a crap about the truth.” when he adds this delicacy: “but the President didn’t hide this.”
Giuliani’s biggest problem is, when pressed, he tends to blurt out the truth, unlike his employer and the rest of the White House ‘spokespeople’ where the opposite is true.
Rudy’s mission is that of Mr. Mud. His job is to confuse the base, his target audience, in the same exact way that Trump does when he flings his holy mud when speaking to his base. When a base member listens to Trump the takeaway is what Trump wants the member to hear. When a base member listens to Rootie Kazootie, the take-away is the particular dribble that he wants the member to hear, e.g., Trump-Cohen-Kremlin talks to build a Trump Tower in Moscow worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump continued past election day, that the President didn’t hide these facts, and forget that this news flash contradicts Trump’s 79 express statements to the contrary. Rudy confuses and makes the media and democrats crazy and the base loves that Rudy confuses and makes the media and democrats crazy and they love to listen to him. And, “believe me,” if his shtick was not exactly what Trump wanted from from him, Rudy would be gone a long time ago.
Remember the Monty Python skit, “Confuse a Cat”? Sound familiar?
Nobody remembers Rudy from his heyday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmvuRJzads4
Once again , one needs to step back from this entertainment and see this is not really about Rudy or Trump or Cohen.. The Public was offered a choice of two tainted Candidates in the last Election . The fact is that the comedy we are experiencing will persist because the shadow Govt. that rules is less trusted by the public than the seemingly non compliant Trump or the likely Stooge of the system (hedged bet) Pence.. The result ….Trump serves his first and only term and both parties go to bat with tarnished images and try to re establish their claim to a Democratic and free Electoral process. The World awaits with baited breath and so do Historians while we watch….praying someone will exceed our lowered expectations.. Whatever damage has been done is probably correctable if the process does not repeat itself…..next time around.
Well one was on a foreign government payroll with leverage they could use against him. And oh yeah they work with his campaign to defraud the people. So, no not the same thing.
Even though the last Presidential election was a bit of a ‘Hobson’s Choice’ … One may have been a de facto member of ‘the deep state’ and would have preserved America’s place as leader of ‘the free world’ (Western Civilization plus those other few democracies), while the other seems to be Putin’s puppet and most of his ‘bold moves’ (without consulting Cabinet Secretaries or NSA responsible and more learned/experienced Advisors) have been to Putin’s (and even Iran’s, China’s, and North Korea’s) benefit and to America’s (and closest Allies’ and NATO’s) detriment.
the larger point of two flawed candidates is still largely true however.
What exactly is your ‘larger point’?
Both candidates were non-ideal… but one was way worse in just about every way. If I had to pick a president between OJ Simpson and John Wayne Gacey… Yeah, I don’t want either but if someone picks the latter because he’s a white guy and that makes them more comfortable they are insane. At least with OJ I can just focus on not sleeping with his girl or stealing his stuff and we should be ok.
Rudy Ghouliani.
Oh, hey now, there’s a competition for you. Two flawed candiates you say?!!
The male: A pathologically lying president who stole the election with the Russians, is willing to sell out his country to our number enemy, is selling out our allies and 65% of America’s population and would sell out the other 35% for a Pence presidential pardon, who hasn’t read a book in 5 decades, who has surrounded himself by incomeptents, felons, would be felons and soon to be felons, a cabinet of mostly corrupt swamp swimmers, a man who reviled by most sane people on the planet and one who only finds love with dictators and authoritarians. That’s not mention that incredible coincidence that – after observing him since the 1980s – that he behaviorally shares the same symtoms as a sociopath and a psycopath:
On the issue of sociopathy, from the Mayo Clinic web site:
Disregard for right and wrong
Persistent lying or deceit to exploit others
Being callous, cynical and disrespectful of others
Using charm or wit to manipulate others for personal gain or personal pleasure
Arrogance, a sense of superiority and being extremely opinionated
Recurring problems with the law, including criminal behavior
Repeatedly violating the rights of others through intimidation and dishonesty
Impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead
Hostility, significant irritability, agitation, aggression or violence
Lack of empathy for others and lack of remorse about harming others
Unnecessary risk-taking or dangerous behavior with no regard for the safety of self or others
Poor or abusive relationships
Failure to consider the negative consequences of behavior or learn from them
Being consistently irresponsible and repeatedly failing to fulfill work or financial obligations
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353928
On the issue of psychopath, what better than the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, a tool most commonly used to assess the presence of psychopathy in individuals:
glib and superficial charm
grandiose (exaggeratedly high) estimation of self
need for stimulation
pathological lying
cunning? and manipulativeness
lack of remorse or guilt
shallow affect (superficial emotional responsiveness)
callousness and lack of empathy
*parasitic lifestyle
poor behavioral controls
sexual promiscuity
early behavior problems
lack of realistic long-term goals
impulsivity
irresponsibility
failure to accept responsibility for own actions
*many short-term marital relationships
juvenile delinquency
*revocation of conditional release
criminal versatility
http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hare-Psychopathy-Checklist.html
Of the 34 symtoms listed for both conditions, I have placed an asterisk to the left of three and a question mark to the right of one word which do not apply. I invite those who so freely support your president to demonstrate in what way the other 31 are not applicable to him.
The female: What’s the point in making the comparison? Clinton and Trump are incomparable; Vladimir Putin hates her; a majority of Americans had the good sense to vote for her; Trump, Republicans and the Russians rigged the electoral college outcome; and Clinton knows how to read and reads. She was confirmed by the Senate 94-2 for Secretary of State. Imagine if Trump had to be confirmed for anything!! Comparing Hillary to Trump is like comparing Colin Kaepernick to O.J. Simpson in 2019 terms. What’s the point?
Ok Marty – I took notes. #1 ? on cunning — agree with that because he is not smart enough to be considered cunning. #2* on parasitic lifestyle – I think that applies to him because in hundreds or more cases he certainly took advantage of people who did some work for him and he never paid them; it was like a game with him. #3* many short term marital relationships – married 3 times but you have to count the hundreds of women he screwed around with during all his marriages and some of those lasted a year or longer; and a probable truth to rumor of love child with former housekeeper. I guess all that could fall under sexual promiscuity. #4* revocation of conditional release – well, not yet.
Hillary? butter emails