In his forthcoming book, Frankly, We Did Win the Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, Michael C. Bender claims that Donald Trump routinely told Rudy Giuliani he “sucked” and was a “pathetic sight” to behold. Further, that the more Trump demeaned Giuliani, the more Giuliani worshiped Trump.
But I suspect Bender might be guilty of plagiarism, or at least a lack of originality, in this respect. Because here is what I wrote nearly a year and a half ago in “Hey, Democrats, Time’s Up to Out Republicans!” February 9, 2020.
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Trump could be forgiven for thinking that the more he humiliates white Republican men the more they like him. And that some, like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, even like him when he humiliates their wives, which puts a fetishistic twist on cuckoldry that is just too perverse for words.
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Of course, to paraphrase Charles Caleb Colton’s famous quip, plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery. So I’ll take that.
In any event, it’s bad enough that reports abound about Trump refusing to pay Giuliani for serving as his Roy Cohn, namely a lawyer willing to lie, cheat, and even humiliate himself – not to win any case in court, mind you, but just to stroke his client’s ego.
But now comes this from the June 24 edition of The New York Times:
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Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former top federal prosecutor, New York City mayor and lawyer to a president, had his law license suspended after a New York court ruled on Thursday that he made ‘demonstrably false and misleading statements’ while fighting the results of the 2020 election on behalf of Donald J. Trump.
The move was a humbling blow to a man who was once known as a law-and-order crusader and whose political ambitions and creative courtroom tactics against mob bosses turned him into a fixture on national television. …
The court said that Mr. Giuliani’s actions represented an ‘immediate threat’ to the public and that he had “directly inflamed” the tensions that led to the Capitol riot in January.
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There are simply no words to fully capture this fall from grace. Therefore, I shall end with a few general observations:
There is not a single person in this world who can honestly claim their reputation was better after working with or for Donald J. Trump than it was before doing so. Frankly, Giuliani’s suspension just vindicates Rick Wilson’s prophecy that “everything Trump touches dies.”
I referenced Wilson’s book in “The Tax Returns Cometh: ‘Trump Literally Can’t Afford to Lose the Election’,” October 5, 2020. I did so to give dishonorable mention to just a few of the many who sacrificed their professional and personal integrity at the altar of Trump’s ambition.
The point is that Giuliani’s downfall compels one to wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to associate in any way with this biggest (sore) loser in US history. Unfortunately, as Trump’s continuing spell over the Republican Party indicates, millions of Americans have clearly lost their friggin’ minds. And, God help America, because they control legislatures in red states across the country and still wield considerable power in Congress.
But here, for Giuliani, is a note of foreboding symmetry: Trump’s most famous fixer, the aforementioned Cohn, died penniless, in disgrace, and in obscurity. And this was after years of loyal and dedicated service.
I hasten to clarify that this “Cohn” is not to be confused with Trump’s later fixer, Michael Cohen, who came to his senses (albeit on the way to prison) and flipped on Trump. I commented on his congressional testimony in “Cohen: Trump Is a ‘Racist, a Con Man, and a Cheat,” February 27, 2019.
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Hey Democrats… tax man… Cohen…