People in Donald Trump’s inner circle keep affirming Rick Wilson’s famous assertion that “Everything Trump Touches Dies.” Of course, the more accurate assertion is that everyone who associates with Trump either ruins their reputation or ends up in jail.
Giuliani ‘America’s mayor’: fall from grace
Everyone from former Cabinet secretaries like former AG Jeff Sessions to former lawyers like Michael Cohen will attest to this. But Rudy Giuliani has become the poster boy for this Trumpian hex.
His reputation was already in ruins after serving as Trump’s roving ambassador. Because every time he showed up anywhere, he looked like a cross between an out-of-place Forrest Gump and a bungling Mr. Bean. That, of course, is a far cry from the commanding 9/11 presence that earned him the title “America’s mayor.”
But then he unwittingly exposed himself as a dirty old sex pervert on the eve of the 2020 presidential election. He did so during a cameo in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”
All of that compelled bar associations in New York and Washington DC to initiate disbarment proceedings. That, for a lawyer, is tantamount to a death sentence.
But it seemed his reputation hit rock bottom when he made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago a few months ago. Because Giuliani reportedly begged Trump not just to pay fees for services he rendered but to pay off legal bills he racked up propagating Trump’s election “Big Lie.”
Trump refused. But Giuliani should have known better. After all, Michael Cohen famously testified at a congressional hearing that Trump steadfastly refused to pay his fees. And Cohen was Trump’s “fixer.”
The indictment
The indictment a Georgia grand jury handed up on Monday seems like rock bottom.
The offense being brought against him is especially notable given his successful use of the federal RICO statute during efforts to prosecute various mafia figures in the 1980s when he served as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. …
‘Using it against the (mafia) commission,’ Giuliani told The New York Times in 1989, ‘that was an idea that no one had until I developed it and went down to Washington and started talking about it. And I came to the office with it.’
(CNN, August 15, 2023)
Oh, the irony. But Giuliani acts like such a hopeless drunk these days that even becoming the RICO suspect he once prosecuted might not be enough to sober him up. However, Trump’s betrayal might.
So here’s to Giuliani flipping. And he only has to channel how he induced many capos to flip against their mafia bosses. His reputation is beyond repair. But at least he can avoid ending up in jail. Yes, this is what has happened to America’s mayor.
Trump never learns
You’d think Trump would’ve learned after stiffing Cohen. After all, Cohen immediately became the most coveted witness for the prosecution. Yet here he is, practically forcing Giuliani to emulate Cohen.
It makes no sense. But hardly anything Trump does makes any sense. For example, this gilded-tower grifter has raised over $500 million from gullible supporters since losing the 2020 presidential election.
Anyone with half a brain would see the value in using $50 million of that loot to keep his lawyers and fixers (like Giuliani and Cohen) happy – and close.
But only maniacal greed and stupidity explain Trump stiffing them. After all, this kakistocratic buffoon is preening about using political donations to pay the legal bills for his valet and pool boy. This even though they pose far less threat as prosecution witnesses than Cohen and Giuliani. You can’t make this sh*t up.
Still, why hasn’t a liberal, pro-democracy billionaire started a similar PAC? That is, to induce Trump’s co-conspirators to flip by offering to find them first-rate lawyers and pay their legal bills. I suspect most (like Giuliani) would be too happy to jump Trump’s sinking ship.
Trump on Black election “RIGGERS”
I’d be remiss to end without a passing comment on this “truth,” which Trump published on Tuesday:
A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia is almost complete & will be presented by me at a major News Conference at 11:00 A.M. on Monday of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey,” Trump announced Tuesday morning on Truth Social.
“Based on the results of this CONCLUSIVE Report, all charges should be dropped against me & others – There will be a complete EXONERATION! They never went after those that Rigged the Election. They only went after those that fought to find the RIGGERS!”
(The New York Times, August 15, 2023)
Of course, even Trump knows his report will be as useless as a degree from his defunct Trump University. Instead, he hyped this announcement for the fleeting attention he knew the Pavlovian media would provide. And because someone pointed out that “RIGGERS” rhymes with N***ERS.
After all, we all know that’s how he refers to Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, the two Black Georgia election workers he’s targeting in that announcement. And Trump couldn’t care less that these women are already suing Giuliani for defamation.
Their suit relates to the RICO charge that alleges he tried to convince Georgia state legislators that the 2020 presidential results in their state were flawed. He showed them a doctored video clip of Freeman and Moss allegedly peddling vials of cocaine while counting votes.
Giuliani claimed that it showed evidence of fraud beyond any reasonable doubt. In fact, it showed them sharing ginger mints.