Rudy Giuliani: From America’s Mayor to America’s nightmare
On Sept. 11, 2001, Rudy Giuliani became America’s Mayor when fate tapped him on the shoulder.
Today, he is America’s Nightmare.
Whether it’s inside of the White House or out on the streets, Giuliani has become a pariah.
The day of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and possibly the U.S. Capitol, Giuliani — then mayor of New York City — was held closely in the hearts of most Americans. He was in charge that fateful day, and we will always remember watching as he walked through the rubble.
He was propped up by a saddened nation, served as a focal point amid the madness. George Bush was president, but Giuliani was the symbol of a nation shattered by madmen.
It was, after all, New York City, and nowhere on the globe compares.
And on Sept. 11, 2001, New York City was the capital of the world. On that day, we were all New Yorkers. First responders rushed there from across the country to help dig out from the debris and to try to normalize the city as much as possible in its time of need.
If the terrorists could do it there, they could do it anywhere.
Giuliani was America’s most sympathetic figure to the extent that he was mentioned in some high-placed conversations as a potential gubernatorial, then presidential candidate, or should at least receive an appointment as Secretary of State. Time magazine named him “person of the year,” and Queen Elizabeth II gave him an honorary knighthood.
That’s all gone south as in the ensuing years his value has tumbled.
An attorney by trade, Giuliani exploited his fame to pad his wallet. Leadership gave way to greed as he went into the private sector as a security consultant, investment banker, and figurehead in a New York City law firm.
I once had a heavy-handed rep for a company trying to build a coal-powered energy plant in Mesquite literally play the Giuliani card on me.
During a meeting with the guy, he tried to show a little muscle by throwing down a business card for Giuliani’s law practice.
“He’s one of our attorneys,” the guy said.
“Get him on the phone, I’d love to talk to him about this,” I told the guy who abruptly got up and left.
The strong-arm tactic didn’t work. But I lost a lot of respect for Giuliani that day with the way he allowed his name to be used in such a thuggish manner.
As a personal attorney for the president, Giuliani is now neck deep in the Ukraine scandal. Evidence points to his having opened up some backdoor channels to persuade Ukrainian leaders to investigate the Bidens. Most recently, he butt-dialed a reporter while discussing sensitive issues, including his need for a couple hundred thousand dollars. The comments were recorded on the reporter’s voicemail. The voicemails make Giuliani sound like a cheap thug, a laughable caricature of stereotypical mobsters.
He has been a bit of a loose cannon with his pronouncements on the state of affairs in the Oval Office and is now reportedly searching for a defense attorney as the Ukraine investigation and obstruction of justice probes gain wider traction. Giuliani could also be sweating the indictment of two associates charged with illegal donations to a PAC that supports the president. The men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were working with Giuliani to dig up information on the Bidens in Ukraine.
When the Mueller Investigation heated up, the president brought Giuliani aboard as a personal attorney. We’ve heard a lot of chatter that included information contradictory to what the president had already stated — particularly in the case of porn star Stormy Daniels, who received a payoff for her silence regarding her relationship with the president. The president had denied any knowledge of the hush payment when the information was revealed. Shortly after coming aboard, however, Giuliani confirmed that the president had full knowledge and had approved of the payoff. Instead of censure, he went on to carve his little niche in the administration, even though he has made random comments ranging from the claim that a sitting president cannot be indicted to the misrepresentation that “collusion is not a crime.”
The courts have never ruled on the Department of Justice policy that suggests a sitting president should not be indicted. And as far as collusion not being a crime is concerned, while not codified, “collusion” is a broad umbrella that covers conspiracy, seeking and accepting information or gifts from foreign nationals, offering quid-pro-quo benefits for activities that would benefit a political campaign, and a slew of other crimes. No matter how much the president and his little troll attorney try to deny it, his collusion with the Russians, Ukraine, and others is in the same vein as Bill Clinton’s obfuscation during his impeachment process, when Clinton argued that “it depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.”
Of all the characters in this year’s version of “All The President’s Men,” Giuliani could serve the most time, although I doubt he’ll ever see the inside of a prison cell.
He’s a small-time wise guy, the punk on the corner selling knockoff Rolodex watches, the guy who thinks his penny-ante back-alley scams will make him the new king of the ‘hood.
He likes to talk.
A lot.
He likes to boast.
A lot.
He likes to come across as the guy who knows all the secrets.
A lot.
The thing is, Giuliani doesn’t have the discipline of a hardened thug. He has no heart for it, really, and is too old to take the rap for somebody in any of this tragedy playing out before us.
He’ll crack.
I guarantee it.
The minute some slick prosecutor waves a piece of paper with possible charges at him, Giuliani will crumble like a stale biscotti.
It won’t tale 30 pieces of silver for him to give up the president rather than risk what would be the equivalent of a life sentence in prison. Especially when the impeachment inquiry heats up and the president throws Giuliani under the bus.
That’s why investigators are taking such a long, hard look at Giuliani. They know he was been the president’s man in the shadows for some time now.
“Rudy Giuliani is Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is Rudy Giuliani,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
And that’s why America’s Mayor is now America’s Nightmare.
Courage.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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Well Ed, can’t say I disagree in regards to Giuliani, but he does make a great Lawyer for P. Trump from a certain perspective, just as Johnny Cochran was the ideal lawyer for OJ, – without reading too much into the comparison. NY City intellectuals always come across as self righteous a#$h#*les, at least in my encounters, and let’s hope they stay in that rat infested urine smelling city that they LOVE sooooo much.