Letter 2 America for May 4, 2018

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Unfortunately, all that Rudy Giuliani's untoward statement to Sean Hannity yesterday proves is that Rudy is an idiot.  He's been in public life for decades, and he has been in front of television cameras and radio microphones every chance he has gotten over those many years, but he doesn't seem to have learned yet not to say something that can be used against him or those whose interests he shares in a sound bite.  What the major media news showed America was Giuliani putting the lie to Trump's claim that he didn't pay attorney Michael Cohen back for the $130,000 he spent to silence Stormy Daniels.  But the nightly news hosts cut the statement off right there, leaving the impression that Trump did indeed pay Cohen back, which was not the essence of Giuliani's remarks.  What the former mayor of New York said was that Trump paid Cohen a retainer of $35,000 a month for an unspecified period either before the payment to Daniels or after, or perhaps both, to do the things that are reflected by the denomination affixed to Cohen by the media long before Giuliani got here: fixer.  It's all a dust up, that's all.  It doesn't establish that Trump knew about the payoff in advance, nor does it establish that he authorized it or ordered it.  Cohen, on the other hand, is likely to take that metaphorical bullet he said he would to protect Trump, but that's another story.

My guess is that Trump likes Giuliani because they are birds of a feather.  James Comey said in his recent book that the most dangerous place to be in the justice department was between Rudy and a microphone, which was proven on the Sean Hannity show.  But despite the fact that Giuliani gave his enemies some ammunition, or at least some blanks to shoot at him, Trump has already excused, and apparently forgiven Giuliani's contra-tempt the way he would a prodigal Donald Jr. for his wandering eye.  Oh well, he seems to have thought, that's what guys like us do in our bigger than life....er...lives.  The boy's gonna make mistakes, but that's how he'll learn.  Unfortunately, neither Junior nor Rudy Giuliani, just days short of his 74th birthday, seems in the learning mode.  And while there may still be a chance for Donald, Jr., Rudy is getting a little old for stripe changing.  He thinks he's a tiger and that's what he wants to be.  He'll never admit to himself or anyone else that in the end, he's only a house cat.   

Still, when the dust settles this can't be good for Donald Trump.  For one thing, most of America won't get past the sound bite, so even his supporters will be admitting to themselves that their paragon of iconoclasm is really only a liar and a fraud.  Those of us who are of his generation and who are from New York City or its environs already know that, but it's news to the part of the electorate that voted for him...or at least it's something they can't ignore.  And after all, it is something of a lead for the Mueller team in that it provides a lever with which to hoist Michael Cohen onto either his own or Donald Trump's petard.  If Cohen doesn't want to go to prison but is willing to settle for just being disbarred, his best interest is served by helping Mueller's people connect every dot he's been near to, and that could be bad news for Donald Trump.  In fact, I would go so far as to say this.  If reality exists, it includes some Trump malfeasance during the election or thereafter.  And if there was malfeasance, Cohen was probably aware of it if he didn't even "fix" it afterward.

So, Donald Trump may be willing to overlook Rudy Giuliani's inexcusable attempt to get into the lime light his boss hogs at all junctures, but it may well cost them both in the end.  Trump may wind up being undone thanks in part to Giuliani's egotistical quest for connection to a notorious New Yorker, and Rudy, who is all but retired otherwise, might be out of a high profile job again.

Either way, or both, it's a case of just deserts. 

Your friend,

Mike

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This page contains a single entry by Michael Wolf published on May 4, 2018 3:33 PM.

Letter 2 America for April 24, 2018 was the previous entry in this blog.

Letter 2 America for May 28, 2018 is the next entry in this blog.

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Michael Wolf published on May 4, 2018 3:33 PM.

Letter 2 America for April 24, 2018 was the previous entry in this blog.

Letter 2 America for May 28, 2018 is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.