There’s some controversy about whether Giuliani’s clusterfuck interview with Hannity last night was the deliberate launch of a new legal strategy for handling the Stormy Daniels thing or a misstep by a demented dipshit who got his client into an even bigger mess. Josh Marshall reckons it was the latter:
What you have are a half dozen brainstorms cooked up by a group of old men in a room used to bending reality to their purposes when something goes wrong. That’s much more difficult on a national stage in front of intense scrutiny. That’s what happened last night. Rudy Giuliani is far, far past his prime, used to the accommodating hothouse world of Fox News cronies and cash and carry deal-making in his law firm gigs. This was as sloppy as it looked and did his client no favors.
On purpose or not — it really is hard to tell, but that is always the case with the Trump shit-storm. I think Marshall is 100% correct about the Fox News hothouse. Here’s a clip that illustrates the confines of that noxious bubble:
Giuliani: "Jared is a fine man … but men are disposable"
?? pic.twitter.com/MaSA4N84pV— Nicole Lafond (@Nicole_Lafond) May 3, 2018
Partial transcript for those who can’t/won’t watch:
HANNITY (in a reverent, hushed, bewildered and horrified tone): “There’s a Politico report today basically suggesting that now Mueller would consider Ivanka Trump…a…a…a target.”
[Indignant digression about Hope Hicks, another woman in Trump’s orbit who gives the grotesque pair chivalry-boners.]GIULIANI (incredulously): Ivanka Trump?!?!? I would, I would, I think I would get on my charger and go right into their offices with a lance if they went after Ivanka.”
HANNITY: I, uh, at this point, sir, I honestly agree with you, and I fear for the country.”
GIULIANI: “Now, I think if they DO do Ivanka, which I doubt they will, the whole country will turn on them. They’re going after his daughter?”
HANNITY: What about his son-in-law? They’ve talked about him!”
GIULIANI: “I guess, uh, Jared is a fine man. You know that. But men are, you know, disposable.” [laughs] “But a fine woman like Ivanka? Come on!”
Set aside for a moment the creepy and sexist spectacle of these two infantilizing a 30-something woman who is (preposterously!) sold as a self-made business mogul and a person who merits a White House advisory role. Giuliani and Hannity’s musings about Ivanka demonstrate what I hope is a fatal flaw in the Trump administration’s political strategy for surviving a cascade of scandals.
The approach seems predicated on the mistaken belief that the view from Fox News holds sway across the land. Would millions rise up to follow Giuliani’s lead — mounting steeds, seizing lances and charging into Mueller’s office to defend Ivanka Trump’s honor? Outside of a relative few loud-mouthed Fox rage-bots, my guess is nope.
But it’s not surprising that these morons think this way — it comes straight from the top. To the extent that he governs at all, Trump governs as if the only Americans who exist are the goobers who support him.
That fantasy may survive visits to his self-branded clubs; it may stay intact while Trump tosses chunks of red meat at carefully screened audiences at rallies, and it may seem realistic while he’s viewing highly curated Fox News content. But I don’t think it’s gonna fly when people outside the Fox News bubble get a say this November.
Speaking for myself, it would make my fucking day to see Ivanka Trump lead a perp-walk conga line — to see all of these arrogant, corrupt, know-nothing motherfuckers swept out of power. I’m not so deluded as to imagine everyone in America agrees, but I’m damn sure not alone. And my friends and I vote.