Is Memorial Weekend (all praise and kind remembrance for those who fought for this nation), and team “Ru-Don Giu-mp” is again at work, taking advantage of everyone in D.C. being off work for 3 days in a row, and based on an already established weekend pattern, hard at work bashing the Mueller investigation, spreading nonsensical ideas and pouring vitriol on everything that was otherwise good for this nation: the Rule of Law, its enforcement, the Constitution, and standing for what is right and honorable. A big “F-you!” to all and in particular, due to the day of remembrance, to those who sacrificed their lives to defend the butts of some that stayed home, one because of podriatric bone problems, which miraculously don’t prevent golfing, and the other one because of a series of “fortunate” deferments, one of which was facilitated by the judge he worked for as a clerk, for “occupational reasons”, and which now are pounding their chests as the great heroes they think they are.
OK, here’s the video and here’s CNN’s transcript of CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash hosting Giuliani, May-27-2018. (Also, for reference, here’s the earlier CNN video where Chris Cuomo juxtaposes Giuliani’s statements made on the show May-18-2018 with Giuliani’s own words to Charlie Rose from July-21-1998 — yes, is where Giuliani goes nuts and accuses Cuomo of lack of fairness).
Giuliani engages in a difficult to follow twisting of logic, if one is concern with making sense of the stuff Giuliani is uttering in the interview. Many sentences are incomplete and constructed in a very weird fashion, lacking the basic structural elements one would expect from a former U.S. attorney, mayor of NY, and still private attorney, partner of law firms, which should have oratory skills at least to a professional extent and be capable to formulate, convey, communicate at at least a solid business level. Yet Giuliani’s speech is broken, lacks continuity, leaves a lot open for guessing. Here’s a taste at the beginning of the interview:
BASH: Let's start right there.
The -- the FBI confidential source is directly connected to this ongoing investigation into the president's campaign. Doesn't it create an appearance that the White House is interfering with this investigation?
GIULIANI: I don't see that, Dana.
I think that the White House has every right to know, the president has right to know, as commander in chief. After all, the investigation, as the Democrats have revealed, nothing new. So, there's nothing -- to us, that means exculpatory, because the new would be if something turned up that was a -- that was a surprise.
So, it should be very easy to brief us. And we can come out of it saying the same thing, nothing new, or we might come out and be able to say nothing, in which case you will have a real signal.
BASH: You say that -- that the president has a right to know as commander in chief.
This is a very complex situation. He is not just commander in chief. He is -- he was the head of and was a candidate for a campaign of which this investigation is taking place.
GIULIANI: That's another reason he should know.
(LAUGHTER)
GIULIANI: I mean, if that -- if the spy gate is over...
BASH: But how is that -- how is that legit for him to know about an investigation of him and his campaign? Explain that.
GIULIANI: Because it -- because it is over, and it revealed nothing new. So then he has a right to know about it, both as a candidate -- I mean, as the candidate back then, now as the president.
He has a right to know about it in order to figure out, what does it mean to this investigation? All that it means is an investigation that we thought was rigged was rigged from the very beginning. It never should have -- it never should have started.
Of course, it is better to watch the video because Giuliani’s body language, facial expression (which are hilarious at times if you stop and use the arrow keys to “jump”) and the cadence of his speech.
The essence of the whole quoting above is, Giuliani is trying to use a very interesting legal logic to justify that the FBI should have informed the investigated party, that it is using an informant to gain more detailed knowledge on what is going on in a campaign that had employees which talked to foreign parties trying to get dirt on a presidential candidate. Which is deeds so suspicious that these border with outright criminal behavior.
In short, Giuliani’s strategy is to make people believe, all there was to know is known, nothing new and interesting, and consequentially, because there is nothing new, the investigation into the campaign ran by Trump and aides is over, and because of that Trump is entitled to know who the informant was, also because [they? Trump, Giuliani?] thought, the investigation was rigged so it should have never started.
Is this how a lawyer, US attorney, mayor is supposed to rationalize and communicate? Really? How did he pass all the rigors of being checked before he got even a lower job as a lawyer graduated from NY University? Probably not. But there may be an explanation for this rather chopped and logic defiant speech, and for Giuliani’s impressive brain gymnastics, in particular such that cause him to “forget” the position he ardently represented when Bill Clinton was about to be impeached, and cry afoul about lack of fairness when presented the facts (see the Cuomo video).
He and Trump have concocted a strategy to put pressure on the people they want to pull the plug on the Mueller investigation. That’s because Trump cannot do that himself, because that would automatically be interpreted as obstruction. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want the investigation being closed and its conclusions voided.
While trumpeting everywhere that Trump will not fire Mueller and force the investigation to be closed, Giuliani and Trump go after the GOP senators and representatives. But since they cannot publicly pursue them to pull the plug on the investigation, they need to hit them where it matters: their voters.
With FoxNews as their trumpet and blow-horn, Giuliani as propaganda boss, and Trump’s tweets, they use the weekends to “educate” the GOP voters and convince them that the whole investigation is a big nothing, that should be stopped because … stuff, and above everything, make the voters swing their votes away from senators and representatives that refuse to help Trump.
But because not all people are stupid, even though many are responding emotionally better than rationally, it is more convenient to chop the language used for messaging and offer just bits and pieces, opinions tarnished as facts, and avoid any detailed explanations first because there are none viable, and making up some is difficult and prone to ridicule and analysis by those GOP voters that are not stupid and possibly more devoted to nation and country than Trump and his cronies.
This is not something Trump and Giuliani have invented. It works all over the world and helps corrupt politicians gain foothold and steal democracies from constituents that are fed with intentionally half-baked stories and factoids designed to steer emotions rather than sapient rationalizing. Giuliani’s self-evident stance and obviousness is designed to serve exactly this purpose.
Meanwhile it looks like the things Trump wants concealed and forgotten are not about him alone, but involve his “First Apprentice Son” D.J.T. Jr., which may be deeper in human refuse than his father, and presenting Trump Sr. with few options if it turns out that Jr’s on his way to jail for anything from seeking help from a foreign information service of an international opponent to U.S. to gain political advantages, something tantamount to treason, to outright treason, and if the Spanish wiretaps are to reveal anything, it is probably something Jr. got himself into out of being too stupid to realize how dangerous it is to play with Russian toys, and may have been turned into a tool Putin can use as leverage on Trump Sr. In the end, it is to assume that Trump is still somewhat human and very protective of his offspring and doesn’t want Jr visit the bars from behind.
If the Trump/Giuliani strategy works, it may coerce GOP Congress people into backing off and forgetting their duties to the nation and country, out of fear of loosing their seats in DC by loosing votes from people that become outraged with them for not “helping Trump”. I think this is the strategy Trump and Giuliani follow. Giuliani serves less as a law expert, but more as a popular “TV Lawyer” — of which Trump tweeted, more are needed — using his past glory as a proof of endless knowledge and experience, now serving Trump to save his and/or his son’s butt.
Also, if this works, we’re looking into the dawn of an U.S. era of demagoguery going far beyond anything we had so far, where political programs and vision won’t matter at all, and everything will be all about the one person in the high office and those competing to please it and its TV fans.
Pretty bad stuff, huh?