Oh yeah? Check the economy!
There are few other things one must believe: that this ten-year-old affair only became an urgent personal consideration immediately before the election. That this was the only such dalliance even as the cup of disposable cash runneth over. That after two weeks on the job, Rudy only started "yesterday." And that it is possible for either of them to "get the facts straight."
23
What happens in a country where you have a President who lies, cheats on his wife, doesn’t pay his taxes, spreads vicious rumors and innuendos to advance his personal agenda, engages in corrupt business practices, calls for the jailing of patriotic and hard-working government officials, questions the basic tenets of our democracy and visibly enjoys getting away with it?
I believe you get hundreds of thousands of other Americans -- no, make that millions of other Americans -- saying to themselves “If he can get away with that, why can’t I?”
112
About 9/11, I recall that Rudy suggested the then up coming mayoral election be put off and he'd continue to serve until the crisis was over. New Yorker's demurred and cooler heads prevailed. One never to let a bad idea go to waste, I wonder if he'll revive that thought for Trump in 2020?
53
What a great piece!
36
I am afraid that "the 40%" or whatever truly does not see the depth of dysfunctionality of this guy, (and who he surrounds himself with) ... narcissism, sociopathy, learning disorders, severe incompetence ... its not a neutral, but an extremely destructive situation, for this country and geopolitically ... and it keeps climbing lower and lower, it amplifies its own sickness ... though it definitely has some entertainment value and motivates some of us to read in depth ... it does also, as in the comment below, cause trauma to much of the population ...
37
After reading these comments please remember that the 2018 elections are going on NOW with the primaries.
Do NOT wait until November as:
1) Your state may have changed the voting requirements AND/OR your gerrymandered district. Since 36 of the 50 states have GOP governors and/or GOP state legislatures there’s a VERY good chance that you are no longer on the voting rolls.
2) I’m filling out my absentee ballot today and I’m making sure that the best Democratic person is getting to the general election. PLUS there are referendums that need your vote to make it onto the November ballot--infrastructure funding, expansion of Medicaid to keep rural hospitals open, getting rid of bump stocks, planning and building mass transit.
TODAY make absolutely sure that you are still registered to vote. Vote by mail with an absentee ballot if possible--that way if “something comes up,” you will have voted already.
Do NOT wait until November! The GOP has laid waste to our ability to vote.
Go to the following site or access your state’s registration website. 90 million registered voters sat out the 2016 election. Don’t allow your vote to be wasted. Primaries are going on RIGHT NOW!
https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote
85
Yes, it's amazing the horrible people he hires, and what a bad job they do for him. Most of the time, it's Trump messing with them, but this time, Rudy did it all by himself. The two deserve each other. Maybe he can hire Joe Arpaio to be his next Attorney Justice...
28
If Trump and Giuliani communicate with each in the same gibberish with which they communicate with the public this isn't going to end well for either of them.
41
“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar,” is a quote attributed to Abe Lincoln that Donald Trump ignores daily. What is more dangerous to our republic is how many of Trump’s supporters don’t care or even know about his lies.
33
but...but...but...Trump hires only the best people. He said so. He said we would see. He's a great manager and only the best people work for him. It's gonna be great. Just wait and see. Trump said so.
In the meantime, I'm arranging to be put into a medically induced coma. Wake me when it's over.
44
"Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil. "
Nice line! Thanks.
50
Remember the Limbo dance? How low can you go? Trump is pretty much like that
26
Well if things in D.C. eventually fall apart, maybe Don and Rudy could take their comedy act on the road..... and THIS is what's leading our country?
18
Picking Giuliani is madness. He has become a loose cannon lunatic in his dotage. He likes being on TV more than Trump. Speaking of which, why doesn't the designated "fake news" media minimize his exposure or stop talking about him? You have to cover national events of course, but don't show him or play his voice in reporting. Don't even refer to him by name, just as "the President" or "the Whitehouse". Being ignored is his kryptonite.
27
Rudy just veers off script at times. He just needs to keep it simple: A noun, a verb, and 9-11.
34
I think don’t think this show will go to a second season. The Don & Rudy Show has just gotten too preposterous. What are the writers thinking of? It needs to be at least a little plausible or the whole joke is lost.
Bring back Archie Bunker! Sheesh!
11
Trump needs a world class white shoe law firm but instead picks Guiliani to shine his shoes because obsequious is his watchword.
22
the cirque de soleil crack is vintage collins
23
Is there anyone left who says that Rudy Giuliani is a really smart guy? Yeah, “Rudy is a great guy.” He’s also a complete duffus. Just like his boss. Any semblance of credibility in the DJT administration is gone. When will Republicans do something about this “fake presidency”?
24
“Rudy is a great guy, but he just started a day ago,” Trump said on Friday, referring to the lawyer he hired last month. “He’ll get his facts straight.” I guess what Trump is referring to about Rudy is that he just started speaking the English language a day ago. "He'll get his facts straight". Rudy will get his facts straight as soon as Trump brings in the goon squad. Straight out of the godfather movie. All we need is a picture of both of them smoking cigars. Wake up "repub" voters. Drain the swamp in November.
16
The more you noodle over all the conflicting stories, the more questions you have:
Did Trump pay Cohen back for the $130K hush payment via a $35k/month "retainer" so it would be harder to trace?
Or did Giuliani just seize on the monthly retainer in a post-hoc effort to "prove" Trump did in fact reimburse Cohen?
Is there a "good" reason why Trump did not reimburse Cohen in one lump sum? Or immediately afterwards?
And the big one: Why do the smoke and mirrors and lies and counter-lies just make the evangelicals that much more determined to reelect this horrid excuse man?
34
What's the deal with "saving" Ivanka. Dear leader and Giuliani have both said this. Is she the one that can be easily squeezed and will sing immediately. It's all so weird.
27
"Don and Rudy, Disaster Twins"
Hilarious. Thank you Gail Collins!
I was going to say "Dumb and Dumber".
Regardless, the two should quit this presidency gig and hit the road as a standup comedy team.
Think of the ratings, Donald.
22
Lovely to read Giuliani’s role in 9-11 accurately described and questioning of Trump’s motives regarding a porn star clearly stated. The G-man was never my city’s beloved mayor and Trump, well he was always someone native New Yorkers tolerated. The tragedy, of course, is to watch them strut and fret us all on an international stage.
23
I honestly believe that when Trump talked about being able to stand in fifth avenue and shoot someone he would get away with it, he really meant and believed it then and does now.
His enablers, like Giuliani, Melania, Ivanka, Tennessee's own Black and Blackburn, all the way through his all of his followers, will continue to support him.
23
Maybe they can cancel each other out.
8
Well said-stay after 'em.
5
We live in a one-party fascist state owned and operated by the super-rich controllers of the Republican Party. They have allowed the Oval Office to be filled with the unstable ignorant lying Trump and his equally incompetent stooges like Rudy Giuliani.
Only 24% of the electorate went to the polls and voted for Trump. If Americans want to restore decency and democracy to the United States, then they must register and vote against tyranny in massive numbers. We face the same political crisis the Germans and Austrians faced in the 1930's. They failed to stand up to rising fascism . We must learn from their example and remember: Never Again! We must get out the vote in every election going forward in order to save our nation
43
The most disgusting thing about today’s news is the lead article “ Trump is said to know if stormy Daniels payment months before he denied it” . Excuse me but that is not only not news but inacurate not news. Because we know that Trump knew of the stormy payment before the payment was made. And that is not news either. What is news is that he passed the 3000 lie mark recently. An Incredible record breaking feat that you would think would turn anyone into a goat. But instead all he is instead is the butt of everyone’s joke.
15
The idea that a president of the United States would have the spoken-language skills of a rabid, talking dog is as unsettling as it is hard to fathom. The coincidence of his having an attorney -- a former U.S. Attorney (S.D.N.Y, no less) and 2 term Mayor of the greatest city in the world --'possessed' of the same linguistic infirmities ... well, that's off all 'charts.'
N.B.: They also share foolish notions of importance and power ... an assumed authoritarian 'right' ... as witness everyday trump ("Only I can fix it" being just one 'example'), and the sick assumptions rudy (hereinafter,"Nine-Eleven Go Bragh") assumed when he insisted that only he could 'fix' NYC post 9/11 - and that Mayor-elect Bloomberg should 'stand down' so that Nine Eleven Go Bragh might remain as Mayor beyond the end of his elected terms.
P.S. I bet that Nine Eleven Go Bragh can still 'take' communion at St. Pat's -- despite his divorces and the fact that the apt metaphor to describe his life as a Catholic and caring man of conscience 'tis this: it surely seems 'an abortion.'
22
Speaking of bad hiring decisions, don’t forget about “The Mooch” (Anthony Scaramucci) who lasted a whole ten days before being fired. One of my personal favorites.
18
Trump denied having had any knowledge of the Daniels payoff even though the denial was recorded and viewed many times. Talk about arrogance. Who continues to support this guy?
12
Please. please, please - can we watch Rudy and Mr. Mueller verbally spar? Maybe a prime time, pay for view option?
12
Yikes! The Donnie and Rudy show is really scary. The Lord of the Flies now has a doppelgangster who spews a variation of the masters Blizzard of Lies in an attempt to confuse the public. Trump even has the Republicans in the house attempting to derail the Russia Investigation by adopting his techniques of abusing the legal system with Fox inspired falsehoods.
Political Scientists and Communications experts will study how the Blizzard of Lies technique was employed in this administration for generations if our democracy survives.
19
People who have to consult in order to get their "facts" straight don't know that facts, by definition, are already straight. It's the lies that need to be straightened.
25
Ms. Collins is brilliant, as always. We the choir are entertained and horrified at once. Yet, how do we win back the not-so-nutty % of the 40% who're still indefatigable fans of Trumpy? What alternatives do the sane have to offer the easily mislead? If the sane are as smart as they say they are, then coming up with ways to peel away Trumpy's support should be the top priority.
17
Gail Collins, you are my favorite person today. This is the most quotable opinion piece ever. As I read this, I am screaming, "Yes!".
I want to highlight and send snippets and paragraphs to various Trumpers with a message to "READ THIS!"
By the way, I think that even Melania would have had a good laugh when you wrote,
"So it comes down to this: The $130,000 that Stormy Daniels got to keep quiet during the campaign was from Trump. But it was not an illicit campaign contribution. Nonono, it was simply a charitable attempt to protect Melania from a broken heart."
13
Legal retainers are for Attorney’s fees and legal expenses NOT to pay settlements. Such an arrangement would be unethical.
16
I for one could stand to see a lot less of the mid-90s interjecting themselves into modern politics. Giuliani was on his way out when 9/11 happened. If you remember, Bloomberg was on stage when Giuliani was giving his remarks on the attack. The true clean up happened after Rudy was gone. He was a lame duck. More of a hindrance than a help. He's like zombie politician from a bad action movie. Rudy keeps coming back As far as flip flopping wealthy elites go though, Bloomberg actually wasn't bad. He at least had a respect for data. I also appreciated the bike lanes as will most New Yorkers now that the L-train is down. The best thing I can say about Trump on the other hand is he personally ruined the "Home Alone" movies for me. That's really the best thing I can say him.
7
I can summarize a common quality both men share. A Obsessive-Compulsory Disorder for center stage attention, spotlight. And we know all too well what could happen to an opera if it brings up two prima donnas on the stage. Certain deaths along with disastrous failure of the show, followed by atomic collapse of the theater.
The worst synopsis of this opera is that one hired the other. A premeditated mass audience murder attempt.
8
I’m confident Trump funneled campaign money to Cohen, which he in turned used to pay off Trump’s girlfriends. Mueller knows this already, and is biding his time, giving Trump and Giuliani time to implicate themselves.
17
There is only one error in this article, an error that the media continues to make even as the facts of Trump's hush money become clearer.
Trump did not pay $130,000. to quiet Stormy Daniels and to end her disclosures. Trump paid, by my back-of-the-envelope reckoning, around $420,000. by Trump's and Guilliani's admissions. This larger number actually has some credence to me, because when a lawyer settles a case, he calculates the total costs of settlement to be paid by the party paying damages, which here would have included payments to Daniels, to Daniels' lawyer at the time, to Cohen, to the Californian lawyer who did some of the legwork in California, and probably to the arbitrator or arbitration service that was involved.
So, from now on, let's use real facts, not the fiction that Trump wants us to believe: Trump personally paid $ 420,000. or so through his attorney to avoid campaign finance laws and adverse publicity during his campaign and pay off everyone involved in keeping things quiet.
What is kind of amusing in all of this is that the payments Guilliani so preciously referred to as a lawyer's "retainer" were made in installments, which, to me, means Trump is skint and not as wealthy as he wants everyone to believe. This whole thing gets better and better, and I cannot wait to hear what Trump's next lawyer has to say about all this, after Guilliani is fired or finds he has to spend more time with his family who he's deserted.
16
Trump supporters will never care about any of his misdeeds;in fact, they live vicariously through his behavior, which to them is all about "sticking it to the man." They are all in with the President, the sleaze,and the non-stop chaos.This is the reality tv President after all. Still, I enjoyed your column and think you are on target here.
17
Well the educated elite which was Hillary Clinton got the beat by the bamboozler. Of course he got help from the other bamboozler Bernie Sanders. Bernie and Trump have quite a bit in common. Both claimed to be outsiders. Both were against the trade pack. neither of them showed their taxes. Both of them were far inferior in capability and knowledge to Hillary Clinton. Both touted promises that they could not deliver on. And they both made up stories about Hillary Clinton that were not true. And they both hated the Democratic Party. Bernie should be held accountable for the election of Donald Trump.
27
People have said that Giuliani is smart. Really? Is that like Paul Ryan is a leader? Or does this just reflect a carefully cultivated image rather than a reality? Like Trump is a good businessman?
120
Another great article Gail. You forgot to mention that Cohen's "retainer" apparently only kicked in after the $130,000 payment. He had to visit Trump to complain about not being paid. Hard to imagine that he didn't tell Trump what these "expenses" were for before Trump agreed to reimburse Cohen.
53
Ah, I wondered if investigators were going to get around to interviewing Ivanka. Can't wait! I want her taken down with the rest of the swamp creatures. In the meantime, Fair Districts PA, the PA primary, local township board meeting, and dissing Daryl Metcalfe, PA GOP state rep.
30
As a native New Yorker who lived in Manhattan for many years before moving out-of-state, I remember how Rudy Giuliani and Bill Bratton used to fight for center stage and for the microphone at news events relating to crime in the City.
I remember Giuliani as being a grand-stander who has been riding the 9/11 wave for all these years. He is a small man, both in stature and intellect, and his disastrous interviews with Hannity on Fox News only confirmed that to this New Yorker.
82
Trump's base is determined to stick by him no matter what; nothing Trump has said or done fazes them. The level of pain and destruction Trump will have to inflict on them before they see the light is frightening.
In the end, though, I believe common sense, decency, facts and the law will prevail. The "educated elite" is too large and strong to be defeated by the ignorant and selfish. When Democrats inevitably regain power, the future of Trump supporters looks grim. Their closed-minded, bigoted world view will no longer be tolerated and they will eventually go the way of the dinosaur.
48
Well the educated elite which was Hillary Clinton got the beat by the bamboozler. Of course he got help from the other bamboozler Bernie Sanders.
Bernie and Trump have quite a bit in common. Both claimed to be outsiders. Both were against the trade pack. neither of them showed their taxes. Both of them were far inferior in capability and knowledge to Hillary Clinton. Both touted promises that they could not deliver on. And they both made up stories about Hillary Clinton that were not true. And they both hated the Democratic Party. Bernie should be held accountable for the election of Donald Trump.
12
I hope you are right, especially now that the bar for "educated elite" has been lowered to 3rd grade. It's all going to depend on how many bigots there are and how many people think it's important enough to vote.
16
The bamboozler also appears to have been helped by the Russians. If you want to give that much credit to Bernie for Trump's election, what about Bill Clinton? Had he never met Loretta Lynch on the tarmac, Comey probably would never have held that press conference that caused many to change their vote.
Thanks for your column and interesting photo!
Hoping Americans will vote for calmer kinder truer times now that they've seen the circus,
29
If Trump approved the payment in October, to ostensibly protect his marriage, it proves he knew of the payment then.
This undercuts his own claim that he was not aware of the payment until a few weeks ago.
His claim that the payment was to protect his marriage is not credible. When has Trump ever been concerned about the feelings of anyone but himself; especially women or his wives?
And if this hush money was intended to protect poor Melania, then why did it not happen earlier, rather than days before the election?
33
If he had any concern for his wife, why did he get involved with another women in the first place? Vows mean nothing to this man. Nor would he think it wrong to lie under oath. He's above the law, right?
9
Are Trump and guiliani meant to be our comic reliefs? At the cost of being the spectacle of the world? Everyone’s laughing at us. They are saying let us hope America will figure it out. The outside world has become dependent on America not just for economic or military reasons but for the simple fact: every corner of the planet is represented in America. It is a place where souls have been gathering from all corners. Every religion ethnicity tribe nationality is represented here. We are the world’s Hope. Let us pray we don’t become the world’s Fear, instead.
35
This is a very strange relationship between two very similar and strange aging men, neither of whom should be in the public sphere lying to and confusing Americans and just generally making a huge mess of things. But these two old New Yorkers have had a long-term relationship,
Which reminds me: does anyone remember when Guiliani was on "Saturday Night Live" dressed in drag and flirted with Donald Trump?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrE6FMpai8
But friends are friends, though thick and thin. As Trump's latest backup fixer lawyer, Rudy is working hard to cover for his old pal Trump. But it just gets ridiculously complicated when Trump is your friend.
Explaining so many lies, and lies about lies, is really too challenging and wearing, as we can see from the aging Rudy's performance on "Fox and Friends." It has been even difficult for the much younger Michael Cohen, Paul Ryan, Congressman Nunes, and, of course, the remarkable and dogged Sarah Huckabee Sanders translating and interpreting Trump's actions to the press.
Here is what I think: Next time we vote for a president, let's seriously consider how he treats his friends and his wives. Think about how Obama treated Michelle; now consider Trump and Rudy's relationship and the quality of each of their 3 marriages.
Or, perhaps we should consider a woman for president.
82
Good points.
9
If there’s a disaster, it’s our laws. Supposedly, according to campaign financing laws it’s fine for Trump to pay to silence someone who could cause harm to his campaign so long as the files a report saying that’s what he did. A lot of good silence does then. With double talk as your guide, best not to move. How could the dynamic duo possible agree on anything they say when everything they’re trying to talk about is a total contradiction of itself. They’re hardly the problem with laws that are designed and written to selectively entrap rather than protect everyone. Manipulation of absolute power is what tyranny is and frightens so many.
15
Maybe it would be better to avoid having affairs with porn stars, thus obviating the need to pay for their silence.
26
Giuliani is the perfect lawyer for Trump; they fully deserve each other. Both are guys who cannot control their own mouths, yet imagine themselves as great leaders. I hope people will learn that it's not good for a president and his advisors to be compulsive drama queens. Sometimes there is actual, serious work to be done. No one on the Trump team has the ability or inclination to do their homework, nor the temperament to be careful, nor the experience to make sound decisions.
54
"“This was for personal reasons,” Giuliani told “Fox & Friends.” “This was the president had been hurt, personally, not politically, personally so much. And the first lady, by some of the false allegations, that one more false allegation, six years old.”
Can complete gibberish be considered a lie?
(HUGE LAUGH EMOJI!)
52
Guiliani is really the penguin in Batman.
32
Or if Ralph Wiggam grew up to be an attorney
4
Mueller is Batman, Rosenstein is Robin.
6
There is one good thing that happened because of Trump becoming the President. We have come to know what kind of idiots we have that we believed were smart people like Giuliani for example who was a prosecutor, and now it seems he doesn’t know a thing about basic law.
Tillerson, chief executive of one of the largest companies in the world. Couldn’t organize a department.
3 Star General Mike Flynn, no clue when to talk and when to shut up
And on and on.
412
We didn’t know how good we had when obama was with us as President. His team, through his 8 years were the most professional dedicated hard working smart efficient and daresay, humane. Young people with passion, people who knew right from wrong.
Now we have exhibit A of what could go wrong if the folks who assume office and are made in charge, lack a conscience and moral compass.
180
The good old days of recession? Have you completely forgotten that the Great Recession started at the end of the Bush Administration, and that the recovery that Trump inherited took place during the Obama Administration? Did your memory on start on January 2017 Inauguration Day?
122
And before that, we had Bill Clinton who :
- had strong economic growth that lifted record numbers of people out of poverty
- produced a balance budget with a significant surplus, largely due to the tax increases on upper incomes he and the Dems passed
- had a rapidly declining national debt from that surplus being used to pay it down, something Gore strongly urged us to continue doing (Bush blew the surplus on tax cuts for the rich)
- put an end to the horrific Bosnian war by intervening and then getting a peace treaty, the Dayton Accord. No American lives were lost. (Putin has recently been working to stir up trouble in that region.)
- played a key role in getting the Northern Ireland's Good Friday Peace Accord. According to the Irish ambassador to the US at the time, it was Clinton working the phones through the night that kept that accord from collapsing in the final hours. (Sadly Brexit may undo it.)
And before the critics get started Clinton, like all their presidents, was not perfect but he accomplished a lot. Gore would have built on that legacy but the media told us it was better to have a president that was fun to have a beer with than a guy who would bore us (actually them) with policy proposals.
SAD!!!!
I sure miss president Obama. He's a REAL man, not the drug store cowboy we have in office now.
84
"Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil." Coffee shot out my nose. Bravo!
54
Stormy Daniels = Republican Family Values
42
Joe Biden recently spoke to my local community college forum. The host took written questions from the 5000 person crowd, and reads a few of them. Someone asked is “Trump nuts, stupid, or crazy like a fox”? He rubbed his chin and thought about and said, “Crazy like a Fox”.
My analysis is that Trump gets what he wants by “bell ringing” the country. He whacks his cage with a spoon by saying crazy things, or making crazy judgments, by lying constantly. He then “listens” to judge the country’s or another country’s reactions. He’s a bang and listen, bang and listen manager. But he only hears what he wants to hear through the Fox media filter. The rest is all “noise” to him. To his detractors, all we hear is noise from him, and it distracts from the truths (signals), which we know and believe. It’s a form of Governmental censorship on the citizens.
Now you add to that “The Mobile Garden Gnome”, Rudy Guiliani, who has the perfected the Trump cadence of bang, bang, bang, and now you have “Crazy like a Fox-Squared”. The Orange Roughie and Garden Gnome are now dancing in their cage, whacking the bars with their spoons. Now the noise is a real din. The signal to noise ratio is even worse. Meanwhile, that quietly energetic Robert Moler, is tunneling under the whole rumpus, ejecting indictments out of his Mole hole. The question is will the slow Mole capture the Orange Roughie, or will the Two Crazies burn down the house first? And the Cow Jumped Over the Moon!
29
Puhleeeez, Rudy ........ Ivana should get a pass --- for WHAT, exactly??? Because she's a girl/woman? The President's daughter? She's oh-so-cute and soft-spoken? She's become filthy rich off the machinations of her father's real estate empire (in which she wholeheartedly, criminally participates), as well as off the backs of Chinese laborers on her clothing lines. She is no innocent. And you are no gentleman.
Frankly, I would like to see her new clothing line be versions of orange jumpsuits, which she proudly models. Daily.
54
And, of course, let us not forget Trump's rounding up Paula Jones, et al, to appear at one of the presidential debates to endart their evil eyes toward Hillary to get her off her game. Now, we know that Trump himself surpasses Bill Clinton in the infidelity sweepstakes with a lawyer "on retainer" to keep his dirty laundry from airing. The irony -- and outrage -- apparently escapes only the most evangelically-inclined amongst us. In spite of everything, Trump's their guy...and their hypocrisy continues to know no bounds.
67
Seems Trump made another genius call bringing Rudy on board — the match up is a startlingly apt fit.
29
Fraud after fraud. How did we get here?
28
How did we get here? America has a lot of deplorables, gullibles, and greed heads.
31
“How did we get here?” Too many of us stayed home in November 2016 because we had to choose between “not the best possible president” and “the worst possible president”.
15
And misogynists. Don't forget them.
2
Is America great again yet? Somebody wake me when this is over.
55
Truth, the Constitution and a government "for the people" are of no concern whatsoever to this administration. It's as if fascists are in charge. If only we had citizens who viewed the right to vote as part of our civic duty, we might not be in this mess — that, and a noxious candidate who didn't encourage (enable) Russian interference so much along the way.
Vote. In every election.
57
No “as if”, sadly. They are.
3
Ollie & Stanley.
18
"These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth," Trump tweeted.
I can't help but wonder if Trump sees that as a statement of fact or a defense. Either way, it's pathetic.
25
It's a boast. "I'm rich and famous, and I pay other people to clean up after me." Of course he thinks it's a fact.
MAGA = make other people clean up after the rich white folks again.
7
"These days, the nation hears the words “You’re hired,” and it trembles."
Likewise, it hears the words "you're fired" and it breathes a sigh of relief.
24
Very cute, Gail, especially the reference to "Cirque du Soleil" but the actuality is so much worse. Trump has repeatedly recruited from the Cirque du Oy Vey!
22
Thank you, Gail, for the early morning comic relief. Oh. Its true?
Now that's just sad...but still,... funny? Please Rudy, do a promotional picture of yourself in the saddle high atop a majestic stead, a grateful glint in it's eye for being mounted by such a bent, yet noble squire. And that manly lance and your crooked smile, all pointed toward our implacable future, where the rich are called heroes and the rest have become the muddy ground they trod upon.
16
Gail, as George once said,"funny is funny" and your column is funny. You are shooting fish in a barrel, but that's not your fault.
Still don't like the use of humor in connection with these traitors though, because it tends to normalize their behavior.
11
What's depressing and horrifying is that Trump just might end up beating all of this. Even though he's in-your-face sleazy and crooked, his supporters and the GOP don't care. They certainly don't care about a campaign finance violation, even if it is felonious; to them, that's like a ticky-tack foul in basketball. Remember, Trump said that he could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it. He very well might be right. That he even made it to the White House is a sad commentary on our country.
32
Donny and Rudy, two more despicable New Yorker's you'd be hard to find. Why would most tourists who visit the Big Apple, were they to interact with natives like these two thugs, leave our burgh with the wrong impression of how most of us who live here really are, spread this misnomer to family and friends, vow never to return, cast all these impressions aside, and decide these two miscreants would make leaders one could place their hopes and dreams in? The only conclusion I can arrive at is, they can't. They would have to be fools, who went against all their misgivings about these two, yet threw all logic out the window. A tragic mistake many, but not all, especially the avowed zealots, will come to realize. Sadly, this disaster they made our nation and the world have to deal with, is on their consciences, a fate they will carry to their graves.
DD
Manhattan
18
"Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil."
A gem! I may frame that line and put it on the wall!
12
Of Giuliani's confirmation to Sean Hannity that Trump had --Surprise!!-- lied in regards to the relative pittance paid to Stormy Daniels, Gail writes:
"It was a stunning revelation to all Americans who had believed Cohen’s claim that he raised the money by borrowing against his home equity line of credit."
I think it is safe to say that one citizen might be found in Texas who in his heart believed Trump's every denial, but one is not a plural number. (And he would be first in line at Miss Kitty's Saloon if Ms. Clifford brought her performance to its stage.) So other states are going to have to step up and provide one or more of their own to render Gail's statement accurate.
As for the similarities of Trump's and Giuliani's marital histories and speaking styles, bromances have been based on less. I can see SNL taking this pair on the road in a new "Route 66" skit, with Rudy and Don as Tod and Buzz (or Buzz and Tod, pretty much interchangeable, you know) in a motorhome instead of a Corvette, having their chauffeur, Mikey Cohen, write checks to women in every little desert town they pass through.
12
Back in the day when I was litigating for a living I used to tell clients who were about to testify in court or on deposition, "Always tell the truth--if for no other reason than that it's almost impossible to keep your lies straight." If I were still at it, the Stormy Saga of Don & Rudy would be my prime example.
Don and Rudy's keep-the-story-straight challenge now is that different sticky wickets required different lies. Trump's first instinct when trapped in an airplane facing the clamoring press is total denial--"did nothing, know nothing, whatever unknown thing my lawyer did for me is privileged." But after Cohen's files were seized and Trump's dunno-nothin'-'bout-the-money threw Cohen directly under the campaign finance violation bus--and thus substantially raised the stakes Cohen would flip--Trump needed to dial it back. But while Rudy's admission Trump reimbursed Cohen helped that problem, it threw Trump himself under the campaign finance violation bus.
So Trump tried to un-ring all the bells to save his own hiney. But now he's faced with the problem that if he didn't know about the Daniels payment at the time it was made, it's a bit hard to argue that the REASON he made it was to protect Melania's sensibilities rather than his election prospects. And his I-only-found-out-after-the-fact story also puts Avenatti back in the catbird seat on dissolving the NDA.
So tell us, Mr. President: Were you lying then? Or are you lying now?
24
Silly question. Are his lips moving?
6
Answer: Assume he's lying all the time.
6
For the past 2-1/2 years, the rate-of-change of 'he'll never get past this' stories has steadily increased, with no appreciable impact. His base doesn't care, the US Congress doesn't have the "wherewithal" to confront the base, and the people who are appalled by the fact of his presidency are still just as appalled. None of this matters. He is not going to be impeached, he is not going to resign, he is not going to be relieved-of-command. He is eventually going to fire the special prosecutor, he is eventually going to fire his attorney general, he is eventually going to direct the firing of his deputy attorney general - probably on a warm summer Friday when everyone is off to the beach, or the lake, or whatever - and nothing will happen when he does that, either. We've become immune to the spikes of the news cycle. People need to take a step back, focus on the '0-18 and 2020 elections, and come up with candidates who affirmatively present viable alternatives, and not simply assume "OMG, look what a bad person he is" is all that's needed to defeat him. Everyone 'gets' who he is, and the sequential escalation of stories explaining the details of same is - at this point in time - way past the point of 'information overload'. We need to step away from the endless-loop insert-scandal-here news cycle, and focus on upcoming elections, and the need to vote.
32
Wrong, wrong, wrong--truth does matter. Corruption does matter. Trump is own worst enemy. Remember--the Roman empire was destroyed from within--we just need to sit back and let Trump and his swamp be their own ruin.
2
Rudy is just sidling in to get prepared to take his new job at the DOJ. Then he can quash the investigation just like he did before in New York.
10
Right, Trump shells out $130,000 to spare Melania's feelings? This is the same guy who didn't even bother to give her a brthday present.
20
Men are disposable. ???
What history is Rudy reading? Not only is he not up to speed on Trumps string of lies, he's also completely ignorant of history.
What a perfect pairing. A dopey, old and has-been "lawyer" who fails to be completely read-in on a client's case, then goes on TV and spouts off. And his client who lies with every other breath, and admits to not reading much at all, preferring pictures over words to have things explained to him.
Are we sure we're not all sleeping and having the same collective bad dream? Someone wake up and then wake me up...this cant be real.
9
No, Gail, Cirque du Soleil has standards to uphold.
18
Gail, I love you. Please keep writing forever. You're a beacon of sarcastic light in an ocean of anxiety and dangerously complacent stupidity.
22
I hope all this talk of a Blue Wave come November proves true. Trump is our very own Berlusconi. This country is becoming a comic opera.
27
I said the same, repeatedly.
3
I am reminded of an old Johnny Paycheck song: "It'll all clear up in 11 months + 29 days."
4
They are both old people who are perhaps not in good mental condition. Take a look at the numbers. Dementia and many other brain disorders just skyrocket at their age. It is simply appalling that someone given so much power is not "seriously" checked for those old age maladies. Why lawmakers are not working on that possibly devastating problem? Many of those lawmakers are very old too so
conflict of interest (again) is preventing any progress here and senility will continue to play a harmful role in the government.
7
Term limits would help immensely.
3
Please, a little respect. I'm 87 this year and can still
successfully string a few words together although I must admit I couldn't come up with the name of the weasel family yesterday. And Augustus is really not that old.
12
I am a youngish 66 so watch the language!
3
Thank you, dear Gail!
For effectively tying Rudy to the Roof - of a Trump golf cart!
20
As exciting as it is to wallow in the putridity of Trump's sex life over and over and over again - 80 days ago, a gunman massacred students at Parkland with an assault rifle he bought LEGALLY, yet the US president just spoke at the NRA this week to support the expansion of murder weapons.
The president lied in public and said knives are more dangerous (in the US there were 36,000 gun deaths last year and 1600 knife deaths - do the math) but we all know that AR15s shooting a hundred rounds a minute murder more people than handheld knives. There's no question. We also know, though, that the gun manufacturers that the president and GOP Congress are selling guns for don't make money from knives.
The president is blatantly lying about facts to sell guns so that gun organization supporters will vote for him. What campaign bribery law does that break?
33
Not to forget the Russians funneling campaign support to Trump via the NRA!
14
Is the media going to start covering in-depth all of the things that Trump has destroyed while we're all being titillated about his personal life?
Like some other presidents, his personal behavior is far from wonderful, but that is not the thing that really counts in this area of Trumpian destruction. How about examinations of the consequences of all the EPA regulations going down? How about in-depth coverage of what's going to happen to the farmers when they can't find enough employees? How about the dangers of unlimited offshore drilling, to mention just a few things? I got it that the issue with Stormy Daniels has to do with campaign financing, but that is being covered in minute detail while things more important to the country get covered in a cursory manner. It's not that they're not mentioned, but they should be hammered on over and over and over. Can we return to the days when there was a gentleman's agreement in the Press to to avoid appealing to people's prurient interests by publicizing details of a president's sleazy personal activities? It's the politics of distraction. His personal sexual activities are not likely to affect many of us directly, but his appointme of unqualified people to take down the departments they are supposed to be running has dire consequences for the entire country. How about more explicit daily coverage of those things?
22
Thank you Ms. Collins, for a great piece that establishes just how antiquated and feeble-minded Don and Rudy are--and also for calling them out for exactly how out of touch they are with regular, normal Americans who don't have hush funds set up with ethically questionable attorneys. And yet, somehow because DT tries to make himself appear to be "a man of the people" by (poorly) acting the part (and despite being the exact opposite) and in very demeaning and stereotypical fashion, his base does not care that he's playing them all for fools. Instead, many of his base encourage DT to create ever greater chaos because they mistakenly believe he is "sticking it to the man," when in reality he IS "the man," they should be wanting to take down.
"It may be true that you can't fool all of the people all of the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country." Will Durant
27
Well, Rudy got his wish. He wanted to get in that White House one way or the other. And he did. Remember years ago when Sally Fields upon winning the Academy Award exclaimed, "You like me, you really like me"? That's Rudy! So, word has it that Trump stated that Giuliani is new to the team and will learn the "right facts." But we'll see how long before Mr. G is shown the exit door. Even he with his tendency to exaggerate the truth will never be as proficient in the art of lying as this wicked president. We are certainly not in Kansas anymore, or maybe we are. Off to see the Wizard...
12
Rudy's wish is that he was in the White House...alone.
2
Bravo Gail Collins.
Those of us who want this President ot make a quick exit hope that he continues to rely on Rudy's legal advice.
10
We all know that the truth will never be told and Trump's supporters do not care. I am far more concerned about the Democrats coming up with plan to present before the midterm elections. Don't have an affinity for Bernie because I cringe every time he talks about freebies while I am for healthcare for all and infrastructure spending, I don't agree with him on much more. Trump would never get my vote but I would vote for any Democrat running against him but my message is that just being anti Trump for everything he does will not help.
32
How about an effort to get money out of politics and have our elected officials make legislation that benefits the people they represent? Both Bernie and Obama were in favor of publicly financed election campaigns, both were in favor of expanded Medicare (ie at least a public option for healthcare) but Obama backed off when he saw he wouldn't get these, to be more "centrist." It is the progressives who have the ideas to reform our government, we need to support them and make these ideas mainstream. They will benefit everybody, just not the oligarchs. Trump wants above all to be an oligarch as rich as powerful as Putin and he sees the presidency of the US as his vehicle.
4
If for the next four years the Democrats wish to show that tearing down Trump is their highest and only priority, it proves they don’t have a clue either but are too proud to admit it. It’s embarrassing as well as not very reassuring. Perhaps I could begin to respect the Party I’ve voted for all my life once again if it would drop all the arrogant self-righteousness, it makes them look worse than Trump often.
3
don't be so quick to dismiss bernie's other ideas as freebies.... this term is just more propaganda and does not really reflect what he has proposed. take for instance low cost or "free" higher education; right now china has a huge and highly educated tech workforce..... how did they do this? by saddling students with debt? by making poor people struggle to afford higher education? if we really want to compete in an ever more completive world we better get rid of this calvinistic frontier mindset and join the 21st century.
1
Can you imagine if Obama was even photographed with a porn star? The evangelicals' heads would explode, Matt Drudge & his ilk would dance in the streets throwing confetti, & Hannity would drench us with sanctimony. Republicans have broken the hypocrisy sound barrier.
149
They blew past the sound barrier ages ago, and are approaching the speed of light in hypocrisy.
12
Uh .... I think there was more than a photograph involved in the Trump affair.
3
Trump spent his entire adult life openly bragging to the media (see, e.g. 'The Howard Stern Show') about his limitless sexual conquests, and he now asks us to believe that he only paid hush money to Stormy Daniels roughly two weeks before the general election to protect the sensibilities of his (then) wife and family?
How stupid does he think the other 60% of the public is?
82
Is that a serious question?
7
Trashy people with immense power.
42
Ivanka, a dunce!
Her only asset, her daddy.
23
Question for anyone out there who probably has the right answer. If trump's approval rating is around 40%, is that 40% of ALL the people who can vote in the U.S. or just 40% of those who actually vote? Please tell me that it is only 40% of those who vote - because even THAT percentage is too high for me to comprehend. How can ANYONE still support him and his administration which stands up for nothing except guns.
54
Ah, the $1,000 question, but you are correct in being appalled by ANY number indicating approval. You are witnessing the total and complete destruction of everything good and decent our nation stood for, and the unravelling of all social progress made in the 20th Century. Please do all you can to make sure that Canada doesn't drift in our political direction.
22
It's 40% of the people who still have a landline and bother to answer it.
10
I get the picture: Ralph Cramden and Ed Norton, two New Yorkers, sit around Ralph's kitchen table and cook up a scheme to get Ralph out of a jam.
75
Let's see if Rudy can't fail...at breaking Flynn's record.
13
Sorry, but haven't you forgotten about The Mooch? (Scaramucci) Surely he holds the record for fastest exit.
5
The truth will set you free, maybe not this time it just might get you as a lawyer working fixing parking tickets for the next few years.
Just when you thought you couldn’t get one more clown in the car Donald found a seat.
Vote!!!
27
Guliani stabbing Trump in the back and Trump not even noticing is spectacular. More of this, please. Get this liar and his party out of there.
37
Are you suggesting this is Rudy's Revenge for being denied the AG job? Interesting.
3
When does this become Stormygate?
21
And what happened to "What did he know and when did he know it?"?
2
Uh, if I say I love Trump enough, perhaps I can get a sweet, high paying temp job at the WH.
9
....the operative word being "temp".
3
It just hit me--we're witnessing the O.J. presidency. The only difference is the jury, which today is comprised entirely of Trump voters.
The real O.J. jury acquitted him in four hours. Iron-clad testimony? Didn't matter. The glove? Didn't matter. Blood in his house? Didn't matter. He walked out a free man.
The O.J. presidency jury acquits Trump every day. Six lies a day? Doesn't matter. Porn star hush money? Doesn't matter. Mocking a disabled reporter? Doesn't matter. Birtherism? Doesn't matter.
Vote this November. And then again in 2020. Don't let him walk out a free man.
87
Sharpest column you've ever written. Thanks Gail.
18
Wow. Stop the presses. Trump's a liar.
Really?
4
Look on the bright side: so much incompetence, and we’re not dead. Yet.
21
“I am self funding and will hire the best people,” Donald J Trump
16
When will the Trump base get tired of winning?
17
Reminder: The Trump base did not win the popular election. Hillary won the popular vote and received 3 million more votes than Deranged Donald.
The Electoral College voted for Trump, and it is largely controlled by states and political parties, with widely varying rules how a state's representatives should vote for presidential candidates after the popular election. No surprise, the Electoral College was a compromise and a gift to the rural and slave states in order to get the Constitution passed.
And the base is still not "winning," even with their Dear Dictator in office. According to Gallup polls, Trump has never achieved a 50% approval rating for the job he is doing as POTUS (it is at 42% now), while consistently over 50% of those polled say they "disapprove" of Trump.
Nope, Trump is a "loser" all the way around--except in the Electoral College, Fox News, the irresponsible GOP, and in his own mind.
15
"Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil."
Simply amazing. Bravo Gail. LOL
41
Agree. This is one of the most brilliant lines ever written. I am in awe of Gail. It is appalling that Trump continues to have the amount of support he has. Daily I ruminate "what is WRONG with these people"? Trump is a snake oil salesman, a charlatan and a true sociopath. He exists ONLY for himself. Everyone of sound mind (that would be anyone who did not vote for Trump) MUST vote. And the Democrats MUST come up with a viable candidate for POTUS (e.g. not Bernie). Soon.
4
[...had believed Cohen’s claim that he raised the money by borrowing against his home equity line of credit."]
It could be true if he expected to be reimbursed. I've done things like this for family members. But I am surprised that Cohen wouldn't have a cash account for things like this.
Not that I believe the scenario.
4
Giuliani, getting divorced from his 3rd wife, is "disposable." In that way, he's a narrow step ahead of Trump.
8
By the same logic, so is trump. So let's get the disposal running!
4
‘..... “These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth,” Trump tweeted.’
Yeah, I know, Mr. President. I watch “Ray Donovan.”
11
The "base" has taken the New Republican Pledge of Allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the Don, not the United States of America, and to the Corruption for which he stands, one Liar, under Vlad, indefensible, with bone spurs, and tax cuts for … us!
46
If Trump could resurrect Larry Fine to replace Scott Pruitt as EPA Chief, guess what? We WOULD have the three stooges in the White House.
7
Larry Fine would be much better than Pruitt
2
Gail, thanks for correcting the record on Giuliani and 9/11. His one claim to fame was faux news, repeated ad nauseam.
29
Well, we were pretty sure that there was going to be a tea party; no not that one; the Alice in Wonderland one. Two disconnected critters at the table running off at the mouth, plus a minor cast of low-life sycophants pretending to find revelation in their goofy mutterings. Rudy’s got staying power in this, our national hallucination. Please don’t write him out of the script just because he’s classically delusional. Perhaps he’ll accelerate the inevitable vanishing and awakening from this no longer amusing show.
6
His teeth! My God, his teeth!
2
OK, Gail, it is really unfair to you to have such easy material to work with. I love your columns, but wonder why you don't do one every day, after all, they cannot take you more than 10 minutes each to write... and, it takes me that long to read them.
3
My increasing fear is that being president is becoming a get-out-of-jail-free card...and that this and future POTUSes will never be held accountable for what they say or do which violates civil and criminal law.
13
I'm willing to bet that Emmet Flood (a name which sounds suspiciously like Elmer Fudd) is having second thoughts about joining 'the gang that couldn't shoot straight.'
18
No sympathy. You join this cast of crooks, you deserve what you get. I'd like to see the lot of them in prison, but probably the best we can hope for is that individuals who affiliated themselves willingly in any way with this corrupt administration and its hangers-on will not be able to find work afterward, and will be condemned in civilized society, which they are trying to destroy.
224
What has been a disaster is the coverage by the NY Times since President Trump was elected. No focus on any positives. No focus on how bad Presidents Obama and President Bush were during their tenure. No focus on the team of clowns currently heading up the Democratic Party. No focus on anything except bringing down President Trump.
1
I noticed you didn’t mention any of Trump’s “positives” either. Keep sifting through the hay, though. The needle is in there somewhere.
6
Name one single thing President Obama ever did that even begins to rival the Trump Debacle.
7
There are NO positives. That's why the NYT coverage has been what it has been. You don't mention a specific positive for this sham POTUS because you can't come up with one. And please help me with what was so bad during the Obama years. I seem to remember feeling pretty good for 8 years. George W. Bush - no argument. But even he seems quite sophisticated & charming compared with the complete bozo we have now (with apologies to hard working clowns everywhere).
8
You know how long-married couples start to resemble each other over time? That's Trump and Rudy.
16
All we need now is Chris Christie. Wait for it ...
4
I'm becoming more and more convinced that Trump's core support comes from anxious & angry white people worried about their loss of power and cultural control as America's demographics widen and minorities gradually become more visible in power positions. He is their last, best, white hope and they don't care as much about those other things. This explains why all his stupid mis steps, blatant lies, sinful behavior, and failure to deliver promised economic blessings have no impact on their support. They aren't stupid, just worried they are 'loosing.'
31
The President needs a proper lawyer
He'd better call Saul.
19
So Giuliani expected a place in the administration -AG- and was embarrassingly ignored by trump. Would you hire a guy you publicly humiliated? Who’s next, Christie as spokesperson?
5
Gail Collins
Instead of making fun of the president of the United States, why not begin thinking of America.
Things to consider:
The economy is great.
Taxes are down.
Workers are getting bigger bonuses.
Families are getting good sized tax refunds
Unemployment is way down.
ISIS has been greatly reduced.
The president will meet with Kim Jong-Un.
Etc........................
2
Here's something to ponder:
The economy is not s great as it once was.
Taxes are only down for the wealthy and corporate elite.
Most workers aren't even getting the bare minimum wage.
Poor and working-class families aren't getting tax refunds, the rich are.
ISIS is still active and has moved to another
country.
The president has yet to meet with Kim Jong-un, and no deal has been made yet.
Etc............................
18
...and yet:
Racism is up and out of the closet.
Misogyny and sexual assault is no big deal.
Open adultery and humiliation of the First Lady is allowed.
Lies by the truckload are shrugged off.
Taxes will remain low on the 1% but will increase on the middle class.
Trillions have been added to a deficit that can blow up in our faces with a flick of China's wrist.
Foreign policy is based on ignorance, reckless gambling, and bluster.
Our standing in the world is shrinking to zero.
We've been brought to the brink of nuclear annihilation.
We have alienated nearly all of our allies and caused them to coalesce without us.
We are becoming completely and willfully isolated in a world that economically and technologically will leave us behind; friendless and alone.
So everything's greeeeaaaaat,right?
18
The president is deeply impaired, cognitively, morally, psychologicaly. He has little knowledge of the world outside his head ("who knew healthcare was so complicated?"). His profound narcissism affects his ability to do anything and to perceive the world around him. Trump is all, and only, about Trump. He is not able to control himself, nor to lead anyone, and certainly not capable of leading a country of more than 300 million people.
5
With Donny and Rudy, I am remind of the "Beetle Bailey" cartoon in which Sarg and Beetle" play the roles of Fatman and Slobber.
5
Yes, what a duo. Trump's hiring picks are appalling; maybe you heard that he also just hired Dr. Oz. Not a joke.
9
What Trump meant: "Rudy is a great guy, but he just started a day ago. He’ll get his ALTERNATIVE facts straight.”
15
That's what I thought. Not "he'll get his facts straight" but "he'll get my lies straight!".
As if.
2
Anyone who believed that Michael Cohen paid off Stormy Daniels by taking out a loan against his house to ease the pressure on a multimillionaire, or as Trump would have it, a billionaire should have their right to vote revoked based on stupidity alone. And the only person in the world who at this point would call Rudy Giuliani "America's Mayor" deserves much the same treatment. Are the mayors of Oklahoma City, Orlando, Las Vegas, or any of the dozens of other cities in which Americans slaughtered Americans any less "America's Mayor" because the horrors visited in their cities, and in particular in their schools, somehow less heroic than coping with those tragedies because they erroneously weren't classified as terrorism? Separately, Trump and Giuliani are disgraces. As some sort of pieced together creature, they are something to watch in horror until a combination of circumstance and bald stupidity rips them apart just as so many Trump cabinet members and other knee-jerk hires and appointments have been.
16
Gail, you neglected to point out that there is one more very important similarity between Rudy Giuliani and Trump. When he was mayor - and afterwards for a while too - Giuliani's right-hand man was Bernard Kerik. Giuliani supported Kerik's candidacy to become Secretary of Homeland Security. Subsequently Kerik was found to be a mobster and is now a convicted felon.
22
Not only is Giuliani's ridiculous Ivanka/Jared threat offensive and sexist, it's also an admission that the First Children have in fact committed a crime, although only the disposable man should be prosecuted for it. Nice work, Rudy!
20
Seriously.....Rudy thinks the president's daughter should be immune from criminal prosecution because she is....female and the president's daughter?????
2
Someday, perhaps, a thunderbolt will explode on Trump's fake hairdo, revealing to Trump that all of his woes in office can be traced back to the illegal actions of one loose cannon--himself. There's not one element of Trump's current multiple crises that originated from Democrats, the FBI or Hillary Clinton. Trump created all of this drama by himself. And that's why Trump's thrashing around like a trout on a hook doesn't fool anyone. He might as well admit that he had one poor and unsatisfactory sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels so we can move on to the real issues and Trump's crimes of treason and conspiracy with Russian nationals against the US.
17
Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil.
Dear Gail, thank you for giving me a laugh-out-loud moment in the daily slog through the news, fake and otherwise.
11
If Rudy got on a charger, he'd fall off within a few strides...or the horse would give him a disgusted look & refuse to move at all.
9
Giuliani said" there were no domestic attacks during Bush presidency". That says it all. Crazy and not the sharpest pencil in the box is he?
9
The only thing that makes Ivanka a lady, who is as crooked as her father, is her gender. If Donald or Rudolph think that the fact that Ivanka is a woman will keep her, or the Trump Organization, or the Trump Don himself, out of trouble, they are sadly mistaken. This is the twenty-first century. We send corrupt and crooked women to prison too.
16
With trump, "picking the worst possible person for any job" is a feature, not a bug :(
8
The American public loves them. They cannot get enough. They are the opposite of boring democrats. It seems that only the NY Times cannot see this phenomenon. These two will win every popular election they are in. They are boffo box office. Memo to the Times: it is all about the people outside Manhattan and the Hamptons.
1
The sad, sobering truth is, Don (Juan) could have kept his $130,000 in the first place—his dalliance with Stormy wouldn’t have deterred his base from voting for him. The pretend-evangelicals would have piously intoned that they’re not electing the pastor-in-chief, the rank-and-file deplorables would have excused it as a decade-old youthful discretion (I mean, the guy was only 60 way back then!), and hey—Hillary mishandled some emails, amirite? So Cohen laundered all that money—I mean, he took out a home-equity loan—for no reason.
And if, despite all evidence to the contrary, it appeared that the emergence of the scandal on the eve of the election might actually tip things Hillary’s way, not to worry—Don’s REAL fixer, Vladimir Putin, would have come through with the electoral fix.
As always, it’s never the crime that leads to consequences. It’s the cover-up. Having the people who can skillfully effect a cover-up can delay justice a long time, but when you hire the Keystone Kops to mount your defense, you’ve only hastened the day of reckoning.
14
Guiliani said that the country would be up in arms if Mueller questioned Ivanka. Not! Ivanka is as complicit in the crimes of her father and husband as anyone else in this administration. On the one hand she enjoys trotting around the world pretending she's a legitimate government statesmen, the next minute she's claiming she's just a daughter and how dare you ask her any difficult questions. What a bunch of crooks and incompetents we have running our government!
22
I'm 74. Netanyahu, Abbas, Giuliani, Trump, Charlie Rose, Cosby--horrible people-- all coming unhinged in the same week. Scaring me no end what might future might look like. Fortunately there are millions of counter examples that have calmed me down considerably.
9
Ivanka is the first one I want to see behind bars. Maybe she can design a special pair of gold handcuffs with the Ivanka brand stamped on.
The idea that all of America would turn on Mueller if he interviews Ivanka is the most ridiculous thing I've heard yet. Americans across the country are boycotting her products and think she's clearly unqualified to be a White House advisor!! Many blame her for supporting her misogynist father while pretending to foster women's rights (all an elaborate marketing campaign for her product line).
Ivanka is a spoiled and entitled rich kid. No Rudy, we don't care if Mueller talks to Ivanka. She's clearly complicit. I'd like to know what she knows and I'm sure Mueller does too.
553
No competent lawyer speaks on behalf of a client without knowing the facts of the client's case cold. Yet, there was Giuliani, rambling and gesturing about his client--the President of the United States--like a drunk at the end of the bar. But, not to worry, the President rushed to his attorney's defense by telling us Giuliani had just started the day before (which, naturally, is a lie).
The fact that these guys are incompetent and comfortable liars isn't too troubling when it involves Trump's philandering. But it makes me wonder what the Trump team isn't telling us about his dealings with Russia, China, and especially North Korea. Odds are any deal Trump strikes will be a rotten lemon passed off as a fruit cocktail.
9
Speaking of disaster twins, Comey and Mueller go back a long way too. So what happens when one corrupt force takes on another corrupt force? Probably a bad result for the American people.
2
Where do such shenanigans by our President and his merry band of sycophants find support? I'd suggest that those who love Trump and dismiss his erratic, unhinged behavior can mostly be found in sports bars and neighborhood pubs in the U.S., where Obama is still loathed and Trump is deified as "one of
us." (My late brother was one of these, who spent his last days pontificating in the dim light of a Budweiser neon sign).
I have stated this many times in the NY Times comments and I'll say it again: Trump is the annoying guy at the end of the bar, nursing a drink and rambling on and on, attempting to convince the bartender and anyone else within earshot that he knows everything. He is the braggart, the conspirator, the insider, the womanizer, the loneliest of men, trying to bury his deep insecurities by appearing to be the know-it-all who really doesn't know anything.
13
DT has my vote for the second term. Let the media meltdown continue.
At this point, the only one melting down is DT.
9
I think that this Spring bromance deserves it's own moniker. May we refer to them as Trudy?
28
The dynamic duo of Doom. OUR Doom.
Thanks, GOP.
6
Birds of a feather flock together, including bluebirds and vultures. Hold fast millions of angry bluebirds and coming. November 6th vote for the bluebirds and we will have fewer vultures and these blue birds will begin or restart hearings on treason and maybe, just maybe we can restore the rule of law which the vultures are trying to tear to pieces while it is still alive.
And yessss, Gail, the Trump team could use Chris Christie because he is a proven vulture who like Trump did real damage and lied and bullied his way forward and the only reason he did not get a cabinet job is because Trump is repelled by fat people.
7
Unhinged are in. These last few days have been abysmal but exciting. The Donald/Rudy show.
America should be in mourning . . . I know I am.
13
No worries for the Trump base. As their own Queen of Hearts might be like to say, "sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." They've got the old one beat.
10
Ivanka knows more than even Cohen. And frankly she's a bigger phony than her father. She's a Presidential Advisor. She can't plead her "but I'm only his daughter" defense. Sorry, honey. You can't have it both ways with Mueller and the American public. I'm sure that's how you've managed to skate through life thus far but you're playing in the big leagues now. Your pretty dresses and whispered tones don't get you a free pass here. There is going to come the time when you, dear Ivanka, will need to choose between your "disposable" husband or your father.
Of course she's fair game and needs to be interviewed. And I have no doubt she's on Mueller's "to do" list.
29
No one wants a leadership team of Donald and Rudy. Yet, these are the voices of MAGA.
6
The other sad part of the Trump disaster is his supporters still cling to every word, every insult and all of the lies in belief that Trump is the best thing since motherhood and apple pie.
Trump, despite all of his poor picks for this "administration" is not that dumb-he is still able to con a lot of people, a lot more than he conned with his scam university along with the bankers and investors of his failed business ventures.
But, hopefully Rudy and Pruitt will find room under the bus where Trump discards those he has fired in his short time as our orange-haired emperor.
6
This is what happens when the bully in the sandbox gets elected to parks director.
The voters in this analogy would, I guess, be the 46.1% of toddlers who had full diapers.
8
23% of Eligible Voters since 50% did not bother to vote.
23% of eligible American voters elected this "person" and the other 77% of us are stuck in this nightmare.
4
All I can say about this living nightmare that we all seem to be caught in is that eventually we will all wake up to the reality that Donald J. Trump is unfit for the presidency...that he lacks those essential qualities so necessary to lead a nation, especially during times of turmoil.
And what exactly are those qualities you might ask? Integrity, truthfulness, compassion, empathy and, of course, intelligence. In my lifetime spanning nearly seven decades, all of our prior presidents possessed some or all of these qualities. But in the case of DJT, I think it's pretty obvious that he lacks all of these qualities -- in spades.
What we have instead is a pathological liar, a thief, and a cheat...someone whose first impulse when faced with a challenge is to ask himself, "What's in it for me?"
History has shown that true leaders put their country's wellbeing first and foremost above all else. Trump seems totally incapable of such altruism. With Trump it's all about "me, myself, and I" and not about "we, the people". It's simply not in his DNA.
13
It is obvious that Trump provided Cohen with funds to pay off Daniels, and did so because Daniels and her attorney were threatening to go public two weeks prior to the election. Everyone, including Trump’s devoted supporters, knows that Trump is lying. The game has been to catch him; but his approval ratings will not budge if he is caught.
Rather than bemoaning that a significant number of Americans have not merely accepted, but embraced, an illiterate, clownish, venal buffoon as President; rather than wringing hands at the sorry state of the intellect, values and sensibility of a large portion of the American public - a segment nailed long ago by H.L. Mencken and P.T. Barnum, among others -we must formulate a strategy to remove Trump and his merry con men from the White House and Congress.
People such as those who support Trump are not about to change, and their numbers remain constant from generation to generation. They are gullible, resentful, self-interested, resistant to change, prejudiced and prurient. I grew up with them; they are white, working and middle-class America. Always were, always will be.
We need to stop playing “let’s catch Mike and Don in a lie,” leaving that game to Daniels attorney, and organize the Democrat’s and Independents’ true coalition: progressives, educated women, people of color, and so on. Fortunately, we are a growing majority of voters. Leave the scandals and nitwits - and move forward with the policies that are country so sorely needs.
19
It sure looks to me like Guiliani hung a target on Ivanka Trump's back. Nothing draws my attention faster than someone saying "Whatever you do, don't look there!"
8
When candidate Trump got caught on tape bragging about molesting women in the Access Hollywood tape, and the GOP and his "base" still supported him, that gave him the ultimate pass on things that would derail any other candidate. So why is everyone so shocked that he lied and lied about the Stormy Daniels hush money pay off? Did anyone really believe that President Trump did not know of the pay off? And here he is, still in the White House. Why have so many in America lowered the bar so much for our elected officials? The Republicans are cowards, only concerned with self-preservation. Someone should tell them, the price is just too high.
10
Between Giuliani and Trump, they have five divorces, with Giuliani leading 3 to 2. Giuliani saying that he's concerned about Trump's wife number 3, the First Lady, being hurt by "false allegations" is just preposterous at best, offense at worst.
What is more offensive to New Yorkers is that these two clowns are making us look bad.
7
Huh. When things can't possibly get worse, they do.
8
All of this would be funny if it wasn't so sad (and put the country in danger)
5
Rudy seems to have forgotten a sacrosanct mob rule. True, you don’t go after the females. They’re keeping the home fires burning. But when the female joins the family business, all bets are off.
Ivanka plays the Daughter card when it’s to her advantage, yet she is part of the administration and should be held to the same standard as the family men who have joined the business.
10
Do we seriously believe Trump was concerned with Melania’s feelings? He didn’t even get her a birthday present.
10
“Ok, Trump base”?. I’m sure the first thing they do is read your column, Gail. Besides, the wacky, tangled web of lies and contradictions makes it hard to follow.
The goal cannot be to enlist a brainwashed group of people after they get it. Trump won because not enough people stopped him. It’s time to get out and vote him and his cronies out.
7
I think it has finally hit. That point that outrage and disbelief erode like a sandcastle at high tide and all that is left is a lump of numb.
I want to be outraged by the idiocy, corruption and complicity that is my government; by the sheer awfulness of Trump and his cohort. I'd like at least to be amused.
But I am numb. I haven't quite made it to Stockholm Syndrome, but definitely I am at the point of "what's the use of fighting, just torture me some more."
Giuliani admitting to Stormy weather just so that it undercuts Cohen's motivation to cut a deal? Whatever. Trump tweeting outrageous lies to staunch supporters who will never giver up? Sure, OK. Stick a fork in me. I am done.
11
I am happy that Trump has brought Rudy onto his legal defence team.
I need to let that sink in for a moment.
Farce as tragedy. Let's hope, before all the characters perish at the end of the play, that they do not drag the audience onto the stage to suffer their fate with them.
3
Gail, Trump and company are so hilarious that we almost don't need your column to tell us how funny they are. Trump himself is a parody of himself. I love this business about Trump being annoyed by Sean Hannity's questioning of Giuliani! Surely those psychiatrists are right: this man is not normal. He is the sort of person who gives malignant narcissism a bad name. It sure was priceless, the expression on Sean Hannity's face when Giuliani made his disclosure about the hush money. He was thinking: Hey I can spin anything, but give me some advance notice about what I'm supposed to spin!
16
You hit it on the head, Gail--Trump is bad at firing, but even worse at hiring.
And he seems to love hiring, at least lately, the "lion in winter" crowd--Giuliani, Kudlow, Bolton, McMaster, Tillerson--guys (always white guys) who are past their prime and striving for their last moment of sunlight, their last shot at glory. But I guess that is entirely consistent with the whole "Make America Great Again" theme--let's go back to a time and place that doesn't exist anymore and try, unsuccessfully, to recapture it.
8
Congratulations my fellow Americans for voting in Donald Trump as leader of our great nation. Smart choice.
4
And what a crowd! Largest in history!
If this had nothing to do with the campaign and he never had the affair and the Daniels accusation is a false one and he didn't want it to hurt Melania's feelings than he must have paid off all those other women that he claims were lying also? Why hasn't anyone asked him if he paid all the others off too? I mean, they were ALL false accusations too, right?
3
The message is clear; if a person of color or a woman seeks a position of power, they are to be held to a much higher standard of ethics than a rich white heterosexual male seeking that same position. Trump’s followers have completely accepted and internalized the validity of this vile double standard. Whatever condemning results Mueller presents to us at the end of his investigation, Trump’s followers will never see him as anything other than a victim of a conspiracy. Trump, of course, knows this. In fact, I believe many of his followers would readily take up arms to defend him and he would never discourage them from doing so.
8
Amen. The blindness is ridiculous.
1
Trump's base doesn't really care about any of his sleazy, rich boy behavior. Things that emphasize how elite Trump is just provides more evidence that they finally have someone important and powerful that cares about them. The mainstream politicians of both parties have not really shown much concern for working Americans, hence their desperate gamble on Trump. I don't believe that he cares about them at all and he is too dysfunctional to actually help them much, but I do get why they were willing to give him a try.
4
It's not just that the "parties" have not shown much concern for working Americans, although that is true, but that the underpinnings of our political system are based on the money of corporations and oligarchs. We need to overturn Citizens United and get money out of driving political campaigns and the following actions of legislators who pay back their campaign donors. That is why the parties are not on the side of the American worker.
1
When Ted Cruz tried to derail Trump with the smear he had "New York values" I was offended and thought of the openness to peoples and ideas and cultures of New York.
Collins revisits the Texas demagogue's generalization, using specific negative behaviors and attitudes and showing Giuliani as a perfect twin to the gangster Trump.
1
I have said this before: There is NOTHING Trump can do that will alienate the majority of his base. As long as there is money - even if it’s a pittance - in their pockets, his fans will support him. Their adoration over the bone he threw at them in his Tax Cut shell game is a good example. By the time his base realizes that his campaign promises were largely smoke and mirrors, he will be long gone and they will be left holding the bottle of snake oil.
Rudy’s patronizing slur toward women was an attempt to shame any potential scrutiny of Ivanka. Sorry, Rudy. She doesn’t get the luxury of being a high-powered businesswoman with the ear of the President when it suits her, and then become a delicate, sheltered flower when it doesn’t. She signed up for this.
9
Turns out getting behind a leader whose tagline is "you're fired" is a bad thing, duh. Now we can all see that Trump says it so often because he can't pick a winner without a excruciating process of chaos, embarrassment, and failure.
Funny how that should have been obvious to more people, but hey, Trump's reality show made it look... exciting. Problem now is that the audience has been moved onstage.
3
Trump deals an apparent insult to the intelligence of his base with the excuse that Giuliani has just started on the job. After all, Giuliani hasn’t just started talking with Trump about all manner of things, such as the slickest way to put through a Muslim ban. And he can’t have just started following the news about the Stormy Daniels affair and the line Trump has been taking on it.
Then there’s the apparent insult of Trump’s flaunting his status as a “person of wealth” who buys off trouble through servants while pretending to speak for people of work.
But the insults are only an apparent, because the Donald Trump who deals them out is not the one who has the attention of his base. That Donald Trump, in turn, is invisible to us, because he’s etched on the insides of his followers’ eyelids. They’ve literally internalized him. The real Trump couldn’t open their eyes now even if he tried.
So it’s no use asking Trump’s base what they think of his words or deeds. Their privacy is not to be disturbed. They’re in bed with a Donald Trump who will gratify them as long as they keep their eyes closed.
2
The blind belief in political leader Trump mirrors their religious practices... but that is called dogma, and is central to religion...faith is its name. Trump has become their Jesus Jr.
Thank you for your humor. It makes this slow train wreck a little less disheartening.
5
The best line yesterday was NBC's Peter Alexanders':
Trump would have been better off if he'd given the hush money to Giuliani.
13
As the tension mounts, Trump's vocabulary shrinks.
Yesterday, he was unable to say much except "disgrace," "incredible," and "witch hunt."
I'm not a doc, but isn't aphasia (difficulty speaking) one of the first symptoms of dementia?
7
His vocabulary was estimated, early in his Presidency, by speech development specialists who said it was around a 3rd grade level.
4
Rudy labelled himself as the law and order mayor and he wanted the DNA and prints of everyone who had done anything criminal. His daughter was detained/arrested for shoplifting. Are her prints and DNA in the system, or did he somehow make it all go away?
4
The debacle we are experiencing is the witch hunt that has been occurring for over a year now with Robert Mueller's Russian collusion delusion investigation that has produced absolutely no proof that Donald Trump took part in this falsehood. Mr. Mueller has found nothing accusing Mr. Trump of his involvement so he keeps digging and comes up with nothing. When one avenue comes up empty he goes down another and still nothing.
In spite of this witch hunt, President Trump has been very successful in creating jobs, reducing taxes and improving our economy. People are feeling confident and are once again spending with the extra money they are seeing in their paychecks. They are not paying too much attention to Mr. Mueller's investigation and all the Stormy Daniels attention paid to this constant story by the liberal media. They are going about their daily lives with optimism and hope that had alluded them during the Obama administration.
They are jubilant and are very pleased with the Trump administration and are awaiting more positive results from this administration. They are happy with Mr. Trump and have no regrets supporting him during the campaign. If given the opportunity, they would vote for President Trump once again.
The liberals cannot get over the fact that Hillary Clinton lost the election and are trying to remove President Trump in any way or means possible. They are wasting their time as he will remain in office and be reelected for another four years.
Don't get carried away. Hillary had over 3 million more votes than trump. The electoral college had to choose trump because of our outdated election law.
I doubt that those who voted for sanders or stein, or whoever else caught their fancy, or those who stayed home, will not make the same mistake ever again. trump has taught us that we should not take our vote for granted.
4
Rudy Giuliani has never been able to resist the lure of a television camera, and is equally incapable of muzzling himself and behaving like a sober advisor. Like Trump, he often leads with his emotions, finding it difficult if not impossible to hold back when deliberative thought would serve him, and in this case his client, far better than rushed utterance.
It is even more offensive that as a non-governmental Trump employee, Giuliani feels that it is appropriate for him to issue pronouncements on sensitive national security issues such as North Korea, when such matters are not even remotely part of his portfolio of responsibility.
Giuliani is so taken with his new found proximity to the presidency that his overblown ego cannot resist the temptation to recklessly inflate itself in full public display. Credibility, thoughtfulness and considered judgment are not the long suits of this administration, and Rudy Giuliani should heed Archie Bunker's famed admonition to another meathead, and "stifle himself."
4
I’m trying to “ imagine what would have happened if this information came out right before Trump’s debate with Clinton “, as Giuliani suggested , and I
suspect it would have not changed the election results.
The Base would scream “fake news” and secretly admire their candidate even more then they did before, as someone who’s not only entitled to sexual adventures but can also afford to cover them up when getting caught .
After all, they excused his bragging about this kind of behavior in the infamous Access Hollywood video because “that who he is and nobody cares”.
4
It can be safely argued that those of us here in New York City already know what this country is in for with these two at the wheel -- and don't say we didn't try to warn you.
Having spent decades with Donald Trump in the tabloid headlines, and time under a reign of terror with Rudy Giuliani as Mayor, there's only one direction where togeher, they'll drag this country.
Those are the only facts you need to get straight.
6
"... Cohen’s claim that he raised the money by borrowing against his home equity line of credit."
It seems Trump is not paying him well.
2
This attempted character assassination is missing a vital element:truth.
1
The truth doesn't matter to "the Base," which seems more and more like a cult, blindly following a heinous person without thought or reason, and against their own interests. Will they drink the KoolAid someday, or are we all being forced to drink it now?
2
Why does anyone believe anything that Trump or his minions say?
Cohen said he borrowed the money to protect his beloved Trump.
Trump said he didn't know anything about the payoff, but suggested asking his attorney.
Now we have Giuliani coming up with something new. Of course that $35,000 "retainer" was payback for whatever it cost to "fix" things for Trump.
It sounds to me that floundering around for an explanation that would take campaign finance offenses off the table, someone said that monthly payment could be construed to be a reimbursement. After all, the "attorney" didn't seem to be doing much work, according to Giuliani.
Trump says things are going so swimmingly that it's wrong to look at the ugly underside of his businesses or his personal affairs. I wonder how Melania feels about being used to explain away the sordid mess.
It is curious that all of these wacky New Yorkers who are forever making comical and calamitous failed character headlines are "truly" beloved by the red state Trumpsters and Evangelicals who during the years prior to the '16 campaign couldn't stand the thought of a New Yorker. Their revulsion of thngs New York went so far as to deny disaster relief the the N.E. after Hurricane Sandy. Our worst is now their best.
Finally, some constructive advice. Let’s get Ivanka involved. Go for it, Ivanka! Tears would be useful; don’t forget tissue.
3
We are moving from the rediculous to the sublime.
At the moment, this is all an amusing parady of real life. One hopes that it can continue until at least the election without real life intervening in the form of a real crisis that requires adult thinking.
There is not a single person in the Trump Administration, or in the Republican caucus in Congress, that I would trust if something arises that requires real leadership.
4
Turns out the key qualification for employment in this administration is the ability to lie repeatedly without consequence. To date Huckabee Sanders has proven the most adept (ironically the most Christian of the bunch). Obviously, it have been more accurate if trump had stated Giuliani needed to get his "lies" straight.
3
What Trump meant was that Giuliani has yet to get all his fabrications straight. Should also note that in order to hone ones skills at firing people they must first be really poor at hiring them. Trump has literally made a career of firing. What more need be said?
1
This is a great column. I forgot that about Giuliani putting the command center in the World Trade Center even though he was advised not to by police. He also recommended that friend for Homeland Security chief who later was involved in a sex scandal, right? Perhaps Trump's bogus doctor can reassure us that "Rudy does not have hoof in mouth disease!" It just seems like it because he has only been on the job a short while. Why go on Fox news then when you don't have the facts straight, unless it's all about his Ego.
2
Fox is the perfect place to go on, if you don't have your facts straight. Facts are, at best ,
optional on Fox.
2
If this was not about the current President of US of A and his recently appointed attorney this would be a fantastic comedy of errors.
But it is simply a horror show to watch both of these men in their old age, trump and Rudy lies constantly and then go to the main new channels to cover up their lies and lie even more.
Hope Bobby Mueller ends this horror show of comedy soon !
1
This all would be hilarious to watch if it weren't so painful and embarrassing. That's why, perhaps, I can no longer listen to or watch Trump on the news, having to turn down the volume on even the briefest of sound clips. He's like a drunk and abusive parent. He denigrates people and institutions we should look up for his own selfish purposes and to build himself up at their expense. The end result is that we no longer trust in ourselves or the very way of life that should sustain us. Too bad there's no department of children and family services who can remove us from this abusive atmosphere. Oh, wait. There are the midterms. They're the best chance we have to raise ourselves up from this nightmare life.
3
Perhaps Giuliani’s comments on fox was simply payback for being overlooked for a cabinet position. Having patiently waited for trump to run out of lawyers willing to defend his lies and obfuscations, he finally got his opportunity in the most cunning way possible, where trump’s base couldn’t miss the message.
Gail Collins once again cuts through the political gloom with another of her belly laugh producing lines, "Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil." Thanks, Gail, for a great start to the day.
1
Mr. Trump never learned what a schoolteacher once told us: Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
1
It's probably cynical to suggest the possibility that the contradiction between what the President and his lawyer said was somehow stage-managed, for the purpose of sowing further confusion among the media. The fact that Guliani said what he said on Hannity's show and Fox and Friends is intriguing.
3
There are no words to explain, describe or figure out what these clowns are all about. Words actually fail us, they are beyond reason. What is left is just an instinctual repulsion.
30
Nicely done Gail. Truth is stranger the fiction, you can't make this stuff up. Two loud mouthed New Yorkers not especially well liked by their home town but adored out in the country. None of this makes any sense. There doesn't appear to be anything the offing that changes will occur. As a nation, and those of us who aren't Trump supporters, we have no choice other then wait for the elections. It's difficult how anyone could call themselves a Republican and not hang their head in shame when looking at the absurdity of Trumps administration. Too bad we have real problems to solve with all of these distractions.
16
Not especially liked? Both of them came to be despised in New York. They're an insult to the city.
4
"“These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth,” Trump tweeted."
Are we lucky or what?
Our Deal Leader is both a celebrity and man of wealth.
As such, he is allowed and permitted to live an adulterous life.
He must be royal too.
All is forgiven your majesty.
19
I admire Gail Collins work.
I really love this piece of writing.
But this whole mess is so monstrous, it's just past being funny.
Donald Trump is robbing the nation of its sense of humor. And that may be one of his greatest crimes.
23
The only thing worse than having a New York tabloid star in town is having TWO! Trump and Rudy, both in their dotage, are telling competing falsehoods and muddying the muddy waters even further.This town is not big enough to support two egotists blathering in press encounters or on TV.Rudy does have one thing right.He talks about getting on his charger with a lance aimed at the offices.He must know that, in fact, the national sport of Maryland is jousting-no joke!
6
Giuliani leaked information from the FBI (or dribbled out enough to threaten a leak, which was all that was needed) about the Weiner laptop. This likely forced Comey to come forward with the information (Comey naturally denies this), producing a Trump victory. Giuliani claimed at the time he hadn't been in contact with any "active" FBI agents. Comey asks for an FBI internal investigation, Comey leaves.
6
It is my sincerest hope that Giuliani is causing these "problems" on purpose -- Trump courted him like crazy and then picked someone else - because he could....to humiliate Giuliani.
Wouldn't it make a great fan fiction storyline if Rudy is actually a Mueller mole - Trump's Deep Throat (sorry for that visual)
7
I just don't ever, ever want to hear a Trump supporter mention Bill Clinton's scandals with women.
Trump should be subpoenaed, asked "Did you or did you not have sex with that woman?" and if he lies, impeach him.
72
Just a minute, why are we concerned about Melania’s feelings?
During the campaign we heard from many GOP supporters, including Rudy G, that Hillary enabled Bill’s affairs
Using that logic, Melania must have enabled Trump’s affair with Stormy Daniels.
So, why feel sorry for Melania?
143
My god, look at this ship of fools occupying the halls of power all because the possibility that a woman would be president was less acceptable. We've reaped what we sowed.
889
"We?" As always, I voted the party of my choice: Democrat.
57
Not "we." Not the majority of voters who cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton. Grand Theft Election is what happened, and nobody deserves to be robbed on that scale.
72
But of course a woman would be less acceptable--she would be so emotional, so likely to go off on incoherent hysterical rambles, so given to cries of not being understood, so utterly incapable of leadership. Thanks be to god for blessing our country with such a divine head of steam, oops, of state, and an orange one at that!
85
“This was for personal reasons,” Giuliani told “Fox & Friends.” “This was the president had been hurt, personally, not politically, personally so much. And the first lady, by some of the false allegations, that one more false allegation, six years old.”
It would appear from the above that it isn't very difficult to either get into law school or to pass the bar examination. Anywhere, particularly in New York state. Rudy Giuliani is ,his sidekick, Donald Trump, a decided ignoramus, a man to whom an education is a reach.
They both achieved their successes from, ah, playing a rôle. Giuliani's was to bask in the spotlight after the two planes struck the World Trade Center. Trump's was to become what is certain to be the worst America president ever.
And the loving, husbandly concern that Giuliani swore that Trump had for Melania? If I have this right, the honorary CBE told Fox & Friends that the $130K payment to the sex actress in 2016 had everything to do with the tender mercies Trump displayed to Melania, the convalescent mother, ten years earlier. This construction is difficult to imagine, but so is the Trump presidency which has become...umm, a rôle.
46
Now, Giuliani would have us believe that Trump, an ultimate tightwad, shelled out $130,000 solely to protect his wife's delicate feelings, even though Trump himself got NOTHING out of it for himself?!?
Is this the same Trump who recently acknowledged, in public, that he was "too busy" to get his wife a birthday present? ...too busy to pick up his phone, call Tiffany's, and ask them to send over $130,000 worth of "pretty" for his dear, delicate flower of a spouse, nicely gift-wrapped?
With as many affairs as he seems to have had, perhaps he should have Tiffany's on speed-dial.
3
Trump can't keep track of his own lies, so none of his designated liars including Rudy stand a chance.
52
Merriam Webster: Good Old Guys.
Definition: Trump, Giuliani, Christie.
15
Rudy should have withdrawn from public life after being Mayor of New York. What we have now is sad to see. A nattering fool trying to excuse a philandering one. Come to think of it, he is not exactly in the clear in that area as well.
48
Now he is walking around signing autographs for crying out loud. I guess this is the best trump could do. No one else with a reputation wants to work for him.
8
Yep. The old adage applies to Rudy: Quit while you're (still) ahead.
1
Ah, for an alternate history!!! : “Imagine if that came out … in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton.” Wouldn't that have been wonderful.
36
"... But men are, you know, disposable.”
Remember that, Don.
47
The Studio54 Administration
Sex
Money laundering
Rudy
Trump
Federal investigations
All we need is a whole lot of cocaine, a serial killer in the news, and Reggie Jackson to replay The Summer of Sam
Oh, ABBA is releasing a new album.
Frank Rich penned a powerful article in New York Magazine about how those who played at Studio54 are the ones running the show now.
Anyone have a polyester leisure suit?
31
Everyone needs to read that Frank Rich article in NY Magazine. Mr. Murphy says it is powerful. And that it is. But my feelings after reading it were depression and disillusionment. There isn't a bed large enough for the cast of characters in this story. It is sad. The public never had a chance at honest government-going back 40 years- when Trump first surfaced with the help of the NY media. This paper among them.
8
Although Rudy Giuliani is two years older than Donald Trump these two really could be identical twins temperamentally and ethically. As to which one is the “evil twin” of the other- that’s a toss up.
25
At some point, we may need to put away our sense of humor (temporarily, of course), declare Removal Day, descend on Washington, surround the White House, and squeeze it like a pimple until the infection is expelled. If you think Human Garbage Bag has been entertaining up to this point, wait 'til you hear him pull a 180 on the DOJ when they are all that separates him from rough justice. The irony for 2nd Amendment fetishists is that Trump and the jellybag House GOP is the best argument yet for reserving the ability to throw off tyranny with direct action.
39
Gail, with excuses to Walt Disney, this Mickey Mouse presidency deserves a Mickey Mouse song: "Who's the leader of this land of false reality, D-O-N, A-L-D, T-R-U-M-P, Donald Trump, Donald Trump, the greatest fraud in U. S. history. (Second verse same as the first)
37
“He’ll get his facts straight.”
Mr. President, that's just the problem. Giuliani can't get his facts straight because you can't get your own stories straight. Rudy winged it on Fox News to Sean Hannity the way you and Sarah H. Sanders wing it every day. Rudy's on a "roll", as you put it.
As for hurting Melania's feelings, you could have prevented her anguish by avoiding temptation. That would have protected her and you, and you wouldn't have needed Cohen to put the hush on Stormy.
31
My take has probably been obvious to all except me up to now but, I think Trump thinks he's on a reality TV show called "I Am The President". He thinks he can say anything, do anything and if a problem crops up, well he can simply do a rewrite. All the cast members support him because, of course, he's the star, the main attraction and the reason why they exist. He can continue in this play acting because his ratings support the show and cancellation is, to him, unheard of. If some outside forces do in fact bring about the show's cancellation, he'll simply take it in stride, go back to his tower and plan some other escapade. I don't think he cares a whit about the country, his job as President or the people as long as the cameras continue to roll.
59
That last paragraph re. equality - bang!
10
This comedy with Trump and Rudy
Sounds very much like Punch and Judy
As soon as one speaks out
The other starts to shout
Its like slapstick in a bad movie
26
I know the sun still comes up every morning, decent women and men go about their lives and children still play. I know it doesn't feel like that because a group of the worst people in our political history seem determined to turn America into a cesspool.
Lying and liars have reached heights never before imagined and 40% of Americans need the lies to get through their day.
60
The last line is right on the money.
3
There is a bright side to all of this, Gail. In fact, there are two. The first is that Trump can't blame any of this on Hillary, Obama, the Democrats, the Mexicans, the Muslims or China. Second, we don't have to wait for the sequel to "Dumb and Dumberer. " It is here now and no lines at the ticket booth.
43
Tom Q, when truth no longer matters, you can blame anything on anyone, and if enough people adopt the lie, the lie has power.
Such lies are why ordinary Rwandans rose up almoat overnight and murdered nearly a million of their neighbors, friends and even kin. They were not the first nor worst, and they won't be the last. Under the influence of lies, perfectly ordinary people bring sbout death camps and death marches, killing fields and mass graves, lynchings and terrorist bombing. These are not things that only happen to other people, long ago or far away. No one thinks it can happen to them -- until it does.
[Written in honored memory of my grandfather, a prescient realist who brought his family safely out of Germany in 1932.]
4
Warwick hunt, warwick hunt!
1
Please continue on Gail. Your columns are a rare source of comfort.
18
It is wonderful that we have as president not Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush or Hillary but this man, this wonderful man, oblivious to all the daft ninnies who affect gut wrenching dismay at his eqivocations over such Falstaffian peccadilloes, actually comparing him unfavorably with his sociopathic Republican predecessor who lied us into war.
6
Love that last sentence.
7
Crazy begets crazy. Trump has managed to latch onto the only public figure more deranged than him. Giuliani's histrionics makes Trump look like an elder statesman. On Derby day, it's hard to tell who wins this horse race for looniest teller of tall tales.
22
I have it on good authority that Trump's famous call into Fox & Friends morning show was cut short by Rupert Murdoch.
This was when Trump gave the jaw-dropping admission that Michale Cohen had in fact handled the Stormy Daniels payment for him, and the three Fox hosts ushered Trump off the air by saying something like "I'm sure you have a busy schedule. Thank you, Mr. President".
Makes sense. Who else besides Murdoch would have the temerity to stand up to Trump? Certainly not the three Fox morning hosts!
Now that Giuliani is in the picture, I guess the beleaguered Rupert Murdoch is going to have to work overtime.
16
It is entertaining to speculate on how hate radio, Fox Noise and the deplorables would have responded if it was discovered that Barack Obama had engaged in any of the antics that Twittie has bragged about.
37
We all know the answer to that one.
3
I see, Gail, that even you are having trouble finding the humor in this, and that is all to your credit. Now with Giuliani on board, Trump's first (and hopefully last) term in office is beginning to look like a sequel to "Dumb and Dumber."
15
I miss having a boring, dignified president who's only fault was mom jeans.
37
Or wearing a tan suit.
1
Please, don't forget that tan suit!!!!
2
Rudy Scaramucci. The Sequel.
17
I seldom read about Trump anymore, and, I gave up on Rudy when I still lived in NYC. It’s the “base” that fascinates me. Why do these people continue to support him? Social psychologists must be writing textbooks about this. Here’s my stab at it...
1. They believe ALL the negative stuff about Trump is made up...fake. These are the kind of folks who see conspiracies everywhere. “Elvis is actually in deep cover for the CIA”...that kind of thing.
2. Trump will somehow lead us back to Nirvana...the 1950s. In this halcyon world, we white men rule everything. Women and people of color know their places.
3. They hate Obama and Hillary...no further thinking needed or wanted.
4. Those who can never admit that they were ever wrong. Their leader is the template.
5. Those who believe that Trump will fashion an economic miracle and members of the base will be first in line at the trough. Sorta like what he did for Atlantic City.
An interesting group of people.
46
It's very, very difficult for someone to admit to making a mistake such as voting for the wrong person. Especially when it involves the highest office in the land.
1
"(sic)"
That pretty much sums it all up, doesn't it?
23
Yes Gail, Rudy is the epitome of the saying, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." Of course, that's altogether fitting since we know Rudy and The Don would never be taken for angels even though Rudy tried to pull off the "avenging angel" routine with his attack on the FBI as "storm troopers." But, fools often "spill the beans" and now we know that Disaster Don was aware of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and brazenly lied about it. And, in his clumsy attempt to exonerate his fixer, Michael Cohen, he admitted "funneling" (aka laundering aka repaying) to him an undisclosed retainer amounting to well over $700,000 beginning in January, 2017. That's a nice profit for Mr. Cohen (apparently hush money either for him or other women). So, the dual plot to exonerate Mr. Cohen and buy his silence seems to have fallen apart since Rudy, according to The Don, bungled the "alternative" facts (coming to a Fox show soon). So, let's hope this latest Keystone Kop keeps stumbling into those "fake news" facts called the truth.
15
I read this opinion piece and could not refrain from laughing. Gail, were you asleep during the presidential campaign or did your rose colored HRC glasses really distort your view of reality?
HRC has considered herself part of the elite few and unaccountable to anyone for decades: Whitewater, Tyson Foods, Monica L. (and the long list of Bill's dalliances), Hati, Benghazi, The Clinton foundation, email server, paid speeches to the Wall Street Elite, etc..... She personally asked the Voting public to ignore her past actions and look to the future. The Stormy Daniels nonsense does not remotely compare to Bill's actives.
If you're going to take those who voted for Trump to task, you should at least get your facts straight. The Clinton machine would have destroyed this country if given a second bite of the apple. She blames everyone else but herself for her failures. One can only image as President, the level of deceit, double dealing, and gross abuse of power that would have occurred. North Korea would still be testing missiles, ISIS would still be terrorizing the free world, entitlements would hit record highes, there would be no immigration policy needed as the borders would be open, and the US Economy would be in the tank. But on the upside, the Clinton Foundation would be flush with cash, HRC would still think of middle America as deplorable people, and she would be dancing with her Hollywood cronies. Gail, you probably would not get invited to the party.
5
I agree with some of your observations, but get real. HRC truly was the lesser of 2 evils. How much more evidence do you need in addition to that which stares us in the face each and every day ?
6
Ironically, most readers could substitute trump for every time you mention Hillary in the second paragraph. Instead of speculating what would have happened under an HRC presidency, we are living the nightmare of trump.
5
Well-written, great satire.
2
Imagine we Americans, or people worldwide for that matter, are passengers on a bus with a drunk driver and an equally drunk backseat driver riding shotgun.
The bus is careening downhill along a narrow pass wreaking havoc with the oncoming traffic but the two drivers are oblivious because they are too drunk to care.
Too bad most of the passengers are too sober not to be fearful for the bus is going to crash through the guardrail causing the bus to plunge over the cliff. Sure, there are passengers not fearful of their existential condition because they are equally drunk. But for the rest of us, sex with a porn star may be the least of our worries
19
Jimmy Breslin said it best: Giuliani—a small man in search of a balcony.
722
“Now he’s got Rudy Giuliani. Has anybody managed to create so much chaos so fast?”
Ah, how quickly the Mooch has faded from memory.
26
Trump and Giuliani. This is the blind leading the blind.
202
I suggest this is the blind leading the naked
17
Please do not insult the blind.
24
If only they were only blind!
6
Meanwhile, Trump's ridiculous followers still think Hillary is going to jail, and that the democrats colluded with Russia.
31
Lesson to the world:
Do not lie.
18
Or have a really good memory. This Ship of Fools thinks we’re the ones who forget everything.
Giuliani is such a wretched defender of President Trump is it thinkable that he is secretly working for Vice President Pence facilitating whatever is coming?
4
Giuliani is desperate to be relevant in some fashion. I don't think he has any affinity for Pence, himself, or Pence's career prospects. You might not know that when Hillary Clinton successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in New York State in 2000, Giuliani ran for the Republican nomination in that primary race. In late April and May 2000, as Wikipedia describes it, "Giuliani's medical, romantic, marital, and political lives all collided in a tumultuous four-week period, culminating in his withdrawal from the race on May 19." He is 73 years old and his third wife filed for divorce about a month ago.
16
Why oh why do we persist in searching for method in the obvious madness of Donald Trump and those with whom he surrounds himself? A malignant narcissist such as Trump will always play to his over dimensioned ego and those who "work" for him are obliged to buy into a sort of internecine war, battling neighboring cubicles, to be more useful to his (or her) master than the others. Therefore postponing their own professional, or perhaps even legal, demise. Yes, Trump's new consigliere obviously thinks that the best defense is an aggressive offense and thus has dragged out and ejected the first skeleton that he could get his eager, sweating hands on in his employers' vast but elbow-to-elbow dressing room. "One less for the New York Times", I can hear him chortle. "The boss will soon realize I've got his ample back and that the Presidential Bacon is safe with me!" Ah, but what he will very soon be coming to grips with is that 45 allows no one to make an idiot of him, but of course he himself...
43
"Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil."
OK, this should qualify as Best Line of the Year.
Wasn't one of the reasons the Trump Squad hired Rudy was because he was supposed to be so good on TV? Whoops!
48
Yes! Best line ever. You beat me to it.
"Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil."
Can't. Stop. Laughing.
8
These guys are so bad at being mobsters, I doubt even the mobsters would claim them. Seeing Giuliani defending Trump, New York's Least Finest, although amusing in a keystone cops sort of way, well, it is simply revolting.
But here's what really gets me. Trump is a criminal! Just take one of his examples of criminality--the Trump University Scam in which he stole $35,000 a pop from his marks--this is called STEALING!
So, we have guys like Ted Cruz who literally fought tooth and nail to send a guy to jail for 16 years for stealing a stinking calculator, but everyone just lets Trump bluster his way into the Presidency, despite an obvious criminal past.
Maybe we ought to look at the Super-Extreme Hypocrisy Double Standard we have going on here? And, heck, Trump's not the only example. Seems like half the guys on Wall Street are criminals. As a nation, we have not just given into White Collar Criminals, we're being raped and pillaged by them. It's time for this to stop.
68
Hilarious and fact filled, Gail, but insinuating that his supporters might actually care that he is a rich guy with shady minions sprinkling hush money across the country? Nah.
31
Rudy's revenge: " Is this a dagger that I see before me...?". Well played, Rudy, well played!
14
You wonder why a man would be so eager to trash his place in history - after 9/11. Rudy just looks Trump foolish now, joining that crowd. Never mind how we remembered him in those tender days. We were just hoodwinked - the Trump trademark.
15
9-11 was September, 2001 (to state the obvious). Michael Bloomberg won the New York City mayoral election in November 2001. He took office January 1, 2002. Giuliani was the mayor for 3-1/2 months after the 9-11 attack. Bloomberg was the mayor for the next 12 years as the city pulled itself together and adjusted to "the new normal."
2
"Wow, Trump’s new lawyer talks just like him." Didn't think it was possible, but they are like two peas in a slimy pod.
34
Rudy is like the uncle who shows up at a family wedding and blurts that the bride is pregnant, the groom needs a green card, and the booze has been siphoned into classier bottles. Surprising to see him chosen as Apologizer-in-Chief to the Leader of the Free World.
35
Elect a clown, expect a circus.
917
Plenty of elephants in the old circus and we are left to follow them around cleaning up the mess.
36
I wish I'd said that!
22
And Rudy got the job as the 2nd Banana!
22
"Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil."
The line that made me laugh out loud. Exceeded only by Giuliani saying he'd get on his horse like a knight to defend Ivanka. LOL Oh, yes, Giuliani -- protector of women -- but only if they aren't his wife.
31
The Disaster Twins represent a new type of deep state, the deep state of idiocy.
27
Gail, please don't insult Cirque du Soleil that way.
20
Giuliani’s only problem was determining which set of lies to go with, or, alternatively, make up on the fly. What is factual is that Stormy was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about having consensual sex with DT. The rest, all of it, is splattered across the public record in a Hiluea fusillade of incongruous assertions.
Did the affair with Stormy happen? Who paid her off? Who, if anyone, repaid whoever paid her off? Did the repayer know he or she was repaying anything or was he or she merely making monthly installments just in case one or more porn stars had to be hushed? Was Stormy hushed because the election was nigh or because Melania is sensitive to allegations that her husband is a
letch? Did DT know about any of this and which version didn’t he know about?
And finally, why would an innocent person have more than one version of these events?
11
And where did the payoff money REALLY come from?
1
Gail, Giuliani's 'spectacular act of putting his foot in his mouth' reminds me of the late 1920s comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Giuliani is Stan Laurel the clumsy friend of Hardy. Oliver Hardy is Trump the pompous bully.
This scene opens with the famous tune, Dance of the Cuckoos and enters Giuliani on set of Fox News. He delivers the "surprise announcement — that Trump had reimbursed his lawyer Michael Cohen for that $130,000 porn star payoff"
Off camera, Trump is enraged, gets into the face of Giuliani and yells;
" Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into."
The frightening fact is that these two little men have the attention of a nation, most likely the entire world and you can't cancel the production this embarrassing and really bad movie.
14
With friends like Rudy, who needs enemies?
Could it be that Rudy, like Chris Cristie, just can't figure out why he wasn't offered a cabinet position...the Vice presidency...a Supreme Court position...the UN Ambassadorship?
If so, I guess we all know why now. He is an idiot.
But, really! Did Rudy torpedo the Administration, the Donald, on purpose? Was he so angry for being ignored for the first year of the Trump White House that he was willing to make a fool of himself in order to get even.
Hey, just guessing. But Rudy's behavior is so weird that all anyone can do is guess.
7
The thing is, I don't think any of this is going to create a blue wave in November. Most people are not paying attention, aside from the reality TV aspect. And this stuff consumes so much of the news that no one hears about the policies that are actually going to hurt people.
22
In Trumpland you're either a great guy, fabulous! Or else a disaster, a clueless troublemaker, a pathetic ingrate. A black hat or white hat, a saint or sinner. His is a cartoon world and Rudy's his Homer Simpson, his mirror image, his disaster twin, both safety inspectors at the nuclear plant.
16
"Rudy's his Homer Simpson, his mirror image, his disaster twin, both safety inspectors at the nuclear plant."
Whoops! The two of them blither and blather on despite the fact that there has been a nuclear meltdown at the plant! Didn't they hear the warning sirens? Nope. They are too busy basking in the glory of the sounds of their own voices.
3
America’s Mayor can’t be America’s Lawyer.
Hiring Rudy as your lawyer required Trump to get a bigger clown car.
3
To my fellow Americans,
Please do not be alarmed by the sudden and disturbing national prominence of certain blockheaded men from my hometown. Like Moe and Larry, they are only good at making threats, acting dumb in public and bashing each other insensible. For a while it seemed like the part of Curly would go to an unknown, but my guess is Bernard Kerik, or Bo Dietl or another New York bonehead will soon join the slapstick cast of characters in D.C. Someday we will look back and laugh at this primitive, period farce and try to remember what happened to Shemp.
17
So this presidency is a debacle? In terms of policy and the fundamental values of the Constitution most certainly. In terms of the rule of law absolutely. In terms of politics this is not at all, Trump is simply soaring in the polls. The GOP is better in every poll.
Soaring? That's quite an exaggeration.
2
Yes, Jonathan from Brooklyn , you nailed it with your succinct comment .
1
Trump clearly gets off on firing 'the best' people. I believe it's another aspect of New York-Roy Cohn-Roger Stone way of power and self aggrandizement. With the Very visible evidence in front of us, one would have to be an idiot to accept a Trump appointment. But then, it is Giuliani.
8
There isn't no other explanation - Rudy is trying to beat Scaramucci's record. And he's come out of the gate really hot!
22
Don and Rudy. Two men, six wives. Christian values, eh Pence?
38
Rudy and Don, a couple of ancient gasbag cranks threatening to self-combust from all the lies they tell - about paying for Don's porno hook-up of all things.
Look at that photo of Trump- you can almost hear the barnyard rooster. His body guard has hands like a couple of ham hocks.
America, the DaDa Years.
13
This is government by the Rat Pack.
8
" Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil. " Full marks! One of your best.
15
Giuliani - the Mooch II.
7
How's Mitt's dog taking all this.
16
Poor Rudy. He should have clarified with the White House which versions of the lies he was supposed to tell. Trump deserves him. America deserves neither.
43
One would think the lies would be posted on a huge, grand and beautiful white board for all to take their cues from.
3
No, America deserves them both. We let it happen.
Are “people of wealth “ different from “wealthy people”?
16
Their lack of discipline is astonishing.
11
“The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.” -- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote.
"Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am in agony in this fire." But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us." -- Luke 16:24-26.
11
Trump's Gallup Poll approval ratings went up last week to 42% from 38%, shocking as that might be. It is clear that his base is operating on an entirely different and unfathomable value system than the rest of us.
It should not surprise if despite these daily revisions of who paid what money from where and when and how to Ms. Clifford, Trump's approval next week was unaffected.
If smoking gun evidence of Trump's or Trump's campaign's conspiring with Russia to violate campaign laws is produced, that may cost him a couple of points. If smoking gun evidence of Trump's obstruction of justice is produced, that too may cost a couple of points.
However, if smoking gun evidence of treason or bribery is produced, because his base at heart considers themselves "good Americans" who serve in the military and respect the flag etc., that will cost Trump many points.
Is Trump's Russia connection about more than campaign violations? Does it rise to treason?
Has Trump effected policies or government actions based on payments directly to him or perhaps indirectly to him through his businesses that would constitute bribery?
If GOP Congressmen and Senators see Trump's approval ratings drop into the low 30's, that would be a message that their own seats could be in jeopardy if they continue to support him. Impeachment is ultimately a political act, certainly House members and Senators will consider the political consequences of their votes.
26
If close followers of the Daniels/Trump fiasco, readers and critical thinkers are sometimes confused by the deluge of (mis)information surrounding the players in this maelstrom, imagine those in "the base", many who neither watch news nor read newspapers.
1
Doubtful that treason would bother his base. A) they'd call the evidence false. B) if they couldn't label it as false (but, of course they always could -and would) they'd simply say his actions on behalf of Putin were really good for America regardless.
1
Well, Gail, Trump is, uh, on a rôle... the megalomaniacal mythomaniac president. Rudy is there to reinforce it.
It's all a tale told by a couple of idiots, but it so impresses Trump's followers.
I like Trump's rationalization for Giuliani, "...he just started a day ago," as if Giuliani were a young kid that he brought on board for on-the-job training. Never mind that Giuliani is, or was, a lawyer and prosecutor. "Right, I gotta teach him the facts of my situation," implied Trump.
As for the marriages and infidelities, not to worry. Trump has received special dispensation from the evangelical Christian movement. Reed, Graham, Falwell and Perkins all endorse Trump's behavior. Evoking Goldwater, we could say, "Marital infidelity in the defense of Gorsuch on the Supreme Court is no vice."
And it's Melania, like others around him, that takes Trump's insults, as you mention. Giuliani is there at Fox offering disingenuous sympathy for her, "We wanted to keep the little lady out of it." The funny thing is that Rudy, the legal expert, elided over any distinction between Trump the candidate and Trump the, uh, "personally responsible husband". When Trump was a candidate, he was a candidate. And Trump's infidelity removes the responsibility argument.
In the end, even the Trump followers get insulted. When Trump said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and they'd still vote for him, that was an insult to their intelligence. But they are too dumb to know that.
112
I am always amazed by narcissists who believe that people who cheat on their own spouses won’t cheat them.
8
Pretty soon Trump will bring "the Mooch" back -- wait and see. He was on CNN peddling the Trump line in an interview by Cuomo.
Think about that: Trump, Giuliani and the Mooch: the three stooges ... nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
And then as to Ivanka ... and Jared. Mueller made his name with the ENRON prosecutions ... remember that not only did he put Fastow in jail, he put his wife (Lea Weingarten) in jail too. She had been asst treasurer at ENRON, involved in the frauds, but her simplest and most easily prosecuted crime were their fraudulent tax returns.
If Jared goes down on money laundering or tax fraud Ivanka might well go down with him. And this would likely be the federal Southern District Court of NY or even NY-OAG. Ivanka would not like the food or the style at Albion or Bedford Hills.
47
I used to do gag writing for magazine cartoonists. After Giuliani's comments about Trump's son-in-law being 'disposable,' I thought to myself, 'I've heard Michael Cohen say he'd take a bullet for Donald. I've never heard any such claim from Jared Kushner,' and I thought of this 'toon:
Single panel: Happy Robert Mueller, showing a huge bag labelled 'Evidence' to a smiling Rod Rosenstein.
(I'm sure you've figured out the) caption:
"I got it from Jared!"
40
Rudy and Donny, both members of the three wives club. Personally, I can't understand how they got even ONE. But, that's just me.
128
"We'll have the best people."
38
What if Rudy was sent out as a prism to refract the light? Maybe a huge disco ball to spread the glare on Trump into a thousand little squares of colored lights for the house cat journalists to chase around the room?
Trump's statements as he was leaving for his NRA speech was yet another magician rim-shot as he pulled nothing but air out of his hat. Trump said that Rudy "Didn't get his facts straight"....and then turned and walked away. So.......did it ever occur to anyone at Trump's helicopter press briefing that the guy who knows the full and complete story stood in front of them and deflected? That's like the centerfielder on a baseball team criticizing the right fielder for allowing runs to score while the fly ball bounces off the centerfielder's head.
31
We're living out a Kurt Vonnegut novel folks. So it goes.
John~
American Net'Zen
36
This whole era is vonngegutian. This Is “Breakfast of Champions “ come to life. And so it goes.
2
These people have turned our White House into exactly what djt called certain third-world countries awhile back. What a sorry mess! Watch any episode of “The West Wing” and weep.
36
Giuliani may have passed his "sell by" date but isn't it so Times-ian to mention only that he had set up a command center at Ground Zero --as if this defined his role on 9-11?
I, for one, will be forever grateful to Mr. Giuliani for "carrying" the city through the nightmare of that day. He did so with great strength and character and with nary a wrong word. This, after being an on-site witness to many souls who jumped to their deaths from the World Trade Center.
Go ahead, try and make a clown out of this man.
Good luck.
7
The NY Times doesn’t need to make Rudy Giuliani a clown, as he can do that all by himself.
27
He’s making a fool out of himself. No help needed.
7
He talked like a human being for a few days in contrast wth his usual cold crass bullying manner. A manner which resurfaced at the Republican Convention and even in his remark to Hannity about how men are "disposable". His stubborn and dangerous decision, contrary to security experts' advice, to put the command center in the very place most likely ro be attacked is justly held against him. Talking like a human being for a few days-- well, many better men could have done that and better.
8
It's interesting how the republican party has thrown out all sense of their commitment to democracy (if they ever really had it at all) in order to protect a man who seems to have carried out some level of criminal behavior. If Trump is not guilty of something then he has nothing to lose. I can't tell you how many times I have heard conservatives say, in defense of stop and search activities of the police, that if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear. I only wish they would apply that to this president and insist that the Mueller probe continue. If they do not then I'm afraid we all will have something to fear - the republican party.
79
Here's the problem. What does a narcissist want to see when others represent him on TV? Himself. This is just another attempt by someone to give Trump what he wants: a mirror reflection. And when whoever it is can't lie like Trump, can't insult others like Trump, can't deflect the blame like Trump, they become instantaneously useless. Trump is like a fisherman. He casts his line and reels in his catch only to find the fish on the line is much smaller than he expected. That's probably because the bait he uses is not really palatable to the fish. And he doesn't even have the decency to remove the hook before he releases the catch that doesn't meet his standards.
27
Oh, this IS excellent matter—these fine observations set down with such restrained irony by the New York Times’ shrewdest and most straightforward judge of barely-human character.
And, indeed, why should Ms. Collins stretch for a simile or reach for a metaphor when she’s now free to comment on the incomparable Rudy the Riotous, still fresh from the I-saved-the-capital-of-the-world-on-9/11 security consultant circuit?
What amazes me is that Rudy has so quickly found his feet among the other Trumplings, the guys and gals who had settled into such a rich routine with minimal coaching from their otherwise-occupied maximum leader.
Talk about dancing with the stars. Rudy swept onto the dance floor and immediately stole the spotlight, even from the calamitous leprechaun Sean. (No, not Mr. Hannity. I refer to an obscure little legend who once fought with fortitude while frolicking freely in the Celtic twilight.)
Ms. Collins should, I believe, be named a mobile world heritage site for her unique ability to place our Lord of Misrule’s absurdity in its most telling context. While so many others have been shipwrecked in this role, the Wise Woman of the Times somehow manages to thrive.
42
This:
Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil.
has to be the quote of the day.
60
I agree. Ms. Collins’ quote about feet in mouth as a circus-worthy act wins the internet today.
Don and Rudy together. They deserve each other. America doesn’t deserve them. We deserve better.
32
Tell that to those who voted them in.
1
Loved the Ivanka ending. It goes with the Mika Brezinski (sp?) Tweet about Sarah Huckaby Sanders being a mother and somehow not deserving of the comic scorn for her lies and eye shadow at the WH Correspondents dinner. Really? Today? Daughter, wife, mother, feminine adjective and pronoun is a get out of jail free card? Cirque de Soleil is priceless.
34
You can write clever, amusing columns and display your disdain. Maybe it makes us all feel better but Trump’s supporters don’t care about any of this. They love having the lefties in a tizzy. The economy is chugging along for the time being even if it’s no thanks to Trump. When it tanks things may change. As for Melania, she knew what she signed up for. It’s hard to care about people who will never miss a meal ever in life.
417
Plenty of Americans will miss a meal though. Do you care about them? Or is the economy chugging along well enough for you to forget about the plight of others?
45
The lefties aren’t “in a tizzy.” That Trump’s “supporters”—an imagined group, just like the “lefties”—supposedly think they are speaks more to your thinking than the actual state of public opinion.
28
“Rudy is a great guy, but he just started a day ago,” Trump says. “He’ll get his facts straight.” (Is Trump writing for The Late Show?)
22
Scaramucci 2.0
14
My thoughts exactly. Although he will outlast the Mooch... maybe.
Sometimes, reading and posting on these comment boards, it feels like we're sitting in a circle, impressing one another with how well we can express the outrageousness and unacceptability of this presidency. (And trump makes it easy... maybe intentionally). Meanwhile he continues to work his lies along the channels that reach all of his supporters. Even the likes of the New York Times is a channel for Donald Trump, because it tries to report fully and fairly. Is Fox News or Breitbart a channel for Gail Collins? Remember when trump captured the world's attention with his deceitful, racist "birther" campaign? Where's the voice, now, with equivalent volume and reach but speaking the truth, such as we read in excellent columns like this one? And absent that world-sized voice, what can an individual despairing American do, beyond (PLEASE!!!) casting a vote on November 6, to help return Congress to Democratic control? Because that's the only practical way to protect justice, truth and plain old decency from being totally obliterated by the trumpian muck.
37
I just keep thinking: dustbin of history. Please, someone, just dump all this in there.
But that someone needs to be us. And it starts now, and it never ends.
23
Rudy and Don put their heads together and came up with a plan to make the whole thing with "the Stormy Daniels woman" go away. Their combined cerebral firepower practically ensured that the scheme was foolproof. Mueller would be stymied. Adam Shiff would apologize for doubting Trump's veracity. Well, they almost pulled it off! Everything was going "very smoothly" until the moment words started coming out of Rudy's mouth.
10
Yes, we should remember that the Mayor allowed, if not required, first responders to work on the pile without protective gear. With a republican governor, president, and EPA administrator also on board. Remember Whitman said the air was safe?
Now they are dying.
35
The Giuliani situation is so absurd, so incredibly ridiculous that even Gail can't make it seem funny.
9
When I set out my recyclables (metal, cardboard, paper, glass and plastic), I'm told they will be reused and turned into something new and useful.
When we recycle old politicians (Rudy is the latest), we never do get anything new or useful. We just get the same old egos determined to get in the way and make a mess.
36
I remember a short story by Isak Dinesen about 6 people in a boat seeking escape from a flood. They come upon a house with people on the roof top they all agree are more in need of rescue than themselves. So they switch places and go inside the attic, sit around and share stories, hoping the flood waters will not enter the attic. When disaster is immanent what is our preferred response? Here in Ohio, with the primary election coming Tuesday, 25% of the Republicans express no choice. 40% of the Democrats feel the same way about their choices. While the threats to our democracy continue to rise and erode basic ethical values and norms, is all we can do is sit in story sharing circles in the attic? Is the prevailing feeling in the country that the destruction of our democracy cannot happen here? Has 45 successfully replicated Emperor Nero's dictum of pacifying the public with bread and circuses? Gail, your comic description of the "Don and Rudy Show" illustrates how outlandish and frightening their act is to the country, but I am not confident this show will close soon. There are too many paid subscribers who will keep the show going.
46
These days, the resemblance between a furrowed Robert Mueller and a furrowed Clint Eastwood becomes difficult to ignore. I like to imagine Mueller in private, in a worn leather easy chair, watching Giuliani and Donald Trump blunder over and around each other on Fox News. Mueller leans back, stretches. He sighs: “Go ahead, make my day.”
70
“He’ll get his facts straight.”
Rudy needs to step up his level of lying to sync up with Trump, and he needs to do it quickly.
27
Trump and Rudy. Dumb and Dumber. Now starring in the "Do Over" media tour, where what you say one day can easily be done over by what you say you meant or said another day. The reason his base doesn't care is because they think there is a vast media conspiracy to take down Trump. There is also a vast Justice Department conspiracy to take down Trump even though the department is run by his hand-picked appointees. If you believe that there is a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. Oh wait, there are already 40 million buyers. Sad!
32
Trump and Giuliani are two old men who deserve each other. Their ramblings to excuse their behavior make my head spin.
47
Bill Maher put it in a great way:
This is season two of "The Apprentice"-- White House edition.
38
“Donald Trump has a genius for picking the worst possible person for any job. These days, the nation hears the words “You’re hired,” and it trembles.”
No greater truth has ever been written.
Thank you Gail for a masterful column.
47
Trump and Rudy deserve each other. All these characters / players are deviously stupid
Congress just twiddles, and the media is a money machine.
Who is really in charge?
4
"I know it was you, Rudy. You broke my heart."
-- from script in progress for "The Godfather: Part IV"
16
Dotconnector, let us know when this one is released. Such a rich subject.
3
You simply continue being a wonderfully entertaining columnist, Gail Collins. Sometimes your columns are droll humor, sometime tongue-in-cheek, sometimes hysterical comedy. This one is probably going to remain my favorite for a long, long while.
25
The Trump "base" doesn't read the NY Times, and even so, the base could care less about any of this. They revel in Trump's "baseness" and the more sordid, the better. Trump went to the NRA yesterday for its "convention" which undoubtedly included a fair amount of his base. He repeated the same utter nonsense he's been espousing for close to 3 years and they loved him. He is encased in a "base" cocoon of Fox and Friends and the no-nothings that simply won't leave him. Rudy will be gone soon enough. Enter....Chris Christie?
28
It is likely the Trump pre - nup - more than Melania’s “feelings” - is behind Don the Con’s concern about harming his wife’s reputation.
Loss of money , custody of Barron and another divorce are not exactly helpful for Trump’s plan to win again in 2020.
18
Exactly! You know he doesn’t care about having affairs, he wears them like a badge of honor. The only thing he cares about is money, so if the pre-nup has a “fidelity“ clause, Melania gets half of everything. I hope she’s already quietly retained the best divorce lawyer she can find.
1
I would be surprised if anything in a pre-nup of a Trump marriage contained any clauses at all placing responsibility on djt for anything at all. I bet they are always all one way.
1
Thanks for helping me laugh about all this terrible news, Gail Collins. I don't know how I would manage my heartbreak for my country otherwise.
However, the increasing tribalization of this nation terrifies me. How can we make sure that comedy and satire don't end up making those divides ever greater?
10
I think the only place to solve this is at the local and state levels. There needs to be a connection between politicians and the life of the citizens. Something about the media (of all sorts) these days inflates abstract assertions over local, everyday material reality. Communities need to start investing in their own well-being. Or as Fintan O'Toole said here in Ireland, "Stop electing gobshites."
5
As long as comedy is nice, not mean, it's okay. The reason DT still have those 40% is that they enjoy the comedy too.
They know he's a crook, that's part of the fun, watching our agony.
They are in fact visiting enemy territory, this very NYT-site.
So let the humor flow, as long as there is is something they can learn from it and there is...
Ms Collins, I enjoy your columns--almost always do. Have we not,however, reached a point now where there is nothing more to say about America's most disastrous president? Unless you are willing to say the unthinkable: that he may be America's last president.
9
> Giuliani’s ability to put his foot in his mouth is so spectacular, you kind of expect him to be recruited by Cirque du Soleil.
IMHO one of the funniest lines ever!
19
In fact, he is a “very stable genius” when it comes to picking the absolute worst person for a job. The stability and consistency of his genius in this regard is without peer.
11
Trump forgot he's on video exactly a month ago from Air Force One claiming he knew nothing about Cohen paying the porn star. We might need some cognitive testing by a real physician. (Not doctors letting Trump dictate the findings.)
It's a Trump-nominated U.S. attorney in Manhattan handling the Cohen case. So much for Trump blaming Democrats and the "deep state." Giuliani just said Cohen resolved 'other problems' for Trump.
Stormy Daniels' lawyer has evidence of emails on the Cohen pay off. And worse yet, public records show Cohen got huge loans during the 2016 campaign to "fix problems" for candidate Trump.
How many more scandals could a man of advanced age have? Trump's advisor Steve Bannon has said there were hundreds of women paid off! Republicans need to address this hailstorm and stop hiding away. Vote them all out.
31
Trump and his hard-core of supporters are indeed deplorables. I just wish they were honest as well, willing to say something like: "Donald Trump is a liar and grifter but he is OUR liar and grifter and that is all that matters."
10
I agree Gail. Come on , Ivanka, take one for the team. If there is one person Trump loves besides himself, it's his daughter/wife Ivanka.
8
I think the comparison is maybe a little weak. Once upon a time, Rudy actually was an exceptional prosecutor -he took down Milken- and though his broken windows/stop and frisk approach to cleaning up NYC made liberals cringe, he does deserve some credit for the city's rebound. He was a legit law and order guy, but then he got a taste of fame with Sep 11, and the last 15 years seem to have added senility more than wisdom...
13
“He’ll get his facts straight.”
In other words, Rudy hasn't yet learned the version of reality that Trump operates under... a reality that shifts on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. Once he accepts that version of reality, of course, he can do no good in the real world, which will aggravate Trump, who will fire Rudy, and move on to the next fool who thinks that logic, intelligence and competency have a role to plaly on Planet Trump. (Which is not to say that Planet Rudy orbits any closer to reality.)
Rudy should ask General Kelley how things are going to play out in Trump's through-the-lookng-glass White House.
9
Chris Christie is a lawyer. He's looking for a roll (unless there is a doughnut available). Although a Republican, he has shown an ability to get on with Democrats. He's from NJ where Trump located casinos. There has never been any doubt about Christie's integrity and loyalty. Please Mr President hire Christie; and once he's got you out of the Hurricane Stormy affair (after all he handled Hurricane Sandy well) you could put him in charge of the infrastructure effort - I understand that he has useful bridge experience.
57
Abott & Costello, but as tragedy.
50
"Who's on first?"
2
Ironic and pathetic that the ones Trump humiliated in the beginning of his presidency by not giving them promised jobs, men like Cohen and Giuliani, have been called on to mop of his messes. Even more pathetic is that they actually do his bidding. These men have zero morality and no concern for what is best for the American people.Perhaps this will teach the left base that they need to be strong and united against the ignorant tryannic right in the coming elections. Also interesting that after initial handwringing about Michelle Wolf's speech at the White House Correspondence Dinner, the WH press corps is beginning to lean in SHS. It takes a woman comic to speak truth to power, get flack and then create small movement of courage in the press. Vote in November!
56
Also ironic and pathetic is the the neediness exhibited by both men, to be relevant again.
17
"Donald Trump has a genius for picking the worst possible people for any job". Brilliant lead-in quote, thank you.
30
Gail Collins, I love you. Your inimitable talent to mine humor in the darkest of situations is a gift to us all. Please keep it comin’!
52
I tell friends constantly that we must be living in a poorly-written political satire. But it seems this satire gets less funny and more existential with each passing day.
45
Anyone with the heart to still call America "exceptional?"
1
We thought we were getting poorly written satire, but instead we got Kafka!
1
I just don’t get it. It’s like we’re all trapped in this horrible reality show, where the writers keep circulating ever more outrageous and despicable characters. Exiting one scoundrel to bring in a new, even more unbelievably greedy, corrupt, and undignified. Not to mention inarticulate and incapable of telling the truth.
I feel like I’m in the audience, and should hiss and boo at this endless stream of Snidely Whiplashes. Except that this is no play, and the damage being done is tragedy, not melodrama. Heaven help us.
67
God helps them who helps themselves. It is our responsibility who do not support this sideshow to flip the Congress using any and all of our abilities... whether it's time, money, influence. Support possible flips in areas anywhere in the country. When a Republican national leader has to be on his deathbed to state he can now vote his conscience, we are obligated to join this battle.
6
It's always encouraging to read the astute comments in the NYTimes in response to truthful columns like this one. But one look at Trump's approval rating, where more than forty per cent of Americans continue to support him, puts a pin in the bubble of optimism that we'll soon be rid of this lying, cheating, dangerous buffoon. The combination of his loyal supporters, a complicit and evil Congressional majority, apathetic non-voting citizens, and gerrymandering, makes for a treacherous recipe in November. We must vote out the entire lot of them in order to save our democracy and our sanity, both of which have become woefully vulnerable over the past sixteen months.
92
From where I sit it would be absolutely delicious if Trump's lies were exposed by Giuliani's lies about them.
Whoever said irony is dead clearly was not paying attention.
31
We were there. We saw it happen. We put them both where they could pull the temples down.
16
Ivanka, a feminist? Not on her best day. But of course Gail was oozing with sarcasm on that zinger. Jared "a fine man". How about a good office boy. When he said "get on my charger" I thought he meant his battery charger, not his noble steed. This shows that people like Rudy really one trick ponies. The rest was spending the favor bank money. The is just a tawdry, sordid affair that if played out in New York would be par for the course. Unfortunately it affects us all.
19
"O.K., Trump base, how does that hit you?" When Trump is invalidated, his base is invalidated, so they will never invalidate him. No matter what a fraud he turns out to be in their eyes... it will never turn out that way in their minds.
43
Sadly, some of his base isn't all that base. I have a friend who is whip-smart, educated, owns his own business, is an honest and decent man, and voted for Trump. He said he'd do it again in a flash. Why? Hillary Clinton.
Hatred is mankind's most powerful emotion.
1
Can some lawyer please tell us, is moral turpitude grounds for impeachment? If so, there is a very strong case to be made. It explains the entirety of the DT.
13
"do you want a president who thinks of himself as a member of the untouchable elite". Well, Gail, actually, many Americans obviously DO want a President like this because: We have one like that.
26
Some very excellent lines in this column. Now for the "We can rationalize our lack of ethics better than you can", twins.
Pterodactyls of a feather insult our sensibilities together!
Somehow, someway I still think this is all deflection. The more serious stuff like his allying himself with the Russians, to win at all costs seems to fade into the background, when Stormy takes center stage. His popularity with females falls a few percent, but a rise in the good ole boys, poll suggests a wash. 130K to them is just an outing at Mar-a-Lago. Of course the tax payers, (not him) pay the tab.
These characters are shrewd. Not bird brains, just insatiable, and to most of us, unpalatable dinosaurs.
16
There’s a difference between being wily and being smart. So far, wily is winning, but as the coyote knows, it can’t last forever.
1
Is there still a Republican party around somewhere in the USA? Altough I must admit I do enjoy mr. Trump's daily performance as the new Mr. Hardy, and now with mr. Giuliani as the new found Mr. Laurel it really becomes hilarious. But I cannot imagine any serious Republican might possibly think his or her 's conservative message is well represented by these fine artists.
Chop, chop, mr. Ryan, mr. mcConnell, for your own sake & America's, the whole world is having fun, but now it's time to end this performance.
12
This article proves that Trump is an elitist; a slur his supporters would not recognize as salient in Trump, although in a reporter living hand to mouth, it's a meaningful insult.
One reason is that his supporters would not read this article.
4
Can we please redefine the term elitist? How about calling someone an elitist who understands that one's place of privilege obligates one to care for and raise up those who are less fortunate?
5
You’re right, DJT supporters never read the NYT or WASH POST for fear of having their dreams shattered - Hannity’s interview must have shocked them, as it did DJT.
6
Did someone say "send in the clowns"?
This pairing of the 2 loudest, most vulgar and inept New Yorkers will not end well. (Think Marin & Lewis or Abbot & Costello.)
Remember that as in all old vaudeville acts there can only be one 'Top Banana'. Somehow though there is method to this true madness in that it keeps throwing out curve balls and keeps the audience tuning in for more.
Giuliani is a now aged, deranged has-been who defiantly moved Security Headquarters in the WTC AFTER at least one bombing already in 1993. A real genius, as spiteful as tRump, maybe more so.Rudy is famous for taking a hatchet to political opponents or critics( Bess Myerson, Mayor Koch) and promoting Police Brutality on his watch. His alleged 'heroism" after 9/11 is more mythical,like a fairy tale since his primary function was escorting VIPs through the ruins.
The only person missing from this 3rd rate act is Chris Christie of "Bridgegate" fame. Now that would make a really perfect legal team for DJT.
24
With the hiring of Giuliani, Trump has finally revealed his legal and management strategy. He picks only the most glaringly inept, corrupt, subservient individuals (Think Pruitt, DeVos, Carson, Etc.) to work under his guidance, thereby creating a series of targets for the public and press to attack while Trump himself dances his merry dance away. It is all about flack and distraction while he goes about his business. His business, by the way, is not about making America great again. It is all about making himself and his friends more wealthy. That is a simple game that Trump knows well, and now he and his friends are making all the rules. How could he lose?
36
Perhaps Trump hired Rudy so that he could later say he didn't have a 'good enough' lawyer and a judge will throw out any case against him.
2
I think I'm finally beginning to figure out the Trump strategy: Create so many conflicting and contradictory narratives about so many different things at once that the public will just stop caring. It just won't make any difference whether he is impeached, roasted on a spit, or reelected. It might work.
20
Thank you for calling out Rudy for failing to enforce environmental hazard protection gear in the 9/11 pile workers. I remember yelling at the TV that those workers would get sick.
21
Gail Collins is right that the track record of Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani in marriages and in hiring people is terrible. They deserve each other.
Giuliani, “America’s Mayor” after 9/11, made millions and started Giuliani Partners – presumably teaching leaders in other cities not to make the same mistakes he did.
Remember Bernie Kerik, the young New York Police Commissioner and keeper of the Tombs corrections facility? Kerik and Rudy Giuliani were close, and Kerik was considered such a hero that George W. Bush nominated him to head Homeland Security.
Kerik had to withdraw because of a nanny problem, and the White House vetting process led to other disclosures. Bernie ended up serving three years in prison for tax fraud and false statements.
In retrospect, Kerik probably was not represented well by counsel. The lawyer was not Rudy Giuliani, but it is ironic that Trump seems to have trouble with his attorneys, including Giuliani -- Bernie Kerik’s erstwhile mentor.
New York, New York. What a small world.
7
When we were in school back in the day, before public education fell apart, we were taught the ringing slogans of our founding history. Heck, we even memorized the Gettysburg Address, all about a new nation conceived in liberty.
Now we have a stink pot of catch phrases and branding slogans we can't get out of our minds. From I am not a crook, to I didn't have sex with that woman, to Men are disposable, Women are sacred, Deficits don't matter, Lock her up, Build that wall, and No collusion, no collusion, no collusion.
People who speak well and think clearly, apparently, don't love our country, according to the bard of babble, the twit of tweet.
It's time for we snooty elites to take back our country. There's no shame in being rational, nor about speaking in trenchant, rational prose.
81
Thank you! Could we have some pride again in reading, being informed, caring about our community?
21
The question isn’t when did Trump know about the payment, but did he ever NOT know?
It’s ridiculous to think he didn’t. I would imagine that he obsessed on it every single day until Cohen finally paid Ms Clifford and did they ever consider the consequences?
For all we know, trump paid Cohen in cash. They might have thought it through enough not to leave a paper trail.
9
I truly can't decide whether to laugh or cry. What a disaster this Presidency is and each time I think it can't get worse - it does.
16
Trump needed a friend in the White House. Someone his own age, from his old neighborhood. Giuliani needed a new gig and this seemed like fun.
I doubt either man thought this through.
18
Funny...if not so terrifying. Slipping slowly drip by drip into the Handmaid's Tale, but it's real life.
12
Trump's administration has killed political comedy. Comedy is taking reality to it's logical extreme (Monty Python). But if there is no logic whatsoever, and it is real and happening, how can this be comedic?
4
I’m pretty sure that if I ever had made the colossal mistake of sleeping with D Trump, I’d be paying HIM hush money so that nobody ever found out my utter lack of standards.
30
Thanks,Gail! You make me laugh out loud often while reading your column. It reassures me in my humanity in these seemingly merciless times. Again, thank you for the respite!
10
"O.K., Trump base, how does that hit you? ...do you want a president who thinks of himself as a member of the untouchable elite — folks who’ve got their own faithful retainers trotting at their heels, tossing out money to make unpleasant things like cranky ex-lovers go away?"
I am not a Trump base member but I do a pretty good simulation, thanks to friends and family who are. And that simulation says: As long as this incredibly-rich, elite guy is on my side, you bet I want him as president!
So there you are. As one of my sweetest, favorite cousins said, "I don't care about facts" and as one of my sweetest, funniest high school friends said, "As long as he's really pro-life I can't believe all that bad stuff people say about him." Willful denial of substance in favor of appearance is a game that any side can play. And wanting a powerful, benevolent patron to come in and take care of it all is a temptation that many non-Trump-supporters can relate to.
I think it's a matter of knowing what is your price, and then making sure nobody--including yourself--can exploit it to manipulate you to your detriment and that of others. Which requires a level of self-awareness that our society tends to actively discourage us from developing. The good news is that we can choose develop it as individuals. I don't take lousy societal standards as an excuse for my own behavior, once I can see it, but I'd be the first to say it's a lot of work.
406
Won't your friends and family be shocked when, in the end, they discover Trump is only on his own side?
I know, probably not. They would have to become conscious to realize it.
54
Excellent, thoughtful comment, thank you.
'Who care?' and 'what are you going to do about?' are two other leitmotivs of Trump supporters. Truth, decency and fairness are secondary considerations to these people. Get used to it.
30
Fortunately, our political system is designed to limit simple selfishness by the elected as well as the electorate. We remain a rule of law country which safeguards the play of conflicting interests and values. Trump is trying his best to destroy this system, but his own ineptitude makes this unlikely.
That said, I shudder to think what could happen if Trump were cunning. The Trump Administration is one of the better arguments for more limited Presidential power.
38
The Trudy defense is really quite simple. Yes, if the payment was made primarily to hush up a scandal right before the election, then it would be a violation of campaign finance law, for sure.
BUT ... if the payment was just 'business as usual', say, one of several that Trump made over the years, then one could credibly argue that the primary purpose of the payment was to, uh, spare his dear wife pain.
So all we need to know now is how many of these payments have been made and to whom.
Simple, really.
16
It's all just an ingenious plot to make the best sitcom ever.
12
If "Rudy is a great guy" who has "just started [on the job] a day ago," just think of the havoc he can wreak in one short week. In one month? A nuclear attack on Iran will seem like a picnic at the beach by comparison.
In 2008, Rudy proved himself capable of blowing his own presidential campaign out of the water; imagine what he can do to somebody else's presidency? But imagine no more; he's already doing it.
21
Please do not forget the injustice perpetrated on the Central Park 5 during the 90s, led by that "Wilding Team Wolfpack" - Trump and Giuliani.
Trump took out full page ads in the newspapers, calling for the death penalty for them, although they had not yet been tried. Years later, after spending more than a decade in prison they were exonerated as the real criminal confessed.
Neither Trump nor Giuliani has even had to pay for what they did to these 5 men, smearing their characters, and changing the course of their lives . Neither has apologized.
You can watch the documentary Ken Burns did on the case, if this is news to you.
170
Dear Ellen, many thanks. I had forgotten about this and will gladly watch the documentary. How dreadful for those men. They deserve reparations. We the people....
9
It does not matter! Just to ponder, if the Hollywood Tapes did not keep Trump from succeeding in the election, why would the exposure of his relationship with Stormy?
Trump's ethics do not matter to his voters, then or now. Why would he not be elected again?
As Kurt Vonnegut would say, "So it goes."
44
Kurt Vonnegut would have loved the Trump administration, especially when realizing that real life could eclipse any absurdity that he could ever create in his own deliciously florid imagination.
5
All nihilists want to see is bonfires.
1
Trump’s base?
Something like 24% of the US electorate voted for Trump. It’s pointless to try to appeal to them.
But over 50% of the electorate could’t, or didn’t, vote. If you want to know the will of the American people you need to hear from them on Election Day.
434
We have one of the worst records in voter turnout on the list of nations where the voting process itself is too easy unless, in some stated, you’re not the kind of voter the INs are looking for.
In the last major election, a single digit percentage of black voters voted with their feet, due to either lack of interest or malicious machine calls which directed voters in some districts to “new” non-existent polling places.
Election results are also being skewed by two bad trends: first allowing people who cannot be bothered to go to vote, though fully able to do so and present in their districts on Election Day to vote weeks ahead of time, though this prevents early voters from changing their minds because of late evidence of fraud or criminal checks started or stopped against someone on the ballot.
The second is apparent Supreme Court agreement with several states demanding voters produce state photo ID, due to the expensive pre- and post- election FALSE GOP claims that busloads of either college students or undocumented aliens crossing all sorts of state lines so multiple vote could be cast - no such vehicles were ever found.
A pathetic example was made out of ONE legal permanent US resident who had voted for years because of a misunderstanding by a working, taxpaying person on who had what rights Instead of declaring her a dedicated patriotic, if misguided American, the judge imposed maximum prison time calling her a threat to the honesty of the system.
22
This really is the ultimate reality TV. The Trudy Show (to borrow from a commenter.)
Please, when will the ratings drop so we can move on with our lives? I'm afraid we've all become a bit addicted to the soap opera that is this presidency. Too bad the effects are real and lasting.
117
My poor Aunt Trudy, rest her soul, is spinning in her grave.
2
You mean the Truman Show?
1
"O.K., Trump base...do you want a president who thinks of himself as a member of the untouchable elite...?" I have a hunch it doesn't matter what he thinks of himself or what they think of him - they'll support him in any case. I think I now understand that he has become an abstract concept for his "base" (and perhaps he actually made that happen). What's important to Trump supporters, I'd like to suggest, isn't Donald Trump but their attachment to him, defiant, in the face of a tremendous opposing view. It enables people to feel empowered in a world where so much makes them feel embittered. To his supporters, he feels like the anti-[whatever it is that gets them down and that they can't control]. Of course, he isn't really the antidote to anything, just a pure self-aggrandizer. But that's not only beside the point - acknowledging it would undermine the fantasy.
379
Very insightful. Well said, sir.
16
Excellent!...most of DJT’s support comes from those who like him sticking it to the “elite” - ya know, those who can string words together to make coherent sentences...It makes them feel like he’s one of them.
19
As some wise person once observed, it's much easier to fool people than to convince them they've been fooled.
There also those who will simply never admit they made a bad choice.
22
You gotta be quite a 'lawyer', to go on camera, make a comment (that you absolutely know is going to throw the media and public into a tizzy), and then somehow have made that comment 'without really knowing all the facts' and 'being a bit confused' (or however it was that Trump tried to explain away that mess of an interview).
I can't believe we have another three years to go??? And to think that some (even Liberals?!) are even talking about the possibility of his being RE-elected?? What a strange, strange world we live in right now.
185
Trump trumped himself thinking that Rudy is a the one lawyer that has his back and would lie for him. And he did except it backfired. Trump went straight from his penthouse to the basement.Non stop.
The best man or woman for the job is not part of Trump's decision. It boils down to who can prevaricate for him. Ironically these two are joined at the hip. Each one is a narcissist. They both lose. Giuliani will be pressured to leave. And Trump will resign partially due to uncle Rudy's ego. The only lawyers left are the ones on tv here in L.A. I recommend Larry H.Parker. His tv pitch is he will fight for you. And then he has a client say, "Larry H. Parker got me two million." And as the camera pulls back we see he is speaking from prison.
41
Better call Saul.
No politicians can last after making so many mistakes. He'll be gone soon.
31
You forget that he redefined politics in a manner no one ever thought possible.
I hope, but not until the 2018 election is over and Congress turns blue, and we figure out now to get rid of Pence.
4
And then we have Pence, a religious zealot whose view of proper governance for the US seems more like it came from The Handmaiden's Tale than the Constitution.
Get out and vote!
2
It's time folks reassess what we have in Washington. With the comedy of errors among Trump's staff and his legal problems, policy decisions have been put on hold. When your office is in disarray, you can't do much to shape the country or the world. Moreover, Trump's priorities have seldom been anyone else's. No one wants the wall. His trade policy is bizarre. And Obamacare survives. True, there have been important changes in climate and immigration policy. But Trump isn't an important environmental decision maker and much of his immigration policy has been thwarted by the courts .
Put all this together and please drop the claim that Trump is an evil dictator. Dictators are in charge. Trump exercises little power. The man has become pretty much a figurehead, a political symbol that Republicans cling to in order to pretend they are strong and defiant. Trump's agenda is mostly empty. And most of his 2016 supporters, who were often just voting against Clinton, still dislike the Democrats. Trump is the lightning rod for those folks, a symbol of their defiance. So stop treating Trump as the personification of all that's wrong and evil. By obsessing on the nobody that Trump has become Democrats are all too committed to an anti-Trump agenda. But the upcoming elections will be won with a positive message and by selling hope and change. How could Democrats forget so soon?
44
I've had thoughts along the same lines as your comment.
With control of both houses of Congress, Trump's legislative victory tally is extremely short. Basically, he signed Paul Ryan's tax cut into law, and as time goes by, most voters are realizing there isn't a lot to be thrilled about with the changes.
Trump's inability to stay focused has been a blessing, considering the damage he could have inflicted with Republicans able to pass just about anything they desire.
In six months, the G-O-P loses the House and Trump will be extremely limited as to what he could hope for in legislation.
The G-O-P are going to look back at Trump's first two years and realize what an opportunity they squandered. God willing, they will never control both houses and the White House for decades to come.
37
You make some very salient points.
However, Trump did sign the genuinely awful tax package the Congressional Grand Old Psychopaths passed and did gut Obamacare. And he put the troglodyte Justice Stolen Seat on the Supreme Court. His 'reign' would be hilarious except that every day he is in office he and the Republicans inflict direct, deliberate harm on millions of Americans. Their wilful denial of science and reality threaten billions more around the world and the planet itself.
That so many who are being hurt the most are in his cult and fervently praise him to the point of near-worship is a human tragedy. He and the cabal (the Republican Party) that supports and enables him are laughing at their supporters even as they grind them into the dust.
Yes, the Democratic Party needs to be a party of principle and ideas. But just being the opposition is a start, because rarely has an opposition been so sorely needed.
Let us hope the Democrats don't -- once again -- form a circular firing squad over ideological purity and throw away holdable and winnable seats because Joe Manchin (and others) are not clones of Sanders and Warren. A Democrat who votes like a Democrat at least half the time is light years better than any Republican in the current political reality.
19
What is there to Trump's agenda besides trashing everything he touches and throwing his own people under the bus?
4
I wouldn't hire Rudy Giuliani to represent me in the case of a $25. expired meter parking ticket.
The fact that Trump thinks having him "on board" is a good measure of his lack of judgement and utter recklessness in hiring generally. Trump's willing to die for him core supporters are going to wake up with a big bad hangover. Better start thinking right now about how to shift the blame and who will take it.
This is one of the unfortunate fundamental weaknesses of democracy: being a voter means never having to say you are sorry.
76
Many of us can say that we never mattered simply because of where we lived.
4
“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” How far would we have to go back to determine when Donald and Rudy each first practiced to deceive? About as many generations as they are old. Now they have woven each of their tangled webs into one huge, weird, convoluted, bizarre, incredible, stormy entanglement that most people cannot begin to understand, let alone believe. It was inevitable. These two, after three failed or failing marriages, have finally found their true loves: each other. “Ah, sweet mystery of life.”
62
Love each other as themselves. Love themselves back.
3
Oh yes, trump is some kind of guy. The trump people knew that sending Huckabee to the correspondence dinner would make her a target. And I must say rightly so since no lie is too far fetched for regurgitation during her press briefings. And where does trump go - to a rally where he is worshipped by his naive followers leaving Huckabee to take flack that belonged to him. So Mr I’m-so-wonderful actually hid behind a girl! Whatta guy!
163
I just don't understand people who speak with "word salad". I just don't.
Don't pretend you do.The best you can do is guess at the meaning, if there even is one.
31
It would be helpful if MSNBC and CNN stopped live broadcasting every time Trump opens his mouth.
Yes, they helped elect him. And he's great for ratings.
Esp. abhorant is covering his campaign style rallies live. Cover him when he makes news. Don't live off his lies and condemn them at the same time.
640
Hear, hear! Report the damage he is doing to the laws and regulations of this country. Report the impact of his presidential fiats and the behind the scenes looting of national resources by his cabinet and their cronies. Report the likely legacy his actions will wreak on our children’s and grandchildren’s lives. Stop the madness of reporting his stupid, infantile tweets and dig deep into what is really happening to our country. Be journalists, not TMZ tabloid mouthpieces.
90
Take away the spotlight and bully fades from view
Get it?
32
Couldn't agree with you more. Ratings built on a foundation of lies, bluster, hate and meanness will just collapse when the inevitable backlash comes (you know, the pendulum that is always moving?).
I believe in the absolute necessity of the Fourth Estate as our only bastion of objectivity. But how about a chiron at the bottom of the screen to provide a lie rating? Now, that would be nice.
22
So very, very, wealthy Trump has to pay the hush money off in monthly installments of $30k? If he's so rich why didn't he just write one check and be done with it?
109
This part perplexed me also. What is that about, anyway? Skirting a law, perhaps?
6
A he’s trying to hide it or
B he’s not worth what he says he is worth -
His tax returns anyone?
Or C
He still has to stiff a few hundred more of his working class supporters to make $ to pay it off
9
He’s never been worth as much as he’s said although he’s been making a lot more these days while engaging in public graft
9
If The Donald is going to pay $130G in hush money to a woman with whom he did NOT have a sexual liaison I'm compelled to wonder how much he'd pay a man who was prepared to make the same sort of allegation. Call me, Don (or have Rudy do so). I'm sure we can come to some arrangement.
234
Get in line!
10
Brilliant commentary and analysis, and thanks for the belly laughs, needed that!
69
Thank you, Gail, for finding the ineffable words that the rest of us struggle for. We are fated to be living through the most sordid time in the political history of our country. No other time even comes close. Unfortunately, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
185
I'd go with cry. Hysteria might cover both bases.
37
And, yet, none of it matters. Scandal after scandal, lie after lie after lie; not a dent in Trump’s approval rating. Nothing.
Remember how we laughed when Trump said he could ’shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and still get elected’?
Well, we’re not laughing now, are we?
He is, though.
And his followers are.
629
A 40% approval rating is something to feel good about?
The George W. Bush Disaster Team had ratings in the 30s, thanks to the two calamities in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Great Recession.
9
I’ve come to believe his followers ( at least the ones who aren’t wealthy) follow simply because they recognize that Trumpkin really distressed the rest of us.
13
And he still was re-elected. Beware!
It could happen again!
American voters wanted bread and circuses and they got bread and circuses. The problem, as history has shown, is that bread and circuses are addictive and expensive, and generally lead to economic ruin and then finally to civilizational collapse.
266
Yes, and next Trump will take out his fiddle and start scratching it while D.C. burns.
Happened before.
15
Great column, but ...
Do you really think that the Trump base cares about Trump's retainer and membership in the untouchable elite? They already forgave his not-so-Christian adultery and ignored his history of stiffing his small business business partners. They conveniently forgot the scandalous Trump University and think nothing of his mingling business and presidency.
I'm beginning to think that Trump's base seems him as a role model. After all, if this illiterate, overaged, balding fat guy could be successful (albeit with a big helping to start of Daddy's money), then anyone could achieve the American dream, along with silent wives and doting children (all of whom know who holds the purse strings), and a retinue of high-priced lawyers to make sure that everyone knows their place.
275
Did you mean roll model? They are supporters after all.
12
The laugh is that he is NOT successful but has the con that he is. Even with daddy's money he went through multiple bankruptcies--what measure of success is that!?
I totally agree with you about his base; just being famous is enough in this world, ethics and morale compass be damned.
9
We need to find an upside to all of this spectacle. For starters, newspaper readership is way up no? Every day is "breaking news." Aaron Sorkin is a great writer but even he couldn't have imagined this level of political depravity. In fact, the West Wing was everything we should hope for in a White House Admin. I think Martin Sheen's fictional character should run for president. Honor and integrity has left the station. Jimmy Smits too!
48
Rudy Giuliani didn’t make the public statements Trump would have liked, but you know what? Trump put Rudy on his legal team and long since had Giuliani as a mouthpiece. Trump is the one who made Giuliani the face of Trump scandals.
Moreover, Trump is the one who got himself into illicit behavior in the first place. If he were really worried about Melania’s feelings, he could have just avoided having extramarital relations with an adult film star and with a Playgirl. Or running for president with skeletons in his closet.
It was certainly a risky move to launder money to buy Stormy’s silence. There is no way that comes out well for Donald. No matter if it was supposed to make him look like a better candidate than he was. It shows him to be sleazy.
Michael Cohen, whatever his expertise with manipulating the law, cannot work dark magic for Trump. The events are what they are, and the seized files will show the truth.
Trump will lie and obfuscate and deflect, but the unmistakable reality is that he is the architect of his own problems.
89
It shows him to be sleazy????
That was just a drop in a bucket so big, Trump is sitting in it having his morning bath with just his nose sticking out.
Where have you been all last year?
1
Rudy obviously did not read the Trump manual before he took his current job as a Trump patsy.
It clearly says that anything anyone says for or about or against Trump is a lie. This includes friend, foe someone indifferent. And it does not matter that you have cleared it with him first because the president has the right to change his mind from moment to moment.
The second corollary reads, you will be subject to immediate dismissal if you don't abide by the first rule. You might get a small reprieve if you kiss his ring at least twice a day but don't count on it.
43
Clearly Jim Kelly read the manual - his “T is an idiot” is now T is the best thing since sliced bread.
There's a moral to this story. Perhaps it should be called an immoral.
I think of the dedicated Americans who despised the behavior of a kneeling football player who disrespected the flag. Those very same Americans don't seem to mind a president who disrespects the Constitution, the courts, the intelligence agencies, the media, and the public.
1189
Excellent poInt!
29
your "disrespected" needs to be in "quotation marks" to indicate "not really".
43
Thanks, Bruce –
your comment should be No. 1!!!
20
In Gail Collins’ last column a few days ago, where she described some “interesting” races coming up for the midterms, I wrote something like:
A root canal is interesting, but not in a way anyone likes. Now we need one because we practiced poor political hygiene. Here’s to hoping Democrats know what they’re doing, for everyone’s sake.
Now I think: I just wish I had some answers.
But we can always work to help rectify and remedy this debacle. And we should always hold out hope.
24
"O.K., Trump base, how does that hit you?"
I know we've all heard this a million times before, but Trump's base base (repeated on purpose) really doesn't care. It is a cult of personality and a game of winning and they are not about to switch sides. The real fireworks will begin if Mueller gets to Trump criminally. Then the base will take to the streets, guaranteed.
40
They will NOT take to the streets. That would take courage.
5
Thank you for a column that at least allowed a smile at this mess. Especially the news that Donald Trump is an “elite” who uses power and influence to satisfy his selfish needs. Should warm the heart of every voter in “flyover country” who supports him.
27
Keep calling his voters derogatory terms and you will only strengthen their resolve.
Trump's strategy of enlisting you and others like you is simple, but extraordinarily effective.
And he has all the fun.
2
The downfall of the US could be documented in one short line:
The Dunning-Kruger effect finally caught up with us.
25
Or you could say the Peter Principle.
Lover? Trump might have had a one-night stand with her. Lover is a strong word.
23
I very much doubt it lasted an entire night. I remember a Stormy quote, "It was the worst forty-two minutes of my life". Well, maybe she didn't say that. But who cares? If Trump and Rudy can say whatever they want, I can too.
(But the quote is close enough. She really did say something like that. Maybe it was 'the worst four minutes of her life".
3
Well he did call her enough times that it was a bit of a joke in her household, so it was more than the one-time "let's get this over with" moment.
Trump certainly is accommodating by making it so easy for his critics to sarcastically gloat, they should be grateful to him now while it lasts for one day they won’t have him and they’ll have to write something dignified all by themselves and they won’t know how and what to say. They’re only hurting themselves the more they keep this up low brow form of journalism.
3
America's mayor defied all of the experts who advised him not to house the city's emergency communication operation at the WTC since it had already been the target of terrorists in 1993. When 9/11 happened police and rescue workers could not communicate with each other resulting in unknown deaths and injuries. After 9/11 he sold his service to the world as a security expert, profiting on the debacle at the WTC. This is the legacy of Rudy Guliani.
Mr. Guliani's "stop and frisk " policing put hundreds in prison for low level , nonviolent offenses a policy that just recently ended.
Gail, that he announced his intention to divorce his wife at a press conference is the least of his poor behavior.
119
Calling Giuliani America's mayor besmirches America and mayors everywhere.
12
I always appreciate you pieces Ms. Collins. I just wish you had better material to work with. 2020 can't get here fast enough.
22
Great column!
Wd you believe that Trump's approval rating is at an all time high of 44%? https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_appro...
These days, I never cease to feel ashamed of my country; there is no more "American Exceptionalism"
97
Well, There is still American Exceptionalism. It's just, shall we say, different now.
25
Make no mistake about it. One of the key individuals to help numerous Americans to survive this administration with a degree of sanity intact is Gail Collins. Were it not for her we would be following the president down his "rabbit hole" only to emerge like the 60 million who voted fo him - mesmerized by a myth that never existed. Gail Collins humor serves as a bulwark to survival in this utterly ridiculous situation.
64
Apparently, our beloved leader selects people who humiliate themselves and whom he can publicly humiliate and eventually fire. He can claim that any one of his appointees, while wonderful people, messed up. Additionally, his loyal minions are biologically attuned to hearing him say "you're fired," even though that happens behind closed doors--doesn't take too much imagination to believe that Mr. Trump feels he is a victim of disloyal and disappointingly untalented people, whom he "honestly" believed were among the "best" people. Stands to "reason" then, that if these folks are the best people, he is, therefore, much better than they!
19
In one corner we have short-attention-span Don the Con in the other corner open-mouth insert-foot Rudy the Gab. First one to string together five cohesive sentences with the best really smart multi-syllable words wins. Go!
28
"O.K., Trump base, how does that hit you? "
At this point it has to be clear to everyone that his base doesn't care about ethics, morality, honest elections (as long as they don't have illegal immigrants voting -- Russian meddling is not an issue), a decent society.
Trump said "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters." Turns out he knew his base pretty well.
62
But wait. Doesn't his base go after Mrs. Clinton for being married to a philandering husband. Mr. Trump even brought some of Mr. Clinton's former lovers to the debate in hopes of embarrassing her. I can't wait until Mr. Trump's next campaign with his numerous girl friends on display.
4
Wouldn't you think at least some of them would figure out how insulting that is? Sheep, sheep, sheep. To the slaughter.
4
Two swamp monsters “draining the swamp”.
Even George Orwell with all his talent and imagination couldn’t of concocted a more unsettling and bizarre scenario than America 2018. Unfortunately for the US and the world this not fiction.
52
Fot those who don't remember, when "Rudy.... insisted on putting the city’s emergency command center in the World Trade Center," it was not a mistake anyone could have made, but rather it was done by a an arrogant bully mayor after an intense fight with civic minded people in and to of government who thought it was a terrible idea.
Given that on 9-11, Rudy remained calm and eloquent while George W. Bush bumbled through those first days, Rudy was forgiven for a lot of prior poor judgement choices.
25
Giuliani stated: "....men are disposable". Well I do know of one who is way past his sell-by date. Maybe Giuliani with his ineptitude will lead to Trump's downfall, riding in on his charger, to rescue a weak damsel in distress, but instead hoisting himself and Trump on his own petard.
The last two days have my head spinning. I am still trying to keep up with the latest negation of the negation of the negation of alleged facts.
Seriously, does Trump really think we don't remember he hired Giuliani last month? Does he really think most of us have attention spans so short, we don't remember that he supported what Giuliani said about his providing payments made to Story Daniels to almost gasps from Hannity, who suddenly realized he wasn't in the loop? Rhetorical questions.
Wondering if the bookies in Vegas are taking bets on how long Giuliani will last with Trump. As an aside, I almost (almost) feel sorry for Sarah Huckabee Sanders who definitely is out of the loop, with egg constantly on her face trying to somehow explain Trump's lies. Her time is probably just about up, as the revolving door beckons.
This all would be comical if it weren't so serious and so much wasn't at stake.
47
"Rudy Giuliani - There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11."
- Joe Biden (2007)
11 years later and the good news is that Rudy has expanded the scope of his oratory The bad news is that he seems to have lost the ability to form actual sentences:
"This was the president had been hurt, personally, not politically, personally so much. And the first lady, by some of the false allegations, that one more false allegation, six years old.”
He's still a shameless liar, though. Which is all that really matters to Trump.
62
A good memory is essential to being an effective liar, but it takes extraordinary talent to keep an entire administration on the same false narrative.
41
It would be a heck of a lot funnier if Don and Rudy were doing a reality TV show. Imagine a TV show Don trying to be the President with Rudy defending him. There could be lots of Cameo appearances on the show people like Mike Pence, James Comey and a whole bunch of others could appear.
9
Who will be the first to write a screen play? And sign up Don and Rudy for starring roles?
1
"It was a stunning revelation to all Americans who had believed Cohen’s claim that he raised the money by borrowing against his home equity line of credit."
Yes, all two of them, living in a home for the terminally obtuse...
23
Every day we hope and pray it can't get worse and every day it gets worse. But yes, these two seem locked in a race to the bottom. One is louder, salivates at air time, one bashes out tweets at each perceived slight. Facts aren't just irrelevant, they're not even part of the narrative. Verbal flamethrowers deaden brain cells of logic like strip mining through a mountain forest.
And still his supporters think he's great, that all this boorish and ill-formed behavior, like a traveling frontier preacher spewing fire and damnation, selling promises that only he can give them eternal bliss if they just keeping clapping loud and long. And ignore the hand in your taxpaying pocket.
And now there are two. Didn't the Supreme Court outlaw torture?
21
"He'll get his facts straight."
President Trump about his new lawyer Rudy Giuliani
Question: How Rudy Giuliani will be able to get his facts straight if President Trump is not able to get his own facts straight?
27
The payoff to Daniels was deducted as a business expense on a tax return, sure as shooting. Because, like having NDAs and affairs, tax evasion is another thing certain people like.
74
Out west here, I suspect the majority of my zip code do not know who Rudy is, or what he is known for.
Worse yet it is a strong tRump support population, even though the median income is below the mean. But to compensate for that so is the educational level. If tRump says some media report is false they believe him, it is a psychological condition called disengagement and seems to be popular here.
Faux Noise is also popular here, the PBS News Hour is just more liberal junk and this Rudy guy must be dyslexic and read his script wrong. Somme day this whole episode will be collected and published as part of a volume of fairy tales. Rudy says, Donald says, the GOP says, there is no real here, there is only make believe.
What I do know, if I have contact with someone who believes anything tRump says, is someone i will not trust to keep their word or do business with.
As for Rudy, we have had enough flakes in public office here to make him look almost normal. At least two of them were actors, and were able to make the pubic think they were real not just acting on the job. I guess what's good for the Rump is good for the Rusy.
38
Another great column--thanks! And especially for being the only writer today to notice/point out roll instead of role. I mention this because I have nothing else left to say about Trump and his gang. Thanks to all the other commenters who still have the mental stamina to say good and important and fun and agonizing things!
135
There really is nothing left to say. There is something wrong with the fact that so many thoughtful intelligent writers like Gail Collins feel they have to continue to do so. I know it's seems like a kind of bulwark, but perhaps a massive silence... a boycott of engagement with this utterly corrupt being... would be more appropriate. Let him twist in the wind.
3
No, Sbuie. Silence is assent. And the silence would quickly be filled with other voices -- the voices of oligarchs, liars, bots, tyrants, trolls, propagandists, resentful bigots and crooked apologists. They have already tried to drown out the voices of reason - shall we simply hand them all the microphones because we are so disgusted by them?
I see your point, of course not. I'm just wondering about somehow shifting the terms of engagement. Not easy to see how that happens. But they are calling the shots at this point with endless chaos, much of it as distraction.
For example, the press corps sits there every day giving SHS an audience for her litany of lies. What might they do to make that visible? Perhaps sit in silence?
So I'm playing with the idea of silence as power, a force of revelation, as statement. I realize someone would have to be writing about the silence.
I was just thinking what have we come to when the 'defense' is the lawyer has carte blanche powers to cover up with money the behavior of anyone.
66
Disaster needs Rudy and Don,
Two Grinches who can play upon
Doling misinformation,
Vilifying oration,
Two perpetrators of the Con.
303
Was thinking tonight that your clever verses hadn't been on these pages for some time. Glad you are up and at em again, Larry! I marvel at your ability to find just the right words and tone.
15
Trump should consider walking-back his walk-back. NOBODY believes that Cohen is SUCH a schmendrick that he would pay Stormy $130,000 to keep mum about a spanking and general aerobicizing himself and not be reimbursed for it by Trump. You can bet that Melania doesn’t believe it. Not even Barron is that innocent.
It now appears that Rudy was not unfolding a Machiavellian plot to short-circuit Mueller’s use of the matter by asserting that nothing illegal happened. It appears that Rudy was having a Rudy moment. One might wonder whether the man still has the stuff to be commanding $1000-per-hour fees or more – nobody is THAT entertaining. But, he has Sarah backstopping him, so we’ll see how he tries to extricate himself. THAT should be entertaining.
Trump needs to get beyond Stormy. The House is not going to impeach him for aerobicizing, even while his wife was recovering from a delivery. Clinton wasn’t impeached for being serviced in the Oval Office but for lying to a grand jury – and he wasn’t even convicted in the Senate for THAT. But re-activate Cohen and pay Stormy off properly. If he can negotiate with East European hackers, he might even get the money from Clinton Foundation accounts.
Having convinced myself that Mueller, after a year, hasn’t anything truly dastardly that will stick to Trump unless he gets Trump to lie about it, my feet are up and I’m just waiting to be entertained by the Sarah-Rudy show. You guys are stuck with Trump for the full four – at LEAST.
11
Of course he could also get that money from his own foundation account. The only person who's benefited from the Trump Foundation is Trump, so there's bound to be lots of extortion-money available for use. As for Mueller, if he hasn't found anything all this time why has he waited so long to announce that The Donald is clean? I can't imagine he's been prolonging this investigation at taxpayers' expense in order to line his own pockets (but, then again, he IS a Republican...).
40
stu:
Mueller has been pursuing these little Peyton Place dramas as they appear -- I don't doubt that the man knows his business, but you guys become euphoric whenever something new hits the fan and Trump scandalizes the known universe with responsive tweets: it's not like we've seen a steady unfolding of increasingly compelling evidence of guilt of alleged crimes for which Trump COULD be impeached. This leaves inquiring minds to conclude that Mueller hasn't anything basic, seeks to incriminate Trump by tricking him into lying, and is excessively dependent for ink and self-justification on sensational "events" such as Stormy.
You don't seriously think that we're going to tolerate this guy forever lurking, seeking to reverse the outcome of an election that your gal LOST and my guy WON, do you? I want Trump focused on MAGA and outraging you by his policies in pursuit of that goal, not on Peyton Place misadventures.
Richard, I get the impression you are old enough to remember Watergate. How long did that investigation take? Was it anywhere near as complicated as the on-going one? Why do you think Alex van der Zwaan got a 30 day prison sentence? Why do you think Gates, Flynn, and Papdoupolis took plea deals? Even a year and a half of this investigation is just scratching the surface. And you have NO IDEA what Mueller has or doesn't have. What you do have, though, is the arrogance to believe you do.
Maybe nothing will stick to Trump personally (although I seriously doubt it in view of the Cohen investigation), but his campaign is already implicated beyond a shadow of a doubt.
26
I think Donald needs one more lawyer to round out his Trump Treason All-Star Legal Defense Team.
He needs to hire Chris Christie so the GOP Rat Pack can put on a united corrupt front that only Republican career criminals can pull off with a straight face.
With Scott Pruitt (Oklahoma's Attorney General and candidate for America's worst human being) setting the sociopathic spiritual tone for reckless corruption and lawbreaking, Christie can add his valuable experience of stonewalling, performance art denials and cover-ups of state crimes, Rudy can continue to entertain by talking a waterfall of geriatric nonsense all day on FOX while cramming to learn Donald's and Kellyanne's alternative facts...while the Captain of the Trump Titanic steadily steers his ship of hate confidently into a sea of icebergs.
Chris Christie brings the lowest governor approval record in New Jersey history to the political table; a perfect fit for Donald and his own 'Presidential' approval rating.
Then bring Scooter Libby on board, who Trump recently pardoned, and whose law license was reinstated after that minor matter of being convicted for obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements, and I think the Trump Treason Dream Team is looking gorgeous...in the same way that coal is beautiful in Trumpworld.
The flames of America's raging dumpster fire of a Presidency rage higher as fresh legal logs proudly float around in the Trump Toilet.
"Only the best people"
November 6 2018
Vote.
1507
Christie brings all that and is a bully to boot. He could rapidly destroy any arm of government he was put in charge of. The only problem is that Christie would have a tough time kissing up to his boss on an extended basis. Christie sees himself as the big dog and doesn't respect or fear Trump sufficiently to constantly praise him.
75
When the heat at the EPA gets to be too much for Scott P.
there will still be a job open on Trump's crack legal team.
70
Yes! Remember that time Chris Christie closed the public beaches so his family could have a nice family vacation away from the chattel? Ah, good times. He’d fit right in with Trump brand.
113
Trump would love being one of "The Disaster Twins", (providing he always gets top billing of course). It sounds like a professional wrestling tag-team, which seems to be a natural inspiration for him. The show is all that matters, no matter how phony it is.
46
The people who support Trump would not tolerate this level of dishonesty from their children. Employers would not tolerate it from employees. None of us would accept it from our friends.
The significance of the lies in the Stormy Daniels scandal is that Trump isn't even pretending to tell the truth. All those who still believe him, all those who say it's not important, have made themselves complicit with his lies.
995
It's worse than that. At least since Ronald Reagan, truth has been sacrificed for political expediency. It works and politicians and those who support them (i.e. pay) keep testing the limits.
Do you remember when Paul Ryan gave his acceptance speech when he was nominated to be the VP candidate? The news media actually said he lied. That was shocking, but clever political strategists took note that potential voters weren't repelled.
Giuliani himself told some whoppers, but he seems to be politically indestructible. We also learned from him that being a lying cheat of a husband wouldn't disqualify a person from being a candidate for political office.
At this point, some candidates are working hard to be Trumpier than Trump. It remains to be seen whether we're nearing the end of the cycle when this is effective politics.
So, it's not just complicity. At the point where voters can be played by the kinds of shenanigans we are seeing, democracy is weakened.
60
But the people who can turn the Supreme Court into a religious tribunal get special dispensation.
52
I would not be so sure -
1
Trump's latest episode, samples Japan's movie classic Roshomon, and eventuates danger and disaster with three tales:
1. The first deflects reality to fantasy and herds its audience by unresolved contradictions.
2. The second pleas legal innocence, describing his payoff payouts over months as a family protector's duty, even after the election.
3. The third blames political enemies for his outrage. Good stories, with major flaws.
In other words, I didn't til I did; we'll will get the facts straight, you'll see; they are standing by me. I am a criminal, an American honored tradition--they are treating me like a witch! I am blame-free.
Trump denies his tryst but now admits knowledge of the payoff; $130,000 and taxes (IRS take note!) paid on an unsigned agreement with aliases from a dummy Delaware incorporation. His latest attorney, Rudy Giuliani reset Trump's action values, says these agreements are normal for the rich and famous. That Trump didn't know he was paying because his attorney Michael Cohen, on retainer, didn't inform him (a breach of legal ethics!). How can you not know and know at the same time? What prompted his discovery after 18 months? And why lie after he did know?
(Part 2 below.)
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That "and taxes" issues makes me wonder about how the funds were characterized. As an attorney, I pay taxes on my income, but not on the expenses that I advance payment for my clients, such as court filing fees or appraisals (but not hush money, even though I am a family law attorney). Why would he need to pay taxes on an expense payment that was advanced?
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Thanks, Walter, for referring the Stormy Daniels business as a tryst, not as an affair. That's all it was. Why they have gone to such lengths to cover it up is a wonderment. Now it turns out that, according to Rudy, he and other lawyers do payoffs for such things all the time for their clients. So perhaps there are other such trysts out there. Or should I say, no doubt.
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Good on you for referencing "Rashomon." Another similarity with Kurosawa's film is the fact that when Trump tries to talk his way out of something that anyone with two ears and a brain can instantly tell he's guilty of he might just as well be speaking Japanese to an audience that needs subtitles in order to decipher what he's saying.
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Giuliani was hired by Trump a month ago, he did not" just start working with Trump a day ago".
If Giuliani is still learning the subject matter after 30 days, there is something wrong with him. Trump claims Guiliani is working hard, trying to learn the subject matter but not able to get it. Trump should look for a smart lawyer. Guiliani is going to be a disaster, I will not be surprised if Donald Trump fires him next week,
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He can't get a smarter lawyer, since the smart ones want nothing to do with him.
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If we're lucky Padman, he won't fire him next week. It will just be an ongoing dog and pony show. Your choice for who's the dog and who's the pony.
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Remember that Giuliani once considered running for president, too.
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He didn't just consider, he actually ran (2008, as I recall).
He won all of one delegate in the primaries.
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Agreed. He is anti-Trump but the Donald does not know it because he is so vane.
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In fact I have wondered if there was a (subconscious?) jealousy at work against Trump for having gotten elected, something at which Rudy had failed miserably. My father used to have an expression ‘accidentally on purpose’ when someone did something destructive that seemed accidental but accomplished something nasty that was satisfying to the doer.
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It's not surprising that Trump has returned to his NYC roots and recruited and recycled Rudy. Frank Rick, in his spot on New York Magazine piece, outlined the pathetic and perpetual game that the wealthy and connected play in The City. It's hard to read, but it's the the truth. Trump is a horrible as you have imagined. Maybe more so.
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It is an excellent piece by Frank Rich.
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It's well known that lying is more difficult than telling the truth, There's only one truth but there's a whole universe of lies and trump has to remember what lie he told the last time he spoke.
Now that Giuliani is on board, he's not just in double trouble, but quadruple trouble. trump has to remember his lies, Giuliani has to remember his, and each of them has to remember the other's lies.
Not good for someone who suffers daily lapses of memory despite having bragged about having the world's best memory.
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Trump doesn't have to remember anything because his supporters don't care - they know he lies and it doesn't bother them. I'm sure he thoroughly enjoys making things up as he goes along: he gets an adrenaline boost from feeling like he's putting one over on his adversaries or at least he's making them jump and down in reaction. His falsehoods bring him the attention that he craves; from his point of view there really is no downside. Only suckers care about the truth, right?
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Trump supporters not only do not care about the lies, they appreciate them because it makes our (libruls) heads explode. They want that and they get that from this Catskills comic fake president. That's really all they care about. And when prices climb and things cost a lot more at Walmart? So what? It's worth the price. Destroying the country is worth the price to watch our heads explode. It's truly all they care about.
45 has never tried to remember his lies, or he always misremembers them. His mind is not deep enough to keep track of what he says.
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Rudy's appearance on the scene with His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness unfortunately just reinforces the resemblance this crowd has to over-the-hill buddies on a last gasp road trip to Vegas to re-live the past.
Not a movie we're interested in; the genre always has weak plots, with contrived situations.
So, let's talk about how profound it is that GOP'er governor LePage of Maine - after 5 times vetoing legislative bills to expand Medicaid in his state - had a deadline this week to implement just such a plan after 59% of the state's voters passed a referendum expanding Medicaid last November:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/04/lepage-defies-law-and-maine...
which he utterly ignored.
The whole of the GOP is acting to prove David Frum (Dubya's speech writer) correct, when he says: "If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy."
"The state of our Union is lawless" - Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Ca), Jan 30 2018
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Interestingly enough, the areas of Maine where the voters voted against expanding Medicaid are the very areas where the majority of low income people live, the most northern areas of the state where the industries are suffering or non existent.
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It is amazing how people will vote against their own best interests.
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Well, Julie, at least we'll get rid of LePage this November. I have completely blocked him out of my awareness these last couple of years. Trump and LePage! We Mainers have truly suffered. It will be so very wonderful to see LePage gone. He's even more moronic than Trump, if that is possible.
the fact this week that made my head spin is that there are lawyers that willy nilly will pay their clients bills. what a remarkable fact. i thought lawyers were only in it for themselves, kind of like the president. Great column. thanks again
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What a show the showman is putting on. Just today, Trump was of course yet again in front of cameras, cocky, arrogant, a bit louder and more strident than usual proclaiming 'witch hunt! witch hunt!'
With television media like CNN, it seems there is such a fascination with this aberrant prevaricating man that every time he speaks, he is surrounded by reporters and on the air, which emboldens Donald even more. Don loves nothing more than attention.
Then a break away story as later in the day, Trump talks to his adoring crowd at the NRA, mocking the whole idea of sensible gun regulations and speaking glowingly of his favorite gun toting promoters and his eager and worshiping second amendment fans.
For Trump, it is just like during the campaign and a reason that he was elected, his non stop blabbing during the campaign cycle, with Breaking News! headlines from morning to night, as every inane and insane utterance of The Donald’s, with cameras at the ready, was blasted non stop 24/7. It is no wonder that Trump felt no need to spend much on advertising during the presidential campaign, the media gave him all the coverage anyone could ever dream of.
As for the sycophants who curtsy to him and bow, the emperor likes nothing more, and those who don’t tow his line, are gone with the wind.
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And yet we are commenting on him and he loves ours comments- however negative. Because he’s winning- as sick as that sounds- he knows people love this spectacle. Loves it!
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Gee, Tim, you talk like he's not ACTUALLY the POTUS! It's not like the media can just ignore him. Trump is his own unicorn. The real question is whether the news-consumers will have had enough of his shtick and make him go away the next chance they get to do so.
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The NRA show should be followed every single time with the White House scene of Presidential promises to the Parkland students. Over and over and over again.
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They (Trump/Giuliani) are now a "TEAM" for their own disasters. It's when Rudi starts collecting more items in the news that Trump will also 'disown' him. Keep the faith - it WILL happen. Trump does NOT like to share anything, except praise for himself.
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Trump and Guiliani are certainly a well matched pair of NY trashy tabloid celebrities. Trump already suffers from living in an echo chamber surrounded with sycophants. This is not going to help him.
But it could help the country get rid of him. So keep telling it like it is, Rudy!
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BUT, did, does, will Rudy actually 'tell it like it is?' Or, is he just another bumbling pathological liar?
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Beautifully written as usual and captures the pathos of it all. How long must we endure...?
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I am thinking that maybe I could apply : I couldn't be worse. Like a lot of readers here, I'm more familiar with the variable backstories than Giuliani . And I could undercut Trump at will, and just say I wasn't up to speed . . .
The Maladroit Twins, masers of self delusion
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As usual, beautifully presented and written. It is so astounding to consider the depths to which these guys stoop in their deceit. Isn't there research to show the base is shrinking? Keep up the pressure. Thanks
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Well, his approval rating has gone up, but the poll was probably taken before the latest circus, so who knows what we'll see next. But, then again, Trump is taking credit for the higher employment rate resulting from Obama's administration and undoubtedly his base believes that the good news is because of Donald.
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The base isn't shrinking fast enough for me. Those who want knowledge but lack opportunity to get it deserve help but won't get it from Trump and his team of wealthy minions, but his base consists of people who lack knowledge and actively reject ideas that might be useful, because they don't fit their beliefs.
Call it 'willful ignorance'; no wonder they're deplorables.
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Trump's approval rating is not going down; I think it is actually up. The base does not care about these scandals; they care about North Korea.
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I call them Trudy. This combination of "minds" could prove disastrous - I hope for them, not for us.
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WOW! Twenty-Seven (and counting) recommendations and I don't have any idea what this comment even says????
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Wow. I'm sorry you find it hard to understand. Trump plus Rudy = Trudy, the combination of the two "thought" processes which is now erupting in the media.
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@joschka
Wow, it took me less than 100 milliseconds to get this.
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