Freak Out Friday – May the Fourth Be With You, 2018

When the book (or books) are written about Trump’s relatively short lived and failed presidency, this past week will be regarded as one of the major seven days that contributed to its downfall. And it will be referred to as:

CALL OF RUDY

1). Rudy Giuliani is quite simply insane. Since coming aboard Trump’s ever changing (retiring, quitting…can’t remember if he fired any of them) legal team, Giuliani has done nothing but damage. Apparently the only person in the country who didn’t see Trump’s comments some time back on Air Force One in which he flat out denied knowing anything about the $130K given to Stormy Daniels, Rudy sat on Sean Hannity’s program and flat out contradicted his client. Hannity must have been in shock, because Rudy brought it up out of nowhere and told the entire country that his boss was lying.

Now understand: It’s not like we didn’t know that. Of course he lied. He’s Donald Trump and his lips were moving, so that’s how we knew. But it is surprising to see one of his own staff calling him out on it, and it is flat out shocking when it’s one of his lawyers.

So now Trump and company are spending the day trying to walk back everything Guiliani said. While I’m quite sure that will provide solace to his dwindling number of hardcore backers, anyone who has enough brain power to rub two pennies together is going to know that Rudy, in fact, told the truth because it contradicted Trump who is (see above) an avid and regular liar. “He’ll get his facts straight” we are told by the absolute king of getting things wrong.

Part of me wants to see a remake of the film “Liar Liar” except instead the wish is made by his 12 year old son Barron. I mean, the film writes itself. Anyone want to produce it? Write to me, give me money and I’ll bang out the script in two weeks.

Even Rudy is trying to reword his flat-out statements into much more involved, occasionally incomprehensible statements. Despite the fact that he himself pointed out the timing of the October 15 payment was to make sure the news didn’t leak right around the election, he is now contending the payment would have been made whether or not the election was happening. He went on to state, “references to timing were not describing my understanding of the President’s knowledge, but instead, my understanding of these matters.” I had to read that three times before I comprehended, and it doesn’t matter in any case because Trump’s “understanding” is beside the point. It’s Michael Cohen’s understanding that’s pivotal: he’s the one who made a payment that could be considered an election donation that was a mere $127,500 over the lawful maximum a single person can contribute. A charge that, once again we have to say, if it was President Hillary Clinton who’d had an affair with a pørņ star and her attorney paid her lover $130K right before the election, the GOP would have articles of impeachment already drawn up. Both the GOP and certain members of the religious right have forfeited their right to ever criticize anyone for any moral lapse ever.

2). Remember how everyone trashed Michelle Wolf for saying that Sarah Sanders lied? Well, Sarah’s had a hëll of a week as well. Reporters were VERY quick to remind her that, back in March, she had assured everyone in the room that the President knew nothing about the $130K. Her source? Trump himself. He had told her that, point blank, face to face. So when Rudy blew that assertion to hëll and gone, Sanders basically was forced to tell the truth: “We give the very best information we have at the time.” So she essentially threw her boss under the bus. She didn’t say, “Well, I was lying back in March when I said I got it from the President.” She didn’t say, “Clearly I misunderstood him.” She just admitted that the very best information she was able to get at the time was an out and out lie that she believed and unknowingly passed on to reporters.

For some reason I keep envisioning her husband asking her at the end of the day how it went, and this is her reply.

Is there anything he did right? Well, his base probably loved it: He went to Texas to address the NRA Conference, a meeting that every President after Reagan has avoided. But Trump, who only a few months ago promised the students that he was unafraid to stand up to the NRA, was brought in to tell them what nice guys and patriots they were, and joked about such hilarious topics as John Kerry breaking his leg. What a funny guy.

PAD