Let This Be The Final Trump August

By my count, we have had 7 Trump Augusts. The criteria is simple. First, it has to be August. Second, he has to be all over the news. He took a break in 2021 and stayed out of the news that August. The last two Trump Augusts while he was president were traumatic - 2019 and 2020. And August 2017 gave us Charlottesville!

August plus Donald Trump equals rally bad news, as he would say. Really bad news.

Trump is having another catastrophic month of August in 2024. He isn’t in office, of course, but the man is a geyser of gasoline again in the public spotlight. And this time, he could set himself on fire.

Trump’s worst Augusts were those as the sitting president: 2017, 2019 and 2020. This time, he is back as the GOP nominee for president for a record third time. His party can’t get enough of him. And for a couple of years, it appeared he was destined to become president again. Biden was so unpopular, Trump was simply leading the polls by default. I mean, look at Biden’s Gallup approval numbers. There was no way Biden was going to surge back to 50% popularity to beat Trump. And any Democrat who tells you otherwise is not worth having as an acquaintance or friend. Burn some bridges this fall. The Democrats who yelled at you for 3 years to vote Biden no matter what were both (1) wrong, and (2) fucking idiots.

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But now it appears the American public has swung back to rejecting Donald Trump for the first time since 2021. Holy shit! All the Democrats really had to do was switch to an opponent younger than Trump. No small feat, but look at Trump’s response. Trump is having such a dramatic meltdown, he just might guarantee the election result from here. Trump can never recover from disasters. He can never “pivot,” or change his tone (ha!). Trump is fucked.

Let’s acknowledge that the near assassination of Donald Trump had no effect on the US public. There was no outpouring of support. There was no show of national unity. People don’t reflect on what happened on July 13 2024. It feels like years ago, doesn’t it? I’ve seen no ‘7/13 Never Forget’ posters or memes. I’ve seen no Democrats reminding each other to go easy on Donald Trump. The days of going easy on this man are well over. And the vast majority of Americans don’t care about Trump’s well being. How do you like that?

I like that. As Robert De Niro might say, fuck this guy.

Donald Trump is hosing gasoline everywhere, and he’s getting himself wet with it. He’s gone a little wild, even by his standards. His campaign can’t control him. He cannot delay his sentencing in his Manhattan financial crime case. It’s only matter of time before he starts calling Kamala Harris a “bitch” in public, as he has long done in private. He’s going to let it loose.

All it takes is a few good writers to land some nationally-televised zingers at Trump at the Democratic National Convention, and the man might go up in flames. It’s past time this happened. There are whispers it finally might.

I don’t mean literally, of course. I mean that Trump would become so enraged, so out of control, that he would lash out at everyone. His campaign staff. His allies in Congress. JD Vance (let’s face it, Trump should have chosen Kristi Noem). Nikki Haley, who won’t shut the fuck up tying to be Trump’s coach (shut the fuck up, Nikki).

Trump is going to show us just how explosive an old man from Queens New York can be for the next 11 weeks. Just 11 weeks! These 11 weeks are going to fly. And they will be hot. Don’t get burned! Just beat this guy one last time.

Harris Takes The Wheel While Trump Breaks Down

A driver change. That’s all it took.

This has made Trump even more miserable. His campaign management in 2024 is the weakest it has ever been in his three campaigns. Not only can they not control their candidate, the stress is destroying them. Good.

Multiple Things Can Be True At The Same Time

We're surrounded by idiots who can't get their little brains to comprehend that all of the following are true:

1. Joe Biden clearly didn't have the fuel in the tank to go two terms, let alone mount a media surge, claw back to 50% approval, campaign, get re-elected, and then serve 4 more years. Obama did that! We could see by the fall of 2021 that Biden was losing steam and support as the public saw him less and less often. The story of the Biden term is a president who slowly faded in every measurable way. With the exception of enabling Israel. That surged.

2. Donald Trump and the GOP are evil. The next Republican who takes the White House will rule as an autocrat and not let go of the office.

3. The New York Times is shit.

All of this is true. I don't have tolerance for people who re-post whatever Aaron Rupar or that sponsored influencer BooklynDad says. Over at Mastodon, I can easily tell who not to follow. If they boost Rupar, or whoever the hell GottaLaff is, that's a big NO.

They're Talking Extrajudicial

The Republicans cry that Democrats are prosecuting them illegally. Therefore, the Republicans argue, they must retaliate with illegal prosecutions AND political violence, just to make that response overwhelming. The Democrats are an enemy of the state, they argue, so they must physically attack this threat. I’d call that projection.

I wonder what Federal and State judges think about this.

In normal times, legal revenge wasn't possible without evidence and the actions of judges. Maybe we should adjust our perception and realize that because no judge would allow a lawmaker to be prosecuted for rightly investigating trump, maybe the "revenge" the fascist Republicans are talking about is physical violence. And by that, I mean extrajudicial violence. "Oh, they are just using violent rhetoric to motivate their base," the media will say. I disagree. The GOP has gone so far down this violent path since 2015, that they are unrecognizable as the party of family values and children. This is not the party that recruited Whitney Houston to sing the national anthem in 1991. This is the party of bloodshed, destabilization and possibly murder. Political assassinations. Pinochet knew he could terrorize Chile by just murdering the right influencers. Same with the GOP? So they have a list? You bet they do.

Will A Weak Donald Trump Defeat An Even Weaker Joe Biden?

Over the 17 years I have run this tiny blog, I have been a doomer. It isn’t some outlier opinion. I knew when I started that I would be documenting the hell that is the 21st Century.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are confirmed for their 2020 rematch. The presidential campaign, now underway, will probably be the worst in US history. This campaign is already the longest. It started in 2022 when Trump announced. Yeah.

In many ways, I wish this was just like the 1956 rematch between Ike and Stevenson. Eisenhower cruised to victory. Stability and conformity prevailed. But these are not stable times. Joe Biden should be leading Trump by 10 points. Instead, he and Trump are tied in most polls.

Biden stuck in a statistical tie with Trump is the result of a lot of poor strategy and performance by his White House. Biden has not interacted with the public. He hasn’t released videos on YouTube. It’s obvious he doesn’t write his own Tweets, although I suspect he approves them.

The refrain of this post is quite simple. Biden and the nation are in grave danger because he’s tied with Trump when he should be 10 points ahead. I will be repeating variations of this a couple of times. I apologize in advance.

As of today, both the BDS movement and abortion are more popular than President Biden. Poll history tells us he can't possibly win with approval numbers this low. I don't buy into 'history repeating itself like poetry' bullshit, with all the Gen-X journalists comparing 1968 to 2024 (I am also a proud Xer, born in '73). But this summer looks like a looming disaster for Joe and the Democrats. They made it clear that the US must prop-up Israel forever, no matter how small the benefits to the American people and no matter how many times young Americans question that policy. The Democrats have also made it clear that while they welcome Republicans and anti-abortionists to their big tent, they have zero tolerance for critics of Israel.

Joe Biden should be leading Donald Trump by 10 points. He’s not. Why?

It’s because Biden has bled too much support. All incumbent presidents lose voters between their election and re-election. We can call that a haircut (the banking term). But Joe Biden has lost significant support among key demographics. We’re talking double-digit drops with Black men, Hispanics, Asians, and voters under the age of 40. All of those drops explain why Joe Biden’s lead in New York State has dropped from 20 points to just 10. Biden will easily win New York State. But a 10 point drop in a Democratic-majority state spells big trouble for states with smaller differences in registered voters.

These drops in support are going to cost Biden key swing states. Take Georgia, for example. Voter suppression and lack of enthusiasm for Biden has swung Georgia firmly back into Trump’s column. In Arizona, Democrats outnumber Republicans, and yet Democratic Senate candidate Reuben Gallego is leading in the polls while Trump is leading Biden in Arizona. Michigan is slipping away. Incredibly, so is Nevada, again, where Democrats outnumber Republicans. My current (and very pessimistic) electoral map looks like this:

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Biden should be the one with 280 electoral votes. Biden should be 10 points up in the polls. But he isn’t.

Sometimes I think Trump is actually weaker than Biden. Trump is unhinged, slower and older than he was in 2016. He is also a big loser. But Trump also has 70 million votes in the bag no matter how bad he is. Joe Biden needs to be great to get votes back. Trump just needs to be alive and he gets 70 million votes. Advantage, Trump.

The GOP autocracy is coming now, folks. Not 2028. It's happening now. Come up with a resistance and/or exile plan.

Joe Biden Constantly Tries To Be Ronald Reagan

In his years as president, Joe Biden has been trying to be like Ronald Reagan. He thinks he can maintain a centrist approach and not make any one side too upset or too happy. He’s trying to appeal to everyone and be likable. But you can’t be appealing if you don’t engage with the public.

Also, Ronald Reagan was not a centrist.

And you certainly can’t be appealing to your base if you making a public effort to court Nikki Haley voters.

I get strange looks from mainstream MSNBC Democrats when I point out that if Joe Biden was just a little more engaged with the 80 million who voted for him in 2020, he wouldn't be so thirsty for the weird, evil, anti-trump Republican vote. That vote is still vehemently anti-woman, anti-trans, anti-queer, and anti-worker.

Chris Murphy, arguably one of the nicest US Senators in the chamber, has tried to spin Joe’s centrist style as disappointing everyone by design. So while Reagan made most people feel good, Joe Biden makes most people feel down, and that was the plan.

You didn't have to make the strategic choice to be Ronald Reagan in the 2020s, Joe. You could have, um, listened to what voters under 40 want. They are the ones inheriting this environmental catastrophe. They are the ones who can't buy a house or apartment. They are the ones who are reporting that they are the saddest US generation since the Great Depression, while Americans over 60 are reporting they are richer and happier than ever before. Oh, but the men in that group are all voting for Trump! Great strategy, Joe.

Joe could have at least done a weekly video on YouTube. A little fireside chat for the kids who care. But Joe didn't even do that!

Look, we were all stressed out, doing drugs and committing suicide when Trump was dropping a dozen tweets a day (we're still committing suicide, see how young people are unhappy above). Joe could have found a happy medium between engaging with us and tweeting us to death. He chose to be the silent type. That doesn't help when you need to retain 80 million votes for the re-election.

Joe Biden might somehow win this election because Trump is so unhinged. But if I had to examine this as an objective outsider for the first time, I’d think Joe Biden is trying to lose. Intentionally.

Joe Biden Just Blew It

With a single, colossally bad statement, Joe Biden just unofficially lost the November election. Winning in November with a historically low approval rating is extremely difficult. It’s never been done! But his unwillingness to listen to anyone under the age of 40 dooms his chances. Young Democrats are asking good questions. They are asking why does the US prop-up Israel if all Israel does is keep Palestinians in ghettos. The answer from almost every elected Democrat is ‘shut the fuck up.’

It’s over for Joe. He knows it. At this point, I have to suspect he is simply throwing the election. He has my vote, of course. But he is going to lose. I can see it now.

I know when a president is finished. I saw it, sadly, with Jimmy Carter in the summer of 1980. I saw it again when George H.W. Bush had no answers for the far more charismatic Bill Clinton. I saw it again with Donald Trump, totally losing control of the world in the spring and summer of 2020. And I see it now happening to Joe Biden. He is not winning in November.

Today was the day that Joe Biden blew it. I cannot see him winning the election if he won't even address the needs of people under 40 years old. The youngs are concerned about the environmental catastrophe and they want a change in our relationship with Israel. Today Joe basically condemned them as if they did things far worse than set up tents and protest peacefully. He remembers Los Angeles 1992. He remembers Charlottesville 2017. But no. He condemned his own base of voters today. Joe -or perhaps I should say Brandon- is done.

Trump's Life Has Been Miserable For Years Now

Donald Trump is doing something never before seen in American national politics. He’s literally running for his freedom.

I think I have remarked on this blog that Donald Trump has been thriving on stress his whole adult life. Looming lawsuits, debts, financial failure and legal trouble have long been his motivation and have taken-up a lot of his time. We are all mortal. We can’t run forever. Even Trump, 8 years after first running for the White House, has slowed down. He no longer cracks jokes. He’s no longer entertaining. He has frankly become more scary since leaving office. He is more profane in his rally speeches. Thematically, he’s an angrier and darker man, and he vowing to be a ruthless and vicious leader.

And he’s alone. He’s been stuck in his worst-ever emotional state since November 2020.

His two sons still support him, but that hasn’t changed in decades. He has no loyal wife by his side. He has no best friend. George Steinbrenner is now 13 years gone. He’s down to one sibling, Elizabeth, who doesn’t have a public profile.

He almost didn't pause for his last living brother, Robert. He said goodbye to his brother in a hospital room and was playing golf at Bedminster the next morning as Robert passed away. He then abused his office to host his brother’s funeral at the White House - the first since JFK’s nearly 57 years before. His daughter is unofficially estranged. His son-in law is his handler and unofficial campaign chief. He is unofficially separated from his wife. He's alone. And he's at his most dangerous, without a check or guardrail in sight. This is how it has been for decades. No one has ever stopped Trump.

He lost the 2020 election, you may say. I will argue, that didn’t stop him. As the man would say, “you see what’s happening.”

The Republic Is Doomed

This week has me convinced that Trump is going to win in 406 days. How do I know? Our news media. They reported a surge of migrants crossing the southern border, but didn't point out that the vast majority of them were captured by CBP. Today they are describing Trump's speech in a non-union parts factory as a visit to striking UAW workers. Trump's behavior and past rape is not being covered. His age is not being mentioned. Fascism is coming. There haven’t been moderate Republicans since the Obama administration. Anyone who votes for Donald Trump is a bloodthirsty fascist.

And if, by some miracle, Trump loses, we’re still doomed. 2024 will signal to the world that American democracy no longer functions.

We have already crossed the Rubicon on this. There was no peaceful transfer of power in 2021. There probably won’t be a peaceful transfer of power in 2025.

It’s amazing how some smart people have come around on this. In October 2020, Trump didn’t meet the definition of a fascist. Today he meets and exceeds them. As Trump calls for the executions of people, all he’s lacking now is a military uniform. It’s a good thing he despises the military. He’s just a fascist with a poorer fashion taste. Most fascist dictators put on the dress uniform and medals and call it a day. Trump is happy with his dumb fucking red tie down to his scrotum.

One Of The Greatest Indictments Ever Written

Jack Smith delivered. Was there any doubt he would? We have an incredible indictment. Know the case name: Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC. The structure and elements of the case are frankly astonishing to a non-lawyer like me. It’s a beautiful document.

There is still so much to do. More conspirators to indict. Some lawmakers, too. But for now, enjoy 130 near-perfect paragraphs.

We don’t have Trump in our grasp. Not yet. But if this Republic is to survive a little longer, he must be convicted and live to see it happen. We’re very close. Don’t give up the fight for justice. Ruby Freeman isn’t.

Jack Smith, Unlike Robert Mueller, Knows What He Is Doing

The nation is waiting for the DOJ to respond to Trump’s request to indefinitely delay his Federal trial. While we wait, I just want to point out how competent Jack Smith has been in his first 8 months on the job as Special Counsel. In just 8 months, Jack Smith has put together an airtight indictment of Donald Trump in Florida, with probably two more to go in New Jersey and DC. He has spent just $10 Million. His office hasn’t leaked one bit of information. And his persecutors have done things by the book. No one has frightened him away from where his investigation has led. No one has commandeered his conclusions. In short, Jack Smith is doing what Robert Mueller should have been doing towards the end of his two year investigation.

And what did Robert Mueller’s weakened report get us? It got us nothing but trouble. It gave Donald Trump a full 4 more years in which to commit more serious crimes. From his shakedown of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in August of 2019 to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, Donald Trump was free to commit crimes far more serious than the obstruction that should have resulted in an indictment from Mueller.

Think about that for a moment. Donald Trump can be compared to Mohamed Atta. We had multiple opportunities to stop him, and we failed. Actually, that’s not a fair comparison. Atta only committed one giant crime against humanity. Donald Trump has been committing crimes of escalating seriousness since 1973 - as long as I have lived. Particularly since November 2021, Donald Trump has been a raging criminal, responsible for the deaths of several Americans. Right now, as things stand, the only person who can stop him is Jack Smith. This is out last chance to stop Donald Trump. If he breaks free from this, the fire burning our Republic today will become a raging inferno.

Let's Not Do this To Ourselves, Again

It didn’t have the novel impact of the slow OJ Simpson pursuit and surrender. But Monday’s transit of Donald Trump from Mar-a-Lago to Trump Tower was enough to trigger that sick feeling I felt in June 1994. Another media event was upon us, this time in the era of lightning fast social media.

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Fortunately, once the Manhattan indictment was unsealed, the news media let things cool off. Donald Trump coverage still brings in viewers, but it is not the money maker it used to be. Trump is not ascending. He is still fading.

So while we will hurt ourselves again over Trump with each of his criminal tantrums and legal setbacks. he will eventually go away. Let’s try not to repeat 2015-2016. Don’t let him suck all the oxygen out of the nation. Summer is here and it’s time to briefly enjoy life.

The Fact She's Elected Is Proof We're Doomed

Majorie Taylor-Greene. Why are we writing about her? Because we’re doomed, that’s why. I hate this bitch so much I can’t post her photo on this post.

The fact that she's a congressman and not working at a big box retail chain or Amazon fulfillment center is all the proof we need that this society and republic are doomed. She writes no laws. She doesn't govern. All she does is play act, pose, troll and distract. And in DC, she is far from alone. You wonder how empires crumble? Review US history since 1980.

The Michael Flynn Problem Won't Easily Go Away

Mike Flynn, Trump's first national security advisor, was unquestionably an undisclosed agent of Turkey. Never in our history has a president had a person that close to the center of government who was advocating for a foreign power. If I were Biden, I'd be very worried that Trump would be selling US intelligence to foreign nations. I'd certainly be against Trump receiving any intelligence briefings at Mar-a-Lago.

And the Michael Fylnn saga is still not over. Following his pardon and Judge Sullivan being forced to close his court case, Flynn went on to commit more crimes on behalf of Trump in his failed attempt to reverse the election results. The Flynn saga is not over. We haven’t seen the last of him in a courtroom.

We Did This To Ourselves

I have written this before, ad nauseum. But I must say it again. We did this to ourselves. All of it. From the moment Trump got his own TV show, to his becoming the leader of the “Birther” conspiracy theory salespeople, to his 2015-2016 campaign, to his election, to his growing list of crimes as sitting president. We did this. This is on us. If we had done our fucking jobs, Donald Trump would be a convicted felon, slowly paying his fines to New York State for the tax evasion and fraud he committed over the decades. His “Trump University” and charity fraud alone would have barred him from public office.

He’s like any one of the 19 hijackers twenty years ago. We had multiple chances to stop him. We failed at every turn. Trump will get away with everything. He continues to trick us, again and again, that he’s a functional president and everything’s fine. With only 11 days left, he might as well start shooting people.

The Republicans got the judges and tax cuts they wanted. They don’t care if their party implodes or the Republic dies. They got what they wanted before they themselves die.

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It’s over. All nations and empires die. This one has died.

The Biggest Mess Left Behind For A New President

I think I’m correct. This is by far the longest list of crises left to a new US president.

For example, Truman was ready to take the helm in April 1945. FDR’s death didn’t rattle the nation in despair and chaos. But 2020? It sure ain’t 1945.

The Trump horror show is ending with rushed Federal executions, a shattered republic, an ongoing withdrawal from Afghanistan, broken confidence in our democracy, and a failed public rollout of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

The vaccine is not reaching Americans in group 1C. I got my vaccine, but my 79 year-old parents haven’t heard shit about their pending vaccinations. What. The. Fuck.

The Biden administration is doomed. It hasn’t begun, but it is set for failure. All because we let an angry, reclusive, sick New Yorker take shits on our Federal government and our nation for nine long, painful years (if you include the long buildup to Trump’s run and nomination, which I do - just look at Trump’s 2011 and 2012 Twitter feeds).

There’s no movement to help Biden fix what Trump has broken. There’s no widespread public desire to heal our wounds and take care of our elderly. We’re just a nation of selfish monsters who are acting like the pandemic is over. It will linger for years, until the next pandemic.

We will never change. We will never learn. And we will never be good. Just like Donald J. Trump.

The Alternate 2020

What could an alternate 2020 looked like? For a while, in January and February, it looked like the US was headed for a real war against Iran (presumably with Saudi Arabia doing some of the fighting). The illegal airstrike that killed General Solem Soleimani could have easily set the Islamic Republic off. It would have resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, but the US had committed an act of war on top of Iran’s provokation of having their top general in Iraq. Instead, Iran fired warning shots at US forces (which still caused concussions and ruptured eardrums, which Trump didn’t care about, but that’s another story).

Another alternative 2020 would have been a close, but not unexpected re-election for Donald Trump. After all, we didn’t know at the time, but Trump had been gaining in popularity throughout his residency, particularly with Hispanic and Black men. Against a old, non-confrontational Biden, he probably would have won.

And in yet another alternative 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still happened, but Trump took it seriously and let a panel of public health experts set a national policy, keeping the death toll under 100,000. His good handling of the pandemic would also result in a re-election victory.

Frederick Douglass Is (Still) Doing A Great Job!

The Belfast city council has approved a statue of key American abolitionist Frederick Douglass to be designed and installed in the city center.

Congratulations, Frederick Douglass! How's he doing, by the way? I heard Trump say a few years ago that he’s “done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more,” but I haven't heard much about him lately. It's great to see his recent accomplishments are now being recognized in the U.K.

Of course, at 201 years of age, he's probably slowing down a bit.

American Totalitarianism Started In 2019

The arrival of Bill Barr. The suppression of the Mueller report. Trump’s secret police. The destruction of the US Postal Service. Voter suppression. The Bible moment (preceded by tear gas). The transparent requests to throw out urban votes (and by urban, I really do mean black).

Democracies are not guaranteed to live forever. They can die. We saw American democracy die a little in 2000 with Bush v. Gore. We saw several more stages of death in the last two years.

It would take an effort of colossal proportions to prevent the republic from dying. The nation is sliding down a deadly slope. One idea to rescue it is to open it up to a new wave of massive immigration. Bring in over 300 Million hard working people to turn it around and fund all new infrastructure and a new surge in education funding. I am not a big fan of Matthew Yglasias, a young pundit who has been incorrect so many times before (or is that Ezra Klein? Oh, it’s Ezra. I get all my millenial pundits confused!). But Yglasias does have a point. Every time the US has had a wave of significant immigration, the nation has gotten stronger and the quality of life has improved. There’s no guarantee that it would work the next time. However, the historical track record is well-established.

If pushing for a doubling of the US population seems like an impossible task, then you have a grasp of how difficult it will be to save the republic. Because something quite radical is required to save it. Any radical change would require a colossal effort that I don’t think we’re capable of - even the activists and progressives among us.

Rudy Giuliani Won't Live Much Longer

When Borat 2 came out, and we saw the edited, embarrassing footage of Rudy Giuliani, I thought of the old joke, “Time wounds all heels.” 35 years ago, Rudy Giuliani was a Federal prosecutor with a self-polished image of being the man who brought down the mafia in the US. 25 years ago, he was the free speech and due process-squashing mayor of New York who was brought to power on the crest of a racist backlash against David Dinkins, mainly from voters in Staten Island and Queens. 15 years ago, he was still riding his title of “America’s Mayor,” and was gearing up for a ill-fated presidential run in 2008. But if you can remember, that new title saved him for a while. He didn’t have nine lives, but 9/11 was one of his three major career shifts. His three significant career phases were US Attorney, big city mayor, and paid homeland security celebrity.

By the time of the 2001 mayoral primary (on the morning of September 11), Giuliani was not liked in New York City. The citizens had enough of him, his bullying, his disregard for the Bill of Rights, and his very public and embarrassing divorce. They were sick of his bratty son, Andrew, as well as his new girlfriend, Judith Nathan. They were ready for him to leave. Just over a year before his career was rescued by a terrorist attack, Giuliani had a disastrous month in his failed bid to run against Hillary Clinton for Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s Senate seat. But 9/11 actually made America forget how nuts he was for about seven years. During that time, he cashed-in and gave six-figure talks at conferences as a so-called expert on terrorism and foreign policy. He also opened a bullshit consulting firm, Giuliani Partners. Giuliani had a renewed political and professional life until Joe Biden, of all people, cut him down.

Joe Biden dispatched Giuliani during a Democratic presidential debate in 2007. “A noun, and a verb and 9/11” pretty much summed him up, as Joe Biden called him unfit for any future office. At that moment, Giuliani was finally done. He had no lucrative future. I can now add Borat, crackpot conspiracies, and heavy drinking to the long list of disqualifications for "America's Mayor”. The site of his November 7 rant, masquerading as a press conference, was held in a landscaping company parking lot, perfectly located between a sex shop and a crematorium.

New Yorkers are currently annoyed by a mayor who falsely claims to be a progressive, who shamelessly attempted to enrich his wife as a senior staffer, and is generally a depressing disappointment in leadership. However, I have to remind my fellow city residents that with Giuliani, we had a deeply corrupt mayor, who demonized people who were tortured and killed by police, who exhibited strange behavior, and annoyingly inserted himself into Christmas with his name being Rudolph. We’ve forgotten the clip below, but we must not forget. In 2000, when this video was shot, these two men were jokes.

Notice this video was shot in a department store (is this Loehmann’s?), which is quite prophetic given the active defamation lawsuit against Trump from Jean E. Carroll, who alleges that Trump raped her in a Bloomingdale’s dressing room in 1996.

Rudy’s drag alter ego, “Rudia,” lasted about three years, from 1997-2000. Giuliani’s friendship with Donald Trump goes back 34 years. And in this decade, the two men have only gotten closer. Rudy pledged his full loyalty to Trump and delivered an insane speech at the 2016 RNC. In that speech, Giuliani delivered to the media the first of many iconic images of a man in decline. Soon after Trump took office, Trump lost Michael Cohen and turned to Giuliani as his personal attorney, fixer, and rat fucker. That’s when we saw Giuliani’s behavior take a much more disturbing turn in the spring of 2019.

I am not going to go through the whole saga, which is apparently ongoing. Giuliani went to Ukraine with his subcontractors / henchmen to try to collect dirt on Hunter Biden and get Ukrainian officials to smear the Bidens on the record. Along the way, they nearly got a US ambassador killed. He also began to tell Fox News, Twitter users and journalists of his project while it was in-progress. It’s no wonder it led to Trump’s impeachment. It was in plain sight. He even went to Ukraine late in the impeachment proceedings. It was also around this time that Giuliani finalized his divorce from Judith Nathan and made himself a new base at The Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side.

Despite a sharp drop in income, he has not relinquished his luxurious lifestyle. He reportedly drinks day and night. Throughout COVID-19 pandemic, he has been seen at the bar, maskless, inside the hotel. By this time last year, he was giving bizarre interviews from the hotel. He’s reportedly easy to find at the Mark and is available to rant to any journalist who is willing to endure him.

He was maskless again at his extraordinary press conference yesterday. It made his November 7 event look like a minor gaffe. It was off the rails, with wild conspiracy theories and “constitutional law attorney” Jenna Ellis insulting a reporter who dared ask for any evidence of one of the wild conspiracies they tossed into the public sphere. And we need to confront that shit. Specifically, the charge that vote counting machines were programmed to reduce a set percentage of votes for Trump across all counties, giving Biden a handicap, is insane. They also claimed that late-night reporting of mail-in ballots was actually a dump of manufactured, fraudulent ballots, organized by Democrats in a desperate attempt to to maintain Biden’s lead, because Democrats didn’t program the counting machines to change a high enough percentage of Trump votes. That is even more insane. And yet, here we are, with close to half the nation believing just that - that this election was stolen through a vast Democratic conspiracy that spanned cities, towns, counties and states.

The hair dye dripping down Guiliani's face was an unnecessary but near perfect metaphor for this demented attempt to overturn a democratic election. "America's Mayor", who may be suffering from severe alcohol addiction, is clearly unhinged, and his "legal team" looks like the cast from a Monty Python sketch. Are we really supposed to believe that Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan dictator, dead for more than seven years, funded the installation of thousands of voting machines which could change Trump votes to Biden votes through some mysterious "algorithm,” which is really just described in the Pennsylvania complaint as a percentage cut? Are we really supposed to believe that George Soros and Antifa have engineered a massive theft of the votes that would have delivered a massive landslide for Trump?

I think the republic has been permanently poisoned by Trump’s desperate attempt to delay the Biden transition. But here’s something else I started to think a year ago when Rudy gave that unhinged interview to New York Magazine: Rudy is going to wind up dead soon. And it’s sad because no one has bothered to try to save him. Doesn’t he have any friends?

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He’s going to be found cold and lifeless in his hotel room. His drinking will eventually finish himself off. Rudy Giuliani doesn’t have long to live. His obituaries are not going to be flattering. His legacy is long destroyed. His mind is gone. His heart and liver aren’t far behind.

Who will Donald Trump turn to for legal assistance then? Will Trump even be in the country by then?

Uncle Tim contributed to this post.