Eighteen years ago, on a terrible day every American then living remembers too well, Rudolph Giuliani earned respect for his calm, inspiring, and unifying leadership of a wounded New York City. Too much has happened since then to feel anything but disappointment in him — but on this year’s 9/11 anniversary, the man once known as “America’s Mayor” descended to a new and ominous low.
Mimicking the crude style of his client Donald Trump, Giuliani tweeted an angry video that purports to show a noble police officer arming for battle against a crowd of screaming, flag-burning protesters. Originally filmed as an advertisement for a right-wing T-shirt company, this clip was designed to incite fury against “leftists,” a term of abuse that evidently defines anyone who is not a Trump Republican.
The video’s scruffy villains brandish signs denouncing fascism and threatening to “burn it down,” an obvious reference to the Antifa activists demonized by the president and his media minions. Its hero is a police officer in riot gear who remembers 9/11 and loves America. Is that simple enough for you? It’s simple enough for Giuliani’s intended audience, including many who yearn for an excuse to assault and bloody their liberal opponents.
View the complete September 11 article by Joe Conason on the National Memo website here.