Rudy Giuliani’s breathtaking descent into madness
When people tell jokes, it should be a time to laugh. Especially in politics, humor can diffuse tension and increase a common desire to work together to accomplish what’s best for America. However, when Republicans tell jokes, it’s time to cringe, and recent GOP humor is ranging from the insulting to the bizarre.
Rudy Giuliani, who has been doggedly pursuing a breathtaking descent into hate and madness over the past couple of decades, continues to prove he is the master of the bizarre. In an episode of “America’s Mayor Life,” a title that backfires by reminding us of how far he has fallen since serving as New York City’s mayor, Giuliani apparently pretended he was ignorant about the Oscars, finally suggesting “Oh, it’s the—oh, it’s a family.”
After a producer supposedly helped clarify things, Giuliani then pivoted from his lame joke to plugging the TV series “The Chosen,” a drama about the life of Jesus Christ, as a better alternative to watching “this Oscar thing,” which he said used to have “decent Americans” such as “Bob Hope and John Wayne.” Before long, he proclaimed himself a “moderate biblical scholar.” Giuliani then doubled down: “I say moderate, but more a religious scholar, which I am—I would say it’s fair interpretation.”
Mike Pence also put his perverse humor while speaking at the Gridiron Club last weekend, slamming Pete Buttigieg for supposedly failing at his job as Secretary of Transportation. “When Pete’s two children were born, he took two months maternity leave, where upon thousands of travelers were stranded in airports, the air traffic system shut down, airplanes nearly collided in midair,” Pence began. “I mean, Pete Buttigieg is the only person in human history to have a child and all the rest of us get postpartum depression.”
Of course, criticizing government officials is fair territory for politicians. However, Pence’s joke gratuitously insulted mothers and the LGBTQ community while managing to be devoid of humor. Despite his claim to be a “pro-life” and “family values” politician, Pence also delighted in devaluing the plight of parents with newborns in intensive care.
Chasten Buttigieg, Pete’s husband, expressed this hypocritical faux-outrage perfectly in a tweet: “If your grandchild was born prematurely and placed on a ventilator at two months old – their tiny fingers wrapped around yours as the monitors beep in the background – where would you be?”
After much blowback, Pence only proceeded to make things worse. “The only thing I can figure is Pete Buttigieg not only can’t do his job, but he can’t take a joke.” Despite Pence’s lame attempt at reframing the joke, this isn’t about Pete Buttigieg and whether he can’t handle criticism. This Pence story is about hurtful misogynistic and homophobic comments against millions of Americans. As Giuliani and Pence have recently reminded us, today’s Republican Party is an absolute joke.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month