The perverse insanity of Donald Trump’s dark world

| 10:00 pm EDT September 18, 2021
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As new excerpts from Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s upcoming book, Peril, get released, we gain even further insight into the perverse insanity of Donald Trump’s dark world. The latest revelations shed light on the relationship between Trump and Rudy Giuliani, revealing it to be somehow even more deranged and destructive to democracy than we might have imagined.

According to Business Insider, which obtained a copy of the book, Lindsey Graham warned Trump in November about Giuliani’s alarming incoherence after he made “beyond bizarre” claims with Sidney Powell at a press conference, hair dye streaking down his face. Although Trump agreed with Graham, he ignored his urgent warning.

“He’s crazy. He says crazy shit. I get it,” Trump admitted about Giuliani. “But none of the sane lawyers can represent me because they’ve been pressured. The actual lawyers have been told they cannot represent my campaign.” So, Trump was keenly aware of Giuliani’s shortcomings even as he insisted on keeping his counsel. Trump knew exactly what toxic junk Giuliani was peddling but bought it anyway, calling it gold.

Three days after the November election, Giuliani offered a new batch of this “crazy shit.” Giuliani claimed he had eight affidavits alleging voter fraud, according to a review of Peril by the New York Times. He quickly upped the number to 27 and then 80, all before the sun had a chance to set, begging Trump to let him lead a phony crusade against the reality that Joe Biden was just duly elected as the 46th President of the United States.

Even Graham’s chief counsel, Lee Holmes, was “astonished” by Giuliani’s off-the-rail claims, to the point where he wrote to Graham that they are “a concoction, with a bullying tone and eighth-grade writing.” Graham couldn’t agree more (even correcting Holmes with “third grade”) and promptly warned Trump, who apparently also couldn’t agree more but couldn’t care less.

When speaking with Kellyanne Conway the day after the election, Trump “seemed ready, at least privately, to acknowledge defeat.” However, Giuliani, who spent two decades descending into madness since Time lauded him as a “Tower of Strength” as its 2001 Person of the Year, succeeded in getting Trump to embrace his dangerous ramblings. Although Trump recognized Giuliani’s claims to be “crazy shit,” the twice-impeached President of the United States encouraged his court jester to midwife the Big Lie. So much for America First.