Rudy and Donald Sitting in A Tree: The Former "Comb-over Twins"

By Jeralyn, Section Colorado News
Posted on Wed Sep 28, 2016 at 01:58:06 PM EST
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Rudy Giuliani, the most contemptible Republican ever (ok, maybe along with Dick Cheney), wants Trump to bring up Monica Lewinsky in the next debate. Seriously? Rudy, whose alleged extra-marital dalliance with his ex communications director Cristyne Lategano-Nicholas was cited by his wife Donna Hanover as a principal reason for their divorce?

From the New York Times:

Ms. Hanover appeared outside Gracie Mansion and, with a wavering voice and tears in her eyes, said: ''Today's turn of events brings me great sadness. I had hoped to keep this marriage together. For several years, it was difficult to participate in Rudy's public life because of his relationship with one staff member.''

Rudy -- who invited the press along to watch him eat dinner with Judith Nathan on Mothers Day while he was still married to Hanover? Whose first wife was his second cousin who he obtained an annulment from after 17 years of marriage?

Here's Rudy about what he would have said at the Hillary debate:

Well, I'm not sure I should tell you what I would have said. But I sure would’ve talked about what she did to Monica Lewinsky — what that woman standing there did to Monica Lewinsky, trying to paint her as an insane young woman when, in fact, Monica Lewinsky was an intern. ... And after being married to Bill Clinton for 20 years, if you didn’t know the moment Monica Lewinsky said that Bill Clinton violated her, that she was telling the truth, then you’re too stupid to be president."

First off, Trump defended Clinton at the time against the "moralists in Congress."

“I got a chuckle out of all the moralists in Congress and in the media who expressed public outrage at the president’s immoral behavior,” wrote Trump in The America We Deserve . “

Trump also wrote that Clinton should have refused to talk about his personal life.

“When confronted with the Lewinsky matter, Clinton should have stoutly refused to discuss his private life,” wrote Trump. “He should also have declined to answer, rather than perjure himself. If the Clinton affair proves anything it is that the American people don’t care about the private lives and personal of our political leaders so long as they are doing the job.”

Rudy isn't the only one that fails to recognize himself in the mirror. Trump's record of marital fidelity is just as dismal.

Wayne Barrett, journalist and author of a book on Trump and Giuliani, decimates them both in one deft stroke:

No one in American public life, other than perhaps their kindred spirit Newt Gingrich, has ever mastered the art of a bad divorce like Rudy and Donald, carrying on as if spousal humiliation was the point.

Ask the kids. When Trump married mistress Marla Maples nearly four years after he walked out on Ivana, the three convention stars, Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric, didn't show up. Andrew and Caroline Giuliani made strained appearances at Rudy's 2003 wedding to Judi Nathan, but in 2007, both distanced themselves from their father's presidential pursuit, with Caroline Facebooking her preference for Obama, as close to the ex-mayor's heart as she could plunge the dagger.

Rudy's wife Donna found out he wanted a divorce when he announced it on TV, just as Marla had a couple of years before. Rudy then chose Mother's Day to alert the press that he would be having dinner with his new love and led the cameras on a 10-block walk with her after dinner, kissing her goodbye while his wife and kids simmered. His divorce lawyer declared "we're going to have to pry her off the chandeliers to get her out of" Gracie Mansion. Even Donald Trump was offended, writing an open letter to New York Magazine and urging Donna and Rudy "to sit down with each other in a room, without your lawyer, and see if you can settle this."

Barrett calls them the "former comb-over twins."

Here's something I didn't know about Rudy, but I'm not surprised. Barrett writes:

He admitted later that he didn't even know who Osama Bin Laden was until after 9/11 when Judi Nathan gave him a book about him, even though Bin Laden was under indictment in the courthouse next to City Hall, charged by federal prosecutors he'd hired, whose subsequent boss, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, tried unsuccessfully to set up briefing sessions with him.

Check out Trump Solo, a devastating and long interview with Trump from 1997 in the New Yorker. Trump's grandiosity, gauche taste, failing finances, bloviating, complete lack of self-awareness and sexism are on full display. Trump describes a female doctor hired to work at the spa at Mar a Lago:

While giving me a tour of the main exercise room... Trump introduced me to “our resident physician, Dr. Ginger Lea Southall”—a recent chiropractic-college graduate. As Dr. Ginger, out of earshot, manipulated the sore back of a grateful member, I asked Trump where she had done her training. “I’m not sure,” he said. “Baywatch Medical School? Does that sound right? I’ll tell you the truth. Once I saw Dr. Ginger’s photograph, I didn’t really need to look at her résumé or anyone else’s. Are you asking, ‘Did we hire her because she’d trained at Mount Sinai for fifteen years?’ The answer is no. And I’ll tell you why: because by the time she’s spent fifteen years at Mount Sinai, we don’t want to look at her.”

Rudy Giuliani, in this clip from the RNC, sounds like a demented and sick man.

Maybe it happened when he got this big bump on his forehead. Rudy said "he was taking a shower with a "cramp on my leg" and hit his head on the glass door." His aide said "Giuliani hurt himself when he "got up in the middle of the night to use facilities and banged into bathroom door."

Rudy has something else in common with Trump: His appreciation of Russian leaders. On 9/11 this year, Rudy said:

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani compared Donald Trump's friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ronald Reagan's ability to work with Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who helped to end the Cold War...."Gorbachev was a killer, just like Putin is a killer," Giuliani said. "

Does Rudy always yuk it up with those he calls killers? Here he is hosting Gorbachev in his office in 1997. Here's the back story.(Photos are also on the NYC website.) Here's one from the New York Times.

Back to Donald Trump: Rosie O'Donnell called him the 5 minute orange an*s after he mentioned her in the debate.

"the 5 mins orange an*s can't seem to get over --- tell the truth - shame the donald #ImWithHer," she wrote on Twitter, with a link to the video.

Also on Monday's debate, the Washington Post had at least 5 columns blasting Trump. (Almost almost every other media outlet has similar pieces.)

From the first one:

Trump visibly ran out of gas, poor thing. His answers became increasingly scattered and elliptical. Pressed to defend his contention (long since disproved) that he was against the Iraq War, he complained repeatedly that “everybody refuses to call Sean Hannity.” ....This was after he charged that Clinton “doesn’t have the stamina” to be president. But she looked fresh as a daisy throughout, while Trump wilted before our eyes.

On Trump's comments about Hillary's aide invoking the 5th Amendment over emails, as if that somehow incriminates not just the aide but Hillary: Here's a tit for tat. Jeffrey Epstein during his deposition took the 5th when asked about Trump:

In 2010, Epstein pled the Fifth when asked by a lawyer representing one of Epstein's victims about his relationship with Trump:

Q: Have you ever had a personal relationship with Donald Trump?
A. What do you mean by "personal relationship," sir?
Q. Have you socialized with him?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Yes?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?
A: Though I'd like to answer that question, at least today I'm going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights, sir.

Eric Trump called his father's refusal to mention Monica "courageous." Twitter is having a field day with a photo of Trump's kids earlier this month, calling them Children of the Corn. I think this is funnier:

Have you been injured in a workplace accident? Call the law offices of Trump, Trump, and Trump today! pic.twitter.com/6VIYOZ2pnO
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 3, 2016

Also going viral this week: Hillary's shoulder shimmy

That's all I have to say on Trump and Rudy today.

< Trump Debate Performance: Fat-Shaming, Sniffling, and Outright False Statements | Happy Birthday and Open Thread >

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Rudy and Donald Sitting in A Tree: The Former "Comb-over Twins" | 45 comments (45 topical)

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Chelsea Clinton in a Cosmo intervew today (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by ruffian on Wed Sep 28, 2016 at 03:44:34 PM EST

addressing the possibility of Trump bringing up dirt on her father. Just as smart as you would expect:

Well, my reaction to that is just what my reaction has been kind of every time Trump has gone after my mom or my family, which is that it's a distraction from his inability to talk about what's actually at stake in this election and to offer concrete, comprehensive proposals about the economy, or our public school system, or debt-free college, or keeping our country safe and Americans safe here at home and around the world.
And candidly, I don't remember a time in my life when my parents and my family weren't being attacked, and so it just sort of seems to be in that tradition, unfortunately. And what I find most troubling by far are Trump's -- and we talked about this when you interviewed me the night before the Iowa caucus -- are Trump's continued, relentless attacks on whole swaths of our country and even our global community: women, Muslims, Americans with disabilities, a Gold Star family. I mean, that, to me, is far more troubling than whatever his most recent screed against my mom or my family [is].

It's called class... (5.00 / 2) (#2)
by mogal on Wed Sep 28, 2016 at 05:33:12 PM EST

and being loved and loving.

What I totally fail to understand (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by Peter G on Wed Sep 28, 2016 at 07:42:18 PM EST

is how it is a knock on the wronged wife that her husband was unfaithful, and yet she stood by their marriage and found a way to forgive and move on, in an obviously complicated but equally obviously deep and loving relationship that has lasted some 45 years (so far).

Clinton's (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by mogal on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 01:03:39 PM EST

I agree, and they enjoy each other, they talk, share, and he still makes her laugh. She has been faithful and will be rewarded.


Just my two uncomfortable cents on this topic (1.33 / 3) (#11)
by Dadler on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 10:27:18 AM EST

The Clintons absolutely bring to mind my second stepfather (and my "family" for the several years he was married to my mother), a man whom I would describe as a hugely benevolent con-man. He did good things, but always took his rake, always had to profit off of it. The Clinton's is a business marriage, and has been for decades. Always seemed obvious from the go. That's fine, but when they pretend otherwise, especially this far in, it gets a little creepy actually. Even Anthony Weiner's wife left after the second time.


How would you have the slightest idea? (5.00 / 5) (#13)
by Yman on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 10:56:14 AM EST

I never understood why people feel qualified to characterize the Clinton's marriage as nothing more than a "business relationship", based on what they've read about it. I wouldn't pretend to be qualified to render such an opinion on the marriages of people I know personally, let alone people I've only read about.


How could anyone watch (5.00 / 3) (#15)
by Peter G on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 11:14:41 AM EST

Bill's introduction of her at the convention, and his reaction after her acceptance speech, and not see how much he still loves her after all these years?


: On the other hand.. (none / 0) (#18)
by jondee on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 11:43:18 AM EST

I almost believed Clint and Meryl Streep loved each other after seeing The Bridges of Madison County..
My better answer (in my mind) to all of this idle National Inquirer-ish speculation is that none of it is any of our friggin' business.
They're public servants hired to do a job and that job decidedly isn't, or shouldn't be, to embody our fantasies of perfect, everlasting love and domestic bliss.

The Clinton's relationship (none / 0) (#14)
by jondee on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 10:57:05 AM EST

has it's other compensations..

For instance, one example of Bill's well-roundedness is that he's the only man from Arkansas who knows what "zaftig" means..


Actually (none / 0) (#6)
by TrevorBolder on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 06:10:03 AM EST

I believe the knock is not that she "stood by her man"
But the visceral and brutal attacks on the (bimbo's) that dare publicly make their case.

The brutal shaming of the other women done strictly for political purposes.


No evidence that anything like that (5.00 / 6) (#9)
by Militarytracy on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 08:17:44 AM EST

Went down.

Trump brought up something that Hillary wrote to a friend, a private conversation while going through hell. Something not intended for the public.

And when Donald Trump cheats he makes certain it's in every gossip column with lots of cleavage.


Then there is (5.00 / 5) (#10)
by FlJoe on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 08:40:52 AM EST

this

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the court documents detail a lawsuit that alleges Trump pressured employees at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos to replace those he viewed to be unattractive female employees over a number of years in the 2000s.

snip

Hayley Strozier, an employee at the golf club until 2008, alleged in a sworn declaration she "had witnessed Donald Trump tell managers many times while he was visiting the club that restaurant hostesses were 'not pretty enough' and that they should be fired and replaced with more attractive women."

According to the Times' report, "the bulk of the lawsuit was settled in 2013" with a $475,000 payment to plaintiff employees without any admission of wrongdoing. Another female employee who said she was fired for complaining about the treatment of women at the golf club agreed to a separate settlement with confidential terms.

Juanita Broaddrick claims... (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by kdog on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 11:40:29 AM EST

that's exactly what went down...she has alleged that Hillary Clinton pressured her to keep silent about the alleged rape she claims she suffered at the hands of Bill Clinton.

Bill's promiscuity and how they personally deal with that as a married couple is not and should not be an issue, nor is it our business. But women's issues are front and center in this campaign. Isn't it a mortal sin not to support alleged victims of rape or sexual assault 100%, despite any lack of evidence which normally is hard to come by in cases of acquaintance rape?

You are aware (5.00 / 1) (#22)
by Ga6thDem on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 01:07:34 PM EST

that Broaderick signed 10 sworn affidavits denying what she is now saying?


No, it's not a "mortal sin" ... (none / 0) (#19)
by Yman on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 12:36:12 PM EST

... particularly when there is a factual basis for disbelief.


I assume kdog's "moral sin" question (none / 0) (#23)
by Peter G on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 02:43:12 PM EST

was posed tongue-in-cheek, on this innocent-until-proven-guilty defense lawyer's blog.


Can't sneak nuthin' passed you Peter! (1.00 / 1) (#24)
by kdog on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 03:31:13 PM EST

Also a little toungue in cheek interpretation of modern extreme feminist dogma...accusation is enough in some circles.


Although, it's usually not enough (5.00 / 1) (#26)
by jondee on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 04:16:47 PM EST

if the high powered suits are all working for him and she's a lowly prole with any sort of checkered past.

No matter who did what to who.


: Or if ... (5.00 / 1) (#27)
by Yman on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 05:05:54 PM EST

... she's made sworn affidavits to a court that directly contradict her current claims, among other things.

What is this feminist dogma (none / 0) (#29)
by Towanda on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 06:36:30 PM EST

of which you speak? Link, please, as in all of my years in teaching women's studies, I never have heard of this one.


: Sounds like the Andrea Dworkin-Mary Daly (none / 0) (#31)
by jondee on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 07:01:34 PM EST

school of feminism.

My husband teaches SHARP now (none / 0) (#25)
by Militarytracy on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 04:08:46 PM EST

In the wake of a terrible sexual assault crisis, I believe in good thorough investigations and keep in mind that the false report is rare.

You were talking about the feminist dogma about empathy for all no questions asked, my husband had a woman in one of his classes recently who firmly believed 60% of women claiming to be raped are lying. There was nothing he could say, no stat he could share that would sway her.


And to you, and your spouse (none / 0) (#30)
by Towanda on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 06:37:40 PM EST

I also ask what is this feminist dogma you describe? Link, please, as I had better add it to courses in women's studies.


It's not me and my spouse Towanda (none / 0) (#34)
by Militarytracy on Fri Sep 30, 2016 at 03:12:29 PM EST

Kdog brought it up, not me


I don't think living in the past (none / 0) (#35)
by Militarytracy on Fri Sep 30, 2016 at 03:24:21 PM EST

Is beneficial in dealing with today's problems, Brownmiller wrote some scathing generalizations about all men and rape that don't fit all men.


Brownmiller, caught up in the heat (none / 0) (#36)
by jondee on Fri Sep 30, 2016 at 04:27:34 PM EST

of her crusade, even stupidly evoked Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old who was tortured and murdered for whistling at a white woman, as a possible example of exploitive, predatory male attitudes toward women.

And Dworkin comes close in places to implying that every male is a rapist in-embryo -- including Leo Tolstoy, who she characterizes as an actual rapist.


I think these are the writers kdog (none / 0) (#37)
by Militarytracy on Fri Sep 30, 2016 at 04:39:29 PM EST

Is reflecting on. I did not ask though, I did assume.


No, I don't think Kdog was thinking (5.00 / 1) (#39)
by Peter G on Fri Sep 30, 2016 at 09:35:07 PM EST

of any particular radical feminist writers of the late 60s/1970s/80s. I understood him to be referring to the attitude that gave rise to the Department of Education rules, which require that colleges and universities deny due process to anyone (overwhelmingly young male students) accused of sexual misconduct, including rape, by mandating rules of "investigation" that plainly presume guilt in all cases. While I cannot remember another occasion when I disagreed with the sober, well-informed, articulate and fairminded Towanda, I think she's being a bit disingenuous here to suggest there is no such mind-set. I wouldn't call that attitude "feminist," myself, but I think I can understand what Kdog was referring to.


And I also have, as an educator (5.00 / 1) (#43)
by Towanda on Sat Oct 01, 2016 at 02:21:34 PM EST

problems with the DoE rules, believe me.

But how anyone can say that the DoE is feminist. . . .

Dogma well may be behind the DoE rules -- but NOT some so-called "feminist dogma." Seriously, the origin of the rules has been discussed extensively in the Chronicle for Higher Education. It ain't feminism, folks. See: lawyers. Look to yourselves.


I had no idea about the department of education (none / 0) (#40)
by Militarytracy on Fri Sep 30, 2016 at 10:49:18 PM EST

Rules, but did go and read about it. Pretty stunning. I live in such a no real news zone, some things make it here but a lot doesn't. Is this a symptom of colleges as "the money machine" business plan?

I feel discouraged all the way around. The military tends to be such a hyper masculine culture that they have to be shamed to the hilt before they are willing to do something truly constructive about sexual assault. And you can teach, but you can't make a horse drink, so many people still resistant to go through the process properly, investigative, unbiased. But those individuals usually don't want to confront a rapist.

Colleges don't want due process because....? Because due process puts victims in an uncomfortable spot?


One of the rubs (none / 0) (#41)
by jondee on Sat Oct 01, 2016 at 11:49:12 AM EST

is that most of these college sexual assaults and date rapes seem to be occurring in a "party school" context in which students are being required to be more responsible and sensitive, while they continue to get wasted specifically to relieve themselves of the inhibiting burden of being responsible and sensitive.


: I wish I knew the answer to party culture (none / 0) (#45)
by Militarytracy on Sun Oct 02, 2016 at 10:59:11 PM EST

I do know that due to the crisis in the military, soldiers must attend SHARP classes where it is questioned if any intoxicated person is fully capable of consent. They discourage anyone "hooking up" during partying and if their peers are around during this phase they place intervention upon peers.

It is exactly the adjective (none / 0) (#42)
by Towanda on Sat Oct 01, 2016 at 02:17:20 PM EST

that -- and you agree -- I question.

And its promulgators here still do not actually address their attacks on feminists.


: Well, I agree with you, Towanda, (none / 0) (#44)
by Peter G on Sat Oct 01, 2016 at 02:51:50 PM EST

that the virtually irrebuttable presumption of guilt that is built into those crazy DoE rules does not reflect any proper understanding of a feminist perspective, but I don't think Kdog was attacking feminism by his careless use of the term. (No comment on some other commenters.) That would be inconsistent with Kdog's humanitarian world view, as expressed in dozens of previous comments.
Outside the campus world, it must be remembered that for centuries before the beneficial impact of the women's movement on criminal law in the last decades of the 20th century, rape law was ridiculously favorable to (male) perpetrators (and accused perpetrators) and extremely unfair to their (mostly female) victims. In the off-campus world, that has mostly been corrected (but not in every case, as some recent instances show) and the pendulum has only rarely swung too far the other way.

And I do understand for some people (none / 0) (#38)
by Militarytracy on Fri Sep 30, 2016 at 04:43:37 PM EST

Sex isn't their thing and they have their experience of our culture.


And yet, as usual ... (5.00 / 2) (#12)
by Yman on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 10:46:10 AM EST

... you provide absolutely ZERO evidence of these "visceral and brutal attacks" that you accuse Hillary of making.

Typical.


Sigh... (none / 0) (#28)
by TrevorBolder on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 05:14:47 PM EST

Former White House press secretary George Stephanopoulos recalled in his memoir discussing a woman's allegation published in Penthouse Magazine. He said that after her husband dismissed it as untrue during a meeting, Hillary Clinton said, "We have to destroy her story.

"She had to do what she had always done before: swallow her doubts, stand by her man and savage his enemies," Stephanopoulos wrote, describing Hillary Clinton's reaction.

Lewinsky wrote in Vanity Fair in 2014 that she found Hillary Clinton's "impulse to blame the Woman -- not only me, but herself -- troubling." She declined an interview request.

http://tinyurl.com/j8m37jt

Or can we forget the $20 bill nd trailer park...

Nah, we can't

And anything that comes from a Clinton surrogate, has her approval.


: Discrediting (5.00 / 2) (#32)
by Ga6thDem on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 07:17:21 PM EST

her "story" is the same as destroying a person. Talk about a stretch but then again you never were all that loyal to the truth.
Interesting that even Republicans are running to hide under the table with Trump going that route and severely warning him against it. But I say go for it. Please proceed stupid GOP. We've been down this route before and you had your a** handed to you but apparently Republicans are really, really slow learners.

: That?!? (5.00 / 1) (#33)
by Yman on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 07:51:04 PM EST

That's the best you can come up with for what you called her "visceral and brutal attacks"??? She believes the claims are false and says we "have to destroy her story" and you call that "visceral and brutal attacks"? Or Lewinsky herself making some generic comment about blaming her (and herself) "troubling"?
I can't tell if you're actually trying to be funny or if it's completely unintentional. I'm leaning toward the latter.

That's another (4.80 / 5) (#8)
by Ga6thDem on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 07:59:28 AM EST

fantasy legend from wingnut welfare brigade namely Roger Stone with the Nixon body tattoo. But anyway I certainly recommend the GOP goes there like Trump did with his conspiracy statements about almost everything in the debate.


You are right (none / 0) (#20)
by mogal on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 12:58:24 PM EST

Letras Libres features the Donald (5.00 / 5) (#7)
by Mr Natural on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 07:37:19 AM EST

on its October cover.

"Donald Trump is a sociopath drunk on himself. His religion is hatred. His god is Donald Trump. He is also addicted to empty adjectives. He is not a man of his word or of words as markers of truth." - Enrique Krauze

Do I detect (none / 0) (#3)
by Redbrow on Wed Sep 28, 2016 at 07:15:58 PM EST

BALD SHAMING.!?!

Judging and marginalizing people because of physical characteristics?

The horror!

Actually, no. Kind of the opposite. (5.00 / 2) (#5)
by Peter G on Wed Sep 28, 2016 at 08:35:24 PM EST

Mocking the comb-over points out that the bald man is trying to hide, and is presumably ashamed of, his own baldness. It does not mock him for being bald. The comment implicitly calls upon him to be bold about bald!


: Yes... (none / 0) (#17)
by kdog on Thu Sep 29, 2016 at 11:42:02 AM EST

if anything it is mocking vanity, one of the 7 deadly sins.