History will view Rudy Giuliani as a tragedy, not a clown

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a Rudy Giuliani fan. I grew up in New York City, so I absolutely remember the post-9/11 Rudy love – well-deserved, in my opinion – but in more recent years he seems to have developed the moral compass of a garden slug.

Should Rudy Giuliani be indicted for his many, many crimes – including lobbying a foreign government for support perjury and conspiracy to subvert the united states government? Yes. He should. The man should be in jail. 

What he shouldn’t be – and here is where my opinions differs from many liberals, including a number of prominent late-night hosts – is a laughing stock. 

Early on in this clown show, sure, Rudy’s antics were moments of high hilarity. There’s the sweaty hair dye moment, the unfortunate in-court flatulence, the press conference at definitely not the Four Seasons he intended…it’s all ridiculous, the stuff I’m sure Stephen Colbert’s writers dream about at night. 

It’s silly but as time goes on, it becomes increasingly not really funny. During the January 6 hearings, one tidbit that came out that was much harped-upon by the press was press on both sides was Giuliani’s supposed drunkenness on Election Night, a state that allegedly inspired him to push Trump to declare that he had won the election thereby setting the foundation for the later insurrection. 

Based on a virtual mountain of circumstantial evidence, and with the caveat that I am in no way, shape or form a lawyer I am still  inclined to believe these statements. I am inclined to believe that Giuliani has committed many illegal acts. I’m also inclined to believe that he was drunk during many of these events. 

I’m inclined to believe this because Rudy Giuliani is visibly struggling with substance abuse, based both on anecdotal evidence and what we see before our own eyes. 

Rudy himself has denied claims of alcohol abuse, repeatedly saying that he does not have an problem, but where there’s fire, there’s fire. Isn’t that the expression?

So rather than looking at Rudy as a walking, talking punchline, I think we should view him – both now and in future recollections – as a man suffering from a deadly and progressive disease one that damages the brain and interferes with its communication pathways. As with any alcoholic, Rudy Giuliani deserves empathy and his deserves treatment – and said treatment, incidentally, doesn’t usually include access to high level governmental officials and information. It also doesn’t preclude culpability – and in this case, there’s a great deal of that.

The story of Rudy Giuliani is still on-going but I have a feeling that when the history books are written, his tale will not be a comedy of butt-dials and newsroom rantings, but rather a tragedy – one that we all watched play out with our own two eyes.