Rudy Giuliani (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty)
If Donald Trump allows his disappointment that Jeff Sessions is not his personal lawyer to lead him into firing his most dangerous and effective cabinet appointment, there are two logical, “loyal” replacements.
One option is Chris “Reek” Christie. Christie wants the job, is qualified for the job, and has so utterly debased himself in service of Trump that there is literally no lower that he can sink. Chris Christie (allegedly) closes bridges to get back at his political enemies. He closes beaches and then goes to the beach. I do not think he would hesitate to close Robert Mueller’s investigation.
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Christie is massively unpopular, but when he wasn’t busy doing Trump’s bidding, he’d probably be a fairly normal attorney general, at least in the context of what normal Republicans think passes for effective administration of justice. He doesn’t have the independent backbone to stand up to Trump, but he also doesn’t have Jeff Sessions’s passion to make actual war on minorities, immigrants, and non-white drug users. He’d be a fine A.G. — and by “fine” I mean “a terrible legal mouthpiece for an administration that does not respect the law, yet better than the current Klan sympathizer running the show.” We can, and literally have, bigger problems than A.G. Chris Christie.
The other A.G. option is the one that Trump is allegedly pondering: Rudolph Giuliani. When reached for comment, Giuliani merely raised his hands at progressive onlookers.
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President Trump is so unhappy with Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he has raised the possibility of bringing back Rudolph Giuliani to head the Justice Department, according to West Wing confidants.
In internal conversations, Trump has recently pondered the idea of nominating Giuliani, a stalwart of his campaign.
There are a few ways to internalize this leak:
1. It’s an empty threat. Telling people you will replace a monster with an even bigger monster is one way to make people accept a monster. Giuliani is more effective for Trump if he’s hiding under the bed, so he’ll stay under the bed.
2. It’s a real possibility. Like all tyrants, Trump is running out of people he can trust (and people more generally — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is reportedly considering resignation). Trump would appoint one of his family members as A.G. if he could get away with it. Failing that, he’s grasping for anybody who will kiss the ring. Chris Christie ran against Trump, and in his heart probably believes he would be President if not for the turbulent mayor of Fort Lee. Giuliani ran against Hillary and lost. He ran for the GOP nomination, and lost. From the perspective of a vain and paranoid leader, that experience means that Giuliani comes in knowing his place. Sessions and Christie maybe don’t.
3. It’s going to happen, and we should be thankful. The publicity machine hyping Rudolph Giuliani outstripped his actual effectiveness a long, long time ago. He was a relatively effective local prosecutor. He was a bitterly divisive mayor. His so-called leadership saved exactly zero people on 9/11, nor did he anticipate the environmental catastrophe caused by the attacks. He’s a poor campaigner, a worse communicator, and doesn’t play nicely with others.
I’m choosing to go with option 3, because it will help me sleep tonight.
Jeff Sessions wields power like a master architect who understands how to tear down a house using the minimal amount of explosives. Rudolph Giuliani is a contemptuous hammer who sees every problem as a nail. A.G. Giuliani would be a lot of sound and fury, followed by temporary restraining orders, signifying nothing. Remember, he’s the one who wrote the initial Muslim Ban, the one so bad that the administration had to completely rework into Travel Ban 2.0.
Giuliani might literally look like a demonic terror, but he’s not magic. He’s just a thug. He’s just a story we use to scare children.
[I’m very frightened, you guys.]
Exclusive: Trump ponders Rudy Giuliani for attorney general [Axios]
Earlier:
https://abovethelaw.com/2017/06/getting-rid-of-jeff-sessions-is-more-important-than-getting-rid-of-donald-trump/
Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.