Rudy Giuliani says he does not care about his legacy because 'I'll be dead'

Rudy Giuliani does not care about his legacy.

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last updated 3 September 2018

Longtime acquaintances of President Trump's lead defense attorney, Rudy Giuliani, say they are startled by the shift in the man, who was heralded as "America's Mayor" after 9/11 but now makes headlines primarily for his bizarre appearances on talk shows in defense of the president. "He's making arguments that don't hold up," observed one judge, John S. Martin, to The New Yorker. "I always thought of Rudy as a good lawyer, and he's not looking anything like a good lawyer today."

The New Yorker, though, makes the case that Giuliani has long shown signs that he and Trump are more akin than what might initially meet the eye — "Giuliani's combative style of politics anticipated, and perhaps served as a model for, Trump's," writes Jeffrey Toobin. "He described his approach as mayor to me as 'provocative and not politically correct.'"

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The problem for Giuliani is that his loyalty may not be reciprocated. Since Trump became president, his closest advisers have been humiliated (Tillerson, Priebus), disgraced (Sean Spicer, Bannon), prosecuted (Flynn, Rick Gates), or all of the above (Manafort). At one point, I asked Giuliani whether he worried about how this chapter of his life would affect his legacy."I don't care about my legacy," he told me. "I'll be dead." [The New Yorker]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.