Rudy Giuliani is making the rounds on Sunday’s political talk circuit and he’s in rare, absurd form as he attempts to defend Donald Trump’s tax practices and the candidate’s comments about Hillary Clinton on Saturday. Not only does he call Trump “a genius” for avoiding taxes, but he offers an absurd defense for Trump’s false claims that Hillary is cheating on her husband Bill Clinton. Giuliani offers up every excuse possible for Trump’s comments, but Jake Tapper doesn’t budge and actually gets fairly heated at the former NYC mayor’s spin:
The accusation was that Hillary Clinton was cheating on Bill! That’s what the accusation was! It was an unhinged and wild accusation! I can understand why you can’t defend it because it’s indefensible.
All of this would take attention away from the discussion on Trump’s leaked tax return, revealed in a shocking report from the New York Times. The reason it doesn’t is because Giuliani’s defense of Trump’s tax antics is equally as absurd and baseless, with Rudy tossing around the word genius in reference to Trump:
Rudy Giuliani on the NY Times Trump tax report: “The man is a genius” https://t.co/WYiTrCOGc2 #CNNSOTU https://t.co/69L6EY4NY2
— CNN (@CNN) October 2, 2016
The crux of Giuliani’s defense is that Trump’s use of tax loopholes and any means of lowering his tax burden is fair game, confirming Trump’s claims of business supremacy and making the candidate “a genius.”
Rudy Giuliani: Trump did nothing wrong https://t.co/WYiTrCOGc2 #CNNSOTU https://t.co/RzKtpvJbT6
— CNN (@CNN) October 2, 2016
The entire interview with Tapper is Giuliani’s most combative of the day, with the host bringing up the former mayor’s own infidelities in reference to Trump’s unhinged remarks and even asking about Giuliani’s own tax record, sparking quite the response:
.@jaketapper asks Rudy Giuliani if he pays income tax, he replies, “That’s between me and my accountant and the IRS” https://t.co/EnNIDNDcd5
— CNN (@CNN) October 2, 2016
Giuliani faced a similar line of questions, albeit far more calm, on Meet The Press. Chuck Todd drove many of the same points home revolving around Trump’s comments and tax returns and Giuliani hit back by continuing to call Trump a genius. The interview ended rather coldly, though, once Todd brought up Giuliani’s infidelity again. If it wasn’t obvious, we’ve hit a point in the campaign where the absurd is acceptable and nothing seems to be off limits. Who can say they expected this from a presidential election?
