Donald Trump almost appointed Rudy Giuliani secretary of state, according to the latest book in the cottage industry of insider, warts-and-all exposés of Trump and his allies, and considered him for the post after an “Islamophobic” Giuliani went on a drunken rant in which he retailed right-wing “misconceptions” about the benign and cuddly religion of peace. There is no way to tell if this is true in whole or part, but it certainly reveals establishment media assumptions about Islam, which are as damaging as they are inaccurate.
The UK’s far-Left Guardian reported Thursday that Geoffrey Berman, a former U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York (SDNY), has just published a book entitled Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and its Battle with the Trump Justice Department, and just from the title alone, you can get a good idea of the contents: Trump is out of control, demanding dictatorial powers in irrational and ignorant rants as his sycophantic attorneys play hardball to get him those powers, and heroic public servants such as one Geoffrey Berman valiantly hold the line for truth, justice, and “our democracy.”
Related: Leftist Assaults Rudy Giuliani in Grocery Store, Claiming He’s ‘Gonna Kill Women’
Berman claims that “at a law firm dinner in New York in May 2016,” an “unhinged” Giuliani “behaved in a drunken and Islamophobic manner, horrifying clients and attorneys alike.” The low point came when drunk Rudy “turned to a Jewish man ‘wearing a yarmulke [who] had ordered a kosher meal’ and, under the impression the man was a Muslim, said: ‘I’m sorry to have tell you this, but the founder of your religion is a murderer.’” Berman adds: “It was unbelievable.” Yeah, you could say that. “Rudy was unhinged. A pall fell over the room.”
Berman would apparently have us believe that Giuliani, a lifelong resident of a city with large Jewish and Muslim populations, either didn’t know the visual differences between observant Jews and observant Muslims, or was too drunk to notice. Maybe. Or maybe Berman has an axe to grind against Trump and Giuliani and is willing to bend the truth to make them look bad. In any case, he doesn’t stop there.
The Guardian reports:
Giuliani, Berman writes, shared a “wholly inaccurate, alt-right history of the creation and development of Islam, stating that it was an inherently violent religion from its origins to today”.
To growing consternation among guests, Giuliani produced his phone and “showed the group drawings of violent acts purportedly committed by Muslims”.
There followed the exchange with the man in the yarmulke, who “for some reason, Rudy thought … was Muslim”, even though as a two-term mayor of New York, in Berman’s words, Giuliani “was clearly acquainted with Jews”.
Berman adds that “later that year, after Trump beat Hillary Clinton for the White House, Giuliani was seriously considered to be secretary of state.” He also claims that the account of Giuliani’s “Islamophobic” rant was widely known. Of course. This, you see, is a story about how “Islamophobic” not just Giuliani but Trump was. But when Berman speaks about Giuliani regaling the dismayed crowd with a “wholly inaccurate, alt-right history of the creation and development of Islam, stating that it was an inherently violent religion from its origins to today,” his account strains credulity even more than the rest of it does. I’m willing to bet that Geoffrey Berman knows exactly zero about the creation and development, as well as the history of Islam. He doesn’t have the faintest idea of what it actually teaches or of what the Qur’an really says. He knows, however, that to state that it has been violent for 1400 years, although it is readily demonstrable fact, is unacceptable among the Leftist elites today, and so he has to claim otherwise, and the facts be damned.
This is a good example of how the Left operates. Geoffrey Berman doesn’t offer any evidence that what Giuliani supposedly claimed about Islam is false. He doesn’t explain how it is really peaceful at its core. He doesn’t have to do anything but label Giuliani’s alleged statements “alt-right” for his hapless readers to take for granted that he is correct in also calling those statements “wholly inaccurate.” This isn’t rational discussion or serious thought. It’s just tribalism. Berman is arguing that Giuliani, and by extension Trump, who dared to consider him for secretary of state after he displayed “Islamophobia,” is outside the tribe of acceptable, right-thinking people and thus are to be shunned and despised no matter what they say or do. That, for Leftists, is what passes for debate these days.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member