New in PJ Media:
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.”
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”.
There is more. Read the rest here.