ROBERT MUELLER/RUDY GIULIANI/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “He is ridiculed as ridiculous. He is attacked as around the bend. He is maligned as morally bereft in his unwavering defense of his old friend and client, President Donald Trump. Yet Rudy Giuliani may just be crazy like a fox. It turns out that he is doing exactly what the President — his own best strategist and communications specialist — brought him on board to do: chip away at public support for special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. It also turns out the President needed someone exactly like Giuliani to take on the role of flamethrower. His skin is thick after decades of dealing with New York tabloids, so bad press doesn’t get to him as it would others. His relationship with and understanding of the President allow him to speak fluent Trumpian. The fact that they’re two Geminis in their early 70s from New York City helps make them kindred spirits. Because of that, so far, Giuliani has avoided the fate of others, like Anthony Scaramucci, who spent a little bit too much time in the spotlight for Trump’s taste. Instead, sources in the Trump orbit tell CNN the President recognizes that the former New York mayor is helping him by taking on the role of aggressor Trump’s been yearning for.”
-Dana Bash, “How Giuliani wins by being ‘the craziest guy in the room,'” CNN Politics, CNN.com, May 31, 2018 8:58 am