Donald Trump will finally be able to see the world through the eyes of an outer-borough authoritarian with a checkered sexual history. The Washington Post reports that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has become an informal adviser to the GOP front-runner.
“We’ve been talking. Donald and me, Donald and a few other friends who know politics. He calls to check things out or I’ll call him to say, ‘Donald, you’re going too far’ or ‘What you said was great’ or maybe ‘Change it a bit,’” Giuliani told the Post’s Robert Costa on Sunday. “There is candor and there is trust.”
By all appearances, Trump is using Giuliani’s advice as a guide for what not to do — a strategy that makes some sense, considering Rudy’s 2008 presidential bid was a nearly Jeb!-level failure. The former New York mayor says he’s spoken with the Donald three times in the past month, repeatedly advising him not to criticize George W. Bush’s legacy on counterterrorism. In that time, Trump has accused Bush of lying America into the Iraq War and ignoring intelligence that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks (which, by the way, Saudi Arabia might have ordered).
Giuliani did not disclose who else has been whispering in the mogul’s ear, but he said that “a growing group of high-profile New York and Washington-based figures with deep GOP ties” are now in regular communication with Trump. Arthur Laffer, the high priest of supply-side voodoo, met with the billionaire in the fall and said that he would happily provide economic advice to a Trump administration.
The Donald took every last delegate out of South Carolina on Saturday, and leads the polls in 10 of the next 14 GOP primary contests. As the Trump train barrels toward the Republican nomination, expect other members of the GOP Establishment to quietly get onboard.
