In recent years, Rudy Giuliani’s corruptions and the cynical mediocrity of his Trump cabal have led to more and more public humiliations, culminating in his election fraud, kraken team, and dripping hair-dye antics. The onetime prosecutor is so unhinged both politically and aesthetically it is sometimes hard to remember how dangerous a position of power and persuasion he continues to have … to some degree. In recent weeks as he faced very serious investigations; legal setbacks; the raid of his offices; exposés from former staffers detailing an unwell man; and reports that his last ace-in-the-hole, Donald Trump, has been distancing himself from Rudy, Giuliani has laid low.

Not anymore! With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was obviously negotiated by Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, every GOP operative available has crawled out of their dungeon to attack President Joe Biden. Giuliani held a press conference in front of his Upper East Side apartment building for about three or so reporters, where he blathered on for about 10 minutes, got heckled, and possibly made local news. Then Giuliani went back to the source of his only shining moment, Ground Zero at the World Trade Center Memorial, to once again stand on the shoulders of tragedy in order to rehabilitate his reputation. Speaking with Melissa Russo of NBC New York, the former dirtbag-turned-corrupt-scumbag gave a wild interview addressing all kinds of things.

When Russo brought up how Giuliani seemed to have squandered what had been a mountain of goodwill after 9/11, Rudy said probably the only true thing he uttered during the entire interview: "I am aware of that. And what’s happened is, our country has gone off the rails … I’m exactly the same person. They changed!“ That’s true. Or at least, it’s half true. Things haven’t changed enough; people like Giuliani remain out of jail, but Rudy really is the same insecure, self-absorbed dirtbag blowhard he always was.

For many Americans, Giuliani came into their consciousness as the mayor of New York City during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While Giuliani was reviled by most east coasters who grew up seeing him, he got the kudos one gets for not simply bursting into tears and running away when the Twin Towers were destroyed. But from that moment on, Giuliani would promote the mythology of the GOP as he tried to stay aboard the sinking conservative ship, and he made a lot of (dubious?) money doing it. In fact, before the last couple of years, Giuliani’s lack of character and megalomania lead him to lie so grotesquely it’s hard for most people to even remember he was once elected to office somewhere.

As for the investigation into his Ukraine dealings, Giuliani says it’s all persecution and that he’s been willing to play ball with investigators for a long time but, ”But they’re not nice.” Michael Wolff’s new book, Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, was filled with some harsh implications about Giuliani’s relationship with alcohol. Wolff told MSNBC’s Brian Williams last month that in his research for the book he found a lot of people willing to talk about Rudy’s sloppiness in front of the camera being replicated behind the scenes:

Back in April, former Trump layer Michael Cohen told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota that “Rudy drinks too much. Rudy behaves in such an erratic manner that … who knows what’s on those telephones or what’s on his computers?”The Washington Post reported last month about election night and how a possibly trashed Giuliani came up with the basic idea that Donald should just say he won all of the states he had not won, just cause:

[…]

Giuliani’s grand plan was to just say Trump won, state after state, based on nothing. Stepien, Miller and Meadows thought his argument was both incoherent and irresponsible.

Giuliani tells Russo that all of this is hogwash. He totally doesn’t drink too much—in fact, he’s pretty sure he’s never been drunk while being interviewed. "I don’t think I’ve ever done an interview drunk. I mean, I drink normally. I like Scotch, I drink Scotch.” Scotch? Good news: You can’t get drunk on Scotch, unless you drink it! But more importantly, Giuliani wants you to know he isn’t an alcoholic: “I’m a functioning, I probably function more effectively than 90 percent of the population.”

Probably depends which “population” you’re talking about. If you’re talking about corrupt MAGA-type mediocrities like Donald Trump Jr., Rudy is probably right.