One-time hero mayor of New York City, current Trump adviser, and longtime loudmouth Rudy Giuliani may have just blown it for the upcoming summit by insulting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
At a press conference in Tel Aviv yesterday, Giuliani reportedly told the crowd that, after President Trump initially canceled their meeting in May, Kim “got back on his hands and knees and begged, which is exactly the position you want to put him in.” Oh, Rudy.
The affront to Kim from one of Trump’s top political advisers has no doubt put the already fragile summit in jeopardy, even after all the logistical and security measures host country Singapore has already implemented to date.
“If the North Koreans needed a reason to cancel the meeting, the Americans just gave it to them,” said former State Department diplomat Evans J.R. Revere in an interview with The New York Times earlier today.
Giuliani played down the potential impact of his statements, telling Bloomberg that his comments do not reflect the views of the White House, and blaming the press for blowing his comments out of proportion.
‘America’s Mayor’
This is not the first time the former New York City mayor’s verbal gaffes have put Trump in a difficult position, but it may be the first time it has global consequences.
In an interview with Fox News last month, Giuliani dropped a bombshell that could have gotten Trump’s entire legal team into some very hot water when he let it slip that Trump knew about the hush money that lawyer Michael Cohen had paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.
He later retracted the statement, claiming he had been mistaken about the president’s knowledge of the payments (Trump himself later admitted he’d known all along).
As mayor, Giuliani earned a reputation for being tough on crime in the 1990s.
But it was his leadership in the wake the 9/11 terrorist attacks that brought him immense popularity in the American press, earning him both the nickname “America’s Mayor” and the honor of being Time Magazine’s 2001 Person of the Year.
But since returning to the public eye to join Trump’s legal team in April, the public’s admiration for him has only continued to go downhill.
A poll released just yesterday revealed that just 29 percent of American voters view Giuliani favorably.
Despite all the trouble he has gotten himself into, his lowest point with the public was probably back in May at a New York Yankees baseball game. He was booed by the crowd of sports fans when it was announced over the loudspeaker that Giuliani was in attendance, celebrating his birthday. Ouch.
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