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Rudy Giuliani’s continuous lies about Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss serve as a reminder that today’s Republican Party is consumed by his lies.
On Monday, the two former Georgia election workers filed another lawsuit against the disgraced former New York City mayor, claiming that he had defamed them yet again after their successful defamation suit against him over his vicious smear campaign in late 2020. (A spokesperson for Giuliani did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.)
The falsehoods Giuliani continues to spread about the mother and daughter are central to the “big lie” about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from Donald Trump. They arguably have also helped precipitate a wave of voter suppression laws in GOP-led states across the country, and they continue to motivate election-denying Republicans nationwide.
The falsehoods Giuliani continues to spread about the mother and daughter are central to the “big lie” about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from Donald Trump.
For example, polling by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in August found that 6 out of 10 likely voters in Georgia’s Republican primary believe that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. So while Giuliani’s election lies are set to cost him financially, they’re also sustaining his relevance and centricity in the conservative movement. For someone as thirsty for attention as he has shown himself to be, that trade-off appears to be worthwhile.
Similarly, Giuliani’s allegation that Joe Biden, as vice president, meddled in Ukrainian politics for the sake of helping his son — a claim that helped lead to Trump’s first impeachment — has been widely mocked and dispelled. Yet Republicans have essentially reheated those lies for their baseless anti-Biden impeachment push.
Giuliani seemed to acknowledge this when he said on Steve Bannon’s podcast that he would like to serve as the House GOP’s lead counsel in the impeachment proceedings and boasted about his purported knowledge of the case. (On that note: Read this post of mine on Republicans who have tipped their hand on the politicized nature of these impeachment proceedings.)
Giuliani’s staying power in the conservative movement seems to boil down to his unabashed willingness to engage in lies. He has spun a web of them — and fellow Republicans are desperately clinging on, like their political lives depend on it.