Did Trump want to put Rudy Giuliani on the Supreme Court?
That’s what Michael Wolff alleges in Chapter 6. Trump saw the Supreme Court nomination as a reward to give to people who helped him and not as part of an ideological battle to remake the federal judiciary. And he was rather clueless about how badly a Giuliani nomination would go down in the Senate. Giuliani is no legal scholar. And he forgot or at least didn’t care about his campaign promise to nominate someone from a list of candidates that was provided by a guy from the Federalist Society.
Luckily the people around him interceded (Wolff specifically mentions Bannon and Preibus) and didn’t let him nominate Giuliani.
Lion of the Blogosphere 
Must reading, even if its from the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/08/camerons-bromance-with-obama-a-myth-says-ex-advisor-steve-hilton
gothamette
January 9, 2018 at 12:46 PM
Exactly as I said. Trump has no firm ideological moorings and will use the judiciary to nominate people he personally likes. None of this means that Giuliani wouldn’t be a good justice, however. But I knew that his promise to appoint “strict constructionists” to the court was just a way to appease the socons, and would be discarded if he could get away with it. Glad those around him stopped him.
maryk
January 9, 2018 at 12:51 PM
How nice. Maryk finally found a loophole to tell herself she was right all along and can now resume sound sleep.
Andrew E.
January 9, 2018 at 1:08 PM
Well, she was right.
gothamette
January 9, 2018 at 2:53 PM
I was without internet for about 10 days due to a family crisis, which is why I haven’t posted in a while. Why the hostility?
maryk
January 9, 2018 at 5:56 PM
Hope everything is resolved, maryk.
gothamette
January 9, 2018 at 8:05 PM
He’s stressed because he’s purging all of the “cucks” and people with Brown girlfriends, as well as all of the people who read books, Maryk. Don’t take it personally. Don’t be like me. (I take everything personally.) Hey — my best friend’s a Staten Island Italian-American genius-freak obsessed with European and Japanese movies from the sixties — maybe I should introduce you guys. Still in Bay Ridge?
Garr
January 9, 2018 at 8:13 PM
We thought you quit LoftB, because of the anti-gweedo nature of this blog.
I was walking by the Upper East Side of Manhattan today, and it smells like marijuana in several areas. I assume Staten Island is no different.
JS
January 9, 2018 at 9:12 PM
“We thought you quit LoftB, because of the anti-gweedo nature of this blog.”
Seriously? I’d never quit LOTB. If I saw bedsheets and pillowcases with pictures of lions on them I’d probably buy them. This blog is my oxycontin. I’m not even as offended by the guido designation as I used to be.
maryk
January 9, 2018 at 9:46 PM
Trump only thought it fair to replace one IA w/ another IA.
E. Rekshun
January 9, 2018 at 5:06 PM
I don’t know if you meant this comment seriously, but I’m sure ethnicity had nothing to do with it. Trump likes Rudy – both shoot from the hip New Yorkers, and all that. But with Sam Alito on the court it could already be said to be, as JS and others on this blog would put it, “guidofied.”
But I’m not sure how Trump feels about IAs in general. I read on some Twitter account that when told that he and Scaramucci had a lot in common (this was after Mooch as let go) Trump said “I have nothing in common with him. I’m not Italian.” Weird statement.
maryk
January 9, 2018 at 8:24 PM
Difficult to believe because Trump sister – who looks like him and speaks like him in prosody – is a very respected court of appeal judge who was thought about for the Supreme Court in the Bush era …
You can see her in a video criminal trial procedure .
And this an article about her :
https://abovethelaw.com/2015/08/a-delicious-judicial-diva-donald-trumps-older-sister-judge-maryanne-trump-barry/
Bruno
January 9, 2018 at 1:12 PM
Bruno
January 9, 2018 at 1:14 PM
Things are coming to a head:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2018/01/09/trump-urges-congress-to-pass-bill-of-love-to-protect-dreamers-but-reiterates-demand-for-border-wall/
IHTG
January 9, 2018 at 1:15 PM
On the subject of the Dreamers, Trump is a cuck. We’ve known that since the campaign. He doesn’t want to deport them.
But Trump is clearly trolling both sides with these comments in an open session. He wants to see everyone’s reactions when he says these things. It’s our cue to speak up loudly and re-enforce and demand nothing less than the White House’s own position which is 800,000 Dreamers (which could be vetted down to 700,000 or 600,000), for RAISE Act, end to chain migration, end visa lottery, mandatory E-verify and full Wall funding.
Andrew E.
January 9, 2018 at 1:31 PM
Fuck 800,000 or 700,000 or 600,000. Pay them off if you feel guilty but no residency and no citizenship.
Magnavox
January 9, 2018 at 1:58 PM
What is interesting is Trump’s body language.
Arms crossed around the chest and leaning back.
map
January 9, 2018 at 3:33 PM
“Fuck 800,000 or 700,000 or 600,000. Pay them off if you feel guilty but no residency and no citizenship.”
I would agree in general, but residency for 800,00 dreamers would be a small price to pay for the RAISE Act. That would change our trajectory on immigration and this might be the only chance it could pass. If we sit around and wait for the demographics to get worse then we get dreamers, than the rest of the illegals, and then the rest of the world moving in.
Mike Street Station
January 10, 2018 at 6:17 AM
This stream is truly fascinating to watch. Trump showing us how the sausage is made.
Don’t freak out too much from journalist livetweeting, watch it yourself.
IHTG
January 9, 2018 at 1:35 PM
That’s the way he wins the argument. It’s very clever.
gothamette
January 9, 2018 at 2:54 PM
I don’t understand what’s so complicated about rewarding your big supporters by making them Ambassador to France or, if they prefer, the Bahamas or something.
Greg Pandatshang
January 9, 2018 at 1:51 PM
Giuliani is no legal scholar
Why do we need legal scholars on the court?
Magnavox
January 9, 2018 at 1:54 PM
So they can understand what they are doing.
That’s like asking, why do we need computer programmers who know how to code?
Lion of the Blogosphere
January 9, 2018 at 2:07 PM
In reality, most above average people could probably come to the correct strict constitutionalist ruling 95+% of the time by following a couple simple guidelines. What we could not do is articulately defend the ruling or create an effective dissenting opinion.
GSP
January 9, 2018 at 3:19 PM
But there’s no objective standard to what they’re doing. It’s just an arbitrary and constantly evolving way of justifiying whatever justices want to have happen, which could either further change to allow for new kinds of non scholarly judges or just continue to be done by scholarly clerks in the current fashion.
Magnavox
January 9, 2018 at 3:58 PM
Name one thing R.B. Ginsburg, for example, does in her role as a justice that Giuliani couldn’t. You think that after hearing the Gay Wedding Cake case she goes back to her office and digs through cryptic legal texts? She uses her deep legal knowledge to analyze the issue with reference to legal precedent and the law’s intent? She applies her learned wisdom, Constitutional scholarship, and legal experience to arrive at her decision? Come on Lion! She decides which side of the issue she is on personally, then tells her clerks to back it up with legalese. Giuliani could easily do the same.
On the other hand, I doubt either one of them could explain how multi-dimensional arrays work in C.
steve@steve.com
January 9, 2018 at 5:26 PM
The Supreme Court has been making stuff up for 100 years or so. The judges just decided what policy that they liked and pulled an opinion out of a twisted interpretation of the constitution to support it.The federal govt should can do very little under a proper reading.
ttgy1
January 9, 2018 at 6:26 PM
Giuluani wanted State or nothing. He got nothing.
Mrs Stitch
January 9, 2018 at 4:58 PM
“Luckily the people around him interceded (Wolff specifically mentions Bannon and Preibus) and didn’t let him nominate Giuliani.”
Why do you take Wolff seriously?
Lion o' the Turambar
January 9, 2018 at 2:16 PM
Define “seriously.”
I think Wolff is recounting the spirit of what people told him.
Lion of the Blogosphere
January 9, 2018 at 2:27 PM
I don’t think Wolff invents much, but he does uncritically quote people who may have agendas. Bannon and or Priebus may have fed him the story about Trump wanting to nominate Giuliani. Doesn’t mean it is true.
Peter Akuleyev
January 9, 2018 at 2:46 PM
Maggie Haberman says it’s “notionally accurate”.
Richard
January 9, 2018 at 2:50 PM
I mean seriously in the sense that we need to look for an explanation for the statements that Wolff makes.
Its very plausible that just threw things in the book for sensation. The threshold of credibility for him seems to be very low. Given that there isnt much reason to ponder over things that are illogical.
Trump has plenty of people of people he could ask for legal assessment, including his sister. So there is no reason to assume he wanted to go back on his published scotus list to reward Giulliani. He could always plug him in as Solicitor General or something.
Lion o' the Turambar
January 9, 2018 at 3:09 PM
I’ve been thinking lately about what an utter scumfuck Roy Moore is.
That seat belonged to Mo Brooks would would have easily beat Strange if Moore hadn’t rallied his army of Christian retards. And then when Moore wins, what does he run on in the general? Abortion! Guy is pure trash.
Stupid Christians: Your job is to vote, volunteer and donate but you absolutely do not get a say in how things are run. You don’t get a say because you are too stupid to be given any control. Just shut the Hell up and do what your betters tell you to.
re Trump: Trump also wanted Chris Christie to be his VP. The guy is an utter moron. This isn’t news. I don’t get the breathless reaction of the media to this book. What are they so excited about? That it proves that Trump is a clueless moron? We already knew that.
Otis the Sweaty
January 9, 2018 at 3:41 PM
The alt right enthusiastically supported Roy Moore.
C’mon Otis. Tell us what you think of Ahed Tamimi and don’t claim you don’t know who she is.
gothamette
January 9, 2018 at 8:08 PM
enthusiastically? name names.
ipc
January 10, 2018 at 4:06 AM
I won’t name names. I don’t want to give them publicity. I know that a lot of them read this website & the comments. It’s kind of like a Jewish zoo for them.
gothamette
January 10, 2018 at 11:04 AM
This is 100% McConnell’s fault. He spent 4 million in the to attack Brooks, knocking him out of the race because he wanted Strange. If he minded his own business that seat would be in Republican hands, but McConnell would rather the seat belong to the Democrats if he couldn’t have it.
Mike Street Station
January 10, 2018 at 6:27 AM
Otis. Volunteering is for suckers unless you are planning on adding it to ur grad school application.
mpt
January 10, 2018 at 8:47 AM
DREAM Act in exchange for the Wall?
ResetEra says no way in Hell. They are adamantly opposed. The Dems cannot give an inch on this issue.
Otis the Sweaty
January 9, 2018 at 3:45 PM
Either way, Tump wins. Dems pull out, they look bad. Dems cave, Trump looks good.
Plus Trump shows extraordinary 45+ minute slice of how a master negotiates, thus demonstrating, once and for all that he IS, indeed, a stable genius.
WIN, WIN, WIN.
Some moron, right?
gda
January 10, 2018 at 1:23 AM
I think he is a good negotiator. Very crafty & clever. But he has no principles. That’s a problem.
gothamette
January 10, 2018 at 11:06 AM
So what? Giuliani is probably the first name any NYC Republican businessman would bring up, if not something even dumber like Marco Rubio, or Merrick Garland to “reach across the aisle.”
It’s not like he insisted on nominating Giuliani; he recognized it was outside his realm of expertise, delegated, and his people came back with an ideal, home run pick in Gorsuch. Remember the genius SC picks of the very stable Bush family? Sad!
snorlaxwp
January 9, 2018 at 4:25 PM
I guess it might shock IQ 98 fundie proles who really believed Trump’s a pro-life Bible-believing Christian. But dumb people in flyover country don’t know who Rudy Giuliani is.
snorlaxwp
January 9, 2018 at 4:35 PM
There probably isn’t a single “fundie prole” dumb enough to really believe Trump is a bible-believing Christian. But Trump was the Republican nominee so they overlooked everything questionable about him.
maryk
January 9, 2018 at 8:30 PM
how sure are you that this is true, or is it propaganda for your Magoo theory?
Joe
January 9, 2018 at 4:45 PM
Trump throws shit out all the time though. Just because he suggests something doesn’t mean he’s serious about it or actually contemplating it. Trump talked about locking Hillary Clinton every week on the campaign trail. What if instead of making those comments in public (where everybody could see he was clearly joking) he only made them in private? How do you think Wolf would have characterized that? Trump once suggested a White People vs Black People Season of the Apprentice. Trump is a prolific word vomiter. Parsing out what he really means is a challenge for even the most seasoned expert on Trump. When you task that job to a guy who is looking for sensationalism over accuracy it is a recipe for disaster.
PerezHBD
January 9, 2018 at 4:45 PM
That’s a good point. And the media constantly took things Trump said humorously in public and flipped out about them as though he were serious.
Magnavox
January 9, 2018 at 8:32 PM
…such as asking Russia to find Hillary’s emails.
Mike Street Station
January 10, 2018 at 6:29 AM
Don’t be so sure that Hillary won’t be making that perp walk. Currently there are, what, four ongoing FBI investigations centred on The Crooked One.
What she and her buddies did to Trump is not easy to forgive. Up until the time Trump discovered that the dirty dossier, (funded BY Hillary, remember), was used for a FISA warrant and started all this Russia/Russia nonsense, he might have been willing to let things go.
But no more. You may recall Schumer telling Trump he didn’t want to mess with the Deep State because they “had 7 ways till Sunday to get you”.
Guess what? Some of the Deep State actually did their job, and now the bad sheepdogs have been identified and nullified, in anticipation of the shit storm that is coming.
He who laughs last…
gda
January 10, 2018 at 1:45 AM