Rudy Giuliani has been acting as Donald Trump"s personal attorney, and it has been a wild ride.
Funnier moments include when he accidentally admitted that Trump paid Stormy $ 130,000 of hush money, contradicting previous claims.
But in a new interview, he got decidedly less funny, and implied that Stormy and porn stars in general are so worthless that it is impossible to defame them.
In an explosive interview, Rudy Giuliani begins by saying that the thoroughly unhappy Melania Trump doesn"t believe that the Donald would have an affair.
"She believes in her husband, and she knows it"s not true. I don"t even think there"s a slight suspicion that it"s true."
If his claim is true, that would make her just about the only person to believe that. Trump"s conservative white evangelical base has seemed to laugh off the claims, but only rarely out of disbelief.
He then says:
"When you look — excuse me — when you look at Stormy Daniels."
What Giuliani is hoping to convince people is that Stormy, a busty blonde who is only a few years older than Ivanka, is totally not Trump"s type.
"He"s had three wives. Beautiful women. Classy women. Women of great substance. Stormy Daniels?"
After dismissing Stormy"s appeal while upholding Trump"s three wives as paragons of virtue and class, Giuliani starts saying things that are less absurd and more downright mean.
He starts off with what may just be sarcasm.
"Yes I respect porn stars. Don"t you respect porn stars?"
He then takes that otherwise very acceptable sentence and uses it to suggest hat porn stars are not, in fact, worthy of respect.
"Or do you think that porn stars desecrate women?"
He"s not talking about disgraced male porn stars like James Deen. He"s suggesting that women who work in porn are somehow betraying themselves and perhaps all other women.
"Do you think that porn stars don"t respect women?"
Giuliani tries to pivot.
"I respect all human beings. I even respect criminals."
But he then suggests that women who appear in porn are worse than, you know, actual criminals.
"But I"m sorry, I don"t respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance."
How is a porn star not a "career woman," exactly? For that matter, how are they not a "woman of substance?"
We"re all made of the same kind of meat, dude.
He describes the sort of woman whom he imagines is worthy of respect.
"A woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person."
Plenty of porn stars (and other sex workers!) have no shortage of self-respect.
"And isn"t going to sell her body for sexual exploitation."
Giuliani then turns this into a challenge aimed at Stormy.
"So Stormy, you want to bring a case, let me cross examine you."
Some genuinely question whether Giuliani can keep his thoughts and words coherent long enough for him to effectively cross examine someone in court.
"Because the business you"re in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight."
Porn stars may act for a living, but that"s not quite the same thing as lying for a living.
That would be more like a politician or perhaps an unscrupulous lawyer … oh, wait.
Worst of all, Giuliani suggests that Stormy"s profession means that she cannot be defamed.
"And secondly, explain to me how she could be damaged. I mean, she has no reputation."
He"s essentially saying that she can"t sue Trump for defamation because she"s a sex worker.
"If you"re going to sell your body for money, you just don"t have a reputation."
We hope that we don"t have to explain to anyone that sex workers, whether they are strippers or do cam work or work in porn or engage in full service (prostitution), are not somehow less valuable than anyone else.
They have dignity and self-respect and personhood, no matter what Giuliani — or Trump — may believe.
And for the record, "selling your body" is an absurd way to try to shame a sex worker. Somebody working a coal mine is absolutely selling their body. That"s the American way.
