Before he was President Trump’s lawyer and unhinged cable news surrogate, Rudy Giuliani was the mayor of New York City, most notably during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers.
While Giuliani was equally praised and criticized for his response to the terror attacks that rocked the world, he became affectionately known as “America’s mayor” for leading the country through the unprecedented tragedy. Giuliani has since taken on a different public tone, functioning as President Trump’s bulldog on TV, giving meandering cable news interviews and often posting incoherent tweets.
On the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on Wednesday, he behaved no differently. Rather than tweeting about the city or the first responders or the victims that he led through the attacks, he posted a video showing a police officer getting ready to confront a crowd of protesters that seem to resemble Antifa.
GOD BLESS AMERICA! pic.twitter.com/VklXvWggKJ
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) September 11, 2019
The video is apparently an advertisement from the patriotic Grunt Style clothing company, which often posts pro-police and pro-gun content on its social accounts. According to a 2018 Facebook post, the video was meant to be a Super Bowl advertisement, but the company opted not to run it because it couldn’t afford the cost.
NBC News reporter Ben Collins said the video was eventually marketed as a “banned from the Super Bowl” ad and was widely shared across conservative media outlets at the time.
This is not the start of a dystopian David Fincher movie about a cop who lost his mind (good guess!).
It's a "banned from the Super Bowl" ad that skirted the rules and got conservative media attention. He cut off the logo of the t-shirt company at the endhttps://t.co/gjWNfKYcvF
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) September 11, 2019
Giuliani apparently reposted it without the company name on it, but the tweet was swiftly criticized and questioned across Twitter.
Just post a Fucking picture of all the people we lost 18 years ago, Rudy. No one needs to see a confusing propaganda video that doesn’t make any sense. https://t.co/LgaY6EJeV3
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) September 11, 2019
You could've been a national hero for eternity. You chose this instead? https://t.co/vRIP7Yy0Xb
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) September 11, 2019
If I understand this video, @RudyGiuliani seems to think that on 9/11 we were attacked by ANTIFA. https://t.co/npxgfb3MRh
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) September 11, 2019
