Rudy Giuliani gave a truly unhinged speech at the Republican National Convention
Rudy Giuliani came to Monday’s launch of the 2016 Republican National Convention with one message—be very, very afraid—and one tone—very, very loud.
The former New York City mayor fairly screamed home an unrelentingly grim portrait of the world as he stumped for presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Throughout his speech, Giuliani gesticulated wildly, and shouted even more wildly. The internet reacted accordingly.
When no one will duet with you so you have to sing both Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack’s parts at karaoke pic.twitter.com/W2D5SiTJdw
— Ira Madison III (@ira) July 19, 2016
“The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe,” he began. “They fear for their children and they fear for themselves.”
And what are they afraid of? Is it the easy accessibility of guns that have led to the near weekly mass shootings that have occurred in America for what seems like at least the last five years?
Is it the social divisions Trump and his followers have helped to sow between white Americans and minorities?
Is it a flagging global economy?
No. For Giuliani, it is “Islamic extremist terrorism.” Or, as he put it, “ISLAMIC EXTREMIST TERRORISM!!!”
Watch:
While there have been incidents of horrific incidents of terrorism in the past year, Giuliani did not seriously address what has caused them. Instead, he gave into the narrative that experts say terrorists are seeking to impose, that the West is at war with Islam.“If they are at war against us — which they have declared — we must commit ourselves to unconditional victory against them!” he yelled.
In fact, in the most recent Gallup poll asking about Americans’ top concerns taken in March, terror came in sixth, with just 6% saying it was the “most important problem” facing the country. It was tied with racism.
Giuliani seems to have ignored this. Instead, he went on to stoke more fear, accusing Hillary of being in in favor of taking in Syrian refugees “even though the Islamic state has told us they are going to put their operatives in these groups so they can carry out terrorist acts against us and our allies.”
While it is true that terrorists did manage to infiltrate refugee groups in the run-up to November’s Paris attacks, Europe’s borders are much more porous than America’s. President Obama has committed to letting in 10,000 Syrian refugees, far fewer than other European countries have pledged.
There are real things in the world Americans can be justifiably afraid of. Rudy Giuliani managed to name none of them.
Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.