David Gura Guest: Trump Is Giuliani's 'Product,' Not His Client
Business Insider columnist Linette Lopez makes a good case for us to stop thinking of Donald Trump as Rudy Giuliani’s pro bono client and start thinking of him as a product Giuliani is selling.
After reading a Rudy Giuliani tweet in which he boasted about getting “paid zero” for his work in Ukraine, MSNBC host David Gura noted dryly, “Here’s a guy who works for free for a lot of people, doesn’t he - be it the president or be it the government of Ukraine.”
That prompted guest Lopez to urge us all to reconsider Trump's relationship with Giuliani.
The president is not a client. He is not a customer. He is the product. He is what is getting served. He is not the one who is having services performed for him.
When you log on Facebook and it's for free, you know that your data is getting sold. You know that advertisers are paying for your eyeballs. You are not the customer, you are the product because it is for free. Donald Trump is not the customer of Rudy Giuliani, he is the product. He is what is getting served to the people who pay Rudy Giuliani.
So, yeah, okay, I guess Trump enjoys being carved up and served up to Turkish billionaires and shady Venezuelans and Ukrainian oligarchs. I think maybe that Trump has been selling his services to people like that his entire life so maybe that doesn't bother him, but for the American people, knowing that the president is the product should be pretty disturbing.
None other than Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe called Lopez’s analysis “spot on.” And he raised the important question we need answered: Who is the purchaser?
“Donald Trump is not the CUSTOMER of Rudy Giuliani he is the PRODUCT. That should be pretty disturbing.” - @lopezlinette on @davidgura was spot on! That Rudy is being paid by Russian mobsters, not by his “client,” the president, raises this question: to whom is Trump being SOLD?
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) November 30, 2019