For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.





The GOP presidential field looks like it’s starting to gel, but, via Byron York, Rep. Peter King (R–N.Y.) says we might see one more familiar face:

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose presidential campaign fizzled in 2008, is leaning toward another race for the White House, according to a close associate. New York Republican Rep. Peter King, who has known Giuliani for more than 40 years, says the former mayor “is very close to saying he’s going to run.” “If he were to make the decision today, he would run,” says King.

Giuliani wouldn’t be the most perplexing name floated for the GOP presidential nomination. That honor belongs to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), who you’ll probably have to Wikipedia, or perhaps King himself, who told supporters he would consider running if he thought it would be good for the Nassau County Republican Party.

But I’d be pretty skeptical of the latest Rudy rumor (there have been rumblings for a while), for the very simple reason that there doesn’t seem to be any conceivable way Giuliani, thrice-married and previously supportive of abortion and gay rights, would win the Republican nomination. If anything, his odds in 2012 might be even worse than his chances in 2008, when he flopped fantastically. Since then, he’s launched a second career consulting for South American police forces and lobbied for an Iranian dissident group that’s considered a terrorist group by the State Department (which at least one law professor has suggested would count as material support for terrorism). Meanwhile, his signature issue—his handling of 9/11—almost certainly lost any vestigal relevance when Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan last month. Oh, and then there’s this guy.

Kind of an uphill struggle, in other words.