On Sunday morning, Rudy Giuliani trotted out what is perhaps his most ambitious defense yet of his lone client, President Donald Trump: "Truth," he asserted, as a bewildered Chuck Todd realizes in real time that his facial expression is on the verge of becoming the Internet's next great meme, "isn't truth."

Even if you were to adopt the most charitable interpretation of this snippet of mediocre Orwellian fanfiction—a courtesy I would argue he has done nothing to earn—it still doesn't make any fucking sense. Giuliani's comments, he explained, referred to the supposition that if Trump were to speak under oath with the special counsel, he and, for example, Jim Comey would likely offer competing versions of key events, and Robert Mueller would then have to "select one or the other" of these "two pieces of evidence." Perhaps aware that he had reached Conway-esque levels of incoherence, the president's hand-picked lawyer attempted to clarify his position on Monday. It went poorly.

Generally, when diametrically opposed parties recall an event unfolding in mutually exclusive manners, each of which aligns with their respective interests, their recollections are not "two versions" of the "truth." One recollection is true and one recollection is not. Mueller's job here is to literally determine which is which. Giuliani's statement only makes sense if you believe that the special counsel has collected no other evidence in his efforts to piece together what happened, and that asking questions of the principal players represents the limits of his investigative powers. (If you had committed a crime and your defense attorney's principal contention to the jury was that truth is a social construct rendered worthless by your denials, you would be hiring a new defense attorney.)

Giuliani's role in this circus has always been more public-relations manager than provider of substantive legal advice. But especially after this latest bit of absurdity, it's on journalists like Todd to recognize that giving free airtime to this serial babbler is no longer in the public interest. In the same interview, Giuliani asserted that Trump campaign officials didn't know that the purpose of the Trump Tower meeting was to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton from a representative of the Russian government—a breathtaking, obvious lie belied by the Don Jr. e-mails, of which the whole world is aware.

It isn't clear whether Giuliani knew that this was a lie when he said it, or if he just got lost in the moment. It also doesn't matter, because in the midst of his guest's diligent bloviating, Todd missed it.

Especially when the story is as important as this one, I understand the instinct to allow the relevant players to make their pitches to audiences at home. But the mistake here is treating Giuliani as a good-faith actor who will allow the things he says to be limited by reality. His only task is to muddy the waters by any means necessary, taking advantage of the fact that the Mueller team cannot so freely discuss the investigation on the Sunday shows. Every cable-news hit allows Rudy Giuliani another opportunity to succeed. If the president doesn't have anyone serious to defend him, it isn't the media's job to treat this unserious person as an acceptable substitute.

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