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Quoted in Portugal's largest-selling newspaper, Expresso!

Late last night/Early this morning, I was contacted by a journalist in Portugal, who wanted to hear my take on Rudy Giuliani's recent "Truth isn't truth" quote. His article was then published. You can either click on the link and then click on the logo to the left of the star (bookmark) to translate the article from Portuguese to English or read the translated version here (https://leitor.expresso.pt/diario/20-08-2018/html/caderno-1/temas-principais/sarcasmo-pasmo-e-preocupacao-uma-discussao-sobre-a-verdade-que-nao-e-verdade):

RUDY GIULIANI

Sarcasm, amazement and worry: a discussion about the truth that is not true

by Hélder Gomes

"Truthfully, it's not true' goes into the Trump Hall of Fame, overcoming even 'alternative facts' and 'remember: what you are seeing and hearing is not what is happening'", sentence to Professor Laurence H. Tribe, who teaches Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. Reactions to the statement by Rudy Giuliani, the US president's lawyer, on Sunday have been many and come tempered by sarcasm, stupor and concern.

Interviewed by journalist Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet the Press," Giuliani again attacked the credibility of special adviser Robert Mueller, who has been investigating for more than a year the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections. New York, who joined Trump's lawyers in April, said he was in no hurry to see his client talk to Mueller.

"I will not rush to put [Trump] to testify for him to fall into the trap of perjury. When he tells me that he must testify because he is going to tell the truth and should not worry, well, that is silly because it is someone's version of the truth - it is not the truth, "said Giuliani. Unbelieving, the journalist interrupted him to correct: "Truth is true." "No, it's not. Truth is not true, "replied Giuliani, leaving Todd between laughter and perplexity.

Trump has already expressed an interest in talking to Mueller's team, but was warned by his lawyer that he could be caught in a "perjury trap," that is, a false oath. Giuliani has repeatedly pointed out that the special adviser may accuse Trump of lying under oath if he denies having had a conversation last February with then-director FBI James Comey about former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

A "MOUSE" ON THE SWAMP

"Trump says, 'I did not tell you.' And the other one says he said that. What is the truth? "Asked Giuliani. Comey already reacted by writing on Twitter: "The truth exists and the truth is important. The truth has always been the cornerstone of our country's justice system and political life. People who lie are blamed. If we are disconnected from the truth, our justice system can not function and a society based on the rule of law dissolves. "

After having said the already famous "truth is not true," the joking images about Giuliani are replicating in cyberspace - but also the written comments. Former chess world champion and current political activist Garry Kasparov wrote on Twitter: "Destroying the concept of objective truth is a general principle for autocrats and a legal defense strategy. Trump needs both. " Sci-fi writer Stephen King described Giuliani as a "rat" growing in the swamp Trump promised to drain. And Democrat Adam Schiff, a member of the US House of Representatives, said: "Giuliani added [something] to Orwell's liturgy: war is peace. Slavery is freedom. Ignorance is strength. Truth is not true. " The first three slogans are part of the dystopian novel "1984" by George Orwell.

TRUMP AND ORWELL

This is not the first time in the Trump era the English writer and his landmark book on a society subjugated to a permanent state of war, government surveillance and propaganda are mentioned. In July, the US president again attacked the media during a speech at a national convention of war veterans, warning that "what you are seeing and hearing is not what is happening." Orwell's book reads: "The party told people to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears."

"Giuliani is only continuing the Trump administration's narrative that one can only rely on them to have accurate news. From Trump's repeated statements that traditional media give 'false news' to Kellyanne Conway's statement that the reported lies of members of the administration are 'alternative facts', to Trump's assertion that what we see is not what is happening and the recent quotes from Giuliani, the administration has consistently executed this post-truth narrative from the day of the inauguration, "says writer and broadcaster Craig Rozniecki to Expresso.

Living in Columbus, Ohio, Rozniecki warns that "the consequences are cumulative and potentially devastating as the administration has managed to persuade, to some extent, a significant percentage of the population that the media can not be relied on respectable and long-standing communication. " "For these people, those who check the facts are biased, unmasked conspiracy theories are seen as plausible and the most reliable media are nothing more than propaganda machines," he adds. "Continuing this trend," which Giuliani has just made a decisive contribution to, "I am afraid to think what the 'truth' will be for the self-styled Republicans in the future," Rozniecki said.

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