The Holy Order of Selective Outrage: Rudy Giuliani, LIV Golf, and the Art of the Grift by Lawson Akhigbe

Rudy Giuliani has once again emerged from whatever landscaping parking lot or podcast dungeon he currently frequents to deliver a sermon on moral purity. In a television rant that felt like an archaeological dig through early-2000s cable news grievances, the former mayor declared that New York City’s mayor should skip the official September 11 memorial ceremonies. The mayor’s disqualifying offense? He happens to be Muslim.

According to Rudy, having a Muslim city leader pay his respects to victims of terror at Ground Zero is an affront. Because in Giuliani’s geopolitical taxonomy, an entire world religion of nearly two billion people shares collective liability for 19 hijackers—unless, of course, those bankrolling the scene happen to be cutting nine-figure checks to Donald J. Trump.

Enter the Bedminster Country Club, circa late July 2022.

Just fifty miles from Ground Zero, Trump hosted the inaugural American tournament of LIV Golf, an enterprise funded directly by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. As 9/11 families stood outside the gates holding photographs of their dead husbands, wives, and children—pointing out the grim, unyielding fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals—Trump shrugged, took the kingdom’s cash, and told reporters that “nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11.”

And who was spotted soaking in the high-stakes Saudi-backed gala? None other than Andrew Giuliani, Rudy’s own son and political protégé.

Apparently, the Giuliani moral compass only spins toward righteous fury when there is zero revenue attached. If a Muslim public servant marks a solemn day of civic mourning alongside his constituents, it’s an unforgivable scandal. But when the royal coffers of Riyadh are subsidizing a driving range for washed-up pros in Somerset County, it’s just great sportsmanship.

The cognitive dissonance isn’t just staggering; it’s an Olympic sport. There is no coherent theology, foreign policy, or patriotic principle at work here. There is only naked, garden-variety bigotry on one side of the coin, and shameless opportunism on the other.

Rudy’s outrage is strictly transactional. Grief is sacred right up until the moment a wire transfer clears, at which point “Never Forget” conveniently morphs into a two-putt for par.