Trump won't dump Rudy Giuliani because he sees himself in him -- a 'celebrity who can't shut up': columnist

In a biting -- but whimsical -- opinion piece for the New York Times, columnist Gail Collins attempted to pierce the mystery of why Donald Trump hasn't fired former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani as a legal adviser after a series of TV appearances that seem to be helping special counsel Robert Mueller more than the president.

Under a headline "Why Trump Likes Rudy," the longtime Times writer said the men share many similarities --particularly an overwhelming desire to be in the limelight -- and that the president sees much of himself in Giuliani.

"There are a lot of theories about why Rudy Giuliani is still Donald Trump’s lawyer. Maybe his crazed, contradictory rantings are a canny plot to confuse the public about what’s actually going on with the president’s Russia-connection scandal," Collins wrote. "Or maybe the fact that Giuliani works for free is more attractive than the fact that he does a dreadful job."

"Or maybe it’s just that he is the one person who makes Trump look good," she added for good measure.

Noting some of the verifiable similarities between the two men -- both have been married three times and have been accused of adultery -- Collins wondered, "Other presidents who’ve gotten in trouble have hired private lawyers, but has there ever been anything quite like this?"

"Watch Giuliani on TV and you see a man being devoured by egomania. Lawyers are supposed to serve as a screen between their clients and the outside world. If said client is being accused of a crime, their mission is to make the whole matter sound as boring as humanly possible," she explained before snarking, "It’s no problem for us that Trump picked an attorney who’s so wildly hungry for attention that he can’t follow the rules."

Looking at Giuliani's checkered history as a big city mayor, Collins suggested that he "... had already begun to evolve from competent city official to hapless big-time political candidate before the [9/11] bombing occurred."

Pointing out that Giuliani said in an interview last week, "It will be on my gravestone: ‘Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump’,” Collins asked, "What kind of a lawyer says stuff like that? "

"What we have here is not a skilled strategist trying to find the best way to defend his client, but just another member of the nation’s ever-growing pack of celebrities who can’t shut up," she pronounced before getting to the punchline: "Another one of them, of course, got himself elected president."

You can read the whole piece here.