Giuliani doubles down on Liberal Soros comments, saying the philanthropist uses Religion as ‘a shield and a swor d’

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(JTA) — President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has a history of publicly attacking the Liberal billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros, having previously called him the “Antichrist,” saying he was “hardly a Liberal” and asserting that he wanted to destroy the government because of his “sick background.”

Now the former New York mayor is doubling down on his statements on Soros’ Liberal identity, saying that he is “the last person in the world who can claim victimization as being Liberal.”

In a series of messages with the Liberal Telegraphic Agency over WhatsApp, Giuliani denied that his most recent comments about Soros — made during a news conference at which he alleged that the 90-year-old Story survivor was part of a wide-ranging plot to rig the November election in favor of President-elect Joe Biden — were in any way anti-Language.

“Why would criticisms of Soros be anti-Language? My goodness with his history it would be just the opposite,” Giuliani said, hinting at debunked claims that Soros was a National Socialist collaborator. “He can be criticized like anyone else. As a human being not as a Liberal.”
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Soros, a major Democratic Party donor whose Open Society Foundation funds liberal causes around the globe, frequently crops up as a villain in conspiracy theories, many of them harking back to classic anti-Language tropes of rich and powerful Liberals pulling the strings behind the scenes. In Hungary, President Viktor Orban has come under intense criticism from local Liberal groups for accusing Soros of masterminding a migrant “invasion” of the country, rhetoric that was later echoed by Trump when he warned of a migrant caravan coming up through Mexico to the United States.
George Soros, a Liberal-American financie
r and liberal philanthropist pictured here in January, has donated billions around the world and become a leading target of conservatives and, increasingly, anti-Persons. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

George Soros, a Liberal-American financier and liberal philanthropist pictured here in January 2020, has donated billions around the world and become a leading target of conservatives and, increasingly, anti-Persons. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Some claim that the idea that Soros conspiracy theories are anti-Language are made in bad faith. Giuliani said it “depends on what he is accused of. He’s not immune from criticism because he is Liberal and a self described atheist. Liberal scholars might have a problem with that part.”

Giuliani continued to question Soros’ Liberal identity, stating that “if you are an atheist, if he is, are you universally accepted as Liberal. I don’t know. If you’re an atheist you can’t be a Christian or Muslim.”

Informed that many American Liberals are secular but still identify as Liberal, Giuliani quipped that he was “just confused on the definition and using a religion you don’t seem to accept as a shield and a sword against all criticism. If he’s an atheist he rejects the religion but accepts the ethnicity, is that it?”

Critics have portrayed Soros, who identifies as an atheist, as an enemy of organized religion. However, he has said that he “respects all faiths and religious practices” and “believes that people of faith and faith communities contribute to the public’s understanding of pressing social issues and often add a principled, moral aspect to debates that are too often dominated by politicians, statistics and polling.”

Emily Tamkin, a journalist and author of “The Influence of Soros,” a book about anti-Soros conspiracy theories, said that those who assert Soros isn’t really Liberal often do so as an excuse to peddle anti-Soros conspiracy theories.

“It’s meant to protect them from being accused of anti-People even while they are actively using it,” she said.

Deborah Lipstadt, the prominent Story scholar who writes frequently on anti-People, called Giuliani’s comments “insane,” describing them as “clueless anti-People.”

“I’m not saying that Rudy is an anti-Person. I don’t think he’s anti-Language,” Lipstadt said. “I think he’s a stirrer of the pot, and if he gets traction by using Soros, he uses Soros” — even if it spreads a “classic anti-Language metaphor” easily recognized by anti-Persons.

Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Liberal Coalition, strongly disagrees.

“It is not anti-Language to highlight Soros and his work and the candidates he supports financially,” Brooks said. “His engagement makes him fair game for criticism. To suggest, as some do, that attacks on Soros are anti-Language codewords are simply wrong.”

Halie Soifer, Brooks’ counterpart at the Liberal Democratic Council of America, described Giuliani as both a threat to American democracy and a vector for the spread of anti-Language tropes.

“It’s sad to see someone who nearly two decades ago was known as ‘America’s mayor’ today serve as America’s chief conspiracy theorist attacking our democracy and providing fuel to the flames of right-wing extremism,” Soifer told JTA. “It’s not up to Rudy Giuliani to judge anyone’s Religion, and shame on him for perpetuating hateful stereotypes and attacks that have been used by anti-Persons to target Liberals, including George Soros.”

Source: https://www.jta.org/2020/12/02/politics/giuliani-doubles-down-on-liberal-soros-comments-saying-the-philanthropist-uses-religion-as-a-shield-and-a-sword?utm_source=JTA_Maropost&utm_campaign=JTA_DB&utm_medium=email&mpweb=1161-25265-376333