We all make youthful mistakes. 
I’m still trying to wrap my head around why people Rudy, Mike Lindel, etc. are so willing to essentially destroy themselves for Trump. What do they get out of it? Trump hasn’t exactly rewarded them for their efforts. FOX News at least learned to cut their losses, seeing that going down the Trump path means negative money, but GiuLindeli think they’re getting an endless supply of pennies from heaven.
Eh - it wasn’t obviously a losing plan prior to Trump failing to be re-elected. They were riding high on borrowed authority, and the grifting of various MAGA types. Even some of the legal challenges Trump tried were vaguely plausible if you didn’t bother to do cursory research (such as your key witnesses being absolute nutbags) - which as I recall was Rudy’s actual defense.
But since Trump refused to back down due to ego, you kept having to push more and more questionable policies, claims and so forth - until you’ve dug yourself so damn deep that your only hope is that he gets back into power and throws you a bone.
Which is where I think Rudy is now. Lindell though, well, he by all appearances has an addict’s personality - whether drugs, religion, or finally - Trump. He’s a believer IMHO, unlike Rudy who just thought he’d ride the MAGA wave to money, power, and (likely) willing (?) women.
Not that this is a real answer but your two examples are respectively a drunk and a (presumably) recovering crack addict.
Deleted-I see others have already asked. Great minds 
Rudy wasted the public admiration from 9/11. He understood that he couldn’t sucessfully challenge Bush’s 2nd term bid. He didn’t run in 2008 either.
Then he hooked up with Trump and disaster.
Actually, yes, he did. He was in first place in early polls in 2007. He placed his focus on the Florida primary in late January of 2008, finished in a disappointing third place there, and suspended his campaign the next day.
A few days after that, I had to take a business trip to see a client in DC. When I went back to Reagan National Airport for my flight home, they had “Giuliani for President” t-shirts on sale for $1. I bought one, and wore it while doing yardwork for a couple of years.
Huh? Rudy ran in '08. That was when the formulation “a noun, a verb, and 9/11” was first used by Biden.
ETA: ninja’d
I’d forgotten Rudy. McCain is my Republican memory from 2008.
His best chance was 2004, but Bush was popular then.
Only from the standpoint of it being, compared to 2008, four years closer to 9/11, when people actually liked him.
2004 had an incumbent Republican president running for re-election. The only way that any other Republican candidate could have had a good chance that year would have been if W were extremely unpopular, and/or the economy was terrible (neither of which were true).
Even a drunk lawyer should be self-aware enough to know that defaming the plaintiffs on the courtroom steps during the penalty phase of the trial might not be advisable. I don’t get how addled someone can get like this. Who signs up to be Rudy’s lawyer for this?
Someone hungry for the incredible glamour and fame Alina Habba enjoys everyday.
But it’s a combination. Paraphrasing @ParallelLines, there’s been a ratchet effect here, where a fairly low-key grift has step-by-step become needing to passionately deny reality on a daily basis, or have the whole house of cards tumble (plus have the maga mob set on you).
And his brain is marinading in whisky.
You need both to explain this level of idiocy and callousness towards these poor women.
A hefty amount of racism is also required. What a combo.
My guess is that Rudy’s lawyer was paid for by someone in the Republican machine, not Trump, but maybe someone connected to his son, who is just as big of an asshole as his daddy. And I think he was more of a chaperone than a lawyer, someone there to make sure Rudy didn’t drop his pants, take a dump on the witness stand and pee on the judge.
There is a whole “pwn the libs” scenario going on with Rudy, the Republicans get a big kick out of pretending he’s normal even though he’s obviously insane and deep in the throes of a dementia caused by the confluence of alcohol and right-wing media - and if he actually pees on the judge while calling her a deep state socialist, they won’t be able to sustain the narrative that he’s not literally crazy.
So even though they’ve thrown him under the bus - his lawyer didn’t seem to mount much of a defense - they’ve got some interest in monitoring the outer bounds of his behavior, even though they’ve set a wide boundary.
Yeah, but Rudy can’t pay! Trump can (but probably won’t).
I’ve mentioned my theory in another thread - there were some people, smart people, intelligent people, who 9/11 and the Obama presidency just… broke. Dennis Miller, Guiliani and a few others. People who should have known better, had the capacity to know better, but were so horrified and made fearful that they signed on to things they probably wouldn’t have previously.
Fear does things to people. It could happen to me to under the right circumstances. I hope I’m lucky enough that it doesn’t.
I’m beginning to suspect early dementia.
What Rudy publicly said just doesn’t come out of an Attorney’s mouth. They know better.
This is as bad as backing out of the garage with the door still closed. Totally outrageous and puzzling behavior.
As I commented once to a client: “I can’t make bricks without straw.”
Ammon Bundy transfered ownership (“sell”, in air quotes) his house in order to keep it out of the hands of ths hospital that sued him, but a court voided the sale. Rudy has no friends to protect him like this, and anything he has attempted or attempts since action was taken may well be legally reversible.