Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani recorded a muddled selfie video of himself at Donald Trump’s New Year’s Eve party only hours before progressive poster boy Zohran Mamdani pledged a “new era” for the Big Apple.
In the 30-second clip, Giuliani, 81, appears to be trying to film the Mar-a-Lago party, with Vanilla Ice’s classic “Ice Ice Baby”—which saw “Ice Barbie” Kristi Noem, and “Ice Baldy” Stephen Miller, attempt to bust a move—playing in the background.
It begins with him speaking to the camera, saying, “What you’re seeing is me. What I’d like to do now is show you some of the very nice parts…” before tailing off in confusion as he struggles to flip the camera around to face the room.
The camera then moves to landscape, trapping Giuliani in a purple-lit, extreme close-up, as he squints gormlessly behind rimless glasses, mouth open, showing his bright white teeth, while the phone wobbles and tilts, as he appears to mouth: “I don’t know how…” and fiddles with buttons on the screen.
The video then cuts to him looking glum and defeated, before his phone flips to the front-facing camera to film a short tumbler of amber liquor and ice sitting on the white tablecloth in front of him.
An X user shared the footage, saying: “OMG!!! While Zohran Mamdani begins to run NYC, broke and disgraced Rudy Giuliani can’t even run his own iPhone. This is what rock bottom looks like.”
Some users speculated Giuliani was “drunk,” while others contrasted the moment with his long-ago reputation as “America’s mayor” after the attacks of 9/11—an image that has curdled amid his post-election legal and financial troubles, including a $148 million defamation judgment tied to false vote-fraud claims.
One wrote: “Rudy’s tech skills are about as sharp as his legal advice—accidentally starring in his own horror show. From 9/11 hero to 2026 zero. Pathetic, but poetic.”
Giuliani’s Mar-a-Lago mess came as Mamdani, 34, began his first day in charge at City Hall, a role Giuliani held between 1994 and 2001.
In an inauguration address, the democratic socialist vowed to “reinvent” the city and said he would not “lower expectations,” promising to govern “expansively and audaciously.”
The ceremony included a midnight swearing-in in a disused subway station, followed by a daytime event outside City Hall featuring progressive heavyweights including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders.
Mamdani also moved quickly to erase parts of the Eric Adams era. The Guardian reported that, hours after the ceremony, he revoked executive orders issued by Adams after Sept. 26, 2024.
They included one that barred mayoral appointees and staff “from boycotting and disinvesting from Israel and protecting New Yorkers’ rights to free exercise of religion without harassment at houses of worship.”
Back in the safer territory of a newsroom interview the day after Trump’s party, Giuliani tried to reframe Madmani’s big moment.
Speaking to Newsmax, with Mar-a-Lago in the background, he argued Mamdani’s message showed he intended to govern for “a political faction,” not the whole city.
Giuliani contrasted that with his own 1994 inauguration line—“I’m going to govern for all the people”—before concluding: “There’s no hope until he’s gone.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Giuliani for comment.
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