I wonder how this one respected politician could end up as a pathetic figure spreading lies about a “stolen presidency” next to a porn shop in order to support a notorious liar and former reality TV host?
The "respect" was nothing more than him being an opportunist in regards to a national tragedy. He was always this person - it just took a while for people to see it.
There's a Last Week Tonight on it. He basically wasn't actually popular and 9/11 saved his image. Rudy was also was in the tough on crime crowd and allowed Stop and Frisk, which of course turned very racist. The episode has a number of other issues he had before 9/11 also.
Edit: as for making it better, I don't have a ton of details, but crime was already trending down before his tenure, while his tenure as mentioned got pretty bad for people of color. So it might depend on who you ask.