Discarding his own warnings, Bill Barr backs Trump-led GOP ticket
By: Steve Benen (MSNBC. com)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
April 18, 2024, 12:40 PM UTC
By Steve Benen
After Donald Trump's defeat in 2020, former Attorney General Bill Barr seemed eager to put some distance between himself and the president he went to radical lengths to serve. In early 2021, for example, A month later, the Republican lawyer accused Trump of "inexcusable" behavior on Jan. 6. "The president's conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office," Barr said the day after the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol.
A few months later, Barr sat down with ABC News' Jonathan Karl and went a little further. Referring to Trump's election conspiracy theories, the former attorney general said, "It was all bulls---."
In 2022, released a book about his experiences and described his former boss as an "incorrigible" and "erratic" narcissist whose post-election lies did "a disservice to the nation." The idea of Trump running a third national campaign was, as the former attorney general put it at the time, "dismaying."
Perhaps most notably, Barr added in 2022 that he was convinced that Trump "cared only about one thing: himself. Country and principle took second place."
A year later, the former attorney general told NBC News "I have made clear that I strongly oppose Trump for the nomination and will not endorse Trump." It was around this same time when Barr compared voting for Trump to "playing Russian roulette with the country."
And yet, here we are. The Washington Post reported:
Former attorney general William P. Barr effectively endorsed former president Donald Trump on Wednesday, despite having previously criticized Trump's conduct while in office and once comparing him to a "defiant, 9-year-old kid." Asked Wednesday whether he would vote for Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, in November, Barr told Fox News's "America's Newsroom" that he would vote for the Republican ticket.
"I've said all along, given two bad choices, I think it's my duty to pick the person I think would do the least harm to the country, and in my mind, that's — I will vote the Republican ticket," Barr said. "I'll support the Republican ticket."
Yes, this is the same Barr who condemned Trump just two years ago as a man who failed to prioritize core principles.
Broadly speaking, those who worked with the former president during his White House tenure can be broken up into three groups:
- Those who continue to respect, admire, and celebrate the presumptive GOP nominee;
- Those who are sticking to principle and refusing to back Trump's 2024 candidacy;
- Those who are well aware of Trump's lies, corruption, and alleged crimes, but have chosen to prioritize party over principle.
Too often, members of the third group tend to overlook the existence of the second group, in large part to avoid further humiliation.
Nevertheless, that second group is both real and sizable. As we've discussed, much of the former president's Cabinet, including Trump's own former vice president, isn't supporting his 2024 candidacy. Former members of Trump's national security team and former Republican congressional leaders have come to the same conclusion.
Barr could've joined them. But the craven Republican lawyer — the one who was disgusted by Trump's willingness to discard "country and principle" — has apparently decided not to.
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once a corrupt asshole, always a corrupt asshole
Yup, progressives can't get it through their heads:
Barr didn't want Trump nominated, but he did say that if Trump were nominated, he would be forced to vote for him because the alternative was so bad for the country.
"Because I believe that the greatest threat to the country is the progressive agenda being pushed by the Democratic Party, it's inconceivable to me that I wouldn't vote for the Republican nominee," Barr told Savannah Guthrie.
Former Attorney General William Barr Says He'd Still Vote for Trump in 2024 (today.com)
Naturally you won't find that in the silly article above.
what percentage of americans do you think believe that bidens policies will be worse for america than trump's policies ?
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I'm guessing at least 60% or more.
So I am safe in assuming you support failed policies and want more of the same.
No wonder we live in a degraded America with "logic" like that!
Most rational and normal people (normies) don't waste their time nattering on about Trump's personality quirks. All they know is the country was headed in the right direction when Trump was president. Biden was elected because he claimed to be a mature and seasoned centrist leader. That has turned out not to be the case.
It is precisely because of Biden's pathetic lack of leadership on issues that are important to the people and the realization that he is being manipulated by the radical far left progressives that has led to his upcoming defeat. To save what's left of our democracy, the leftist rascals have to be tossed out of office.
what percentage of americans do you think believe that bidens policies will be better for america than trump's policies ?
I'm guessing 20%. The progressives.
Absolutely as I do.
Of course he does.
Is perfectly consistent with this...
It just demonstrates how terrible Biden is that people who loath Trump still think he's the better choice.
terrible to who?
if there is a consensus that biden's policies are so terrible, why isnt he losing to trump by 10 or 15 points ?
the people who truly believe that biden is "worse" than trump are the MAGA hard core and the culture warriors obsessed with "wokeism".
in order to be able to morally justify putting a mentally ill criminal like trump back in office you would have to definitively prove that biden is an existential threat to america, which is , as you well know, nonsense.
i dont object so totally to trump because i dont want his policies , i dont even care about some of his policies. i object to him because he is unfit to be the leader of a local p.t.a., let alone lead the greatest nation on earth. HE'S UNFIT. that is a definitive and permanent judgement, and a judgement which bill barr once seemed to make.
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Do you ever wonder how biden isn’t beating trump by 20 points? If he governed as a left of center moderate ( the mid 90s version of Biden), he’d cruise to a Reagan/nixon type landslide.
instead he’s struggling against the most unpopular candidate ever who’s more concerned with his legal issues than running for president.
You're talking about Trump's personality traits which are not all that important to the people. But millions of voters believe that Biden is totally mentally and physically unit to be president and commander-in-chief. His incoherent words and destructive actions prove that reality on a daily basis. Trump is the lesser evil, and the electorate knows it.
TRYING TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT A PERSONALITY TRAIT !
So tell Garland and Smith to shut up and charge Trump with sedition already!
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Garland, Smith, and the other DA's prosecuting Trump are counting on TDS driven judges and juries from Democrat run bastions of stupidity areas to ignore evidence, the law, and the Constitution- and convict Trump.
But for some damn reason they can't seem to charge Trump with sedition- though they are screaming about it loudly enough trying to taint public oponion.
THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!
And quit shouting!