Peter Sagal: Bill Barr is the only person (AFAIK) who is wealthy, essentially retired (thus no career concerns), very intelligent and educated, experienced in government, and a repeated personal witness to Trump’s behavior, about which he is brutally honest… who still supports him.

I apologize for putting this in your timeline but long time readers will know I have two obsessions: the strange case of Bill Barr and “begging the question.” This is about the former. x.com/trumpdailypo...

Bill Barr is the only person (AFAIK) who is wealthy, essentially retired (thus no career concerns), very intelligent and educated, experienced in government, and a repeated personal witness to Trump’s behavior, about which he is brutally honest… who still supports him.

Which raises the question 😉: given all that, why would he support Trump for President? Because he sees Biden — genial, pragmatic ol’ Uncle Joe — as an existential threat to the US. And that view, widely shared, is what is behind a lot of our troubles.

The ur-text of Barr’s world view is this speech he delivered as AG at Notre Dame. www.justice.gov/opa/speech/a...

Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers Remarks to the Law School and the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Damewww.justice.gov Thank you, Tom, for your kind introduction. Bill and Roger, it’s great to be with you.

You should read the whole thi by, but here’s a representative excerpt:

He firmly believes that a militant ruthless kind of anti-religion, an anti-Christianity, is on the march in America, and it will destroy us from the inside unless it is stopped, and it must at this sad extreme be stopped by government power, since it controls everything else.

I’m certain he, like so many other GOP elites, would have have preferred a different standard bearer in this fight for national survival, but you go to war with the nominee you have, not the one you want.

As to what Trump was responding to, the only thing I could find was this from last week. Anything more recent? www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Barr, a vocal Trump critic, says he will ‘support the Republican ticket’ in Novemberwww.washingtonpost.com Barr, who served as attorney general under Donald Trump, had a falling out with the former president over his claims of 2020 election fraud — but nevertheless says he will support the Republican ticke...

Opus Dei and their ilk are the problem.

“Traditional values”. Would love a comparison list of what Barr thinks of as traditional values and what he considers current untraditional values…

If I hadn't grown up around folks who were preaching his apocalyptic view fifty years ago, I wouldn't understand it. That they still hold the view after seizing the levers of power is the part that's baffling.

It is an absolutely bizarre worldview, and one that bears no resemblance to any reality I have experienced, but also a surprisingly common one, including among people who should be intelligent and informed enough to know better. I really would like to know more about where it comes from.

Who told Barr this? What was the context? What about that person and context made him believe it against all other evidence? I don't know that we will ever know.

Me too! If I had a chance, which I never will, I’d ask Mr Barr: the country has survived two Obama terms (about which the same dire predictions were made) and on Biden term. Why would one more destroy us?

Most of my family live in very small towns or rural areas in our mostly blue state, and they basically insist that Liberals (aka "city people") are actively trying to destroy their way of life. I wonder if it's the same phenomenon and demographic?

Aaand here’s the Wilhoit’s Law demonstration of who’s inside and who’s outside: Religious people are inside, and thus entitled. Liberals—secular and godless as they are–are outside. What saddens me is that the Bill Barrs of the world, yearning for God as they do, don’t innately know His immanence.

💯 Opus Dei blather.

Man, i must be missing some interesting planning meetings. Who do I talk to about getting on the mailing list?

The only thing that could possibly be chipping away at Catholicism in the US is an organized, concerted effort by a conspiracy of the left, not disgust, cynicism, apathy, etc. Also, denial of the existence of liberal Catholics. And getting in bed with apocalyptic evangelicals.

His speech, and the section you highlight, did not get enough critical coverage it deserved.

Yes, this is the world view baked in. It seems to be widely shared by Alito, Leonard Leo, and many others (including a former friend who went deeply into her Catholic roots and came out with this essential view of society).

I'm sure he and Sam Alito are a real blast at parties.

The subtext of this paranoia, IMO is misogyny. Religion and culture are just gift wrapping.

"Traditional values" kills me. Secularism has been a traditional value here since the country's founding.

His interpretation of the founders intentions boggles my mind. I hesitate to use such a loaded word, but gaslighting is the only way I can describe this speech.

This part reminds me of some recent events. And criminal defendants.

One of the many, many ironies of our current moment is that Trump personally embodies almost everything his most sophisticated supporters claim to oppose: sexual licentiousness, immorality, lawlessness, ignorance, personal gratification as the only value, etc etc etc.

It’s those comparisons he makes between himself and Mandela and Christ that sway them to his side, clearly.

The comparison to the Commanders behavior in Handmaid's Tale are very clear. They go to their secret playground and break all the "religious" rules that are imposed by force on everyone else. Puritanism for you, but not for us.

Because he’s wealthy, has stated he wants a theocracy (imperial presidency) that would not affect him personally, but would increase his wealth and power over people.

Peter, being well schooled and educated, doesn't mean you have ethical and moral standards. Barr knows who/what Trump is. He welcomes it. Barr is evil.

So is Barr under the Great Replacement Theory spell? Because this existential threat language smacks of the “Biden opened the border and we’re being overrun oh no there goes America” drivel.

Eric, if I may jump in, Barr frames the existential threat in terms of religious people versus unbelievers. Conservative are religious, hence good and worthy; liberals are Godless and perforce unfit for self-government.

Yup. Thanks. I caught up with this as Mr. Sagal’s thread continued. Barr is off-base in different ways than some others.

Sorry not sorry. Someone had to bite

I dunno man, I reallllly think it begs the question

It’s more troubling that people like Chris Christie and Chris Sununu think Biden is such a threat to the U.S. that they can only be neutral, despite their vocal contempt for Trump.

I have this sense that GOP sees tRump as the only path to consolidating power to GOP. It's become the imperative, because if they don't gain control now (and keep it indefinitely), they can't ever, because they don't have the popular vote.

Maybe Bill Barr is just evil? Occam's razor

In addition to the other factors people have pointed out, part of this attitude from many (supposedly) reluctant Trump voters is that their image of Democrats and what Democrats want is a twisted fantasy. They've been led to believe that Democrats are *literally* evil, in the religious sense of it.

What distorted vision of the US must he then have, if Biden is a threat to its continued existence?

He sees sleepy Joe as a threat to his checkbook and potential power, that is all they care about. (And maybe some criminal action he did as a federal official. )

Do you think Trump has some dirt on him? I picture something not illegal, but socially taboo.

Nope. Same with Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, et al. Not only is that an unsupported explanation, it’s a boring one, at least to me.

They like power. They hate the idea of an equitable world. Anything they can do to prevent control from slipping permanently into the hands of a genuinely multicultural democracy, they will do, including the most hideous atrocities.

I always hope that it is bad kompromat that they have on Graham. Otherwise, his flopping on issues after conversations with Trump is just too politically craven. Ted Cruz is just Ted Cruz, though.

They were all "gifted" Russian money by Trump.

that isn’t necessary for anyone still interested in a political career, going against Trump is political suicide for a Republican, but as stated previously Barr is essentially retired

😳Bill Barr honest?? 😄😂🤣 Noooo 🤮 Is this Barrs gangsta son in law?? Another trashy Lawyer for Puppet?

Post