Bill Barr Thinks America Is Going to Hell.

[Zorro]

And he’s on a mission to use the “authority” of the executive branch to stop it.

Why would a seemingly respectable, semiretired lion of the Washington establishment undermine the institutions he is sworn to uphold, incinerate his own reputation, and appear to willfully misrepresent the reports of special prosecutors and inspectors general, all to defend one of the most lawless and corrupt presidents in American history? And why has this particular attorney general appeared at this pivotal moment in our Republic?

A deeper understanding of William Barr is emerging, and it reveals something profound and disturbing about the evolution of conservatism in 21st-century America.

Some people have held that Mr. Barr is simply a partisan hack — willing to do whatever it takes to advance the interests of his own political party and its leadership. This view finds ample support in Mr. Barr’s own words. In a Nov. 15 speech at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in Washington, he accused President Trump’s political opponents of “unprecedented abuse” and said they were “engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and the undermining of the rule of law.”

It is hardly the first time Mr. Barr stepped outside of long-established norms for the behavior of attorneys general. In his earlier stint as attorney general, during the George H.W. Bush presidency, Mr. Barr took on the role of helping to disappear the case against Reagan administration officials involved in the Iran-contra affair. The situation demonstrated that “powerful people with powerful allies can commit serious crimes in high office,” according to Lawrence Walsh, the independent prosecutor in that case. According to some critics, Mr. Barr delivered the partisan goods then, as he is delivering them now.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/opinion/william-barr-trump.html

[Tiggeroshii]

1. The feeling is mutual, then

[SharonAnn]

5. His Opus Dei beliefs control him. He is God's choice to run the world, harshly.

It’s a very authoritarian sect/cult, patriarchal and self-righteous organization. They seek power at any cost so that they can control the world and deliver it to God. Do not underestimate them!

Www.odan.org

[marble falls]

12. I wonder why ODAN doesn't identify who they are. I'm Lutheran and ...

I found the site pretty darn offensive.

[marble falls]

11. The only difference is he's wrong and we're right.

[elleng]

2. By Katherine Stewart and Caroline Fredrickson

Ms. Stewart is the author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.” Ms. Fredrickson is president emerita of the American Constitution Society.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Here are the concluding paragraphs to this impressive and important essay:

...snip...

The answer is that America’s conservative movement, having morphed into a religious nationalist movement, is on a collision course with the American constitutional system. Though conservatives have long claimed to be the true champions of the Constitution — remember all that chatter during previous Republican administrations about “originalism” and “judicial restraint” — the movement that now controls the Republican Party is committed to a suite of ideas that are fundamentally incompatible with the Constitution and the Republic that the founders created under its auspices.

Mr. Trump’s presidency was not the cause of this anti-democratic movement in American politics. It was the consequence. He is the chosen instrument, not of God, but of today’s Christian nationalists, their political allies and funders, and the movement’s legal apparatus. Mr. Barr did not emerge in order to serve this one particular leader. On the contrary, Mr. Trump serves a movement that will cynically praise the Constitution in order to destroy it, and of which Mr. Barr has made himself a hero.

[Jake Stern]

4. Trump is nothing more than a tool

He's a compliant bill signer and bombastic public face for the party.

I legit wonder if he really knows even half of what's being done by "his" administration. He probably doesn't even read the text of the EO's he slaps his scrawl on.

What's scarier is that if it weren't Trump it might be someone like Pence or Cruz who would put a friendlier face on the same authoritarian BS.

ON EDIT: Personally, I think that's the angle Dems should take with him - that he's just a compliant tool for the Republicans. Nice gut punch to his ego.

[marble falls]

13. ... a very dull and defective tool.

[Frustratedlady]

6. Barr should know, since he's leading the way...

and, I'm sure it isn't the first time he's done so.

[MissMarple]

7. Well, all I can say is nations don't go to hell.

Individuals, however, can be cast away from god, and that is hell. Pray for Mr. Barr. He may need our prayers on his behalf.

[Mike Niendorff]

8. No, he doesn't.

The schtick he gives to the evangelicals is just that : a schtick.

He knows it's bullshit, they know it's bullshit, everyone knows it's bullshit.

But it serves both of their purposes transactionally, so that's how it goes down.

Meanwhile, Iran-Contra criminals get pardoned and ultra-wealthy Trump team-members get their backs covered.

This man hasn't got a principled bone in his body, and this article gives him credit for beliefs he doesn't even remotely hold.


MDN

[MBS]

9. Here is the scariest part, from the conclusion:

. . . America’s conservative movement, having morphed into a religious nationalist movement, is on a collision course with the American constitutional system. Though conservatives have long claimed to be the true champions of the Constitution — remember all that chatter during previous Republican administrations about “originalism” and “judicial restraint” — the movement that now controls the Republican Party is committed to a suite of ideas that are fundamentally incompatible with the Constitution and the Republic that the founders created under its auspices.

Mr. Trump’s presidency was not the cause of this anti-democratic movement in American politics. It was the consequence. He is the chosen instrument, not of God, but of today’s Christian nationalists, their political allies and funders, and the movement’s legal apparatus. Mr. Barr did not emerge in order to serve this one particular leader. On the contrary, Mr. Trump serves a movement that will cynically praise the Constitution in order to destroy it, and of which Mr. Barr has made himself a hero.

[Docreed2003]

10. +1

As many have pointed out, Trump himself isn't the problem, it's the underlying philosophies of the evangelical conservative movement that are the real threat. That being said, Trump has used his skills as a carnival barker to brainwash those masses and convince them of his powers, thus morphing the GOP into the party of Trump.