Baier: If you had to do Monday over again, would you do something different?
Barr: Based on what I know now, no… Things were so bad, the secret service recommended the President go down to the bunker. We can’t have that in our country. pic.twitter.com/2p64yP9G0s— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 8, 2020
White House: No regrets over photo op. Also Bill Barr gave the orders. President only "sorry antifa wreaked havoc." pic.twitter.com/XCwqnT0RQr
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 8, 2020
“History is written by the winners.” There’s something of a GOP tradition in sacrificing an Attorney General when the rabble is dangerously dissatisfied with an overconfident regime. Barr assumed there was no bus with a clearance high enough to throw him under, but now he seems to be reconsidering.
As far as I’m concerned, the defenestration cannot happen too soon, or to a more deserving defender of the Kakistocracy.
akshully the protesters loved being gassed with liberty perfume https://t.co/neQ8BjDIld
— kilgore trout, potato thief (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 7, 2020
This thread, this story. @washingtonpost
Barr comes off as some kind of villain. https://t.co/KbSbo52kxu
— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) June 9, 2020
‘Barr says reducing police immunity would result in law enforcement 'pulling back'’
Yes. ?https://t.co/YT8XdK8ABf
— RynheartTheReluctant (@TheRynheart) June 7, 2020
Barr to @margbrennan:
“The president never asked or suggested that we needed to deploy regular troops at that point…Our position was common…we didn't think we would need them. I think everyone was on the same page.”
A lie — per reporting by CBS, Washington Post, ABC, CNN. pic.twitter.com/K4K6bEGYN4
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) June 7, 2020
These are not the responses of a lawyer secure in his arguments:
Here's the transcript of our @FaceTheNation interview with Attorney General Bill Barr. https://t.co/IY9mv3zQnD
— margaret brennan (@margbrennan) June 7, 2020
Former prosecutor steps up…
It's been 402 days since Attorney General Bill Barr last testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has a lot to answer for.
Barr needs to explain under oath whether he ordered peaceful protesters to be forcibly cleared out near the White House this week.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) June 6, 2020
Bill Barr: "My attitude was get it done, but I didn't say 'Go do it.'"
I'm not sure it's possible to sound any more like a mob boss. https://t.co/U9Yx6ZJqaP
— Christopher Orr (@OrrChris) June 6, 2020
When no one knows a law enforcement officers name or even which agency they work for, there is no accountability for excessive force. Barr’s response to George Floyd’s murder is police violence without accountability for it. https://t.co/ty8Ao2MhkT
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) June 4, 2020
Bill Barr and a team of senior Justice Department officials have quietly taken the lead on disrupting the protests. It’s a controversial move. A senior law enforcement official called it “a political ploy to make being anti-Trump look like terrorism.” https://t.co/QAxtjVnZif
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) June 7, 2020
U.S. Attorney General William Barr personally ordered federal law enforcement to clear a park near the White House of peaceful protesters on Monday in time for President Trump to walk to a church for a photo op, a Justice Department official said https://t.co/eAstFexfC8 pic.twitter.com/X4nwA167dR
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 2, 2020
Attorney General Barr is not advancing the cause of justice in America. He must be impeached and removed.https://t.co/uMU29c50io
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) June 7, 2020
Rep. Adam Schiff rubs in some non-chemical irritant:
Bill Barr says he did not order police to forcefully remove peaceful protestors; he merely said "get it done," not "go for it."
Interesting distinction.
How do you remove craven presidents and the attorney generals who do their dirty work?
Simple. The voters will get it done.
— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) June 7, 2020
Dorothy A. Winsor
Will no one rid me of these troublesome protestors?
Omnes Omnibus
What miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric!
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Uh, isn’t everything a chemical?
Litlebritdifrnt
So Barr calls Twitler a liar when he said he was just “inspecting” The Bunker.
PPCLI
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
And right after that, Barr stated “And see that woman in clerical robes over there on the patio handing out water and first aid items? Will no one rid me of that meddlesome priest?”
germy
Has he refused to testify today?
MattF
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: Naive. The atoms in pepper spray molecules are innocent bystanders and must not be blamed for their effects on antifa rioters.
schrodingers_cat
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: Result of an education with no college chemistry courses.
germy
PPCLI
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: Pepper spray is a spiritual thing for William Barr.
MattF
Also, I don’t see Barr having an unexpected meeting with a bus undercarriage any time soon.
germy
Krope, the Formerly Dope
But it still has, like, a chemical composition and properties right?
Also, too, this seems oddly correct. Though I wonder how he feels about other people’s use of chemicals in spiritual practices.
Frankensteinbeck
@MattF:
Ditto. Nobody minds changing stories in this administration. They all lie constantly. Barr’s lies so far make Trump look like the victim and everyone else as evil, which is good enough for the Whiny Ass Titty Baby In Chief. I wish Barr would piss off Trump and get fired, because Barr is by far the most competent and dangerous person in that administration, but I don’t see signs of it here.
Immanentize
I told the Captain at 6:15 that I needed them to take Onion Belt Hill by 6:45 p.m. I didn’t ever say to any of the troops, “Over the top, Boys! Attack!”
Except perhaps those Blackwater folks….
The difference between what Barr said and “tactical orders”
Immanentize
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: There vused to be an advert by Union Carbide? When I was a kid — probably in Look magazine. It had a picture of an orange with a scroll attached listing it’s chemical makeup….
Everything is chemical was the point of the ad.
West of the Rockies
Bill Barr and his bloated hangdog face can go straight to hell.
Oh, wait. Satan says no. Hell has standards.
crosspalms
Bill Barr: Mace the Nation
Mary G
Cameron
Pepper Spray? Wasn’t she a character in one of those old James Bond movies?
donnah
Barr is a power hungry toad who has been given free rein by Trump. Anyone can see that his ambitious climb up the political ladder is getting broader and bolder. He is a shameless liar and like the rest of his buddies in the White House, he believes he’s unstoppable.
I can’t see Trump dumping him; he gets so much done for him that he seems willing to let Barr spout off. It’s grotesque that these are the bullies who are running and ruining the country.
Nicole
Oh my God, please, future Biden Admin, please do not let all this fade into the rearview mirror. There’s plenty you can get them on. Hell, half of the current Administration appears to have committed voter fraud; I’ll even take that if that’s the easiest thing to prove.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Can the reporters ask without mentioning that the statement was on Twitter? They’re gonna try to dodge the question anyway, but don’t give them such an easy out.
laura
The sheer gall of that man. God bothering handmaiden to authoritarianism on the one hand and lecturing the Federalist Society on the need for the citizenry to show respect for law enforcement or risk any expectation of local cops responding to service calls. He can go to hell and bring all the bagpipes. Also, who funds the Federalist?
Immanentize
@Immanentize: Found it! Mansanto, duh.
It’s Lucky Nature Doesn’t Need Lables
Mary G
New Lincoln Project ad about crowd sizes. These guys are good.
randy khan
@Immanentize:
I see what you did there.
MattF
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: “Senator, are you aware that the president appears to be untethered to reality?”
randy khan
Those aren’t distinctions; they’re lies.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Funny how Barr and Monsanto can make opposite points, both in service to avoiding accountability.
Why, of course! Why do you think we have failed to hold him accountable? That would require that he be of this plane of existence.
PPCLI
@Krope, the Formerly Dope:
It’s like the Catholic theologian’s metaphysical explanation of the real presence of Christ’s body in the communion bread. Prior to the consecration of the Eucharist, the bread has both the essence and the properties of bread, but after the consecration, it has the essence of the body of Christ.
(Look, it’s not my theory!)
In the warehouse, the pepper spray has the essence and the properties / chemical composition of capsaicin. When it is beng used on peaceful protesters it still has those properties, but its essence is the toxic soul of William Barr.
/s
jonas
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: There’s literally a DOJ manual listing pepper spray, along with tear gas, as a “chemical agent.”
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Uggh, I thought that shit tasted funny. Glad I got away from those God-blessed cannibals.
That should be a war crime.
What interest does Barr have in official DOJ documents…?
Kay
I love how they still think he’s capable of this. He only has one trick. He’s mean. That’s it. If he could do this he would have done it already.
I think it’s Jared who clings to this fantasy. I think the actual campaign people know exactly how they won the first time.
Kay
@Mary G:
I thought that was really effective because it ends with the action step and asks viewers to imagine getting rid of him. It’s the best one yet.
They have to picture succeeding. Democrats are already doing it- they all muse on how great it will be to beat him :)
snoey
@Krope, the Formerly Dope:
He’d concede that everything is a chemical, its the “irritant” part. Good blast of bear spray should focus his mind.
jonas
Trump is a dementia-addled idiot with authoritarian tendencies, but not the focus to actually carry out most of his worst impulses. Bill Barr, along with Tom Cotton, are smart, focused, and utterly evil. Barr would go full Pinochet in a second if he thought he could get away with it.
MattF
@Kay: Pretty much every word in that ‘report’ from the White House is a lie.
trollhattan
As a not-chemical, capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) would like a word, or contact of a more physical nature, with the AG. Personally, I’d like to test an entire bear spray can on him. To improve my aim and such.
Baud
@PPCLI:
Schrodinger’s tear gas.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Make it so.
trollhattan
@MattF:
IOW just like Barr’s Mueller Report summary.
WaterGirl
@germy: Then I sure as hell hope they issue a subpoena, and then enforce it.
Jeffro
@Mary G:
We need the blessed Lincoln Project to start running ads about how “Didja ever notice…GOP Senators don’t seem to know much when it comes to what the president* says, does, or tweets? Here are eighty examples of them being ‘late for lunch’ when asked about trumpov’s latest and greatest inflammatory BS…”
Mary G
This thread from an AJC reporter about the elections in Georgia today is gobsmacking. No working machines, poll workers with no training, insanely long lines.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
I’m guessing they said that before The Beast tweeted out that the old man bleeding from his ears on a street in Buffalo faked his fall
Barbara
@Krope, the Formerly Dope:
I know he didn’t major in chemistry but neither did I. Yes, all foods are comprised of “chemicals,” and in the case of pepper, the actively irritating ingredient is known as capsaicin.
“Well, your honor, we peed on them, but it’s not like we used chemicals.”
“Isn’t ammonia a chemical?”
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: That old Trump pivot is coming any minute now!!
In 2016, around the time Trump was about to clinch the nomination, Jon Favreau (the speechwriter) wrote this article where he took a bunch of statements Trump had made, and assembled them into an anodyne, Presidential-sounding speech that he imagined Trump giving. It was a warning to Democrats that Trump could really be a formidable candidate once he made that pivot, and we should expect it to happen any day now.
Of course, Trump never did that. He stayed as horrible as ever. And he won running on that. The whole set of assumptions Favreau was operating on was incorrect.
Jeffro
@Mary G: I wonder if we can keep these guys on as the Dems’ official ad agency going forward if we pay them double? They are seriously kicking trumpov’s ass.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G:
My god, Rubio is such a buffoonish self-parody. I can’t believe he’s come as far as he has
This is the most believable statement I have ever heard from Cornyn. Well and truly I believe that most things go over his head.
JPL
@Mary G: It took my son five minutes to vote, but he lives in a conservative district north of Atlanta.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
.
“Actually, in that case, it was just rain.”
“Isn’t water a chemical?”
WereBear
Governor Cuomo is The Tangler today.
Jeffro
@Kay: anyone who thinks trumpov can even *remotely* “tone it down” for three days in a row…much less the next five months…is completely koo-koo.
He’s hooked on OANN, QAnon, crushed Adderall, and his crazy rallies. Oh and golf, I guess. That is not something he’s going to give up just so he can give policy speeches.
(The thought of trumpov giving even a 10-minute serious policy address at this point actually gives me the giggles. It’s like expecting a mule to work on its conversational French, or something)
Mary G
Trigger warning for extreme racism:
Krope, the Formerly Dope
I’ll settle for a President who can speak English.
WaterGirl
@WereBear: What does that mean?
Baud
@Krope, the Formerly Dope:
Aren’t people, in the end, just an assortment of chemicals? Is it fair, then, to say that the protestors were deploying chemical agents against the president? Viewed that way, wasn’t the administration’s response especially lenient given the circumstances?
WaterGirl
@Mary G: They think they are untouchable. Disgusting.
Another Scott
Another day ending in “y”… GovExec:
Only the best people…
Grrr…
We have to vote the monsters out.
Cheers,
Scott.
L85NJGT
@Baud:
You questioned the Sanders dollar amounts in a previous thread:
2016
2020
Comes out to over $425 million spent for the two cycles.
Baud
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: I’d settle for the mule as president.
MisterForkbeard
@Krope, the Formerly Dope: This is a good idea. “The president made the following statement today: <statement>. Do you approve and agree with him?”
Baud
@L85NJGT: Thanks! Holy crap!
SFAW
I am reminded of all those tapes of Mafia bosses saying things like “I want you to kill that weasel. Dead, do you hear me? DEAD! Then cut him up and throw him in the East River. And that other guy? Kill his whole fucking family. I don’t want any misunderstanding here, so to be sure: when I say ‘take care of him,’ I don’t mean buy him a nice house and a nice car — I want you to murder him, so that he can’t testify against me.”
Barr’s not a complete moron, but he apparently thinks we all are.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Sold.
It’s always about Trump, isn’t it?
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: To be fair, the current batshit theory is that he didn’t actually fake the injury, he just fell on purpose and hurt himself and it wasn’t the poor police officer’s fault.
Sigh.
SFAW
@Baud:
Unfortunately, all we have is a horse’s ass.
WaterGirl
@Baud: The socialist could have helped a lot of the little people with that chunk of change.
WereBear
@WaterGirl: Cuomo is calling out the president for accusing the elderly man in Buffalo of faking his injury.
He is a self-declared “willing to tangle” person. ?
PPCLI
@MisterForkbeard: And presumably he used Jedi mind control to force the officers to step over him and continue walking as he lay there unconscious with cranial bleeding.
Barbara
@SFAW: I am sure it’s been written before but I like it especially because Barr apparently fancies himself to be an orthodox Catholic:
Kelly
Most any major Republican:”I didn’t hear him say that. Excuse me I’m late for <something>”
SFAW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Maybe I mis-“read” the video, but it looked like blood was pooling around his head, and I would thing more than just his ears was involved.
Patricia Kayden
L85NJGT
@Baud:
Asking for money, err… fundraising, needs to be a top priority for BAUD 2024!Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
Jesus, he’s a septuagenarian, not a soccer player.
SFAW
@Barbara:
Yeah, a few here have written that. I have also seen Henry’s comment as “turbulent priest,” which would be more in line with clearing out protesters.
TheOBP
@Mary G: I sometimes wonder queasily if what we have here is like German rocket scientists jumping ship to help us against the Soviets. On the other hand, maybe they’re genuine. I left the GOP after Bush 2, Term 1. Maybe it takes some folks a little longer.
Just One More Canuck
@Baud:
Donkey/Shrek 2020
Barbara
@Another Scott: I think this is an extreme example of someone interpreting the expectation of tolerance as a form of their own personal oppression because they no longer get to hate, joke, mock and ridicule with the freedom that they had become accustomed to. “What do you mean I can’t call him a pansy? That’s tyranny!”
Baud
@L85NJGT:
Never. I reject the corrupting influence of both large and small dollar donations. I will never be in the pocket of Big Citizen.
germy
https://www.thedailybeast.com/oan-trumps-new-favorite-channel-employs-kremlin-paid-journalist
TheOBP
@MisterForkbeard: I’ve seen the video, and the man shown is not Reggie Miller
MisterForkbeard
@Kelly: Okay, good point. This would rely on the media actually staying on task and doing their jobs, because Republicans would just shrug and leave anyway. It only gets fixed when reporters FOLLOW them and demand answers.
Baud
@germy:
Synergy.
Kay
@Jeffro:
Ivanka is what a moderate Trump would sound like and she’s a banal, mediocre bore. Completely indistinguishable from that whole set of people who use that awful corporate speak.
They don’t have anything other than Trump’s meanness. There’s nothing else that sets them apart. He’ll be a mediocre-to- poor moderate candidate. Their initial instincts were correct. There’s only one route. If he’s not offending he’s an ordinary old man. He knows it too.
L85NJGT
@Baud:
You shall know them by GOP friendly framing of an issue.
Kelly
There’s video the Salt Lake City police knocking down and elderly man with a cane at a bus stop. There’s the 75 year old in Buffalo. We need a highlight reel of just police abusing elderly white people. Greg Doucette is up to 423 videos of excessive police force. I haven’t the stomach to keep up anymore.
https://twitter.com/greg_doucette
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: it’s why I don’t worry too much about a trump dynasty, I don’t think any of the spawn can match his visceral appeal to the worst instincts of the worst people. I do wonder if Hawley or Cotton can match the vulgarity– what his supporters see as his wit– that is also part of his appeal
Another Scott
@Matt McIrvin: The TV ads that Donnie’s campaign are running on HGTV have imagery and text to make him appear to be a reasonable liberal that everyone loves. How he got cash to suffering people, and so forth.
They lie about everything. Expect that to continue.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@SFAW:
I would have asked “why are we all going?” It’s bizarre that Trump takes this whole entourage with him when he supposedly is headed out to speak to the people. You’re the President. Go by yourself.
They’re just bizarre, odd people. They can’t even credibly imitate how a real President might look. Fake it till you make it, you dopes. It’s just a photograph.
Kelly
@MisterForkbeard: Yeah the occasional follow up a fellow journalist’s question need to become SOP.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes, since Barr is so in love with monarchs, he should consider how well that worked with Henry I of England and Tomas Becket. Henry I at lest had the excuse of being hot tempered and prone to speaking without thinking who is listening.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Trump owes Barr, so the bus is only a matter of time. Remember a Trump always defaults on their debts.
Jeffro
@Kay: I think this is why he always goes way off the rails at his hate-fest rallies. He knows the crowd is there for the ‘good stuff’, not policy.
azlib
Barr is making John MItchell (Nixon’s Attorney General) look like a saint.
Another Scott
@Mary G:
+1
Cheers,
Scott.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Don Jr. comes pretty close in the spite and stupidity departments.
Unfortunately for the GOP, Jr hasn’t been able to tweet at a black president for around a decade to build up his credibility with the ‘very fine people’ base. But he’s definitely ready to step right up. Tucker Carlson too.
Kay
My daughter just won an arbitration on whether her employer could deny her maternity leave pay. It was really unfair. She entered into an employment contract with one health care company and the company was sold to another immediately before the birth of her daughter in January. The new company refused to honor the prior terms on paid leave. She fought it, it went to arbitration in NY, and she just won. Seven thousand dollars, which they need. All I did was cut and paste the part of the NY code I thought might apply and send it to her because I didn’t want to tell her but I had no hope :)
scott (the other one)
@Jeffro: The key to those ads is that they’re conservative Republicans who are horrified by Trump—that’s why they can go after him so hard and not get smeared by the MSM.
So, yeah, they want Trump gone—but unless I’ve missed something (always a possibility), they’d love to have a Republican Senate and House. Unlike a tiny handful of former conservative Republicans, they don’t WANT the Senate to flip.
Jeffro
@Another Scott: I’m telling y’all, we need the Lincoln Project to train its fire on these “I’MLATEFORLUNCH!” GOP Senators who keep ducking questions about trumpov’s statements and tweets. I have no doubt they’d be merciless.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: Colbert had a bit of Invaka speaking and that was outright creepy by even corporate speak standards. It was like watching a life size animationic barbie doll, expect with less personality.
Jinchi
So, ‘I like to be heard. I’m not a listener.’
Is that supposed to be a good thing for a politician?
Kelly
https://twitter.com/ellewoodsgolfs/status/1270186625109078017
Mike in NC
Pepper spray is a delicious dessert topping. They serve it with the chocolate cake at Merde-A-Lago.
Jeffro
@scott (the other one): I don’t get that sense from them…they know the House GOP is absolutely bananas. And they sure don’t seem to like the Grahams and Cottons of the world. Plus if Mitch stays in as majority leader, this country will continue to swirl the drain.
I don’t want to give them too much of the benefit of the doubt here, but my take on it is that they seem fine with the GOP losing the Senate for a cycle or two.
Barbara
@Kay: Good for her! Like you, I have a very jaded view of arbitration. I am glad it worked out for her.
A Ghost to Most
@scott (the other one):
Out: christian fascism
In: christian socialism*
Meet the new boss
(almost the)
Same as the old boss
* For you know that the hypnotized never lie. Do ya?
Kay
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I see her a lot because they stick her in “education” so that’s where she appears most. Horrible. It’s all “skills gap” and “opportunity”. I feel America’s school children should not be forced to listen to this drivel. They think they can stick anyone in front of kids and quality or substance doesn’t matter, like their time has no value. I think this is disrespectful.
Uncle Cosmo
@Immanentize: Um, Aunt Ti-T’ai-Po says “labels.” And “Monsanto.” Although some would argue “MonSatan” is a closer rendering.
sublime33
I have felt for quite some time that the two most compromised people in Washington are Lindsey Graham and William Barr. The dirt on Graham is just about to become public. I don’t know exactly what they have on Barr but it must be really good.
Barbara
@sublime33: I hate to tell you but this is how Barr has always been. It’s just that his previous employers have put him on a shorter leash.
Kay
@Barbara:
I was shocked. Now that she won I can tell her it’s akin to winning the lottery.
She’s really determined though. During the “protect the ACA fight” she called Paul Ryan’s office and got VM. She left a message and then realized she had missed one of the points she wanted to hit so called back. “Hi- me again. One more thing”. I guffawed. I’m familiar with her relentlessness.
Bill Arnold
@jonas:
While poking, I found another DOJ manual that listed it separately from “chemical agents” (CN/CS gases). He (or a staffer) may have done his homework on this.
Irrelevant, of course. Bill Barr would be extremely irritated if he took a load of pepper gas/spray in the face, and of course it’s a chemical, whether it is extracted from a plant source or synthesized.
trnc
How unbelievably more unprepared can reporters possibly be? It’s a tweet. Any reporter can easily have the tweet ready to look at when they ask the question.
“I haven’t seen the tweet.”
“Here it is.”
What is Rubio going to do at that point? Claim it’s a fake tweet? Take out a pen and blind himself? This shouldn’t be difficult.
Just Chuck
@trollhattan:
Why do I suddenly have the urge to watch Kill Bill? Ah hell, I’ll just give him the flashlight, since I’m pretty sure he never underwent the Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sublime33: @Barbara: I don’t really remember Barr from the nineties, and I haven’t done the research, but watching his wheezy speech about “permissiveness” at Notre Dame I did wonder if he hasn’t had some kind of middle-aged ‘crisis of faith’, or some such. As for Graham, I’ve given up on the idea that he’s being blackmailed. I think the explanation is what he says it is, he’s “relevant”, that is close to power and able to abuse it.
I think this tweet from Rubio’s former CoS, and Cheney staffer, sums up Graham et al, only without the implied regret.
I’m fascinated by this idea that they had to “rebuild the military”, but…. whatever.
Betty Cracker
@trnc: Great point! Have the damn tweet up on your phone or print it out and ask them to respond. I am grateful to the reporters who are even asking at this point. They should; it’s their job. But a lot of them don’t bother.
Barbara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, I know someone very well who has had actual experience working in the same office at one point and he assures me that Barr has been in favor or unrestrained executive authority for the duration of his career. The notion that the executive might be a lunatic seems not to matter. I would diagnose deep seated daddy issues, but I don’t care. I just want him gone.
A Streeter
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
You mean Henry II. His grandfather Henry I may have been hot-tempered as well but managed not to get any bishops whacked.
Barbara
@A Streeter: Henry II had the right idea, to make the church subject to civil authority and he thought that by making his friend and trusted advisor archbishop that’s what he was getting. No parallel with prior generations.
Fleeting Expletive
About that fence around the White House and all the tributes people posted on it, doesn’t the law require that all of those be preserved as part of the national archives? Not that dingus knows that or cares, but nevertheless?
PPCLI
@sublime33: I don’t think Barr is compromised. He views Trump as an instrument toward the conservative theocracy with the all-powerful executive that he dreams of.
Barbara
@PPCLI: I mean, when you read his Notre Dame speech it’s just very clear that he is frightened by the prospect of a future where people like him do not wield unchallenged authority. Underlying his panic is the realization that even if his church holds fast on matters like gay equality and abortion, the fact is, people don’t have to listen. They don’t have to attend service or tithe. It’s a sign of how deep seated his panic is that he actually thinks he can change the equation by the use of dogma driven force. In this, he is as much of a nitwit at his boss.
Baud
@Fleeting Expletive: I’m not aware of such a law. Those aren’t federal records AFAIK.
cmorenc
You all do realize that if unfortunately, Trump does somehow manage to somehow squeak out an electoral college win in 2020 and keep even a narrow Senate majority – one likely result will be Trump nominating Barr to RBG’s then-open SCOTUS seat, in part because *nothing* else will piss off Democrats more than putting Barr on SCOTUS to replace Ginsburg. That would be an even more enormous affront than Bush I nominating “Uncle Tom” Thomas was to the opening created by Thurgood Marshall’s SCOTUS retirement due to urgent health issues. Think any GOP senators would have the inclination. let alone the bravery to vote against Barr if Trump somehow wins or cheats his way to a second term?
Kay
We know they all gave up on asking Trump anything sometime in 2017, but to also extend this exception to the entire GOP Congress?
Jinchi
Anyone have an opinion on whether that fence will come down before Trump leaves office? Logic would suggest that once the street marches end, the fence should disappear, but logic would’ve prevented the fence from ever going up in the first place.
Still it’s really hard to believe that a president under siege is a good look for his re-election campaign and if the media ever picks up on the “Chicken Coop” framing, it will strike straight at Trump’s ego.
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think we need to rephrase all of these:
cmorenc
@cmorenc:
Of course, I meant *if* RBG’s health doesn’t hold out past 2024. Which unfortunately, will become increasingly likely with time.
scav
@MisterForkbeard: Rebuilding the military so that it can be deployed (sometimes without identification as a sign of even further pride!) on every American street. Lawn Order!
dopey-o
@PPCLI: @PPCLI: “conservative theocracy…..”
Barr is a member of Opus Dei, a conservative catholic cult (CCC ?) which excercises a great degree of control over its members. For example, books must be approved by one’s priest prior to being read. I am not aware of any ‘tell all’ books by former members.
I do not know what Opus Dei’s political agenda is, though i suspect that Jefferson, Madison et al would not approve.
IIRC, justices Scalia and Thomas are / were adherents to Opus Dei.
Barbara
@dopey-o: Not Thomas. He is not Catholic. Scalia, yes, for sure.
jc
What Barr means by “History is written by the winners” is, after we “win” a second term, there won’t be any Mueller investigation difficulties next time around, we’ll see to that.
Exregis
@Jinchi: Oh well, you beat me to it. I was about to post that the National Park Service is starting to take down some of the chicken coop. Prompted no doubt by the coop decorations (framed and unframed).
CliosFanBoy
@Cameron: or a porn star
rp
@Barbara: Thomas is Catholic. One of the oddities of the current court is that it’s almost all (or all?) Jews and Catholics.
Feathers
@Barbara: He was raised Catholic, to the point of becoming a seminarian before eventually leaving the church. He “reconciled” with the church during the Clinton administration.
There is a whole cohort of DC pols and hangers on who converted to Catholicism for the authoritarianism. Newt Gingrich, Ross Douthat, Elizabeth Bruenig. There are many more, but those are the ones that popped into my mind and show the diversity of creepy disciplinarians involved.
Calouste
@schrodingers_cat: In well-educated countries (which apparently don’t include the US), you learn that kind of thing in high school, not in college.
Geminid
@Barbara: I don’t know if Thomas is Catholic now but he was raised Catholic by his grandfather, who according to Thomas was bitterly disappointed when his grandson declined to study for the priesthood.
Jinchi
Nope. Too old. Barr is 70.
Stephen Miller is a good bet.
Wapiti
The press should not take a statement of “fact” from Barr without having him under oath.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dopey-o:
If you read reporting about pols/judges and OD, nobody’s a member, they’re just friends with members, or they’ve been to a few meetings, but never formally joined… Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Alito. I think of myself as a skeptic to conspiracy theories, but that group sets off all kinds of alarms/
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I get an Eyes Wide Shut vibe from them.
Barbara
@rp: He apparently is now, but my understanding is that he and his wife are members of a different denomination.
The Moar You Know
@Litlebritdifrnt: Yep. And that will be the end of Barr. Wish it would be for one of his numerous actual crimes instead of making Der Furher look bad, but I’ll take anything I can get at this point.
germy
snoey
@dopey-o: Opus Dei states that it has a policy of neither confirming or denying, but then denies that Barr is a member.
Go figure.
https://opusdei.org/en-us/article/statement-regarding-u-s-attorney-general-william-barr/
yellowdog
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Henry II. A pretty good king considering it was the twelfth century. Did a lot of legal reform.
The Moar You Know
@cmorenc: This election must be won by Dems. RBG isn’t going to make it to 2024. Hell, if she makes it until Jan 20 2021 we will have all dodged a bullet that by all rights should have hit us. She is 87 and has gone two rounds with pancreatic cancer.
I really wish she’d bowed out during Obama’s first term. She was in delicate health even then.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@yellowdog: Yes, Henry II, but that’ the point H II was a popular king and he still had to crawl threw the streets and get publicly flogged to get out of the he mess created by being ambiguous about how he wanted Becket “solved”
The Pale Scot
@Another Scott:
The women playing that tune always seem to have a job and staff. I don’t think that phrase means what they think I means.
joel hanes
@schrodingers_cat:
Result of an education with no college chemistry courses.
Result of a deep conviction that when one is in power, any kind of bullshit lie will serve … which is one of the reasons to grab that kind of power.
The Pale Scot
@SFAW:
It’s more like this thing that thing the other thing.
Jersey native
joel hanes
@Immanentize:
an advert by Union Carbide?
Thinking of this classic by [spit] Monsanto ?
LivingInExile
@Barbara: I think Scalia got Thomas converted.
catclub
There are LOTS of times when that has worked.
joel hanes
@Mary G:
note “suspended”, not “fired”
The Pale Scot
@Mike in NC:
And works great as a floor wax too!!
Ladyraxterinok
@Barbara:
L thought Thomas had been converted by Scalia and other Catholics on Court
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MattF:
Why not?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@catclub:
Given the Trump admin’s track record of constantly stepping on it’s own dick and making the situation worse? I don’t think that will work here and now
joel hanes
@Jinchi:
Anyone have an opinion on whether that fence will come down before Trump leaves office?
The Park Service is currently taking down the part that’s been used as the memorial/poster wall; it’s expected to be gone by Thurs.
IMHO, mostly because the public gestures of defiance are intolerable to the small, petty, thin-skinned narcissist inside the fence.
MisterForkbeard
@Geminid: In retrospect I think we’re ALL bitterly disappointed Thomas didn’t choose a different career path
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Barr hasn’t really said anything bad about Trump. He also didn’t directly accuse Trump of lying. He just contradicted him in a way that he thinks makes Trump look good. And that’s fine – they contradict each other all the time.
He just said that the whole thing wasn’t Trump’s fault, and that the Secret Service insisted Trump go down there and the REAL villains are the protesters. These are all things that Trump can be happy with.
Meanwhile, Barr is doing a lot of things that Trump loves – like going after protesters, creating spurious investigations of Democrats, going after people who investigated Trump, etc. He’s in no danger whatsoever.
MattF
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Barr is entirely loyal to Trump. He doesn’t hesitate to lie or obfuscate in Trump’s defense. And he’s good at what he does– note that whatever Barr has said, the area at the church was cleared and Trump got his photo-op. The senior military guys in Trump’s entourage turned out to be just decorative; Barr got the job done.
J R in WV
Just got home from a hosed up dentist appointment, my paper reminder card says 6/9/20 while their computer says 7/9/20. I’m OK with that actually, the longer off it is the better. Even tho my dentist is a kind gentle and compassionate guy, my first dentist didn’t believe in novocaine. So all the fillings he installed had to be drilled out and replaced because there was decay left under every one of them.
In the original post I see this:
and also this:
Yes!!
Exactly!!!
That is what the demonstrators are demanding, you despicable ass!!!
Now I’ll read the whole thread, and no doubt have other things to say on an otherwise dead thread.
artem1s
Wow, is Barr actually a lawyer? Cause it’s hard to believe he would agree to perjure himself on the air that way if he was.
His BS made me think of this scene from Michael Clayton
https://youtu.be/RpttyTyZ-FU?t=24
Is that OK, you understand or OK proceed?
J R in WV
@Barbara:
Barr is a member of an extremely right wing organization of Catholics called Opus Dei, founded by a Spanish fascist priest back in 2 October 1928. I think they believe that everyone in the world is subject to the Pope’s rule. I would object to that, personally. With force, actually.
I suspect the current Pope would disagree with Barr about almost everything. There is a reason Pope Francis eats in a dining hall — so that they can’t poison him without also poisoning hundreds of other priests.
jonas
@Another Scott: This was another of Trump’s patented “just to own the libs” appointments, kind of like putting a former coal industry lobbyist in charge of the EPA. They know we care about institutions like VOA and our image abroad, so who can they get to do maximal damage to those things? Ah, yes, an authoritarian-loving homophobe should do the trick! Next he’ll probably appoint Seb Gorka chair of the NEH or something, but I probably shouldn’t be putting these ideas out there.
jonas
@J R in WV: While I’ve known Opus Dei members who I would in no way describe as authoritarian in their outlook (very devout Catholics to be sure), their founder was, as you point out, a major Franco devotee, and Barr seems to be really, really into the mirror-shaded dictator stuff.
Just Chuck
@artem1s: Perjury only applies to statements made under oath, not ordinary interviews. There’s a reason Barr refuses to appear before any committees.
billcinsd
@dopey-o:
Opus Dei claims that Barr is not a member
https://opusdei.org/en-us/article/statement-regarding-u-s-attorney-general-william-barr/
low-tech cyclist
Sounds like extortion to me.
Not to mention, threatening to cut the police budget by 3% results in law enforcement ‘pulling back.’ Might as well go for the gusto.
prostratedragon
@Barbara:
Given his father’s role in the Epstein story, I’d say he’s a hereditary factotum to a certain class of people. This is what his clan does.