Is this why Barr left?
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Attorney General Bill Barr stood behind a chair in the private dining room next to the Oval Office, looming over Donald Trump. The president sat at the head of the table. It was Dec. 1, nearly a month after the election, and Barr had some sharp advice to get off his chest. The president's theories about a stolen election, Barr told Trump, were "bullshit."
White House counsel Pat Cipollone and a few other aides in the room were shocked Barr had come out and said it — although they knew it was true. For good measure, the attorney general threw in a warning that the new legal team Trump was betting his future on was "clownish."
Trump had angrily dragged Barr in to explain himself after seeing a breaking AP story all over Twitter, with the headline: "Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud." But Barr was not backing down. Three weeks later, he would be gone.
The relationship between the president and his attorney general was arguably the most consequential in Trump's Cabinet. And in the six months leading up to this meeting, the relationship between the two men had quietly disintegrated. Nobody was more loyal than Bill Barr. But for Trump, it was never enough.
The president had become too manic for even his most loyal allies, listening increasingly to the conspiracy theorists who echoed his own views and offered an illusion, an alternate reality.
By the late summer of 2020, Trump and Barr were regularly skirmishing over how to handle the rising Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody. As the national movement unfurled, some protests had given way to violence and looting. Trump wanted the U.S. government to crack down hard on the unrest.
The president wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act and send the military into U.S. cities. He wanted troops in the street. Some hardcore outside allies, including Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, were egging him on. The thankless job of pushing back fell to Barr.
At times, Barr was the heat shield between the president and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, both of whom strongly objected to Trump's fantasies of U.S. troops descending upon Portland.
The president regularly summoned a group of national security leaders to the Oval Office, and one mid-August meeting was particularly volatile.
From his seat behind the Resolute Desk, an agitated Trump told Barr to go and do something, and to do it right away — make an announcement, send in the troops, something. Just go in and resolve it, the president ordered. He wanted a devastating and provocative show of strength.
Barr disagreed. He thought the heat in the protests was gradually easing. He explained law enforcement strategy and his opinion that military intervention would backfire. Federal investigators were already hunting for the ringleaders in the protests.
Besides, Barr asked, what was the endgame for adding the military to the mix? Federal forces could end up stranded in a city like Portland indefinitely.
Trump grew more and more frustrated, but Barr pushed back harder, standing his ground in front of everyone in the room. He was ready, willing and able to be strong, he said. But, he added, we also have to be thoughtful.
What would these soldiers do, Barr pointed out. Just stand around and get yelled at? Trump didn't care. We look weak and this is hurting us, he ranted. Then he slammed his hand on the Resolute Desk.
"No one supports me," Trump yelled. "No one gives me any fucking support."
Trump got up and stormed out of the Oval Office to his private dining room, leaving Barr and the others behind. Barr glanced over at a red-faced White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and joked, "Well that went well."
Constant head-butting over how aggressive they should be was a serious irritant in the relationship. Trump wanted televised displays of shock and awe, particularly in Portland and Seattle.
Much more at the link.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@george-k not just Barr
Everyone else in his orbit seeemed to understand that he was unhinged.
But no one had any balls.
Many still don’t.
For all the trump trump macho crap, everyone seems to suffer from severe acute hypotestosteronism.
seems contagious
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@bachophile said in Is this why Barr left?:
Everyone else in his orbit seeemed to understand that he was unhinged.
Either that, or TDS is virulently contagious, and the Great Man is a super-spreader.
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@bachophile said in Is this why Barr left?:
@george-k not just Barr
Everyone else in his orbit seeemed to understand that he was unhinged.
But no one had any balls.
Many still don’t.
For all the trump trump macho crap, everyone seems to suffer from severe acute hypotestosteronism.
seems contagious
The fear of getting thrown out of the administration may not be personal cowardice. It may be the fear of getting replaced with the MyPillow guy as an advisor.
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@doctor-phibes said in Is this why Barr left?:
@bachophile said in Is this why Barr left?:
Everyone else in his orbit seeemed to understand that he was unhinged.
Either that, or TDS is virulently contagious, and the Great Man is a super-spreader.
Oh, he's a super spreader all right. A super manure spreader
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@bachophile said in Is this why Barr left?:
Everyone else in his orbit seeemed to understand that he was unhinged.
I'm betting that in the months and years to come, the above story will emerge as a microcosm of many stories just like it -- more experienced heads endeavoring to talk down a blindly stubborn and obstreperous Trump.
Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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@jodi said in Is this why Barr left?:
@catseye3 That’s such a great word, obstreperous.
I Learn something new every day. Lol
But I agree, as accurate accounts come from people with time in the President Trump whitehouse, it is unlikely that many (if any) will write him in a positive way.
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@taiwan_girl said in Is this why Barr left?:
as accurate accounts come from people with time in the President Trump whitehouse, it is unlikely that many (if any) will write him in a positive way.
TDS is everywhere!
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@taiwan_girl said in Is this why Barr left?:
But I agree, as accurate accounts come from people with time in the President Trump whitehouse, it is unlikely that many (if any) will write him in a positive way.
Says who?
