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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPierce: Donald Trump and William Barr Will Burn Everything Down Rather Than Surrender Power
Donald Trump and William Barr Will Burn Everything Down Rather Than Surrender Power
A new investigation signals this administration* will happily wreak havoc all over the government.
BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
OCT 25, 2019
The news that Attorney General William Barr's worldwide snipe hunt has now been transformed from an administrative nuisance to a criminal investigation is as unsurprising as it is terrifying. After all, Barr's entire Tcareer in government has been marked by a fealty to executive power and by an apparently irresistible drive to keep Republican presidents from ever bearing the consequences of their offenses against the Constitution. It was Barr who advised President George H.W. Bush to murder the Iran-Contra investigations by pardoning everyone except Shoeless Joe Jackson on Bush's way out the door.
Now, though, Barr is on active duty, spanning the globe to find corroboration of El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago's most dearly held conspiracy theories. (Italy told him to get stuffed.) And anyone who expected Barr to behave differently than he hassabotaging the release of the Mueller Report and, now, concocting a cover story out of pure paranoid moonshineshould not be allowed to carry their own money or cut their own meat....
But the perils in this latest twist are profound. It's become plain this week that the political defense of an indefensible presidency* is going to wreak havoc all through the government. We have had the Juicebox Meatheads crashing a closed committee hearing. We have had Senator Lindsey Graham, that reliable White House castrato, proposing a meaningless Senate resolution condemning the House investigation, and now this latest abomination. We already have branches of government at war with each other and, to be honest, that was sort of the idea behind the Constitution's structure in the first place.
But it's also clear now that the Republican Senate is going to war with the Democratic House. It also become clear that the internecine war in the House is going to be savage and bloody. This new investigation exists only to provide the Republican side of all those conflicts with a weapon that can be deployed at any time. This administration* is willing to burn everything down rather than surrender its power. This president* is willing to bring all the temples down on his own head. I don't think anybody really understands how terrible the coming reckoning will be.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a29589055/william-barr-investigation-2016-donald-trump/
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)charges is/are in trouble. Ukraine and the Kurds show that the big atrocities are being committed overseas. Most of us are protected in the forest. If push comes to shove, we have another $trillion for them to burn while we get him out.
RAB910
(3,501 posts)Hugin
(33,159 posts)"concocting a cover story out of pure paranoid moonshineshould not be allowed to carry their own money or cut their own meat...."
I haven't heard or read this expression in the longest time. Perfect.
mcar
(42,334 posts)not fooled
(5,801 posts)Love Charlie!!!
wryter2000
(46,051 posts)"Castrato" How does he think up these things?
dchill
(38,502 posts)Mme. Defarge
(8,033 posts)is the Republican Party. In the immortal words of someone - maybe the greatest Republican of all time, Lincoln, or someone else, ...you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
With Pelosi and Schiff taking on people who shouldnt be allowed to cut their own meat, my money is on the smart people.
These idiots should not be playing with matches!
matt819
(10,749 posts)I read that Barr is a devout Catholic. Don't know if it's true, and not trying to spread rumors or gossip. Does it go beyond "devout"?
There's a radical traditionalist Catholic group in NH, and they have caused a bit of a stir. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2007/radical-traditionalist-catholic-groups-sour-life-peaceful-new-england-town
And I just wonder about the extent to which extremist or radical or traditional or whatever Catholicism may be at play with Barr, or, for that matter, with several members of the Supreme Court.
Yes, I know there are devout Christians of many types here on DU, and I'm not seeking to antagonize anyone. But the actions of Barr and others don't simply come out of nowhere, and to behave as he does, and as he has for his entire career, is curious. Granted, the actions of many trumpists are curious, but they go well beyond the norms of political variations. Stephen Miller is a vile human being, and his uncle has written about how this was not how he was raised. So, where does this come from? Is Miller, and his fellow travelers, just evil? Is this just a band of like-minded psychopaths or sociopaths that somehow managed to come together? Or is it driven by allegiance to a foreign power? Is it religious? Have Barr, Miller et all been "radicalized" in ways that go beyond the usual alt.right suspects like Bannon and Fox?
Or should I take the tinfoil hat off?
not fooled
(5,801 posts)The worst of the worst.
[link:https://www.thenation.com/article/william-barr-notre-dame-secularism/|]
His troubles dont only involve his obeisance to Donald Trump. Hes a paranoid right-wing Catholic ideologue who wont respect the separation of church and state.
world wide wally
(21,744 posts)die for him.
And Barr is just the lackey to do it.
mcar
(42,334 posts)He will take them down with him. I have no doubt of that.
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)dchill
(38,502 posts)Is it legal? I think not.
They're going to bring it anyway. Our best minds will have to meet it.
kskiska
(27,045 posts)They'll completely trash the place. I hope they're taken out in the dead of night.