"The Shining"

June 3: On This Day In 2019

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. The GOP — a party that once upon a time had some principled lawmakers — has fallen in line, mindlessly, with the random whims of their dear leader, Donald Trump. Nothing describes the relationship between the new GOP and their taskmaster like Barry Blitt’s image on the cover of The New Yorker OTDI 2019.

Senator Lindsey Graham, Attorney General Bill Barr, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had become three of Trump’s biggest toadies.

Dive Deeper

Back in 2015 and 2016, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) referred to Trump as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” who is “all-over-the-board crazy.” Graham continued: “I think he’s a kook. I think he’s crazy. I think he’s unfit for office…I cannot in good conscience support Donald Trump because I do not believe he… displayed the judgment and temperament to serve as commander in chief.” But once Trump became president, Graham quickly developed a reputation as one of his biggest defenders, both on policy and on Trump’s impeachments and trials. Principles? Nah, anything just to be in the spotlight!

Bill Barr flip-flopped the other way. When he was the Attorney General for George H.W. Bush, he was known by some as the “Cover-up General” for his efforts to shield Bush from the Iran-Contra investigations. With that reputation in mind, Trump hired Barr for that same AG spot when the Mueller investigation heated up. Barr then did the one thing Trump needed most: he issued misleading statements about the Mueller Report’s findings and implications. “Attorney General William Barr Acts as Donald Trump’s Human Shield on Capitol Hill,” as John Cassidy at the New Yorker put it. Thus many Americans were (and still are) left with the incorrect understanding that Mueller had exonerated Trump from wrong-doing.

But even a man like Barr had his breaking point. After the 2020 election, he contradicted his boss by telling the AP: “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election." Trump couldn’t handle the truth, the acrimony between the men grew intense, and Barr left his position just days later. Barr has since testified that Trump has “become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff.” Trump’s conspiracy theories were “complete nonsense” and “crazy stuff” and “off the rails” he added.

So, Barr summarized: “As I know well... Trump is a deeply flawed, incorrigible man who frequently brings calamity on himself and the country through his dishonesty and self-destructive recklessness. Even his supporters, who can’t help but acknowledge that he is own worst enemy, know it.” Thus “Donald Trump has shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed.”

And Mitch McConnell, in his role as the leader of the Senate, seemed to do everything in his authority to minimize the damage Trump would face for his actions leading to his first impeachment. Yet even McConnell felt obliged to point out Trump’s … flaws … after the Insurrection. We were going to quote some of them for you, such as when he said of Trump: “I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself.” But the DNC has recently compiled a pretty remarkable list of gems McConnell has said about Trump, so we encourage you to check it out directly.

More:

• Politico had the Graham quotes

• The New Yorker wrote about Barr’s shielding of Trump 

• Thom Hartmann explained Barr’s cover-up history in Trial Lawyer

• Barr reports there's no evidence of fraud re the 2020 election

• The NYT quotes Barr’s deposition and his book

• Barr spoke with the Hoover Institution about Trump’s flaws

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On This Day In The Trump Administration: GOP leaders slavishly support Trump