Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr did it.
What, commit a crime? No, he told the truth, which might as well be against the law in the world of Trump haters and the Washington DC swamp. As he’s been known to do, Barr appeared in the media last weekend and touched on the former president’s legal witch hunt woes while adding his two cents (more like two thousand bucks?) to the weight of notable people commenting on current topics of the day, including, as he’s done many, many times before, the presidency of Donald Trump – and Trump’s comeback candidacy this year.
Typically following what’s seemed to be a pre-determined Never Trump script, Barr stuck to his “Trump is unfit to be president” line of argument throughout the 2024 GOP race, poopooing the chances of his former boss ever returning to the Oval Office, his reasoning being that Americans would never accept that the controversial former chief executive was a better choice than some of the not-Trump competitors in the party primary race.
Then, of course, as everyone watched, the MAGA train steamrolled through the primary campaign and Trump ended up winning all of the early states by significant margins and, in total, only lost the eccentric northeastern liberal stronghold of Vermont to runner-up finisher Nikki Haley. Nikki presented herself as the better, younger, more electable Republican alternative to Trump for today’s frustrated conservatives and Republicans like Barr.
Regardless of what Barr’s said in the past, he’s whistling a markedly different tune these days. Bill even indicated he would vote for the Republican ticket in this year’s election last weekend. Barr’s shocking change of heart came on Fox News, so it wasn’t as though there was a gaggle of Trump-hating establishment media personalities waiting nearby for him to throw his former chief under the proverbial bus – once again – but still, to witness a prominent Trump detractor finally coming around to admit that Trump is not only more qualified but more desirable than the alternative (Democrat president senile Joe Biden) in this year’s crucial contest? Well, that was something to behold.
The revelation might’ve killed Barr -- to declare such things in front of the whole world -- but the election non-denying former AG actually spoke pure common sense, perhaps for the first time since the awful days after the 2020 vote results were announced. In essence, did the Never Trump dam just break?
Did Barr’s confession also break open the floodgates for Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol, John Kasich and “No Labels” rejects like Maryland’s Larry Hogan to reenter the Republican tent where Trump is holding one of his signature MAGA rallies? I won’t go quite that far, but the former AG additionally said nice things about Trump’s agenda and issues stances, which could provide a cushion for those considering a similarly prickly, contrite moment.
I expect the ever-ambitious Nikki Haley will follow Barr’s path at some juncture, but I doubt her political acknowledgement will emerge before the Republican convention. No doubt Haley still craves a speaking slot at the event and the RNC leadership (which includes Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump) needs incentive to allow the second-place loser to represent the party in a positive way.
Not so for Chris Christie, either, a RINO Republican who was courted by various entities to run as a third-party candidate or an independent, but rejected any notion that he would leave the GOP. Christie’s reiterated a number of times that he won’t vote for Trump, so taking a Barr-like high road doesn’t look to be in the cards for the rotund New Jersian.
When it comes to pass, here’s thinking Haley would “behave” herself at the convention, realizing that she had no other choice than to sound pleasant notes about the man she roundly trashed for her last couple months of active campaigning. For his part, Trump will be gracious and accepting and might even be complimentary of his former United Nations ambassador’s newfound backing. It’ll be a kiss-and-make-up moment for all Americans to watch!
The possible weakening of the Never Trump wall might also supply some additional pizzazz in this year’s campaign, since a recent survey revealed that Americans have lost interest in the election. That can’t be good for the country’s future. In an article titled “Voters are losing interest in November election, poll shows”, Mallory Wilson reported at the Washington Times earlier this week:
“An NBC News survey shows 64% of registered voters say they have a high level of interest in November’s election — but that figure is lower at this point in the year than any of the last four presidential cycles.
“Interest was 13 points higher in 2020, five points higher in 2016, three points higher in 2012 and 10 points higher in 2008. More Republicans, at 70%, say they have high interest in the election than Democrats at 65% and independents at 48%. Only 36% of younger voters, between the ages of 18 and 34, would rate themselves as highly interested in the election.
“Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, told NBC News that young voters are ‘off-the-charts low’ interest in the election. The poll also found that former president Donald Trump only narrowly leads President Biden by two points, 46% to 44% in a head-to-head matchup, which is a five-point drop since January.”
Hmpf. So, if this poll’s results are accurate, younger Americans would rather read social media posts on their smart phones than delve into the issue nuts and bolts of the 2024 election. This, like many other cultural indicators of late, is a sad fact. But understandable on some level, nonetheless.
Establishment media talkers would probably argue that young voters’ interest is scraping the bottom because of the two major party candidates involved, and that a “rematch” between Trump and Biden just doesn’t peak any political neophyte’s fancy. Or it could also be that one of the candidates is a couple trips ‘round the sun into his eighties and the other is approaching his late seventies.
Or maybe it’s because Trump and Biden aren’t “cool” enough for the younger lot to relate to.
Or maybe all of these things combined. Democrats and the establishment media, with their anti-Trump fixations, have almost completely banished the real discussion of issues from the campaign which, frankly, has led to probably the most boring news reporting of all time. As noted in this space many times, there’s plenty of coverage of politics, but it’s mostly one-sided and decidedly negative towards Trump, who is much more interesting than senile Joe Biden by any stretch of the imagination.
Another reason interest in this year’s election is uncharacteristically low is because there really weren’t any party primary races this year. Recall that eight years ago in both the Democrat and Republican party primaries there were competitive contests between fascinating participants. The GOP had a one-on-one duel between newcomer Donald Trump and conservative bomb-thrower Ted Cruz, and seeing them go back-and-forth was one of the true classic political battles of any historic period.
Ditto for the Democrats, though the scrap between Hillary Clinton and “senile old coot” Bernie Sanders wasn’t particularly attention-grabbing for issue differences alone. Instead, politics watchers got to see the workings of the Democrat establishment ex-out a serious challenge to their decision-making supremacy near the end of the Barack Obama era.
In 2020 by comparison, there was a competitive struggle for the Democrats and the always resilient Donald Trump fighting off government disinformation and callous attacks from the establishment news media regarding COVID mass hysteria. Senile Joe Biden may have won the nomination race, but what would he offer? People wanted to know.
This year, there’s very little intrigue, merely tired repetitive nonsense from the Democrats and Trump’s legal woes, which, by now, have become very, very stale, ambiguous and impossible to size-up as an election changer. As he always does, Trump has stirred proverbial pots by injecting controversial comments here and there, but the Biden Justice Department (and the state judges, too) have imposed gag orders on the one human figure who creates interest in folks simply by waking up in the morning.
That isn’t Joe Biden, whose talent for making headlines is limited to tossing out comments about his uncle being eaten by cannibals or for his latest verbal stumble or inexplicable gaffe. Senile Joe must keep his staff up late at night trying to fashion a way to make him viable, but he’s only worthwhile in a sick, “Look at that!” kind of way.
All of which begs the question: what would increase voter interest in this year’s potentially history altering election? In no particular order:
Ensure that the candidates are pressured to meet in presidential debates. Americans want to know if senile Joe Biden is still cognitively functional enough to preside over the government. They also need to understand if Democrats actually have an agenda to present outside of screaming abortions, proposing more big government programs and droning on and on about Trump being a threat to “democracy” while pursuing charges to throw him in prison.
Meanwhile, can Trump win over the critical ten percent or so of persuadable voters to earn a second, non-consecutive, beyond-the-margin-of-fraud term? Will Trump have learned the lessons of the past or cling to old grudges and refuse to listen to those who could help him? Or is he the political version of Linus in search of the mythical Great Pumpkin?
Both parties’ campaigns will dump hundreds of millions (if not billions) into TV ads, consultant fees, polling operations, focus group input and other traditional campaign methods to try and gain an upper hand. Democrats and Republicans would do well just to stick to talking about the future and leave the sensationalistic garbage to the media.
Bill Barr told the truth about the 2024 election. Will other Trump doubters be similarly inclined?
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