Bill Barr is Right

Here’s an admirably straightforward interview Bari Weiss did with former Trump administration Attorney General Bill Barr. He sensibly says that he supported Donald Trump as the GOP nominee in 2016, because the alternative was worse. He was not a Never Trumper, and even today is not: Barr says that if Trump is the nominee in 2024, he will likely (depending on the results of ongoing investigations) do the same. He makes clear, however that Trump is an liability and why. This is an excerpt of Weiss’s lengthy and fascinating interview with a real grown-up conservative, who was not afraid to assert his independence and speak it.

BW: That’s sort of an unsatisfying answer to the Republican who I’m sure comes up to you all the time as one of the most prominent conservatives in the country and says: “Why should I trust these people anymore, Bill?”

AG BARR: Well, what’s the alternative? The constant appeal to anger is something I get tired of seeing from the left. Picking at the skin and not trying to redirect those emotions in a positive direction. Ronald Reagan, in my view, was not a populist because he followed frustrated emotions and outrage but rather because he used it to his advantage and made constructive use of it.

I always ask, “What is the alternative?” These institutions need to be reform. First, you need to win an election that gives you a majority to implement a plan and address some of the problems. This isn’t done by igniting outrage and then waiting for the opposing side to do the same. That doesn’t seem to be productive. We should try to convince people. Youngkin, Virginia’s Governor, has shown the potential for the Republican Party to be a majority party. The problem with Trump’s approach to politics is its focus on winning a base election. Get your base to get upset, outraged and ready for the vote. Both parties do this. This is the recipe for continuing hostilities and demoralization in the country. To break free of this, the first party must restore politics to its original purpose. That is politics that tries to persuade and win a large enough majority to make a change. But that’s not what we are focusing on right now. Trump doesn’t believe that.

BW: I want to talk about the future of the Republican Party. Trump may have said that if the Republicans just committed to normality and remained in place they would win. It’s hopeful that someone like Glenn Youngkin will be cited and said that this could be the next step. Trump seems to be the man of today. His endorsement still matters a great deal. It is amazing how much pandering you can see from new candidates. The old belief was that Trump would be surrounded with intelligent people who would help him stay on track. The opposite appears to be true. The GOP seems to be Trumpized. What do you think?

AG BARR: I think you’re right that right now is a tremendous opportunity for the Republican Party. Our period is defined by the dramatic leftward shift of the Democratic Party. That creates a huge opportunity because they’ve moved so far to the left, which can allow the Republicans to come in, as they did in 1980, and seize a decisive majority. Reagan was able to win his second term. The Democrats were forced to elect a moderate Democrat such as Clinton who led the country at the center.

This is a great opportunity. Instead of taking it we’re purging the party, starting civil wars about whether or not people are RINOs. Here’s how I view the Republican Party. There has never been more consistency in conservatism among the Republican Party members than today. It is false to suggest that there are RINOs who don’t believe in Republican principles. The president defines RINOs as people who identify themselves as true Republicans or conservatives, but have a personal problem with Trump. Trump is the only one who can understand this. Trump does something I don’t recall any other great leader doing in the past. Trump controls perhaps a third of Republican Party members. He is powerful because he is willing to tell you that I won’t accept your way of doing things and that I will not be the nominee. You can betray anyone that you have put up. Not only will he do it in the presidential elections, but also in state election. Either it’s me or it’s sabotage. The Republican Party’s pursuit of personal goals and power is threatening its ability to win historic victories and to “make America great again.”

I ask the citizens who want to see America again to consider what it will take. You can’t make your base more madder. This means winning large victories. Trump’s approach is not helping the Republican Party. Reagan’s approach in 1980 was unifying the party and bringing over classical liberals who were upset at the turn of the Democratic Party in the 60s and 70s. We should be doing the same thing now.

BW: I know a lot of people who would be open to not voting Democrat for the first time in their life. This party seems out of touch. It is hard to describe how unappealing it must be. They then look down the aisle to see Kari Lake and others who might become governor of Arizona. You haven’t minced words about the 2020 election. You’ve said the idea that the 2020 election was stolen is “bullshit”–a favorite word of yours. It is why aren’t many Republicans willing to simply say the truth?

AG BARR: The tactic that Trump is using to exert this control over the Republican Party is extortion. This is a great tactic. The party was told by him, “If it isn’t me, I’m going ruin your election prospects by telling my base that they should sit home.” He’ll also sabotage any nominee other than myself.” This is what it says about his character. It’s about him.

Read the whole thing.

AG Barr reflects exactly what I think about these things. The Left is so radical, and so destructive, that it is hard for me to imagine not voting for Trump in 2024 if he is the nominee. I hope that he does not become the nominee. I think the only Republican that the Democrats stand to beat in the 2024 presidential race is Donald Trump. While I’m grateful for his help, Trump’s weaknesses — all of the self-deprecating, pointless drama — can’t be afforded by the Right against the Left, which controls all of America’s major institutions and the Deep State. We need a president that believes in all of Trump’s beliefs, yet is capable of managing with intelligence and focus (Barr told Weiss that Trump, who was a long-serving CEO, was terrible at managing people). In other words, Ron DeSantis or someone like him is what we need.

Barr makes a crucial point:

I say to the people that want to make America great again, “What will it take to do that?” You don’t do it just by making your base madder and madder. This means winning large victories. Trump’s approach to the Republican Party is not strengthening but weakening it.

This is the main point. It is the most important and powerful point that conservative voters should remember. While Trump may have suffered in some ways, the ideals that conservative voters believe in and would like to see implemented in policy are more important than Trump’s hurt feelings. The full story of the Mar-A-Lago raid is still unknown. It may be that Trump was unfairly treated by Department of Justice. Although I am suspicious of the DOJ’s conduct, the DOJ may have had good reasons to raid Mar-A-Lago. The public doesn’t yet have sufficient evidence to make a decision. Conservative voters need to consider whether it is more important to them to put the country on track or vindicate Trump.

Ron DeSantis, a populist with a track record in conservative governance attracts center-left liberals fed up by the Left’s radicalism. Remember when the media were screaming bloody murder over Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, many Americans were grateful for it — even 55 percent of ALL AMERICANS who voted for Joe Biden! This is because the law has common sense.

I was at an Oxford conference this week and met people from across Europe and the UK who shared amazing stories about gender ideologies in their schools. I had heard that the left-wing German government was pushing through a law that would allow Germans as young as 14 legally change their gender at will, but I did not know until last night that that insanity is just the tiny tip of a mountain of an iceberg. I was told by one of my interlocutors that he would provide documentation about all of the events in schools. Much of this information is ordered and approved by the state.

We are engaged in a fierce battle with the child-mutilators, the ideological fanatics and the Leftists who have taken over the education and medical professions and are now using that power to control the brains and bodies of our children. I’m not sure if this is available to the public or only to subscribers, but Wesley Yang turns his Substack over today to an anonymous progressive teacher who nevertheless is appalled by the gender radicalism taking over the schools. He writes:

Last month, I wrote another piece for Wesley’s Substack where I talked about the biggest barrier to discussing DEI programs productively: If you’re honest about what’s going on, no one will believe you, because it just sounds too crazy to be true. It’s likely that the same issue will arise here. But what can you do? The TERFs have it right, whether you like it or not.

I had six classes last school year. I don’t think there was a class without transgender students. Some classes had more than others, but the absolutely lowest number was two in a 26-person class. Although most of them were non-binary students, I did have at least five who were in actual medical transition. There was also quite a few others who planned how to start the process. I’d estimate that 70% or so of these students are female, and talk about breast binding and “top surgery” are common conversation topics at lunch time. When you see a depressed and dysfunctional teenager trying to convince her parents to allow a double mastectomy it’s difficult to resist the temptation to step in. In a flash, I would be fired if I ever said anything.

The identities of these children are, as one might imagine, wildly unstable. I have counted nineteen requests for pronoun change by 12 students in the past semester. Six were to alter their names. Students often have to change their identities, either detransitionally or again. This is especially common in the wake of identity changes in classmates. One student decided to use they/them pronouns, which set off an unintended chain reaction and four other students followed suit. It’s gotten so ridiculous that a neighboring teacher recommended weekly pronoun checks, just to avoid the outrage that inevitably comes with every “misgendering.”

This sort of obsessive fixation on gender is concerning enough, but the dynamic is hugely exacerbated by the administration’s willingness to outsource tedious work virtue signaling to student organizations – almost all of which are staffed entirely by the wokest of the woke. Gender theory is a constant presence in every corner of school life.

The whole thing is mind-blowing. It is important to remember that schools of all types, public or private, have formal policies that prohibit teachers from informing parents about their children’s transgendered status at school. A federal judge from Maryland upheld these policies last week in a school district. The State now intervenes between families and children for ideological reasons, as I have written about it. This is precisely what the Soviet Union did.

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This epic battle is one where our side is clearly the underdog. There are others. For example, race and the DEI beast. If we are going to defeat this hydra-headed totalitarianism politically, then we are going to need to have politicians of vision, courage, and skill. We are not going to have forever, either. As political scientist Eric Kaufmann has written, American adults under the age of 30 prize cancel culture more than liberty. He said this to conservatives at an earlier conference that if they fail to change the tide within the next decade, then it will be over for all non-woke Americans.

Politics can not defeat this dictatorship, but politics is essential if there’s to be any hope. Conservatives must field their best generals. Trump’s lies are not acceptable. The Left is consolidating their power in institutions and networks. We cannot afford to continue to listen. It isn’t a game.